European Round Table of Industrialists

The European Round Table of Industrialists, abbreviated ERT, is an influential interest group in the European Union consisting of some 40 European industrial leaders working to strengthen competitiveness in Europe. The group works both at national and European levels.

History

The roots of the European Round Table of Industrialists date back to the early 1980s. The European economy at that time, was regarded as suffering from eurosclerosis, which was perceived as a lack of dynamism, innovation and competitiveness when compared with the economies of Japan and the United States. The negative economic consequences of the competitive situation worried several leading European businesspeople.

At the initative of Pehr G. Gyllenhammar, the CEO of Volvo, 17 European businessmen met in the Paris boardroom of Volvo on 6 and 7 April 1983. They envisioned to create and organisation, which would be able to convey its message about the state of the economy to the European political leaders. The core message was that Europe needed to modernise its industrial basis in order to regain its competitiveness. The industry perceived a lack of a common European industrial development policy, in contrast to the European agricultural policy.

The meeting in Paris was attende by Pehr G. Gyllenhammar (Volvo), Karl Beurle (Thyssen), Carlo De Benedetti (Olivetti), Curt Nicolin (ASEA), Harry Gray (United Technologies), John Harvey - Jones (ICI), Wolfgang Seelig (Siemens), Umberto Agnelli (Fiat), Peter Baxendell (Shell), Olivier Lecerf (Lafarge Coppée), José Bidegain (Cie de St Gobain), Wisse Dekker (Philips), Antoine Riboud (BSN), Bernard Hanon (Renault), Louis von Planta (Ciba-Geigy) and Helmut Maucher (Nestlé). Both François-Xavier Ortoli and Etienne Davignon from the European Commission attended the meeting.

At the second meeting, on 1 June 1983 in Amsterdam, the ERT organisation was established, its charter accepted and the necessary financial arrangements were made. The goal of the ERT would be to promote competition and competitiveness on a European scale.

At the outset, the group played an important role in the planning of the Oresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden as part of its "European Link" project on improvements to the European infrastructure. This project also includes several other international European infrastructural projects eg. the Fehmar Belt Bridge between Denmark and Germany. Later on the ERT became active in the promotion of the earliest TransEuropean Networks.

The ERT's busiest decade was 1988 to 1998 under different chairmen: Wisse Dekker NL, Jérôme Monod FR and Helmut Maucher CH with Keith Richardson as Secretary General. During this time the ERT published influential reports in the domains of Internal Market, Infrastructure, Education, Environment, Information Society, Competitiveness, Job Creation and tax issues. The ERT fostered direct government-industry consultation at many different levels. Its active role in encouraging the first global G8 cooperation on building common standards for the Information Society was recognised by several country leaders, including President Bill Clinton.

From early on, ERT policy supported EU enlargement. It promoted and often led business dialogues between the EU and business circles in the US, in Japan and in developing countries. The ERT gave an early lead in presenting positive contributions to the climate change debate, and control carbon emissions. Two more recent areas for ERT contribution are pensions and international standards.

Chairmen

* 1983 1988: Pehr G. Gyllenhammar (Volvo )
* 1988 1992: Wisse Dekker (Philips)
* 1992 1996: Jérôme Monod (Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux)
* 1996 1999: Helmut Maucher (Nestlé)
* 1999 2001: Morris Tabaksblat (Reed Elsevier) (Unilever)
* 2001 2005: Gerhard Cromme (ThyssenKrupp)
* 2005 : Jorma Ollila (Nokia)

List of current members 2006

* César Alierta Izuel - Telefónica
* Jean-Louis Beffa - Saint-Gobain
* Wulf Bernotat - E.ON
* Peter Brabeck-Letmathe - Nestlé
* Thierry Breton - France Télécom
* Martin Broughton - British Airways
* Antony Burgmans - Unilever
* Bertrand Collomb - Lafarge
* Gerhard Cromme - ThyssenKrupp
* Dimitris Daskalopoulos - Delta Holding
* Belmiro de Azevedo - Sonae
* Thierry Desmarest - Total
* Bülent Eczacibasi - Eczacibasi Holding
* Jukka Härmälä - Stora Enso
* Zsolt Hernádi - MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas Company
* Franz Humer - Hoffmann-La Roche
* Daniel Janssen - Solvay
* Leif Johansson - Volvo
* Alain Joly - Air Liquide
* Wolfgang J. Ruttenstorfer - OMV
* Henning Kagermann - SAP
* Gerard Kleisterlee - Philips
* Thomas Leysen - Umicore
* Tom McKillop - AstraZeneca
* Gérard Mestrallet - Suez
* Jorma Ollila - Nokia
* Wim Philippa, Secretary General
* Bernd Pischetsrieder - Volkswagen
* Pasquale Pistorio - STMicroelectronics
* Eivind Reiten - Norsk Hydro
* Kai-Uwe Ricke - Deutsche Telekom
* John Rose - Rolls-Royce
* Anthony Ruys - Heineken
* Nils S. Andersen - Carlsberg
* Manfred Schneider - Bayer
* Louis Schweitzer - Renault
* Michael Smurfit - Jefferson Smurfit
* Peter Sutherland - BP
* Marco Tronchetti Provera - Pirelli
* Jeroen van der Veer - Royal Dutch Shell
* Ben Verwaayen - BT
* Marcus Wallenberg - Investor AB
* Paul Walsh - Diageo
* Hans Wijers - Akzo Nobel

(Source: ERT.be)

See also

* Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe (UNICE)
* American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union
* Lobbying

References

* Cowles, M., G., "Setting the agenda for a new Europe: the ERT and EC 1992", In: Journal of Common Market Studies, 33, 1995,
* Cowles, M., G., "The rise of the European multinational", In: International Economic Insights, 1993
* ERT, "Will European governments in Barcelona keep their Lisbon promises?", Message from the European Round Table of Industrialists to the Barcelona European Council, March 2002. Brussel, feb. 2002
* Marchipont, J.-F., "La stratégie industrielle de l'Union Européenne", Luxemburg, Éditions Continent Europe, 1997
* Preston, M., E., "The European commission and special interest groups", In: Claeys, P.-H., Gobin, C., Smets, I., Lobbyisme, pluralisme et intégration Européenne. Brussel, Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes, 1998
* Richardson, K., "Big business and the European agenda", Sussex European Institute Working Paper, University of Sussex, 2000, 35

External links

* [http://www.ert.be/ European Round Table of Industrialists]