In the light of the Swedish presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise and myself had the honor of welcoming our colleagues in BusinessEuropes Industrial Affairs Committee to Stockholm last week. BusinessEurope represents the national business federations of 35 European countries, and work tirelessly to ensure that the voice of business is heard in EU policy making. The organization is without a doubt an important partner for the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise’s competitiveness agenda, and equally important in ensuring that the business community in the EU has the right conditions to lead the green transition globally.
Businesses need policies that enable competitiveness and sustainable, long-term economic growth simultaneously with the green transition. The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise is convinced that a strong, united and progressive business community is key to push EU policy to become an enabler for the business to reach the goals of the 2030 Agenda, while strengthening the competitiveness on the global market, and this message permeated the meeting in Stockholm.
During the committees 24 hours in Stockholm, the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise got the possibility to showcase some of the companies in the forefront of the green transition in Sweden – making the Swedish business community’s progressive sustainability agenda the framework for the following meetings. The discussions circulated around energy supply, environmental permits, electrification and the transition to a ciruclar economy, issues where all European businesses face similar challenges to accelerate the transition.