CEOE has gathered this Monday in Madrid prominent business representatives and European institutions with the objective of reaffirming its support for the strengthening of the European Single Market and continuing to advance on the "One Europe, One Market" roadmap, in a scenario marked by global economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions.
During the conference "40 Years of Spain in the EU: From the Single Market to One Market", the speakers agreed in emphasizing that the Single Market is an essential tool to strengthen the competitiveness of the European Union and respond to the crisis of multilateralism.
The president of CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, has stressed that Europe is a "motor of peace and prosperity" and has advocated for continuing to move towards a European Union that is "stronger, more integrated, and more competitive".
Garamendi also highlighted that Spain's entry into the EU was a "historic" decision that boosted the modernization of the national economy and the opening of Spanish companies to an "ever-larger" domestic market. He recalled that Spanish GDP has increased by 123% in the last four decades and now accounts for 9% of the Union's total wealth.
The Secretary of State for the EU, Fernando Sampedro, has underlined that the forty years of Spain's membership in the community project constitute a "collective success story" and has highlighted the leadership role that the country plays within the Union.
Sampedro pointed out that, in the last eight years, Spain has grown "almost twice as much as France and Italy and ten times more than Germany", in addition to generating 3.5 million jobs and reaching a historic high of 22.3 million contributors to Social Security.
The director of the European Parliament Office in Spain, María Andrés, has stated that the great pending challenge for the EU will be to "complete the single market", while the deputy director of the European Commission Representation in Spain, Nikolaos Isaris, has insisted on the urgency of adapting the Single Market "to a new era".
In the second block of the session, the president of the Jacques Delors Institute, Enrico Letta, spoke, advocating for progress towards a more integrated, simple, and efficient "One Market" in order to break down barriers, attract investment, and strengthen the competitive capacity of European companies.
Lastly, various business and community spokespersons have emphasized the need to address challenges such as overregulation, regulatory complexity, and digitalization to consolidate the EU's strategic autonomy and raise the competitiveness of the European productive fabric.