On 10^th October, a Maltese delegation composed of delegates from the Malta Business Bureau and the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry participated in the 5^th edition of the European Parliament for Enterprises event organised in Brussels by Eurochambres and the European Parliament (EP).

Once again, the EP Hemicycle hosted entrepreneurs from all over Europe for one day in a plenary discussing most relevant topics on the EU agenda, including skills, the EU trade agenda and the future of Europe. This event is very relevant for entrepreneurs who are presented with a platform to voice their thoughts, questions, frustrations and suggestions directly to the European institutions and senior EU officials.

MBB President Simon De Cesare commented on the importance of protecting the Single Market, which is central to the EU project. Mr De Cesare further noted that, “Europe remains one of the best places in which to live, work, and do business in the world; but the EU process needs to be reaffirmed and reinforced to continue guaranteeing our success and future prosperity.”

Malta Chamber Deputy President David Xuereb highlighted the problem of skills mismatches between the supply and demand of labour in the EU. Mr Xuereb stated, “We cannot afford this to go on. We need to be more selective in promoting and boosting the supply of skills to produce high value-added output. The increasing digitisation of society and the world of work demands this.”

During this visit, the delegation also had the opportunity to meet up with Malta’s recently appointed Permanent Representative to the EU, Daniel Azzopardi. Meetings were held with Members of the European Parliament, including David Casa, Francis Zammit Dimech, Marlene Mizzi and Miriam Dalli. The delegation also visited the European Economic and Social Committee where they met two vice-Presidents from the Employers Group, Stefano Mallia and Kylä-Harakka-Ruonala Tellervo. During these meetings, the delegation raised a number of concerns on the impact and developments related to Brexit, the upcoming European Parliament elections, EU regional policy, and the future EU Budget.

The business delegation was made up of Simon De Cesare, David Xuereb, Charles Zahra, Marisa Xuereb and Hugh Arrigo. They were also accompanied by MBB CEO Joe Tanti and Malta Chamber Head of Policy Andre Fenech, as well as Daniel Debono and Mark Seychell from the MBB’s Brussels representative office.

MBB President’s intervention may be found here.