In the current politically heated moment, not much is being said about entrepreneurship in Poland, so it is worth mentioning that from November 13-19 this year. celebrated another World Entrepreneurship Week. Established in 2008, this international project aims to promote “conscious development, an active attitude towards life and taking business initiatives.” When the week of entrepreneurship was being “celebrated” here and there, a delegation of dozens of Polish entrepreneurs under the auspices of the Polish Chamber of Commerce participated on November 14 in an equally important event – the European Parliament of Enterprises. This is a cyclical event, initiated in 2008. by Eurochambres (Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry), held annually in the Chamber of the European Parliament. The idea of the event is to give entrepreneurs a voice in the Europarliament for a day – the number of participants in the Enterprise Parliament reflects the number of MEPs. The event is an opportunity to express opinions on EU lawmaking, discuss with representatives of the European Parliament and the European Commission, establish contacts with entrepreneurs from other EU countries and get to know their point of view on many problems experienced together. It is also a chance to confront (in the presence of senior EU officials) – often high-flown and very ambitious ideas of EU institutions in the area of economy and entrepreneurship – with the opinions of entrepreneurs, who feel the effects of regulations created in Brussels on a daily basis. This year – and this was the 6th edition – the discussion covered three key areas: skills, energy and international trade. These are areas in which the EU is known to be very active and around which many European projects or programs have been born. What does their implementation look like from the point of view of European entrepreneurs? Not for the best – at least that’s according to the votes taken during the European Parliament of Enterprise. To cite some sample results: 87% of entrepreneurs believe that the ambitious goals of the European Green Deal will lead to tougher competition for EU companies in the global market; 93% said that the single market is not integrated enough for their company to operate and compete freely; 86% believe that the major changes brought about by the green and digital transformation are not adequately reflected in education and vocational training curricula; 91% believe that it is more difficult than 5 years ago to attract staff with the right skills. European entrepreneurs at the meeting called for more effectively combating chronic labor shortages by upgrading and retraining Europe’s workforce, seeking lasting solutions to the energy crisis, and enabling businesses, especially SMEs, to reap the benefits of EU trade agreements. To what extent will these appeals succeed and motivate more active EU action in these areas? Unknown. However, it is well known that the pace of EU action to date in many critical areas for the European business economy (such as those mentioned above) is far too slow to meet the increasingly serious problems facing Europe. However, I am of the opinion that many of these problems could be solved much more effectively and quickly if the voice of European entrepreneurs were listened to more than just once a year.
Andrzej Arendarski, president of KIG
