"BBVA and the Spanish corporate voice in Europe"
The Spanish Chamber of Commerce, under the leadership of President José Luis Bonet and Director General Inmaculada Riera, organized a meeting last Friday with Teresa Ribera, the Executive Vice President of the European Commission for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition. In his role as President of the European Affairs Commission of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, John Rutherford, Global Head of Public Affairs at BBVA, was tasked with moderating the meeting and guiding the discussions. The event fostered an enriching dialogue between the senior representative of the European Commission and the business community around European challenges in sustainability and competitiveness in a changing and uncertain geopolitical context.
Europe is currently at a historical crossroads marked by the urgency of the quadruple transition: green, digital, social and security. Amid the global geopolitical uncertainty, the European Union is called upon to take the reins to redefine its own future.
This new political phase, defined by the Competitiveness Compass – which incorporates and develops many of the recommendations formulated in the reports by Mario Draghi (The Future of European Competitiveness) and Enrico Letta (Much More Than a Market) which have served as an economic roadmap for the new European political cycle (2024-2029) – requires Europe to consolidate, not only as an integrated Single Market, but as a resilient and sustainable global player.
This entails protecting its prosperity, ensuring its social cohesion and guaranteeing its strategic autonomy. To achieve these objectives, it is essential to deepen and strengthen strategic partnerships between the private sector, the driver of innovation and employment, and public institutions.
The Spanish Chamber of Commerce, through its European Affairs Commission and sectoral commissions, acts as an essential bridge to ensure that public policies reflect the real needs of our productive economy. Our mission is two-fold: to bring European policies closer to the business community and to convey the proposals and concerns of business to Brussels.
BBVA’s leadership in initiatives of this kind reflects the bank’s deep European calling, its commitment to sustainability, and its long-term vision regarding the continent’s competitiveness and industrial transformation.
Under BBVA’s presidency, the European Affairs Commission has taken on a more proactive role, facilitating high-level meetings with European leaders and developing strategic documents such as the report ‘The Opportunity to Strengthen Europe’, published during the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2023. The report included 30 strategic proposals related to competitiveness, sustainability, digitization and strategic autonomy.
Teresa Ribera, the Executive Vice President of the European Commission for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition and John Rutherford, Global Head of Public Affairs at BBVA. - Cámara de Comercio de España
As part of these efforts to promote dialogue, last week we welcomed Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice President of the European Commission for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition. The session provided an enriching discussion between the senior European Commission representative and the business community regarding the challenges Europe is facing in its decarbonization process, without undermining its industrial base or global economic leadership.
Despite the uncertain geopolitical context, Ribera was optimistic, pointing out that Europe has “great opportunities and strengths” to achieve its goals. But she warned that it is time to take a “qualitative leap” that entails working on two fronts: the domestic agenda, moving towards greater integration of the Single Market; and the external agenda through the redefinition of its trade policy.
In her remarks, the Vice President underscored six strategic pillars, from global geopolitical transformation and the technological rivalry between the U.S. and China, to the central role of sustainability as a driver of competitiveness and the need for a more integrated Single Market and a stronger capital market – which is key to financing our innovation.
The Green Deal Industrial Plan is a key instrument to accelerate the decarbonization and modernization of the European industrial sector. Its objectives include promoting the production of clean technologies, reducing external dependencies and establishing a common, coherent framework that ensures equal opportunities among countries and sectors.
For Vice President Ribera, the discussion is not about whether we should move towards climate neutrality ensuring that the Green Deal targets “continue moving forward”, but about “how to fit the pieces together in the most efficient way”, supporting our SMEs so that no one gets left behind in this transition. At the bank, we support this vision, as we understand that sustainability and competitiveness are not conflicting goals, but rather complementary ones. Therefore, the success of the European model will depend on its ability to combine its climate ambition, social inclusion and technological innovation.
In the subsequent open dialogue with the business community, Ribera addressed some of the concerns that were shared by the presidents of the sectoral commissions: Federico Ramos (Circular Economy); Isabel Puig (SMEs) and Patxi Calleja (Energy). Their questions focused on the main pillars of European competitiveness: the circular economy, administrative simplification, the industrial strength of SMEs and access to European funding. In this regard, they highlighted the urgency of making further progress on regulatory simplification, and emphasized the importance of supporting SMEs to ensure their full integration, preventing the green transition from becoming a barrier to growth.
We are at a decisive moment. The European Union cannot afford to stand still. A clean, just and competitive transition will only be possible if the public and private sectors act as true strategic partners, each fulfilling their share of the commitment. It is a shared effort to build a stronger, more united Europe - one that is ready to lead the future.