The 4th “European Business Summit” (EBS) was held in Brussels on 16-17 March. Attended by over 1500 European businessmen, the summit was promoted by UNICE (European Community Industrial Union) in collaboration with the European Commission, the Austrian Presidency of the European Council and various continental sponsors. Two main themes were on the order of the day: how to tackle and manage globalization in the perspective of European business; and how to re-launch the national Lisbon programmes of socio-economic reform in the light of the Summit’s premises, namely that “the lack of growth is at the root of Europe’s problems”, and that the “lack of ambition of some National Programmes risks a shock therapy capable of generating a clear process of governance with the involvement of all the social partners”. A session of the work was dedicated to a debate between the managing directors of leading European firms on “how to construct the Europe of excellence”. The Business Message – i.e. the final document containing the conclusions of the EBS – was formally presented to the Summit of heads of state and of government of the EU held in Brussels on 23 March. l lnone
