What is at stake in the ongoing debate on the future of EU in view of the European elections?
This year marks 20 years since Latvia joined the European Union and NATO. It is a great moment to reflect on our achievements and past expectations. This year's EU Parliament elections will be the fifth one where Latvian people will elect their MEPs.
It is always a controversial debate – do we use all the possibilities EU membership brings to our country? War in Ukraine shows unpleasant consequences of not making the correct and timely decisions and actions. Since Latvia joined the EU and NATO - we have experienced economic growth and an increase in the attraction of foreign private and public investments. And we need to continue moving towards this growth. In the future, more extensive investments in the defence industry are foreseen not only in Latvia but around the globe – this is one of the questions for the new European Parliament – how to ensure the flow of these investments. How to strengthen economies and countries' resilience against unforeseeable risks.
At the EU level, in Brussels and national capitals, we talk more and more about securing and strengthening our democracy. It seems a strange discussion, considering we seemingly have established strong democratic principles around the EU. We also better than ever understand that economic growth is a condition for resilience against populist ideas and unfulfilling promises. The new European Parliament's composition should favour democratic values and the EU's role in safeguarding those.
As a business support organisation, we want active and experienced MEPs for the next EU political mandate — someone who understands business. Even have practical experience in doing business. European companies are losing their competitive advantage in global markets due to over-regulations, gold plating, administrative burdens, and financial constraints. It is something that needs to be changed. Bureaucracy is not a way forward. It is a way backwards. We can't afford it!
Single market is still at the top of the EU Agenda. What is your opinion on what is really needed by the market and on the initiatives being taken by the Commission?
The EU Single Market is a key to the EU's growth – a way to increase its share in the global market. Easy to say, harder to implement. I recently met with Italy's former prime minister, Mr Letta, who is now in charge of developing the EU Single Market restart plan. And I told him this and can only repeat - with active engagement of national governments to foster the enforcement of the Single Market and stopping protectionism - our joint union can flourish.
What is needed by companies? I am giving a concise list for the start of this discussion that needs to be continued at the national level, with EU institutions and involving business support organisations. We all have a role in achieving the results.
What needs to be done:
Avoid or at least minimise diverging legal practices and costly regulations for companies;
See the Singel Market as a “sandbox” to increase the company's competitive advantage in external markets;
Improve access to information - remove language barriers and increase trust between national and regional governments and their institutions;
Continue work on harmonisation and simplification of rules and regulations across the EU, considering permitting system, enforcement of GDPR, tax policies, rules and forms on submitting tax reports, and information exchange between business registries and other institutions;
Minimize costs of implementation of new regulations. Performe competitiveness check on all new regulations prepared by the EU and national institutions;
Correctly apply the “only once” principle across the EU;
Increase sales volumes using eCommerce and review applicable rules in member states;
Ensure access to affordable resources – electricity, raw materials, etc.;
Ensure the proper amount of funding to face new challenges for SMEs, especially regarding twin transition and development of innovative products and services;
Advance public sector digitalization to decrease the administrative burden on companies
The EU Single Market must be central to all other EU policies. But this is something that is forgotten in EU institutions. Last year, the European Commission published the SME Relief Package. Honestly, expectations in the business community were higher than the document delivered. We also see that during the regulation adaptation process, the focus is lost on improving the business environment for SMEs and supporting their internationalization. And it is not politically or economically savvy. We need to bring business back to the EU policy agenda. We need to push our national governments harder.
What kind of innovative services the Latvia Chamber offers to SME’s? Could you please make some concrete examples?
Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is a private law chamber. Membership in the Chamber is voluntary, and members pay membership fees yearly. At the same time, we have ensured the growth of our membership base for the last nine years - constantly increasing numbers of members. To continue this growth and ensure membership retention, we need to offer high-quality services to our members and add value to them.
LCCI is quite strong when it comes to interest representation and advocacy. We have built an internal system where we collect members' opinions on proposed legislation and amendments to existing laws and form LCCI opinions on those documents. We are a strong and competent partner to our government to create a better business environment for local and national companies and international investors.
We could be more innovative on the service side, but we listen to our members and provide them with the needed services. Last year, in our annual members survey, they expressed interest in receiving more services to support their expansion in foreign markets. We do traditional services there - organising individual and group business visits to and from other countries; during Covid restrictions, we offered this service in digital form, and we continue to do that - but we felt that we needed to do something more.
Years ago, we started to build the LCCI representatives’ network abroad. Last year, we gave this project a "second breath". Today, we have a network of 30 representatives abroad and want to double it in 2024. They are professionals in their field who know the specifics of the particular market and are ready to provide support and advice so that Latvian entrepreneurs can establish contacts and start cooperation. They are ambassadors of Latvian business in their home countries. Participants of this network aren't LCCI employees; they do this voluntarily. We are allways open for your suggestions to have such persons in countries around the world.
Over the years, LCCI has become a hub for training, information seminars, networking and benchmarking events. Our members value this opportunity to have everything they need to increase their knowledge, skills and overall competitiveness in one place.
In which sectors LCCI is more active on European projects? Could you please showcase some success stories?
LCCI demonstrates a strong presence in European projects across several sectors. One of our primary focuses is on improving the business environment. LCCI encompasses various activities, from aiding start-ups and SMEs to developing export strategies, digitalisation and innovations.
Additionally, we're deeply committed to advancing a green and sustainable economy. Our initiatives here involve promoting energy efficiency among enterprises and adopting circular economy models, aligning with the broader goals of the EU Green Deal.
Education also forms a core part of our mission. We emphasise training for entrepreneurs and other stakeholders, advocate for lifelong learning, and encourage robust collaborations between educational institutions and industry.
Our long-standing experience in managing various EU-funded projects, notably under programs like Interreg, Erasmus+, and Horizon Europe, has garnered us professional recognition for the quality and impact of our work. LCCI is a cross-sectoral organisation. Therefore, we support both producers and different service providers in all fields. Our success stories are built up on export results by SMEs in both EU and 3rd countries, access to finance – SMEs receive EU funds for innovations and competitiveness improvements in all kinds of ways – starting with training, consultations, digitalisation competitiveness, etc.
We always look for new partnerships in Latvia and around the EU and new project ideas to support our members' growth and add value to their membership in LCCI. We are also open for partners in Italy to exchange experience and knowledge and bring our business communities closer to each other.