Partner Article

Businesses call for more European free trade

Businesses in the UK highly value free trade with other European countries, but are still unsure whether current levels of integration are beneficial for their company’s prospects.

The British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) recently asked its members for views on which type of trading relationship with other countries in Europe would most benefit their business in the long term.

Commenting on the findings, John Longworth, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said: “It is not surprising that businesses want to see more free trade, but less integration across Europe. Companies tell us that the burden of European regulation and legislation is in danger of making them less competitive in the global market.”

“Our results show that politicians must not be entranced by the siren songs of either the pro- or anti-European camps.

Less than one in every twenty companies responding to our survey holds either extremely positive or extremely negative views about Britain’s relationship with Europe. It is also staggering to see just how many businesspeople are unsure or unaware of whether links to the rest of Europe benefit them.“

Over half had no opinion, but more than half of those who did favoured a ‘free trade area’ . Only a third supported the idea of an ‘economic union’.

Businesses surveyed were overwhelmingly opposed to UK entry into a monetary union like the Eurozone, with only 3.9% supporting the idea, illustrating the impact of the ongoing Euro crisis on British businesses.

Despite this however, only 4.4% of all respondents favoured leaving the EU all together.

The BCC is now calling on the Government to provide more information about Europe, and ministers should work to remove barriers to free trade among European countries.

Mr Longworth continued: “Companies we surveyed indicated that they found it as easy to increase their trade with some non-EU countries, as it was to increase their trade with other EU countries.

“Since the single market is the only real source of sustainable growth for the EU, leaders must focus on how to make it work better.

“At the same time, our representatives in Brussels must continue to fight all proposals that would slap additional costs or regulatory burdens on British businesses.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .