Debate on the EU recovery fund with Executive Vice-President Timmermans

On 26th October 2020 the launch event of the Sustainable, Long-term investments & Competitive European Industry Intergroup took place via webinar with more than 500 people attending.

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Chaired by Maria da Graça Carvalho (EPP), Simona Bonafè (S&D) and Dominique Riquet (RE), the Intergroup was hailed as a useful forum gathering MEPs and civil society to discuss two interlinked areas: on the one hand, the growing debate on sustainable finance and a greener EU budget, on the other, the conditions to improve competitiveness of the European industry.

Besides launching the Intergroup activities, the event sparked debate about the EU recovery fund as a key instrument to enable recovery and build resilience.

The event’s programme featured two main sections. The first part was kicked off by a keynote speech by Commission’s Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal, Mr Frans Timmermans. This speech was followed by an exchange with Co-Chairs MEP Carvalho and MEP Bonafé. A second part was animated by a panel discussion with representatives from the European Commission, the trade unions, the industry and the national promotional banks, moderated by Fabian Zuleeg of EPC.

During the event, all speakers made it clear that in this transformative age Europe must invest on long-term objectives of sustainability and competitiveness with short term results to recover from the crisis. If Europe does not act now, the next generations will be left suffering all the economic and environmental consequences. 

In her closing remarks, Ms Carvalho mentioned that over 100 MEPs and partner organisations have already joined the EP Intergroup. She invited all stakeholders to participate in future events.