BOJIDAR DANEV: WE SUPPORT THE 4TH SCENARIO OF THE WHITE PAPER ON THE FUTURE OF EUROPE – “DOING LESS MORE EFFICIENTLY”

“We’ve been attentively acquainted with the White Paper on the future of Europe and we consider that we could support the 4th scenario – “Doing Less More Efficiently”. We need to further develop the Single Market predominantly, as well as to boost the Digital Single Market.” This was the statement of the Executive President of the BIA Bojidar Danev, which he presented to the participants in the Tripartite Social Summit on the 8^th of March 2017 in Brussels.

The discussion was opened by the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European Council Donald Tusk and the Prime Minister of Malta Joseph Muscat. The Bulgarian delegation included also the Minister of labor and social policy Galab Donev and the President of CITUB Plamen Dimitrov.

The agenda included speeches of the ministers of labor of Bulgaria, Malta and Estonia, the executives of the biggest European business organizations – BUSINESSEUROPE, CEEP, UEAPME, etc. The main focus of the summit was “The future of Europe: charting the course towards growth, employment and fairness”.

Bojidar Danev presented a statement on “New forms of work and the future of industry”. He pointed out as one of the most significant merits of Treaty of Rome the removal of trade barriers, which opens the way for establishment of the common market that is key to the competitiveness of European companies. “We need to further develop the Single Market predominantly, as well as to boost the Digital Single Market. On the other hand, we observe a growing gap between the expectation of the needs of the 4th technological revolution and the education”, said Mr. Danev. According to his words, the increasing digitalization forces us more and more to enable flexible forms of education, flexible forms of work, such as teleworking, flexible work time, flexibility of payment, geographical flexibility and mobility, temporary work agencies, etc. All this with a view to prevent the “hidden” employment.

The Executive President of the BIA informed that among the priorities of the Bulgarian Industrial Association for the forthcoming Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU are establishing a proper legislation to stimulate the digital economy development and creating new models of interaction between business and education.

Preceding the Tripartite Social Summit, Bojidar Danev and Branimir Handjiev (Director General in the BIA) attended the signing of the Autonomous framework agreement on active ageing and an inter-generational approach, signed by the European Social Partners – BusinessEurope, CEEP, UEAPME and ETUC.