An open and competitive economy must focus on unhindered knowledge and creativity

Belgium does not have an abundance of primary raw materials. Our real value can be found an average of 1.7 metres above the ground inside the heads of our people: talent, knowledge and creativity. In other words, without brains we have few weapons for maintaining, let alone increasing, our economic strength. Consequently, productivity, in the sense of added value created per hour, is essential to the competitiveness of a small, open economy like Belgium.

Since we as a country, more than other countries, depend on human capital, the system of automatic wage indexation is detrimental to the competitiveness of our companies. Due to the automatic nature of this system, international shocks in energy prices, for example, result in direct and non-negotiated labour cost increases in Belgium, which are considerably larger than for our foreign competitors. Accordingly, FEB advocates a system of free and non -automatic wage negotiations at cross-sectoral, sectoral and company level between responsible social partners.

We are also in favour of ensuring the proper functioning of the European internal market. Since Europe is our most important market, we must remove all obstacles that hinder free movement within Europe. Moreover, the EU must continue pursuing an ambitious and balanced trade policy to facilitate access to non-EU markets for our goods and services and to protect the legitimate interests of the EU and its companies.

With this approach we can better prepare our companies for future challenges and maintain our competitiveness.