The Confederation of European Business, shortened as BusinessEurope, is a

lobby Lobby may refer to: * Lobby (room), an entranceway or foyer in a building * Lobbying, the action or the group used to influence a viewpoint to politicians * Lobby (food), a thick stew made in Leigh, Greater Manchester and North Staffordshire, like ...

group representing enterprises of all sizes in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

(EU) and seven non-EU European countries. It is made up of 40 national industry and

employers' organizations An employers' organization or employers' association is a collective organization of manufacturers, retailers, or other employers of wage labor. Employers' organizations seek to coordinate the behavior of their member companies in matters of mutua ...

. The current president of the confederation is Fredrik Persson, while the Director General is Markus J. Beyrer. Based in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, the confederation is officially recognised as a social partner at

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an level, is involved in a range of economic and social decisions and cooperates with a number of stakeholders and business partners. It promotes the interests of corporate citizens to ensure that

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a Group decision-making, decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to Problem solving, solve or address relevant and problematic social issues, guided by a conceptio ...

supports the European economy. It is generally considered the strongest interest organisation in Brussels and represents 20 million companies through its member trade associations in 36 European countries.

History

In 2014,

Unilever Unilever PLC () is a British multinational consumer packaged goods company headquartered in London, England. It was founded on 2 September 1929 following the merger of Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie with British soap maker Lever B ...

terminated its membership in BusinessEurope's Advisory and Support Group because it opposed the organisation's stance on

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

emissions.

Leadership

The association is led by a president, which has been held by the following persons: * 1958–1961

Léon Bekaert Léon Antoine Bekaert (Zwevegem, 9 December 1891 - Zwevegem, 19 December 1961) was a Belgian industrialist and politician. He was the son of Leo Leander Bekaert, who founded the family business in 1880. He expanded the family venture ''Tréfile ...

* 1961–1962

Georges Villiers Georges Villiers (15 June 1899 – 13 April 1982) was a French mining engineer who was Mayor of Lyon during World War II (1939–45), then was deported to Dachau. After the war for many years he was head of the national employers association. E ...

* 1962–1967 H. J. de Koster * 1967–1971 Fritz Berg * 1971–1975 * 1975–1980 * 1981–1983

Guido Carli Guido Carli (28 March 1914 – 23 April 1993) was an Italian banker, economist, and politician. His father was the prominent fascist sociologist Filippo Carli. Biography He was the son of Filippo Carli (1876–1938), a university professor of ...

* 1984–1986 Raymond Pennock * 1986–1990 * 1990–1994 * 1994–1998

François Perigot François Perigot (12 May 1926 – 7 January 2022) was a French businessman and trade unionist. He was President of the Conseil national du patronat français from 1986 to 1994 and President of the Mouvement des Entreprises de France from 1997 ...

* 1998–2003 Georges Jacobs * 2003–2005

Jürgen Strube Jürgen or Jurgen is a popular masculine given name in Germany, Estonia, Belgium and the Netherlands. Notable people named Jürgen include: A * Jürgen Ahrend (1930–2024), German organ builder *Jürgen Alzen (born 1962), German race car driv ...

* 2005–2009

Ernest-Antoine Seillière Ernest-Antoine Seillière de Laborde (born 20 December 1937) is a French entrepreneur and the heir to the Wendel empire (representing €730 million). He is a member of Le Siècle think tank, an officer of the ''Légion d'honneur'', and an offi ...

* 2009–2013 * 2013-2018

Emma Marcegaglia Emma Marcegaglia (born 24 December 1965 in Mantua) is an Italian entrepreneur. She was president of Confindustria from 2008 to 2012, and president of the Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli from 2010 to 2019. From 20 ...

* 2018-2022

Pierre Gattaz Pierre Gattaz (born 11 September 1959) is a French business executive. He serves as the Chairman of Radiall, an electronics manufacturer. In parallel with his activity as a company director, he holds various positions within professional organis ...

* Since July 2022 Fredrik Persson BusinessEurope is administered by a director general. Markus J. Beyrer has been holding that position since 2013.

Activities

The Confederation of European Business organises the biannua
BusinessEurope Day
in Brussels.

Member organisations

References

Sources

European Social Partners
as recognised by the Treaty of Lisbon

RFI 20 May 2011

External links

* {{Authority control Business organizations based in Europe Employers' organizations Industry in the European Union Lobbying organizations in Europe Lobbying in the European Union Pan-European trade and professional organizations 1958 establishments in Europe