Neither a business lobby group nor a think tank, ERT has consistently sought to wake up policy makers to looming problems and to sow the seeds of ideas for their solution. The quality of itsideas and proposals have steadily acquired a reputation for first-rate analysis and intelligent argument. This has enabled ERT to become a key interlocutor in the debate on European competitiveness providing thoughtful, well researched critiques of the status quo and considered recommendations for future action. 

ERT was an early entrant into the debate on how to tackle Europe’s problem of jobless growth in the mid-1980s, was among the first to call for a continent-wide vision of transport infrastructure, persistently campaigned for high-quality education and training, consistently favoured the adoption of International Accounting Standards and has repeatedly set out the arguments for pensions reform, liberalisation of utilities and a flexible employment market.

ERT’s “core business” since the mid-1980s has been securing the development and implementation of the European Single Market programme. Jacques Delors, past President of the European Commission (1985–1995) and one of the key advocates of the Single Market, has publicly recognised the important role played by ERT in this area.

Today, the organisation maintains a sharp vision of the Single Market structure needed to offer economies of scale and competitiveness in the global market. It continues, therefore, to argue for the elimination of the still-powerful obstacles that prevent business securing the full benefits of the Single Market. In recent years it has campaigned vigorously, for example, for a Community patent system and an end to fragmented national regulations that frustrate efforts towards entrepreneurship and innovation.

ERT’s first competitive priority was infrastructure. Its 1984 report “Missing Links”, proposed three major infrastructure projects: Euro-Route – a Channel link between England and France, Scanlink – a plan to fill in the road and rail gaps between Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Northern Germany; and proposals for a trans-European network of high-speed trains.

It would be exaggerated to claim sole credit for these projects, but the ERT report, presented first to the press of England, certainly contributed to the ongoing discussion and later to the realisation of all three projects in modified form.

The Treaty of Maastricht and its timetable for European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) was welcomed by ERT, as it regarded a single currency as a necessary pillar for the Single Market, and a means to reduce the cost of doing business. Members were active in encouraging the successful implementation of the Maastricht timetable based on the adoption of the euro as the single currency in 1999 and the introduction of euro notes and coins in 2002.

ERT is widely credited with raising awareness amongst senior EU officials of the importance of economic and business competitiveness to growth, employment and prosperity. In 1995 – in response to a suggestion from ERT - the European Commission created a Competitiveness Advisory Group. Throughout its existence, this Group had a significant influence on the development of the European competitiveness agenda.

Employment issues have also been given continuous attention by ERT. Job creation goes hand-in-hand with competitiveness and the social policy framework, however, ERT has also been able to focus on micro measures, particularly for encouraging job creation among small and medium-sized companies through practical partnerships between large and small businesses.

More recently, ERT Members have contributed to the preparation of the Lisbon Agenda which seeks to make Europe the ‘most competitive and dynamic knowledge based economy in the world’ by the year 2010. ERT has so far found the implementation of the Agenda less impressive than the declarations made at its adoption by the European Council in March 2000. ERT Members have constantly stressed the need for better performance by national governments towards achieving targets within a specified timeframe that otherwise risk remaining beyond Europe’s grasp. In subsequent years, ERT regularly contributed to the debate on how to ensure better implementation of the Lisbon Agenda across all EU Member States, including on ways to foster innovation and achieve higher industry investment in Research & Development in Europe.

ERT Members have long appreciated the benefits of EU enlargement both for the accession countries and for the existing Member States in terms of peace, stability and future prosperity. ERT consistently supported the expansion of the Union, actively contribution to the process leading to the accession of ten new Member States in May 2004, by advocating strict implementation of the EU acquis by the acceding countries. ERT argued that this was an essential pre-condition to ensure the integrity of the Single Market, and thus the competitiveness of the entire European economy. ERT Members continue to support further accessions to the EU once candidate countries truly fulfil the necessary criteria.

As leaders of multinational companies, ERT Members appreciate the benefits of global trade within a multilateral rules-based system. ERT thus strongly supported the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) trade negotiations, regularly underlining the business interest in thier successful conclusion.

ERT Members were particularly aware of the dynamic developments in other economies around the globe. By sharing companies' global experience in other parts of the world with EU policy makers, ERT sought to create a better understanding of how EU policy actions could ensure that Europe remained competitive while building mutually beneficial economic relationships with other regions. Thus, ERT addressed the EU's foreign economic relations with the United States, Russia and China. ERT also supported an ambitious European Neighbourhood Policy as a win-win approach to gradually enlarging the EU's Single Market.