For liberty, for values and for future – the new European Commission takes office

The European Parliament has approved the new, almost gender-equal college of the European Commission, composed by 27 Commissioners. At this occasion, CEC welcomes the ambition of the European Commission to lead the European Union into a courageous future. In her speech on 27 November at the European Parliament, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen rightly called for championing multilaralism, climate leadership and a new deal for our economy. « European managers support the new, green growth strategy of the European Commission in an effort to ensure that ecology, social well-being and economic activity go hand-in-hand. The EU must take the lead on these issues now. » says Ludger Ramme, President of CEC.

A special attention to make the transition succeed should be paid to equipping managers and workers with necessary transition skills and citizens with social safety nets through a just transition mechanism. As central agents for sustainable development, managers need the right skills to set strategy, human resources and innovation capacity on track for business within planetary boundaries. According to CEC’s brand new report « Managers in Europe : today and tomorrow » (to appear on 3 December), only a minority of managers have received education or training on sustainability. This is a key challenge, if we are to keep the engagements of the Paris Agreement and SDGs, particularly when considering the management of global value chains.

Also the digital transformation will require a shift to systemic, empathic and creative leadership, as outlined by Commission President Von der Leyen. Controlling and automatable tasks will be done by digital tools, including Artificial Intelligence. CEC welcomes Margarete Vestager’s (new digital Commissioner) commitment to making the digital transformation about humans’ creativity and empathy, enhanced by technology. Neither the US nor the Chinese model can serve as a basis for the EU’s digital future, as CEC had outlined before.

As a European social partner, CEC will, in the years to come, remain a reliable partner to the European Commission, together with the other social partner organisations, by providing managerial expertise. After a strong leadership on social Europe by the last Juncker Commission, we now have to work together to make the European Pillar of Social Rights a reality. The number of priorities listed by the new Commissioner for Jobs, Nicolas Schmit, so far is impressive: from the adoption of an initiative on a EU minimum wage to the strengthening of social security protection, from the issue of skills to the advancement in the implementation of the Pillar.

As done throughout its history since 1951, CEC European Managers will contribute to reflecting on these issues, bringing in the vision and expertise of its almost one million members, executives, managers and high-level professionals of all sectors and backgrounds.