The FINANCIAL — Private businesses across Europe see regulation and bureaucracy in their domestic economies as more of a threat to the development of their companies than regulation and bureaucracy coming from the European Union.
In a PwC survey of 2,450 companies across 31 European countries, 39% said domestic red tape was a concern, compared with about 29% citing EU red tape as a problem.
In Italy, where anti-establishment, eurosceptic parties have very recently scored electoral success, as many as 49% of respondents felt domestic bureaucracy was a problem, compared with 20% singling out EU red tape, according to PwC.
European private businesses also see their biggest challenge as a skills shortage that is preventing them for hiring the right talent for growth. The PwC survey shines a private business spotlight on a wider, ongoing issue across the EU. PwC estimates that the skills shortage is costing the region’s private businesses €324 billion annually in lost revenues. That’s approximately equivalent to the combined annual GDP of Portugal, Hungary and Croatia.
According to PwC, nonetheless, private businesses are more optimistic than they have been for some time. They are particularly confident they can grow their companies in their domestic markets by focusing on their customers and embracing digital technologies. Mid-sized companies (defined as those with annual revenues of €50 million to €100 million) are the most positive of those PwC surveyed.
Discussion about this post