Limited British interest in moving business to new EU states

Published: 31 August 2004 y., Tuesday
Fears of a large-scale relocation of British businesses to eastern Europe following the enlargement of the European Union have failed to materialise, a business group in London said. The Institute of Directors said only 13 percent of company bosses said they had considered shutting down their British operations and moving business activities to one of the 10 new EU member states. At the same time, 80 percent of companies said they had no intention of outsourcing any of their operations, despite lower operating costs in eastern Europe, the institute said. "Although there have been some high-profile examples of companies switching production to the new member states, our survey suggests that these cases are the exception rather than the rule," said James Walsh, head of European and regulatory affairs at the institute. "Britain remains a good place to do business, but there is no room for complacency," he said. The institute also found that British businesses were keen to trade with the new EU members, with 35 percent already doing business with firms in these countries, particularly those in Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Firms also expressed concerns about red tape, with nearly 70 percent concerned that the recent expansion of the European Union would lead to increased business regulation. The Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia -- all former communist countries -- plus Cyprus and Malta, joined the European Union on May 1 after several years of tough pre-accession negotiations.
Šaltinis: story.news.yahoo.com
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.

Facebook Comments

New comment


Captcha

Associated articles

The most popular articles

Volcanic ash cloud crisis: Commission outlines response to tackle the impact on air transport

European Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas, responsible for transport, today presented to the College a preliminary assessment of the economic consequences for the air transport industry of the volcanic ash crisis. more »

EU draft budget 2011: The future beyond the crisis

Boosting economic recovery, investing in Europe's youth and in tomorrow's infrastructures are the priorities of the 2011 draft budget adopted by the Commission on 27 April 2010. more »

Vice President Almunia welcomes Visa Europe's proposal to cut interbank fees for debit cards

European Competition Commissioner Joaquín Almunia welcomes proposed commitments by Visa Europe to significantly cut its multilateral interchange fees (MIFs) for debit card payments. more »

Volcano impacts flower business

Because of the Icelandic volcano, flower growers in Colombia couldn't get their stems to markets in Europe. more »

Salgado expresses conviction that all EU countries will support aid for Greece

The Second Vice President of the Spanish government and Minister of Economy and Finance, Elena Salgado, on Sunday played down the importance of apparent fissures within the EU concerning the Greek financial crisis, expressing her confidence that all countries would support the aid package for this country, which will be accompanied by a tough budget-tightening plan. more »

The European conformity mark

Commission launches an information campaign on the CE conformity mark - designed to ease the free movement of goods around Europe and protect consumers. more »

Airport security - who will foot the bill?

If Europe's airports ever open again the introduction of new security measures like body scanners will be expensive. more »

Learning the lessons from Greece

After Eurozone Finance Ministers agreed measures to address Greece’s financial woes last Sunday, MEPs quizzed leading economic figures, including the chairman of Goldman Sachs - former financial advisors to the Greek government - on how to strengthen EU economic governance and improve reporting of national statistics. more »

A new strategic vision for the EU's Tourism Policy

The European Tourism Stakeholders Conference, being held in Madrid today and tomorrow, will explore ways and means to strengthen the visibility of tourism at a European level and to verify how the actions to promote a competitive EU tourism industry. more »

EBRD, IFC, FMO, and ADM Capital Launch Fund to Help Companies in CEE, Central Asia, and Turkey Recover from Crisis

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), World Bank Group member IFC, and The Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO) have joined up with the Asia Debt Management Hong Kong (ADM Capital) to establish a regional fund to invest in midsize companies facing financing difficulties as a result of the financial crisis. more »