The debate on the UK’s membership of the EU touches on a range of policy areas that are highly relevant to business. These include trade, the Single Market, Better Regulation and the Energy Union. Under the Competitiveness heading, Prime Minister David Cameron’s letter to Council President Donald Tusk calls for a cut in the total burden of regulation on business, as well as further action to boost freedom of movement of capital, goods and services.

The objective of this Policy Dialogue was to set the UK’s business reform agenda in the context of the European policy debate; to assess how far UK demands are shared EU priorities; and to identify where potential conflicts lie. The Dialogue also sought to identify overlaps between the EU agenda and the reforms proposed by the UK, potential difficulties in delivering these and to better understand the perspective of other member states. Furthermore, what reforms are needed at the EU level in order to encourage growth?

The Policy Dialogue, organised in cooperation with the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK), is part of a wider series of activities on the EU-UK relationship funded by the King Baudouin Foundation and the Robert Bosch Stiftung.