Vladimír Dlouhý, President of The Czech Chamber of Commerce & Deputy President of EUROCHAMBRES
Journal Général de l’Europe (JGDE): Can you briefly introduce us to the Czech Chamber of Commerce?
Vladimír Dlouhý (VD): The Czech Chamber of Commerce is the only representative of business community in the Czech Republic which was established by a special chamber law. Membership is non-compulsory and currently we have over 16 thousand members. Main chamber’s mission is defending interests of the Czech business community through discussions with key players on national as well as regional level, government and state officials. We also comment on new business-related legislation and with all our activities we help create the most favourable business environment in our country. As full members of EUROCHAMBRES we get involved in EU and international projects and policies.
JGDE: What is your responsibility like Deputy President of EUROCHAMBRES in Brussels?
VD: I chair Sustainable Europe committee that drafts positions to European initiatives in the field of climate issues and energy, and in my capacity I discuss these positions with Commissioners, the Council and EMPs. As all vicepresidents, I also provide support to the EUROCHAMBRES President Luc Frieden with representing and promoting the European chamber network.
JGDE: What are your priorities for the Czech Presidency?
VD: We summerized the entrepreneurial priorities of the Czech Presidency in a document that was presented to public and the Czech government. The main points are energy security and self-sufficiency, mitigation of bureaucratic burden of enterprises and improvement of the EU Single Market conditions as well as support of digitalization and investment into the added value.
JGDE: Could you present the economic area and the perspectives of development? The role of energy, environment, and digitalization?
VD: The Czech Republic is an open economy with advanced industry and services, it has a high potential to become a technological leader not only in the Central Europe. Czechia’s great advantage is its self-sufficiency in energy production (albeit suffering with gas shortage in case the stoppage of Russian deliveries), relatively small level of indebtedness and political stability. That is why the country is an attractive destination for foreign investors and development of new technologies.
JGDE: Could you give us an idea about the important sector in Czechia and the international collaboration?
VD: Undoubtedly, the main role in the Czech economy plays the automotive industry. However, this sector is expected to undergo substantial changes in the next years with relation to the Green Deal, fights with climate change and growing importance of electromobility. It is critical to follow this trend and make Czechia a technological centre, particularly for development of batteries and other related projects. Nevertheless, for a long time we have been warning that the current European policy in the field of climate change fight is very precipitous and does not reflect regional differences not only in electromobility, but in energy sector as such.
JGDE: What are the major challenges for entrepreneurial sector in the national and international area in the world of today and tomorrow?
VD: European countries prioritize reduction of energy dependence on imports from Russia, particularly gas. With upcoming winter it will be even more crucial to fill the gas storing facilities in each country and at the same time negotiate gas imports from alternative sources, or increase the LNG capacities, like the Czech government and the energy company ČEZ did in co-operation with the Netherlands. Long-term objectives should be the technological development of economies and investment in digitalization as well as increasing the added value in manufacturing. Important challenge also is the reduction of bureaucratic burden which remains still high in the Czech Republic.
