EURATEX – the European Apparel and Textile Confederation – voice of the textile and clothing industry in Europe, hosted a conference ‘Best in Partnerships’ to boost European manufacturing.
Topics that were addressed at the conference include Circular Economy, Creative Industries, Education and Skills, and International Trade. The European Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs Elżbieta Bieńkowska said that textile and fashion industry is a strategic sector in the EU and it is really performing well. “The European Commission is undertaking a number of actions to meet three main challenges of the sector: innovation, international competition and skills shortage,” she emphasized.
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The Commissioner also highlighted that the European institutions are expecting full engagement of industry, because knowledge about the companies’ needs should drive the development of new policies and programmes.
At the event, EURATEX’s President Serge Piolat stressed that textile and fashion sector is appreciating the European Commission’s willingness to build a dialogue with the industry. The association even proposed an action plan to the European Commission to further strengthen ‘internationalization’ of the SMEs, assure fair conditions for the European companies through stricter market surveillance, provide better access for SMEs to EU research funds and boost innovation investments at regional level through RegioTex initiative. “We are strongly committed to show meaningful results and we have equally high expectations of concrete actions from the policy-makers,” said Piolat.
