Making Europe stronger through bilateral collaboration

How can we further expand bilateral economic relations? In what areas could economic operators cooperate more closely? Which issues can be advanced by working together on a European level? What needs to happen on the political level to strengthen the European single market? We are actively working on these and other questions with our partners in EU member countries. All German companies, whether a small family business or a global corporation, benefit from the common market and a strong European Union.

Pursuing mutual interests with our partner associations

Our bilateral and multilateral collaboration takes place on many levels, with numerous actors and using a wide range of different dialogue formats. Our most important contacts are our European partner associations and our close cooperation under the framework of the European umbrella association BUSINESSEUROPE in Brussels. This is where we share information on a regular basis at the European level on all relevant issues.

Many conferences also take place, such as the Trilateral Business Forum, which we organise with our Italian and French partner associations CONFINDUSTRIA and MEDEF to bring together political and business actors once a year. Joint statements on central issues of concern for industry, such as digitalisation, industrial, energy and climate policy, are developed and presented to policymakers.

We are also in regular contact with our partners from our direct EU neighbours. Together with our Turkish partner association TÜSIAD, for example, we are driving industrial collaboration under the auspices of the economic ministries of both countries with a joint working group.

In addition to these regular formats, we collaborate with all our European partner associations as and when required. With joint statements, conferences and delegations, we are continually developing solutions to manage the current and future challenges facing the EU. 

Promoting contact on the political level

Another cornerstone of our work is regular dialogue with the local embassies and representations of EU member states in Berlin. These contacts provide us with valuable first-hand insights into domestic political developments and the situation of German companies in the respective countries. Visits of government delegations from our neighbouring countries to the House of German Business enable us and our member companies to hold a productive exchange on the key issues of economic and European policy and address issues important to us. Thanks to our participation in bilateral government consultations, we convey our position directly to the political decision-makers of our partner countries.

Pooling resources

We can only overcome the challenges facing Europe by working together. In constructive dialogue with numerous actors on the European level, we use our role as business federation to develop solutions that strengthens Europe internally and externally.