EU group urges gov’t to handle economy first

“It’s time to act for a new government, to get Taiwan [back] on track,” said ECCT Chairman Ralf Scheller, hinting directly at Frank Hsieh and Ma Ying-jeou, the two presidential candidates from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party and the opposition Kuomintang in the next presidential election.

In the chamber’s perspective, the position papers provide a roadmap of 10 recommendations to deal with the current sluggish economy. These suggestions were developed based on issues identified by ECCT’s committee members as hindering the further development of their respective industries in Taiwan.

“We believe it’s time for a new government to act,” said Scheller, who noted that in Taiwan “local political issues are overshadowing economic issues.”

Immediately normalize cross-strait economic relations, open the public procurement market to multinational companies, create a sustainable healthcare environment, accelerate the development of services and other related industries, set up IPR protection mechanisms, improve carbon emissions and energy efficiency, and secure a sufficient supply of skilled labor for high-tech and service industries, were among other emphasized by the European chamber in this year’s position papers.

Instead of just repeating the unresolved issues of the previous position papers, the chamber has been focused on subjects aiming at improving the local economy, said scheller.

For instance, in order to develop the country into a regional financial service center, the position papers recommend that the government further deregulates its financial services rather than engaging in short-term regulatory micro-management. Lifting restrictions on investment in Mainland China securities will give Taiwan investors access to a much wider range of international funds, says the second recommendation included in the 2007 position papers.

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