Vídeo: The Big Question: Porque é que a Dinamarca está tão bem classificada em termos de competitividade?

🗣️ Transcrição automática de voz para texto.

it’s difficult to continue being a winning country in a continent which is challenged a lot the last time we didn’t agree was in 1998 it’s easy for companies to hire people but it’s also easy to fire [Music] people welcome to the big question the series from Euro News will we address some of the biggest topics on the business agenda I’m Hannah Brown and today I’m joined by Thomas bustr the deputy director General of the Confederation of Danish Industries so welcome thank you very much for joining us so I think the big word on everyone’s lips in Europe at the moment is competitiveness um and on global rankings Denmark is doing pretty well so why do you think that is I think we have a quite a flexible uh economy and uh we have a flexible labor market uh we’ve been building up a system for more than 100 years uh somebody calls this the Danish model it is a model which is very much about trust mhm uh Trust between the employees the unions and uh the employers I think that plays an important role and do you think there is a particular focus on any kind of businesses or Industries in Denmark that particularly play a role in in making you competitive I mean we have a very strong sector within the Pharmaceuticals uh who are Global Champions and not only noish but that’s one of them and then I think that the whole uh green transition a lot of Danish companies have uh have an excellence in that and not just within the last years but within probably 30 40 years you could say that Danish companies has has done a lot in in the green transition and uh and thereby also being popular uh around the world not only in Europe but also in the US and Asia yes yeah so you mentioned the Danish model of the labor market can you just explain a little bit kind of how it works and why it’s Unique it’s based on trust and you don’t build up trust in a couple of years that takes a long time but we done that in the in the Danish Society so basically we on behalf of the employers we negotiate with the unions yes every second third year on all labor market regulation so it’s a very decentralized model okay and the government basically only interfere when we cannot agree and last time we didn’t agree was in 1998 so more than 25 years ago so the unions will go out to all the the employees all their members and say you know we’ve had tough negotiations and they are tough normally they last for two three months oh wow and uh then they go out and they recommend to to all their members to to vote and the employees uh and the employers and Di we uh we also vote on the result and if it’s a yes it’s a yes and then you have this common understanding that this is going to be the labor regulation over the next 2 or 3 years it creates the platform to say okay this is uh this is what we have this is how we share yeah uh hopefully you know the good results made in the company this is how we share it for the next 2 or 3 years so it creates a common ground and I mean when I travel around in Europe in Brussels and other countries in Europe they are very envious of of this model because it’s not everywhere that you have this direct good constructive talk between the unions and the employers what benefits does this bring to a business we have a very flexible labor market it’s easy for companies to to hire people but it’s also easy to fire people and of course that is something what the unions have to sort of get their grip around that you know it’s easy to fire but it means the flexibility that if a company wants ah maybe we have an opportunity there should we go for it yes because we hire some people it’s easy for us to hire them and if it doesn’t work we find another way so whilst it might benefit businesses are there any risks for the workers in this model there’s the security part which is of course our public model that uh we have as taxpayers uh we have a system that if you are out of job and you don’t have any way of getting around that we have a a public welfare system that takes care of the people that are unemployed until they find a new job yes because I mean the flexibility means that you often find a new job very quickly um and with that you know the easy hiring and firing how has that affected employment rates what are employment rates in Denmark like very high very low unemployment really we are constantly trying to get the employment rate even higher mhm but we are sort of getting at a maximums which also means that we are as a society quite dependent on International labor coming from outside if you want to continue being number two or three or four yes do you have any statistics around kind of the money that it saves businesses in terms of being able to actually be really efficient with how they spend their money uh I don’t know if I have the statistics but uh so was more a gut feeling talking to for example Danish companies in investing in in other big European countries explaining you know the the difficulties they have when they have to take this investment decision you know should we go for this plant or not should we hire you know 200 people more in France or or should we do it somewhere else and do you think this model would work only specifically for Denmark or do you think it could be applied and be successful elsewhere in Europe no of course it can but it takes time and it takes a willingness and it takes a wish to to actually create this partnership because that’s basically what it is it is a partnership and of course also accept that you have different interests but in a way you have the same interest because you want to be successful and I think if you look two or three decades back you know some of the Unions would say ah you know globalization is not necessarily a good thing because Danish companies will start producing in China and not in Denmark what will happen so so at that time there was also a quite a good uh well-founded discussion in the Danish Society you know if we want to be number two or three or four what you mentioned in the beginning in the future you know should we embrace the globalization or should we try to build up walls and Denmark is a small economy yeah we have succeeded in making it a very open economy so it’s a small open economy which means that in the time we are in right now we might face challenges because things in geopolitically is getting kind of tough um and so that brings me to my final question you know Denmark’s already doing very well um on the global scale of competitiveness M but where do you think there’s still room for improvement and what changes would you like to see well the changes I would like to see is mainly in Europe mhm because it’s a very small economy uh and uh a very open economy and it’s difficult to continue being a a a winning country in in a continent which is uh challenged a lot yeah I wouldn’t call it a losing continent but you know so the changes that we see for is is in Europe uh because a lot of the regulation also governing Danish companies is determined in in in Europe and uh I think we need to look at speed we need to look at Simplicity in terms of of Europe I mean China has their way of of assisting their companies in in in the US you see new initiatives like the inflation reduction act and things like that in Europe we want to do the same thing but the speed and simplicity is a huge challenge also for Danish companies it’s simply all the application processes and also if you want new products to be approved on the European market it takes too long and it’s too complicated and which means that uh also Danish companies will look for doing their Investments outside of Europe and I think that is very challenging yes absolutely um well thank you so much for your time today and for your fascinating insights um on a good question thank you thank you [Music]