Malta needs to continue broadening its focus from pension and retirement to lifelong learning issues so as to facilitate the full use of the talents of older workers wishing to work after the statutory retirement age, according to Helga Ellul, President of the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry.

Ms Ellul yesterday launched the Business Europe ‘Go for Growth’ Strategy for 2010-2014.

Vacancies were waiting to be filled, she point out, and Malta needed innovative approaches to meeting its skills gap. “Recent measures to allow retirement age workers to continue working without reducing their pension rights is a first step in the right direction,” she said. “However a much broader approach is needed. As someone in that age group myself, I can assure you I am in the prime of life.”

The launch of the Strategy in Malta coincides with yesterday’s issue by the European Commission’s paper ‘EU 2020 strategy: A European Strategy for smart, green and inclusive growth’.

In a media release, BusinessEurope – whose membership of 40 industrial and employers’ federations including the Malta Chamber in 34 countries represents more than 20 million small, medium and large companies – announced that the document was “a useful basis for developing a strategy to strengthen Europe and make it a greater a player in the world. However, it believes that the sense of urgency and focus should be reinforced”.

BusinessEurope’s executive committee, meeting today will debate the Commission’s proposals and present recommendations on what needs to be changed in order to turn the Commission communication into a real road map for action.

Philippe de Buck, director general of BusinessEurope said “this document is the beginning of a process to commit all EU institutions to remove obstacles to growth. A process in which business will play an active role. I can say already that in the extraordinary circumstances Europe faces today, a growth strategy is the answer if we want to achieve a sound European Union, with strong companies and jobs for many people”.

Commenting a slide show presentation of the strategy, Ms Ellul said that its proposals should inspire all key decisions taken by governments to emerge from the current recession. In Malta, the tendency to “wait for government” should evolve towards a far more proactive input from business.

“As pointed out in the strategy, while development of companies is central to European economic life, the post-crisis world will be very different,” she said.

‘Go For Growth’ posits five key challenges, four conditions for a sustained recovery, three drivers for business opportunities, two ingredients for boosting employment and one integrated, EU-wide policy for entrepreneurship and industry.