European Round Table of Industrialists
The European Round Table of Industrialists, abbreviated ERT, is a lobby group in the European Union consisting of some 50 European industrial leaders working to strengthen the political position of big business in Europe. The group works at both national and European levels, and has been especially successful in influencing the making of EU policies.
The roots of the European Round Table of Industrialists date back to the early 1980s. At the initiative of Pehr G. Gyllenhammar, the CEO of Volvo, 17 European businessmen met in the Paris boardroom of Volvo on 6 and 7 April 1983. They envisioned to create an organisation, which would be able to convey its message about the state of the economy to the European political leaders.
The meeting in Paris was attended by Pehr G. Gyllenhammar (Volvo), Karl Beurle (Thyssen), Carlo De Benedetti (Olivetti), Curt Nicolin ([[ASEA[]]), Harry Gray (United Technologies), John Harvey-Jones (ICI), Wolfgang Seelig (Siemens), Umberto Agnelli (Fiat), Peter Baxendell (Shell), Olivier Lecerf (Lafarge), José Bidegain (Cie de St Gobain), Wisse Dekker (Philips), Antoine Riboud (BSN), Bernard Hanon (Renault), Louis von Planta (Ciba-Geigy) and Helmut Maucher (Nestlé). Both François-Xavier Ortoli and Étienne Davignon from the European Commission attended the meeting.
From early on, ERT policy supported EU enlargement.It promoted and often led business dialogues between the EU and business circles in the US and in Japan as well as in developing countries.
