European Parliament president Robert Metsola was in Rome Tuesday to open SiGMA’s annual European conference, the first time the Maltese company held the event outside Malta.
While SiGMA traditionally held its annual Europe Summit in Malta, this year saw the country host the company’s smaller Euro-Med conference instead, welcoming around 12,000 delegates – less than half the estimated 30,000 attending in Rome.
SiGMA moved its flagship European event to Italy following concerns about the capacity of Malta’s infrastructure to handle the large event, which regularly saw tens of thousands of delegates travelling across Malta during peak hours, causing traffic chaos.
Speaking at the opening of SiGMA’s Central Europe Summit, Metsola said: “This is one of the biggest gatherings of its kind in the world. And I have to say, I’m more than a little proud that it all started in my island home of Malta”.
Metsola added that the event proved Malta’s ability to export skilled workers.
Metsola speaking at SiGMA’s Rome summit.Describing delegates as the “building block of next generation Europe”, the EP president said Europe needed to embrace a “dynamic, creative, innovative, growing and shaping” future.
Criticising European regulations as too fragmented, with different licencing, operating and advertising rules across the bloc, she said, “That has to change”.
Metsola proposed a so-called ’28th regime’, referring to a single European framework to make it easier to expand businesses across different EU countries.
“Innovation, not over-regulation. Implementation, not unnecessary bureaucracy. Delivery, not red tape.” She reiterated the EP’s commitment to supporting entrepreneurs in the digital economy and declared the summit officially open.
European leaders have increasingly called for reduced bureaucracy following the publication of the Draghi Report in September last year, which advocated reducing regulations and boosting tech innovation in a bid to boost competitiveness.
In September, SiGMA CEO Emily Micallef said the company did not rule out bringing the event back to Malta, provided the country’s infrastructure is improved.
She said the company wanted to make sure that should the event return to Malta, “the impact on the island and the Maltese people will be positive”. She said last year’s summit contributed €100 million to the economy.
Prime Minister Robert Abela has set his sights on bringing the company’s largest conference back to Malta, saying it was his “ambition” that SiGMA’s next event in Malta, taking place in March, grows to become one of its largest.