European Agenda

I S S U E 0 6 / 2 0 0 8

Czech PresidencyFacts & Figures, Personalities & Priorities, Events

Highlights 2008 – Outlook 2009The people and events that shape EU Politics

Agenda AwardThe Shortlists and Winners 2008 and an Interview with Hans-Gert Pöttering

HealthEurope for Patients and the Health Agenda for the coming year

EDITORIAL

his issue comes out just in time for the European Agenda Summit and the European Agenda Award 2008, which we celebrate on 3 December. Today, Brussels is the politi-cal heart of a Europe that has to respond to enlargement, globalisation and freedom of information, to embrace a wide diversity of cultures, traditions and values. The Euro-pean Agenda Award provide the European public affairs community with an opportunity to honour their best ef-forts, celebrating the year’s best Commissioner, think tank,

association and political journalist. Among the winners, we profile Meglena Kuneva, whose tireless work on

behalf of Europe’s consumers has earned her this year’s Commissioner of the Year award. We also talk with the winner of Politician of the Year, Eu-ropean Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering, about what it means to be European and the struggle for unity in diversity.

With the award out of the way, we look ahead to the new year, when Europe will turn its collective attention to two crucial changes: the EU Czech Presidency and the inauguration of Barack Obama as US President. And while the timing of the two events may be coincidental, the matters are very much related, as transatlantic relations will be an important fea-ture of both incoming Presidencies.

In the following pages, we look at the policies the Czech Republic in-tends to focus on during its six months in office, as well as the people

Setting the agenda for 2009behind the presidency. The five policy aims that have been set out are aimed towards increasing European competitiveness through more lib-eralisation, energy, security, budgetary issues and stronger alliances with NATO and the US. As Czech president Vaclav Klaus has, in the past, been a vocal eurosceptic, it will be interesting to see how a EU presidency under the aegis of the Czech Republic will develop, especially given that Klaus has also voiced doubts over human culpability for climate change. Per-haps Europe will have to look to Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek, who will head foreign and European policy.

We also explore the recent Commission efforts in improving health across Europe, including cross-border healthcare which gives European citizens the right to travel to other Member States to seek treatment. This initiative would appear to fit well with the next Presidency focus: ‘Europe Without Barriers’.

I hope you find this last issue of 2008 a stimulating read, and look for-ward to keeping you abreast of EU developments next year.

Grit FiedlerEditor-in-Chief

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CONTENT

EUROPEAN AGENDA 06/2008

Editor in Chief: Grit Fiedler

Editors: Richard Morgan, Azra Ahmed, John Clulow, Dafydd Phillips, Paul Thomas

Graphical Concept: Steffi Butter, Christina Ohmann

Layout: Melanie Schröder, Verena Philipp

Illustration: Burkhard Piller

Photo Editors: Moritz Vennemann, Jesse Benjamin

Cover: www.cdu-europa.de, http://ec.europa.eu

Managing Editor: Max Obenaus([email protected])

Business Development Director: Cristina Silva([email protected])

Publisher: Rudolf Hetzel, Torben Werner

Editorial office: Rue Philippe le Bon 64, 1000 BrusselsBelgium

Tel.: +32 (0)2 219 22 90Fax: +32 (0)2 219 22 92E-mail: [email protected]

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Print: Druck Vogt GmbH, Schmidstraße 6, 10179 Berlin

TYPICALLY The Czech Republic: A Country in Numbers

CZECH PRESIDENCY Political leaders and timeline

CZECH PRESIDENCY Facts and figures

CZECH PRESIDENCY Presidency priorities

CZECH PRESIDENCY The EU and the US NEWS From EU Brussels

AWARD European Agenda’s Winners 2008

INTERVIEW Hans-Gert Pöttering, President of the EP

AGENDA January - June 2009

ENTREPRENEURSHIP Parliament of Entreprises

ENTREPRENEURSHIP Educating young entrepreneurs

ENTREPRENEURSHIP Innovation: Solar Impulse

HEALTH Europe for Patients

HEALTH Interview

HEALTH Agenda HEALTH Regulatory developments

PEOPLE Personnel changes

PEOPLE Gala

BOOKS 4 new titles

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Agenda 2009, p. 25

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Czech Presidency Leaders, p. 8

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TYPICALLY


Typically Czech?

of the Czech Gross Domestic Product is spent on education.

4.4%

In 2006, the Czech Republic had a 65.3% employment rate for persons aged 15-64, just higher than the EU average of 64.7%.

65.3%

Gross Domestic Product per capita in US dollars.So

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94.3% of people living in the Czech Republic are Czech natives. The minorities include the Slovaks (1.9%), Poles (0.5%), Vietnamese (0.44%), Germans (0.4%), and Gypsies.

of Czechs in the Czech Republic live in Prague, the capital city.

12%

13,970

years was the average life expect-ancy for Czech men in 2006.

73.4

Czechs drink 157 litres of beer a year, almost twice the amount of bottled water.

157

In 2007, the Czech Republic wel-comed 6.7 million tourisits.

6.7of Czech households are connected to the in-ternet (2005).

56.7%

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TYPICALLY


920

of representatives in the lower house of the Czech Parliament are women.

15.5%

of Czech citizens believe that there is a God – the second lowest rate among EU countries.

19%is the average number of children born to each woman in 2007, just below the 1.5 EU average.

1.44According to the 2008 Global Peace index, the Czech Republic is the 17th safest most peace-

ful country in the world (out of 140 countries) .

is the average monthly wage for Czech workers in Euros.

A Country in Numbers

10 381 130 is the total population of the Czech Republic in 2008, with about 104 women per 100 men.

years was the average life expect-ancy for Czech women in 2006.

79.7

of marriages in the Czech Republic end in divorce, one of the highest in Europe.

16th Reporters without borders, the Czech Republic has 16th freest press in the world.

17 59.4%

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CZECH PRESIDENCY


June 1990Czechoslovakia held its first free democratic elec-tions since 1946, electing Václav Havel with 95% of the population voting. A coalition government, where the Communist Party had a minority of ministerial positions, was formed in Dec 1989.

A highly repressive political climate in the 1950s which had become more open and tolerant in the 1960s, combined with a seriously declining economy brought the Prague Spring, a period of reform un-der Alexander Dubcek, which sought to liberalise the Communist regime.

The Czech Republic in the EUPolitical Leaders

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PRESIDENT: VÁCLAV KLAUS

With his frequently voiced euroscepti-cism, it should be an interesting time

for the EU under Václav Klaus. Klaus graduated from the Uni-versity of Economics, Prague, in 1963 and moved into politics during the Velvet Revolution in 1989, when he became Federal

Minister of Finance. In April 1991 he co-founded the Civic Demo-

cratic Party, and won a parliamentary election with this party in June 1992 and

became Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. Here he was part of the ‘Velvet Divorce’ of the Czechoslovak Federation and the creation of an independent Czech Republic. On February 28, 2003, he was elected President of the Czech Republic and then re-elected by the smallest margin possible on February 15 2008. Klaus’ euroscepticism is the defining policy position of his presidency, claiming accession to the Union represented a significant reduction of Czech sovereignty. In 2005 Klaus called for the EU to be “scrapped“ and replaced by a free-trade area to be called the ‘Organisation of European States’.

PRIME MINISTER: MIREK TOPOLÁNEK

Mirek Topolánek is the current prime minis-ter of the Czech Republic, from the Civic

Democratic Party. He has been chairman of the right-wing neo-liberal Civic Democratic Party since November 2002, succeeding Václav Klaus. Topo-lanek was appointed Prime

Minister by Klaus on August 16 2006 when he introduced coali-

tion government – 9 members from the Civic Democratic Party and 6 inde-

pendents, which failed to gain confidence. He then put together a centre-right coalition government with the Green Party and Christian and Demo-cratic Union - Czechoslovak People’s Party. In October 2007, Topolánek introduced his Five Prime Minister’s Priorities, which cover Healthy Public Finances, Modern and Efficient State, Safe Citizen in a Safe Country, Re-moving Barriers, Promoting Science and Education. He is also is actively engaged in negotiations with the United States for the the location of a radar defending against ballistic missiles fired on Czech territory.

1968Following the suppression of a peaceful student demonstration in Prague by riot police, a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia, known as the ‘Velvet Revolution’, took place, culminating in a two-hour general strike of all citizens of Czechoslovakia on 27 November, which over-threw the Communist government.

Nov-Dec 1989

15 February 1991Czechoslovakia, along with Hungary and Poland, became a member of the Visegrad Group for the purposes of cooperation and furthering their Euro-pean integration.

1 January 1993Following negotiations, the Slovak parliament approved the Declaration of Independence of the Slovak Nation, which finally brought about the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia and the independent Czech Republic and Slovakia.

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CZECH PRESIDENCY


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MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS: KAREL SCHWARZENBERG

Karel Schwarzenberg has royal roots, being the eldest son of Prince Karl

VI of Schwarzenberg and Princess Antonie von Fürstenberg. He is a longtime friend of Václav Havel, and from July 1990 to July 1992

he worked as Chancellor of the then President. Between 1984 and 1990, he chaired the Inter-

national Helsinki Committee, try-ing to improve the human rights situ-

ation in Eastern bloc countries and in 2006 he was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs as an independent for the Green Party. When nominated as Minister, President Klaus was very reluctant, stating that he had strong links to Austria and thus would not be able to defend national interests. As a result, the government created a new post, Deputy PM for European Af-fairs, designed for Alexandr Vondra, which split the foreign agenda, leaving the Czech Republic with essentially two ministers for foreign affairs, each with quite a different view of the country’s foreign policy.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER FOR EURO-PEAN AFFAIRS: ALEXANDR VONDRA

Alexandr Vondra was the foreign minister of the Czech Republic

from September 2006 to Janu-ary 2007 and has been a Senator for the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) since autumn 2006.

On January 9 2007, during the new government reshuffle, he was appointed Deputy Prime

Minister for European Affairs. He graduated in geography from Charles

University in Prague in 1984, receiving a Doctor in Natural Sciences degree one year later. In the mid-1980s he was a dissident and after organizing a demonstration in January 1989, Vondra was imprisoned for two months. In November 1989, while the Velvet Revolution was underway, he co-founded the Civic Forum. Between1992 and 1997, he served as the First Deputy Min-ister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and from 1997 to 2001, Vondra served as the Czech Ambassador to the United States, where he oversaw the process of the Czech Republic’s integration into NATO.

The Czech Republic joins European Union, its biggest enlargement to date with 10 nations, mostly former Soviet bloc states. This was the largest single en-largement in terms of people and landmass, though the smallest in terms of GDP, and went towards a more unified Europe in terms of the East-West divide.

1 May 2004

The Czech Republic entered the UN, but already existed as an original member in 1945 as Czecho-slovakia. Its objective: to promote “an international environment oriented towards the development of political and economic cooperation on the basis of joint identification and management of threats and risks, preferably by political and peaceful means”.

19 January 1993 1995 The Czech Republic joins the Organisation for Economic Co-op-eration and Develop-ment (OECD), a group based on representa-tive democracy and free-market economy.

12 March 1999Nato expanded its mem-bership to include three former Soviet states: the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland.

January 2009

Václav Klaus’ government will take over the Presi-dency of the European Council, the first time the Czech Republic has lead the European Union.

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CZECH PRESIDENCY


The Czech RepublicFacts and Figures

Capital City: PragueOther major cities: Brno, Ceske Budejovice

The Czech koruna is the national currencyCZKThe landlocked Czech Republic gets its water from 3 seas: the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea.3

The 21st largest country in the EU - 1.8% of the total landmass.

78,866 km2

is the highest point in the country - Mount Snezka

1,602 m

was the Czech Republic’s lowest temperature in 2008.-22°

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CZECH POLITICAL SYSTEMThe Czech Republic is a democratic country where the Parliament holds the central role in the political system. The Czech constitutional order is divided into 3 powers: executive (represented by the Cabinet and the President), legislative (represented by a two-cham-ber Parliament, with a 200 member Chamber of Deputies and an 81 member Senate), and judiciary. The formal head of state is the President, who appoints the Prime Minister, the head of the government. The Prime Minister has the right to set the agenda for most for-eign and domestic policy, mobilise the parliamentary majority, and choose government ministers. As the Czech system repeatedly produces very weak governments (a specifi c problem is that about 15 per cent of the electorate support the Communists, who are shunned by all the other parties) there is constant talk about changing it but without much chance of pushing the reform through. Running into the EU presidency, the current government is a coalition of the Civic Democrats, Christian Democrats and Green Party are in power, led by leader of the Civil Democrats, Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek.

Czech Parliament

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CZECH PRESIDENCY


Priorities Keeping the EU in Czech In 2009, Europe will celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain and the fifth anniversary of the biggest ever enlargement of the European Union. In light of this, the Czech Republic is particularly keen on European integration, especially in relation to the internal market, and plans to discuss the effects of enlargement on the functioning of the EU economy.

The continued existence of obstacles makes it impossible to fully exploit the potential of individual Member States and the Union as a whole. At the same time, the Czech Republic understands that the EU is sometimes viewed from the outside as a closed community. With this in mind, the Czech Republic’s main motto for its Presidency is ‘Europe Without Barriers’.

A SECURE AND FREE EUROPEA barrier-free Europe will require more cooperation between the police, the judi-ciary and institutions involved in asylum and migration of the Member States. The Czech Presidency will focus on: The crea-tion of an electronic network of national judicial records; Implementing the final stage of the Hague Programme; Supervi-sion of the projects SIS II and Visa Informa-tion System (including biometrics); and monitoring Bulgaria and Romania for their entry into the Schengen area.

SUSTAINABLE AND SECURE ENERGYThe Czech Republic plans to concentrate on three key areas of energy policy:a) the safeguarding of resources, the safety of energy transmutations, the transmission, distribution and supply of energy to the final consumer,b) the preservation of competitiveness,c) the protection of the climate and the environment.

A COMPETITIVE AND OPEN EUROPE One of the Czech Republic key priorities is increased competitiveness, and one of the key enabling factors is innovation. It is dependent in particular on the quality and quantity of investment in education, research and development. The presidency will also be geared towards relieving the heavy administrative burden and level of regulation attached to the European econ-omy, which are often regarded as main drivers impinging on the potential and competitiveness of the business sector.

A BUDGET FOR EUROPE’S FUTUREAt the heart of the review of the EU budget-ary framework is the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The Czech presi-dency plans a decrease in the share of the budget earmarked for agriculture in favour of more expenditure on education, research, development and innovation.

EUROPE AS A GLOBAL PARTNERThe Czech Republic will focus EU foreign policy on: Political security (respect for human rights, freedom and democratic values, security cooperation in the context of NATO, the global struggle against ter-rorism); Economics (a stress on the free market economy, liberal trade cooperation, steadily rising economic cooperation to sustain economic growth); Climate change (the shared commitment to cut emissions under the Kyoto process, commitments within the G8); and developing transatlan-tic relations between the EU and the USA.

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CZECH PRESIDENCY

If Barack Obama’s Euro-appeal is any sign of how he is likely to be received in the near future, then transatlantic relations might be well on their way to a full recovery even months ahead of his 20 January inauguration. Afterall, it is highly unlikely that either McCain or President Bush himself would have been able to draw such a crowd in Berlin, or garner such overall popular appeal on the continent of Europe. However, when the honeymoon is over and the afterglow wears off there is real work to be done and certainly real damage to repair, a fact that the Obama administration is quite well aware of.

AS THE FOCUS SHIFTS FROM PARIS TO PRAGUE In January, the Czech Republic will have their turn at the European Union presidency for the first time. The incoming Czech administration promises an emphasis on further developing transatlantic relations, as well as a focus on the regions of the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe. Countries such as Poland and Georgia are also certain to be somewhere at the forefront of the agenda, particularly as the US and Russia’s variety show of agressive-passive-agressive activity and often unreliable diplomacy unfolds. Furthermore, the slow-motion duelling missile defence interests of the US and Russia should not necessairly give anyone peace of mind, least of all Europe, who must deal with the reality of being the inevitable buffer zone between the two titans. At a recent joint press conference with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Nickolas Sarkozy said that “We really must move forward... to remove sources of friction”.Despite talk of Obama diplomatically taking on Iran, which would also be a shared Western interest, the Obama-Biden team’s foreign policy goals described such predictable issues as: “Secure loose nuclear materials from terrorists - Barack Obama will pursue tough, direct diplomacy without preconditions to end the threat from Iran;” and perhaps the

Opinion Transatlantic change -a real transformation?

most relevant in terms of the EU: “Renew American diplomacy - Obama and Biden will renew American diplomacy to meet the challenges of the 21st century. They will rebuild our alliances. And they would be willing to meet with all nations, friend and foe, to advance American interests.” Obama’s proposed goals are certainly appropriate and on-par with his “change” platform. The noble sentiments themselves look good on paper, but at the same time an 180-degree about-turn in foreign policy is not exactly a difficult task after eight romping years of the Bush Administration’s bullying cowboy antics. If nothing else, the European Union can most likely expect a change of tone, approach, methodology, behaviour and demeanor with Obama and company. In terms of a more direct impact on how policy is carried out, the

chances are that he will definitely not act unilaterally and in an impulsive or recklessly forceful manner, as his predecessors have been known to do. A further area of particular interest will be to see how Obama not only stands up to Russia but works with them, and how he will strengthen the alliances needed to pressure Russia to live up to its commitment to withdraw troops from Georgia. Yet another sensitive priority is to bridge the communication gap with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, while at the same time preventing Iran from creating or obtaining a nuclear weapon.

HOPE FOR A NEW CO-OPERATIVE UNDERSTANDING Great expectations hang in the air with a palpable excitement both in the US and abroad. Until Bush exits the Oval Office, the world will remain in a state of positive tension with Obama’s ascension to the most powerful elected political position in the world. As the President-elect continues to disarm his opponents at home, while even adding some of them to his administration, he has an equally large task ahead of him, and hopefully he is met with a receptive audience as he undertakes the goal of earning back the United States’ respect in the eyes of the world.

by paul j. thomas

New presidencies The Presidency of the European Union will be entrusted to the Czech Republic on January 1, 20o9 and Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony will take place on January 20, 2009.

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Hopefully he is met with a receptive

audience as he un-dertakes the goal of earning back

the United States’ respect in the eyes

of the world.

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CZECH PRESIDENCY

CHRIS COOPER ON THE 2008 US ELECTION

Do you think Barack Obama’s election campaign was unique in compari-son to previous presidential campaigns? If so, in what regards? It was absolutely unique. America has never seen a candidate like Obama or a campaign like Obama’s. He is a transformational political figure, a bridge to an America that will be more diverse, tolerant and globally aware. And his campaign harnessed online the enthusiasm of its sup-porters and translated that into unprecedented money and grassroots support, both of which were crucial in his victory.

Apart from legal aspects, would a similar campaign be possible in other countries? I think it’s unlikely, barring a major change in the way party politics is structured in Europe. Obama, for better or worse, is a cult of personality; and he built his campaign outside the Democratic Party apparatus. He wasn’t even in federal office until 2005. Given the centralised, powerful nature of political parties in Europe, I don’t see how a European Obama could rise up the way he did in America.

Which trends and developments you expect to see in future elections? The internet will continue to grow in importance and in ways hardly imaginable today (YouTube didn’t even exist during the 2004 American presidential election!) The importance of party affiliation will continue to decrease, because parties are increasingly less relevant in people’s lives.

Interviews A transformational political figureTwo leading US public affairs experts give their impressions of Obama, the US elections and predictions for the Future

about chris cooper Chris Cooper has worked in the fields of general campaign strategy, persuasion mail and media consulting, campaign management and PR for dozens of statewide, congressional, and legislative candidates.

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JAKE JONES ON THE CHALLENGES OBAMA FACES REGARDING TRANSATLANTIC RELATIONS

The next President’s policy efforts with be greatly restricted and gov-erned by the current recession and further by the over $1 trillion in Bush tax cut provisions expiring at the end of 2010. Therefore the impact of the President’s policy in the near term will not be overly significant. In general, how well does a US President really need to know Europe? The next President needs to be intimate with the EU in order to urge and receive greater support in policing the world. At some point, we must become more closely linked with European economies as we engage the developing markets.

Will there actually be a political and economic about-face under Presi-dent Barack Obama or is the extent of a possible new beginning over-estimated? I believe the President’s policy efforts with be greatly restricted and gov-erned by the current recession and further by the more than $1 trillion in Bush tax cut provisions expiring at the end of 2010. Therefore the impact of the President’s policy in the near term will not be overly significant. And with the structure of our government, big change is difficult, par-ticularly in the short-term. I believe expectations for an Obama admin-istration are likely not aligned with reality. However, he will only need a few major accomplishments to warrant a second term. The real test is to avoid overreaching which leads to a big backlash and loss of control of Congress in 2010.

about jake jonesJake Jones heads Daimler AG’s Washington office as the company’s VP of External Affairs and Public Policy. He was previously responsible for the Congressional Affairs of then Daimler Chrysler in Washington, DC.

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NEWS


News from EU Brussels

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EventEuroSkills 2008

Between 18 and 20 September more than 400 young people from 30 countries across Europe took part in the Olympics-style EuroSkills 2008 skills competition in Rotterdam. They competed against each other in 49 different skills compe-titions to earn the title of best European techni-cian, designer, or craftsman or woman in their trade. On the evening of Saturday 20 Septem-ber, the EuroSkills prize winners received their awards at a festive closing ceremony attended by Ján Figel, the European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth.

Elections

European Elections 2009 Between 4 and 7 June 2009, EU citizens will elect their representatives to the European Parliament for the sev-enth time. It is currently impossible to know exactly how many MEPs the 492 million Europeans will have to elect since, following the no vote by the Irish on the Treaty of Lisbon, the institutional reforms, including the reform regarding the election of 751 MEPs, have been suspend-ed. If the situation does not change, the elections will be organised in accordance with the Treaty of Nice, in which case the EU Parliament will have 736 members. With 9 Member States in 1979 and 27 today, the European Parlia-ment has grown in line with the various enlargements. It remains the only directly elected European institution.The format of next year’s Elections will depend on whether the Lisbon Treaty is ratified first

LaunchEuroparl TV

The European Parliament’s own online televi-sion station, Europarl TV, was launched in Sep-tember. The station, which gives watchers the opportunity to follow proceedings in the Parlia-ment live, is split into four different sections, allowing viewers to choose the area of interest they want to follow. These areas include your-Parliament, yourVoice, youngEurope and par-liamentLive. A video library is also available to allow viewers to watch and rewatch previously featured programmes. Europarl TV, which is cur-rently available in 23 different EU language ver-sions, can be accessed by logging on to: www.europarltv.europa.eu

Europarl TV offers live viewing of the EU in action

EuroSkills 2008 celebrates young European talent

CampaignSimple Language

The Alliance of Liber-als and Democrats for Europe in the Com-mittee of the Regions (ALDE-CoR) launched on 15 September 2008 a campaign as part of its continued efforts to improve the EU establishment’s communication with its citizens. The group is posing the ques-

tion: “What language should the EU speak?” The answer they have come to is that of Simple Language. They aim to get the complex, often confusing language spoken in Brussels simpli-fied so that ordinary EU citizens can understand what is being said by their politicians. Details of the ongoing campaign can be found at the group’s dedicated website: www.simplelanguage.eu

Flo Clucas of ALDE

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NEWS


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Launch50/50 Campaign launched

Key European and national women decision makers met in Brussels on 16 September at the invitation of the European Women’s Lobby for the launch event of the Campaign 50/50 No Modern European Democracy without Gender Equality. The group is promoting the idea that women should be as well-represented as men in European politics. In 2008, men occupy 82 per cent of parliamentary seats in the world and 77 per cent on average in the European Union. The 50/50 campaign comes less than a year before the next European Elections, where the group hopes to see a more gender balanced result.

Commission VP Wallström is endorsing the campaign

InstitutionsNew EU digital library crashes

The new digital library launched by the European Union, Europeana, was launched on 20 November. However, by 21 November the site had crashed, after receiving an overwhelming 10 millions hits per hour–twice what Europeana’s creators had foreseen. The website will now undergo a series of technical improvements, and is expected to be back online in December. The site includes paint-ings, photos, films, books, maps and manuscripts from 1,000 museums, national libraries and ar-chives across Europe. When up and running again, Europeana will be accessible at: www.europeana.eu

Europeana’s creators did not expect it to be so popular

Hu Jia, the 2008 Sakharov Prize recipient

Award

Sakharov Prize 2008 The European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought has been awarded this year to Chinese political activist Hu Jia. The prize ceremony will take place in Strasbourg on 17 December. Hu Jia is a prominent human rights activist and dissident in the People‘s Republic of China. He has embraced a wide range of caus-es, including environmental issues, HIV/AIDS advocacy and a call for an official enquiry into the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. He has been arrested several times, and was charged by Chines authorities with “inciting subversion of state power” after speaking to the EU Parlia-ment whilst under house arrest.

InstitutionsEU symbols in use

The European Parliament formally recognised the European Union flag, anthem and motto as of October 2008. A proposal to amend Parlia-ment’s rules of procedure so as to formalise the use of the symbols was approved by the Consti-tutional Affairs Committee, and then endorsed in a plenary session. The flag, a circle of twelve golden stars on a blue background, is now ac-ceptable to be displayed in all Parliament meet-ing rooms and at official Parliament events.

The EU Parliament has formally recognised the EU flag

CampaignCzech EU Presi-dency’s sour note

The upcoming Czech EU Presidency’s campaign slogan was officially launched in September, but its highly ambiguous meaning in Czech has left some people confused. The slogan translates lit-erally into English as “we‘ll make things sweeter for Europe”. However, it can also be translated as “we’ll give Europe a taste of its own medicine”. Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek admitted the phrase was ambiguous, but stated that the advertising campaign that accompanied the slo-gan would show that it was intended in an en-tirely positive way. Based on sugar cubes, a Czech invention, the adverts show Czech celebrities do-ing amusing things with the sweet objects.

The Czech sugar cube advert has caused confusion

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NEWS


CampaignMEPs challenged on Recruitment Day

Jan Andersson MEP called for action by his colleagues

At the European Parliament Plenary Session held in Brussels on 3 September, the Decent Work De-cent Life Campaign launched the Decent Work Recruitment Day, asking MEPs to reaffirm and reinforce their commitment to promote Decent Work for All. After having discussed the Europe-an Commission’s Social Package the day before, MEPS were asked to support the Call to Action for Decent Work. During the reception, Jan An-dersson MEP, Chair of the Employment Commit-tee, addressed participants and urged decision-makers to follow his lead and join the Call.

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InformationParliament updates on RSS

The European Parliament has introduced a “Re-ally Simple Syndication” (RSS) tool, which brings together news updates from various sources in one place, to make them easier for online visi-tors to check. The Parliament’s web site, at www.europarl.europa.eu, now includes an RSS button, which can be used to access news content up-dates (e.g. titles, summaries and links) automati-cally gathered from various sources such as the Headlines, Press service and Podcast sections. More information on how to access news stories through the RSS services can be found on the Parliament’s website.

RSS tools allow users to get their news all in one place

EU AccessionSoviet States’ EU aspirations

The European Commission is to propose pulling the EU’s six post-Soviet neighbours closer to the West by recognising their European aspirations and creating a new European Economic Area. However, a draft communique has also suggest-ed that EU-Russia relations could have preferen-tial status. The new EU policy proposes signing “Association Agreements” with Belarus, Moldo-va, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in the next few years and to “acknowledge the European identity and aspirations of these coun-tries”. But the draft then goes on to say that the new pacts do not amount to a promise of future accession. If they are to go ahead, the pacts will involve the six states taking over the legal code of the European Union, among other things.

Campaign

Young people encour-aged by Y Vote 2009

The Youth Agenda 2009 campaign was launched in Vienna between 14 and 21 September 2008. The key goal of the conference was to launch the Y Vote 2009 campaign, which aims to get young European voting at next year’s European Elections, scheduled to take place between 4 and 7 June. This was created in the form of a document called Youth Agenda 2009. It contains the opinions and proposals of young Europeans considering different policies of the European Union that affect their everyday lives and it will serve as a guideline for upcoming Y Vote conventions, of which more than 12 have already been scheduled. During the week-lomg conference, four working groups were set up and were facilitated by the members of the Y Vote Coordination Team. The workshops were held simultaneously for five days and the participants discussed topics including democracy, education, citizenship, multiculturalism, regionalism, EU and the World, mobility, migration and the EU socialmodel. In addition, six Members of the European Parliament, all of whom are actively involved in youth policies at European level, attended the conference to debate with attendees. If more young people vote in next year’s elections, then the Y Vote 2009 campaign will have been successful.

The scheme is targeting groups of young people aged between 18 and 22 in an attempt to get them to vote

— 23 —

AGENDA


AGENDA JANUARY - JUNE 2009

EU SustainableEnergy Week09.02.- 13.02.09

European Business Summit

26.03. – 27.03.09

European SME Week 06.05. – 14.05.09

Parliament Elections04.06. – 07.06.09

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AGENDA


The motto of the World Economic Forum is ‘entrepreneurship in the global public interest’, and the chal-lenges in linking economic growth and social development are ever-present. With the title ‘Shaping the Post-Crisis World’, the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum integrates the top decision-makers from all sectors of global society in the most representative way, enabling them to set the in-ternational agenda at the start of the year. Last year’s meeting was co-chaired by Tony Blair and Henry Kissinger; this year, it will be

co-chaired by, among others, Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, and Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and CEO, News Corporation, and Stephen Green, Group Chairman, HSBC Holdings. Participation is by invitation only and strictly limited to the crite-ria and quota of each stakeholder group. It is expected that 1,590 par-ticipants from the business sector will attend, 200 participants from governments and international or-ganizations, over a hundred repre-sentatives of Civil Society, Thought Leaders, and Media.

locationdavos-klosters, switzerlandhostworld economic forum

JANUARY

28.01.– 01.02.09 World Economic Forum 2009

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AGENDA


The EESC is hosting a press officer networking seminar on “Communi-cating Europe in Partner-ship – Beyond borders and cultures”. Facilitating a growing network of press officers from civil society organisations, the EESC provides a plat-form for exchange of best practice in the area of communication and in-

formation on policy con-tents. The network, and this event in particular, are intended to ensure more effective cooperation be-tween civil society organisations and all European institutions. Therefore this seminar is organised in cooperation with the European Commission, the Parliament, the Council of the EU and the Commit-tee of Regions. Speakers include Claus Sorensen, Jo Leinen, Ján Figel‘ and Luc van den Brande.

The European Year of Creativity and Innovation will be officially opened at an EU conference in Prague, on the 7th of Jan-uary 2009, as the Czech Republic is chairing the EU Presidency in the first half of the year. The European Year of Crea-tivity and Innovation is a major initiative involv-ing Member States, EU institutions and a wide range of stakeholders. The aim is to exploit and

promote creative and innovative approaches and initiatives in different domains of human activ-ity and at all levels. While education and culture will be at the centre of the Year, it feeds into many other policy areas, such as enterprise, information society, employment or regional policy.

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For this first Pan-Europe-an Grid Reliability Con-ference, some 350 par-ticipants from around 35 countries are expected. Bringing electriciy grid stakeholders together, from policy makers to regulators, from busi-ness to NGOs, the con-ference aims to listen and to understand dur-ing an open exchange and debate the differ-ent aspirations and concerns of the parties involved. The ultimate goal is to identify com-

mon ground in order to manage and to operate the grid securely. Speakers include MEP Alejo Vi-dal-Quadras, MEP Jery Buzek and Tomas Huner, Czech Deputy Energy Minister.

+++ 07.01.2009 Kick-off Conference on European Year of Creativity and Innovation, Czech Presidency, Prague +++ 07.01.2009 Government Meeting with European Members of the Commission, Czech Presidency, Prague +++ 08.01.2009 Informal GAC, Czech Presidency, Prague +++ 08.01.2009 - 09-01.2009 Gender Mainstreaming High Level Group, Czech Presidency, Prague +++ 15.01.2009 - 16.01.2009 Informal Meeting of Ministers for Justice and Home Affairs, Czech Presidency, Prague +++ 20.01.2009 - 22.01.2009 11th Annual European Airfinance Conference, Eu-romoney, Dublin +++ 21.01.2009 - 23.01.2009 European Business Ethics Forum, CEA-CED, Paris +++ 22.01.2009 INCOM (Conference of Minis-ters for Research on Innovation, Research and Development), Czech Presidency, Prague +++ 22.01.2009 - 24.01.2009 Informal Meeting of Employ-ment and Social Affairs Ministers, Czech Presidency, Prague +++ 28.01.2009 - 29.01.2009 Water and Energy Exchange Summit, WEX, Marbella +++ 29.01.2009 - 30.01.2009 Informal Meeting of EU Ministers for Development Cooperation, Czech Presidency, Prague +++ 29.01.2009 - 30.01.2009 In Search for Security of Energy Supply of Eu Member States on the Common Electricity Market (PAN SOLUTIONS), Czech Presidency, Ostrava +++

27.01.09Communicating Eu-rope in Partnership

locationeuropean parliament, brussels, belgiumhostucte

08.01.09 Electricity Grid Reli-ability Conference

further events

07.01.09

European Year of Cre-ativity & Innovation

locationprague, czech republichost czech presi-dency, ec

Commissioner Ján Figel‘

birthday of the month

Piia-Noora Kauppi

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Parliament: Session Committees Groups External Parliamentary Activities Conciliation Committee Flags: National Holidays

locationeesc,brussels, belgiumhost eesc

Mario Sepi, EESC President

MEP Alejo Vidal-Quadras

— 26 —

AGENDA


FEBRUARY

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Sustainable Energy is providing energy in a way that ensures the needs of the present are met with-out compromising the ability of future generations to meet their need. Sustainable Energy Europe is an initiative by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy and Transport to raise awareness and change the land-scape of energy. Together with oth-er European Institutions and ma-jor stakeholders concerned with sustainable energy, it is putting on the third edition of the EU Sus-tainable Energy Week (EUSEW).

The EUSEW is the key event for sustainable energy-related issues in Europe and the world, gather-ing over 10,000 participants in its last edition (February 2008). It will take place in Brussels and other cit-ies across Europe, although many side events are foreseen during the weeks immediately before and after.The events organised during EUSEW cover key topics that high-light the multi-sectoral nature of sustainable energy development and stress the need for everyone to work together towards a com-mon goal.

locationbrussels, belgium &locations across europehost dg energy & transport

09.02. – 13.02.09 EU Sustainable Energy Week

— 27 —

AGENDA


The NTTS (New Tech-niques and Technologies for Statistics) seminar is an international scientific conference on the impact of new technologies on statistical collection, pro-duction and dissemination systems. The conference is intended to stimulate and facilitate the preparation of new innovative projects for the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Development, to en-courage co-operation and possible building of con-sortia by researchers with

the aim of enhancing the quality and usefulness of official statistics. Thus, such a conference would try to establish a research agenda for statistics for the next five to ten years in order to prepare discus-sions for the next phase of FP7 work programmes definition and, if possible, for FP8.

23.02.– 26.02.09 EuroRail 2009

EuroRail 2009 is a plat-form for the rail indus-try’s leaders from com-panies and associations to meet and discuss how to overcome the challenges faced in such a competitive market, as well as how to use the opportunities cre-ated through rail’s stra-tegic advantages in a market geared towards sustainability. With co-modality so high on the European Commission’s agenda, for rail freight

has a chance to capitalise and position itself as the logistics mode of choice in a world so con-cerned with environmental and sustainability issues. EuroRail 2009 will look at overcoming the obstacles preventing a truly competitive, co-modal future for the European logistics in-dustry.

Michael Clausecker, UNIFE

20.02.– 21.02.09 Transnational collec-tive bargaining European industrial

relations have unevenly evolved within different levels of interest repre-sentation. Still, issues like the inter-relatedness of various levels and its im-plication for cross-border action have not yet been systematically addressed. Moreover, the recent en-largement waves of the European Union to the Central and Eastern Eu-ropean countries open up new perspectives for research. With new ac-tors entering the tran-

snational collective bargaining arena, processes of socialisation and the building up of networks of cross-border solidarity are becoming highly im-portant. The conference will analyse the different forms of social dialogue in a European system of multi-level governance.

Collective bargaining

18.02.– 20.02.09 New Techniques & Tech- nologies for Statistics

Walter Radermacher, Eurostat

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+++ 02.02.2009 - 03.02.2009 3rd Annual Central and Eastern European Power conference, Platts, Warsaw +++ 03.02.2009 Upgrading NGO Lobbying Practices, European Training Institute, Brussels +++ 04.02.2009 - 05.02.2009 ATEXPO 2009, ERTICO - ITS Europe, Versailles +++ 06.02.2009 Europe and the Perimeter of the Coveted Black Sea, Centre of European Culture (CCE), Brussels +++09.02.2009 - 11.02.2009 3rd European Renewable Energy Policy Conference 2009, EREC, Brussels +++ 12.02.2009 - 13.02.2009 BioPower Generation 2009, GreenPower Conferences, Brussels +++ 18.02.2009 Training pro-grammes Working with NGOs, European Training Institute, Brussels +++ 19.02.2009 - 20.02.2009 5th International technology Transfer Days BIOMATERI-ALS 2009, 5th International Technology Transferable Days BIOMATERIALS 2009, European Commission , Erfurt +++ 20.02.2009 Europe and the Persistent Conflict in the Near East, Centre of European Culture (CCE), Brussels +++20.02.2009 . 21.02.2009 Transnational collective bargaining within a European multi-level system of industrial relations, Université Libre, Brussels +++ 25.02.2009 - 27.02.2009 World Sustainable Energy Days, Wels (Austria) +++

further events


Jacques Barrot

EU Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security

03.02.1937

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locationulb, brussels, belgiumhost cevipol, ulb, dublea, etuirehs

locationcharle-magne building, brussels, belgiumhost eurostat

locationberlin,germanyhost terrapinn

— 28 —

AGENDA


MARCH

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CThis year’s European Business Sum-mit is titled “Dare and Care: sustain-ing Europe’s ambitions”, and three plenary sessions and fifteen work-shops will addresses the themes of financing, staffing and greening.Business leaders will discuss with high-level decision makers, academ-ics and NGOs from around the world on issues like the financial crisis, clean tech innovation, skills, climate change and energy and ageing. The summit aims to come up with con-crete solutions for a sustainable Eu-

rope, as well as solutions to issues such as how Europe can become more entrepreneurial, how doing business in the EU can be made easier and more rewarding, and how Europe can take the lead in R&D and (eco)innovation. A cocktail reception and gala dinner will provide oppor-tunities for networking and business contacts. Speakers include Commis-sioners Joaquín Almunia, Meglena Kuneva, Günter Verheugen, Andris Piebalgs, and Pascal Lamy, Director General of the WTO.

locationtour & taxibrussels, belgiumhost business-europe & federation of enter-prises in belgium (feb)

26.03.– 27.03.09 European Business Summit

— 29 —

AGENDA


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19.03.– 20.03.09 European Council Spring Summit

As always, the month of March sees the coming together of the Heads of State and Government of the 27 EU Member States, and the Summit sets the agenda for the coming

year. It culminates with the publishing of a reflec-tive report that underlines conclusions and points to future actions, prioritising possible measures. Last year’s summit inevitably focussed heavily on the ramifications of the Lisbon treaty; this year, no doubt, attendees will have a schedule filled with the current economic crisis. The first summit un-der the Czech Presidency will be eagerly awaited as an indication of the direction of the EU.

locationbrussels,belgiumhost council of the europe-an union

17.03.– 18.03.09 European Energy Policy Conference

Now in its fourth year, the Annual European Energy Policy Conference organised by The Centre for European Policy Stud-ies and Epsilon Events Ltd brings together EU and international delegates in Brussels with the aim of developing considered dialogue surrounding key energy issues. The main focus will be on evolving energy dialogues into real “partnerships”, diver-sifying supply, partner-

ships with transit countries, low-carbon energy technologies (financing SET-Plan), effectiveness of the “security of supply” directive, macro-economic implications, unbundling, renewables, biomass, energy and poverty, supply challenges, possibili-ties for cooperation with the EU. Confirmed speak-ers include: Matthias Ruete, Director General, DG TREN, European Commission, and Jean-Arnold Vinois, Head of Unit, Energy Policy and Security of Supply DG TREN.

locationmanage-ment centrebrussels, belgiumhost ceps, epsilon

05.03. – 06.03.09 European Summit of Regions and Cities

In the name of promot-ing a cohesive Europe and promoting partnerships between Europe’s cities and regions, the Euro-pean summit of Regions

and Cities, to be held in Prague, brings together experts in regional development from across the EU, as well as academics and representatives of regions. The summit is the highlight of a partner-ship involving the regions and cities, the private partners and the civil society organisations. In at-tendance will be the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Luc Van den Brande.

locationpraguehost committee of the regions

+++ 02.03.2009 Conference: Five Years After the Enlargement, EUROCITIES, Czech Presidency, Prague +++ 09.03.2009-10.03.2009 COFACC (Confer-ence of Foreign Affairs Committee Chairpersons), Czech Presidency, Prague +++ 12.03.2009- 13.03.2009 Informal Meeting of Defence Ministers, Czech Presidency, Olomouc +++ 12.03.2009-13.03.2009 Security Policy Directors Meeting, Czech Presidency, Prague +++ 16.03.2009-18.03.2009 World Bio-fuels Markets Congress, World Biofuels, Brussels +++ 22.03.2009 - 23.03.2009 Informal Meeting of Ministers for Education, Czech Presidency, Prague +++ 25.03.2009-26.03.2009 Flexicurity - Lifelong Learning and Social Protection Components, Czech Presidency, Prague +++ 25.03.2009 - 27.03.2009 Towards e-Environment, Czech Presidency, Prague +++ 26.03.2009-27.03.2009 Creative Europe Forum Conference, Czech Presidency, Prague +++

further events


Olli Rehn

EU Commissioner for Enlargement

31.03.1962

European council family portrait

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Luc van den Brande

Matthias Ruete, DG TREN

— 30 —

AGENDA


APRIL / MAY

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The seemingly unstoppable wave of innovation accompanying the rise of digital technologies and dig-ital design over the last ten years has infiltrated all aspects of mod-ern life, raising the prospect of the need for new economic models and posing challenges to the IP system as we know it. The European Patent Forum and the PATINNOVA 2009 will bring together applicants, pat-ent attorneys, innovation stake-holders and experts from research

and politics. Day one will focus on the system‘s role in the knowledge society, while the second and third days will be dedicated to policy issues and current legal and busi-ness practice. Now in its fourth year, the European Inventor of the Year award ceremony will be held in conjunction with the event and will honour outstanding inventors in the categories Industry, SME/Re-search, Non-European countries, and Lifetime.

locationprague, czech republichost european patent office, european commission

28.04. – 29.04.09 European Patent Forum and Inventor of the Year

— 31 —

AGENDA


The creation of the Euro-pean Nuclear Energy Fo-rum was initiated by the March 2007 European Council, when Member States suggested “that broad discussion takes place among all relevant stakeholders on the op-portunities and risks of nuclear energy.” The an-nual plenary meeting features panel discus-sions and debates, and is

an opportunity to catch up with recent develop-ments, discuss important issues, and look ahead to the rest of the year’s priorities. Over 200 par-ticipants are expected, including government ministers, high-ranking officials from the EU in-stitutions, senior representatives of the European nuclear industry, NGOs, and financial experts.

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26.05. – 28.05.09 European Nuclear Energy

26.05. – 28.05.09 Research & Sustain-able Development

This conference on “Sus-tainable Development: a challenge for European research” will take stock of progress made so far and identify ways for putting the European research system at the

service of sustainable development. The confer-ence will initiate a structured dialogue on how to reform European research to best respond to sus-tainable development challenges. It will also look at improving the science-policy link.

Janez Potočnik

locationbrussels, prague & all over europehost european commission dg enterprise

06.05. – 14.05.09 European SME Week

Günter Verheugen

The Commission is organ-ising the first European SME week to inform SMEs about available support at EU and national level and to encourage more people to become entrepreneurs. The SME week will be a

European umbrella campaign for activities that take place throughout Europe. The SME Week is just one of the measures implementing the Small Business Act, the first comprehensive SME policy framework for the EU and its Member States.

locationbrussels, prague & all over europehost european commission dg enterprise

locationprague,czech republichost enef

birthday of the month: april

Marianne Fischer Boel

EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development

15.04.1943

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further eventsbirthday of the month: may

Joe Borg

EU Commissioner for Fisheries and Mari-time Affairs

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— 32 —

AGENDA


JUNE

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Once every five years the 700 mem-bers of the European Parliment are voted into or out of office by Europe’s citizens. Foremost among them will be the new president, who will be selected from the party that wins the most seats in the European Par-liament. With the new EU Member states now on-board, this election will be the largest ever of its kind. However, the EU still faces the chal-lenge of persuading people to go to the polls and vote, which underpins the legitmacy of the presidency.

Voter turnout for these elections has been falling steadily since the first elections in 1979, pointing to in-creased apathy about the Parliament in opposition to its increase in power over that period. Election observers have noted that the elections remain national affairs, often with local or domestic issues coming into play. They will be looking on with interest to see whether 2009’s elections can buck the trend and contribute to a deeper integration between the EU and its citizenry.

locationmember states of the euhost european parliament

04.06. – 07.06.09 European Parliamen-tary Elections

— 33 —

AGENDA


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24.06. – 25.06.09 Employment Week

Employment Week, now celebrating its 16th year, provides a forum for all European employ-ment and social affairs stakeholders. The 2008 event was attended by over 700 employment stakeholders around Europe who gathered in Brussels to exchange views and hear what European officials, nota-ble public figures, trade unions, NGOs, business leaders and other ex-perts are saying about today’s employment trends, challenges and opportunities in the EU.

The debates focused on how Europe’s business-es and economies are coping within the context of globalisation and demographic change, as these two components are putting an increasing pressure on Europe’s labour markets. This year’s event promises similiar relevant discussions.

locationmanage-ment centre, brussels, belgiumhost tarsus group

18.06. – 19.06.09 European Council Meeting

Special attention is given to the presidencies of small countries, and the European Council Meet-ing is an ideal opportuni-ty to assess the strengths and weaknesses of their

leadership and cooperative strenghts. This Euro-pean Council Meeting, under the Presidency of the Czech Republic, will take as a starting point the motto of the Czech Presidency, ‘Europe with-out barriers’. It hopes to remove barriers that still exist among EU Member States, notably in the field of the internal market and free movement of goods, services, persons and capital, including the complex legal regulations of the EU and Member States. It is also a reference to the twentieth an-niversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain.

The European Council Meeting in Brussels

locationbrussels, belgiumhost council of the europe-an union

+++ 08.06.09 -11.06.09 8th EPSU Congress, European Federation of Public Service Unions, Brussels +++ 08.06.09 -12.06.09 Ada-Europe 2009: The 14th International Conference on Reliable Software Technologies, Telecom Bretagne, Brest, France +++ 12.06.09 -14.06.09 Informal Meeting of En-vironment Ministers, Czech Presidency, Prague +++ 16.06.09 – 18.06.09 Terminal Operations Conference and Exhibition +++ 17.06.09 – 18.06.09 Interior Motives Conference 2008 +++ 22.06.09 – 24.06.09 Conference Research in the Nuclear Field, Czech Presidency, Prague +++ 25.06.09 – 25.06.09 16th Employment Week, Brussels +++ 26.06.09 – 30.06.09 Conference: Holocaust Era Assets, Czech Presidency, Prague+++ 06.09 (ex-act dates TBA) Conference on “Stand-up Pouches: Examining How Technical Developments are driving the Market to re-energize your brand” +++

further events


Joaquin Almunia

European Commis-sioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs

17.06.1948

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Elections

Commissioner Vladimír

Špidla

23.06 – 26.06.09 Green Week

The European Commis-sion’s Green Week gains momentum and influ-ence with each passing year. Under the close watch of the highly ac-tive Stavros Dimas, the event is a major under-taking on behalf of the Commission for the En-vironment, and shows just how central issues relating to the environ-ment are to the Euro-pean Union. Last year’s Green Week was a wide-ranging affair, taking a look at the sustainable

use of natural resources, with a focus on waste management, sustainable consumption and pro-duction. It also looked forward to achieving the biodiversity levels of 2010, and was judged to be a great success. Green Week 2009 will provide an opportunity for debate, exchange of experience and best practice among NGOs, businesses, vari-ous levels of government and the public.

locationbrussels, belgiumhost european commission

Commissioner Stavros

Dimas

— 34 —

INNOVATIVE ENTREPRENEUSHIP IN EUROPE


he idea behind the European Parliament of En-terprises, the event that EUROCHAMBRES staged on 14 October in Brussels on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, originated from the following consideration: that Europe suffers from a demo-cratic gap.

“The majority of those who contribute to the EU’s wellbeing are rarely those for which policies are thought,” explains Arnaldo Abruzzini, Secretary General of EUROCHAMBRES. “I’m talking about businesses, and in particular small and medium-sized ones. Enterprises create economic wealth: their turnover contributes to GDP, their growth generates jobs and their innovation capacity pro-

vides consumers with indispensable products and services. Yet, European policies often underestimate the importance of companies – especially smaller ones – and do not pay sufficient attention to their needs. Some-thing should be done about this.”

new efforts to care for companiesIt has to be recognised that, in recent times, new efforts have been put

in place at different levels to address this issue and make companies feel that Europe cares for them. In February 2008, the European Commission launched the Enterprise Europe Network: close to 600 organisations in more than 40 countries, providing support and advice to businesses to help them make the most of the opportunities in the European Union. Then, in June, the Small Business Act for Europe saw the light of day. This highly-awaited Communication by the European Commission tackles many of the issues identified by small businesses as problematic, such as administrative and regulatory burdens, access to finance and taxation, and so on.

But despite these very encouraging first steps, the business perspective is still missing – or is too weak – in many other crucial, political dossiers. The European Union still fails to go in the direction of enterprises in many of its policies.

“So, at EUROCHAMBRES, we thought: if Mohammed will not go to the mountain, the mountain will come to Mohammed!” Abruzzini says. This led to the idea of the European Parliament of Enterprises. “We wanted to organise an event which would show European officials that businesses

Event The European Parliament of Enterprises

exist and are ready to have their own say on major topics of concern to them. At the same time, we had the ambition of improving the mutual understanding between the entrepreneurial and the institutional level. Finally–as this year we are celebrating EUROCHAMBRES’ 50th anniver-sary–we wished to offer our Member Chambers a special occasion to get together and network. The European Parliament of Enterprises combined all of these three elements.”

companies come togetherOn 14 October, 774 companies, of all sizes and sectors (but reflecting as

much as possible the economic configuration of their respective coun-tries), coming from the 45 member countries of EUROCHAMBRES, sat in the hemicycle of the European Parliament in Brussels, to debate and vote on specific, business-related issues: the current financial turmoil, of course, but also internal market and trade; energy and environment; en-trepreneurship and education. For one day, they were the decision mak-ers, while the typical policy makers were listening and reacting to their discussions: each debate took place in the presence of a Member of the European Parliament and a European Commissioner.

What happens when 774 independent businesses and companies take over the European Paliament for a day? Answer: everyone learns a lot.contribution by eurochambres

T774 SME representatives assembled in the hemicycle of the European Parliament

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the results of the european parliament of enterprisesDuring the European Parliament of Enterprises, votes were taken on

some of the key issues currently being experienced by the people of the European Union. The day was split into four separate sessions, each of which dealt with different aspects of life as a European company. The results of the surveys give an interesting insight into the opinions and thoughts of the owners and creators of small and medium-sized Euro-pean businesses. Below is a list of the results of the key votes taken over the course of the day.

about eurochambres

EUROCHAMBRES is the Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The association represents more than 19 million enterprises in Europe through members in 45 countries and a European network of 2000 regional and local Chambers.

how the eu really worksThe choice of the location was not a casual one: the hemicycle of

the European Parliament is a symbol of democracy and participation. At the same time, for the companies, being able to sit in such a pres-tigious setting was not just a way of discovering how real EU debates work. It also demonstrated the difficulties that can be encountered in trying to reach an agreement.

Finally, the event gave the opportunity to the Chambers of Com-merce to reiterate their historical role as a privileged interlocutor be-tween the grass root and the institutional level.

Abruzzini says: “The organisation of this event – the first of its kind in Europe – has been an exciting challenge for EUROCHAMBRES. We be-lieve that we have found an innovative way of defending the interests of our corporate members, while at the same time paying a tribute to Europe. Given the success of this first edition of the European Parlia-ment of Enterprises, the experience will certainly be repeated.”

YES 89 %

NO 9%

Abstention 2%

YES 89%

NO 9%

Abstention 2%

Session 1: Should the European Commission help SMEs entering new markets, complementary to national initiatives?

YES 45%

NO 49%

Abstention 6%

YES 45%NO 49%Abstention 6%

Session 2: Should the EU commit to further greenhouse gas reduction targets, even if other major economies do not?

YES 95%

NO 3%

Abstention 2%

YES 95 %

NO 3%Abstention 2%

Session 3: Is your company prepared to assist local education institutes in developing education programmes in order to reduce the skills gap and promote entrepreneurial mindsets?

YES 66 %

NO 29%

Abstention 5%

YES 66%

NO 29%Abstention 5%

Session 4: Do you anticipate significant adjustments to your investment strategy as a result of the current financial crisis?

Other votes: Is the continued absence of a Community patent damaging to European Business? YES 90%; NO 7%

Other votes: Do you think there should be environmental criteria in public procurement? YES 72%; NO 24%

Other votes: Have recent tightened lending conditions significantlyimpacted upon your business’ ability to access credit? YES 46%; NO 44%

Other votes: Would you advocate the creation of a common EU corporate tax base? YES 62%; NO 32%

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ntrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education have been held up as one of the pillars of the Lis-bon Agenda – cited repeatedly as critical to improve competitiveness and create jobs. Multiple reports on the subject say that being entrepreneurial is not just a skill; it is a mindset that is learned at a young age. It is cross-curricular in that it embraces strength in communication skills, maths, technol-ogy, science and languages, as well as ingenuity and a comfort with risk and trying new things. But only some European Member States have taken the necessary steps to fully integrate entrepreneurship into their education priorities and formally made space for it in their national curriculums. In fact, the

European Commission estimates that not more than 5 per cent of stu-dents have access to this kind of education at school.

THINKING OF THE FUTUREYet this is the generation that we keep saying will not be able to count on

a job for life and which has to learn to take care of itself since our govern-ments will not be able to. This is, coincidentally, also the generation that is hungrier than ever to balance life and work, to occupy itself in ways that enhance independence and individuality. Nowadays, two thirds of teen-agers say they would like to run their own business later in life and 78 per cent think entrepreneurs are cool. Young people also see entrepreneurs as problem solvers and believe that they are not necessarily born with a unique gift that has made them successful. Today’s young people think anyone can be an entrepreneur.

A recent report conducted in six European countries shows that 15 per cent of former participants in entrepreneurship education schemes – such as mini-companies – between the ages of 20 and 29 had started their own businesses. Over the age of 29, that percentage goes up to over 25 per cent. The average business start-up rate in the regular population in Europe is around 6 per cent, which means that we can double or triple the number of start-ups within ten years with just a one-year mini-company course at secondary school.

But this is the kind of education that cannot and should not be left en-tirely to the Ministry of Education. One foot ought to be inside the school but the other should be outside. The Ministries of Industry and Finance

Education The Lisbon Agenda starts at school

have to play a role as well as the business community. There are many key players in the community that make this kind of education tick and the best examples in Europe all have this collaboration in common. Our collective goal has to be to increase access at all levels of the curriculum and reach enough young people to truly change mindsets and ultimately make an important economic impact later on. Experts on the subject have concurred that methodologies which are practical and which ensure that young people have direct contact with business people are going to be more effective than those with a purely academic approach. Likewise, if their students are highly motivated by a scheme, teachers are far more likely to endorse it and begin to change the way they teach. We must re-member that the students move on and the teachers stay. Working as in-tensively with educators as we do with students is imperative.

More enterprise in the classroom means better skills and more business creationby caroline jenner

EThe demand is undoubtedly there. 63 per cent of young people said they

planned to be self-employed in the future. The figure is 14 per cent high-er among students participating in mini-companies. Yet, as this graph shows, demand is far greater than supply and, in the average population, numbers of wannabe-entrepreneurs drop dramatically after university. There is significant recovery if students have had entrepreneurship educa-tion at school, however. Even if we take into account the fact that 16-19 year olds may tend to be overly exuberant in all their aspirations, the slope downwards from 63 per cent overall in potential entrepreneurship in sec-ondary school to 6 per cent in real life still seems rather steep (see figure 1). It seems we are not doing enough to harness that 63 per cent. It should not be so hard to beat that 6 per cent and it should not take too long. Ph

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Education The Lisbon Agenda starts at school

about caroline jennerCaroline Jenner is currently CEO of Junior Achievement-Young Enterprise Europe. She began her career as an entrepreneur by founding a private language school in Bratislava. Jenner has a BA in French language and literature.

LEARNING FROM NORWAYOne country we could all learn from is Norway. The Norwegian Govern-

ment developed a Strategy for Entrepreneurship in Education five years ago. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor listed Norway’s start-up rate at the time as 4.9 per cent - one of the lowest in Europe and one which raised great concern in the government. By 2007 it had risen to 7 per cent - an astonishing improvement. The government attributes this to their investments in entrepreneurship education. A country with high income per capita, low unemployment and a very good welfare system, it would seem Norway has little to worry about. But the Norwegian government knows their economy is too dependent on oil and needs to diversify. Entrepreneurship education is one of their solutions to the problem and it has been a powerful tool for regional development. As is Europe’s case overall, human capital constitutes the major part of our wealth. The students in our classrooms today are the foundation of entrepreneurial activity in the future. If we do not help them learn to see and take advantage of opportunities in the future we will be unable to cope with our economic challenges.

COUNTRY-BY-COUNTRY RESULTSCountries in Central and Eastern Europe have taken an equally proac-

tive approach. They were ten years ahead of Western Europe in reform-ing their education systems to accommodate entrepreneurship educa-tion. On a country-by-country basis, the penetration rate of entrepre-neurship education schemes in Russia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania is impressive. It should be noted that these were not rich administrations at the time. They had to be creative and found all kinds of less costly ways to move forward. They went in search of good practice. They trained teachers en masse and appealed to the private sector and international/local com-munity organisations for help. This has worked. In Russia alone, there are 800,000 students in entrepreneurship education programmes from Moscow to Vladivostok. The fall of the Berlin Wall has certainly meant a fresh start in these countries. The political changes propelled them all into a great leap forward—the likes of which we have not seen in Western Europe since the end of World War II.

Many French and German text books on economics and capitalism contain frightening stories of the savagery and immorality of entrepre-neurship. Several generations of students have been raised on a daily dose of prejudice against the very thing that made Europe great in the first place. Speakers on the SME and entrepreneurship conference cir-cuit have all pointed this out and said that these views are still remark-ably prevalent. The optimism of new Europe is driving us forward while the pessimism of old Europe is holding us back. Ending up somewhere in the middle is not really going anywhere at all.

Studies consistently prove young people who are exposed to entrepre-neurship education earn better salaries than their peers. A UK evalua-tion found that participation in mini-companies correlates with better future earnings. Figure 2 shows that at all levels the alumni median sal-ary equals or exceeds that of the Control Group and, in particular, in the 30+ age group alumni earn around one third more than their peers.

The post-war generation in Europe spent its time building and recon-

structing. The marketplace was young. But the Europe of today needs to brainstorm and innovate. It cannot rest on the success of the economic boom that took place 50 years ago. Children in our schools now will be in jobs within the next five to fifteen years. We know that the employment and business landscape will have changed a great deal by the time they get there. Combined with a good set of skills, an understanding of how to generate ideas and make them happen is what every employer is look-ing for. There is, quite simply, not enough entrepreneurship going on and without it there can be nothing new, no added value, no adaptation, and no change.

Furthermore, the great industrial giants of Europe are worried about the so-called skills gap and whether they will be able to find enough sci-entists, mathematicians, engineers and IT specialists to keep them at the forefront of their respective sectors. One of entrepreneurship education’s greatest gifts is its power to motivate and raise self-esteem and confi-dence. It also exposes young people to what large and small businesses really do and what fantastic job opportunities they offer. Without motiva-tion and a real sense of how the world works, young people do not bother to stay in school, or make poor education choices; they do not understand why maths or science or languages are important so they concentrate on easier subjects. We lose access to countless talents this way (especially young women) and it is usually lost early on—as early as lower secondary school, when students are streamed in one direction or another. Another reason why starting young is so important.

We should be making every effort to increase the uptake of successful entrepreneurship education schemes and working more effectively in-side the school system to integrate them. We should know how precious our teachers are and give them all the support and facilitation they need. The more entrepreneurial our teachers, the more entrepreneurship there will be.

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HEALTH & CONSUMER PROTECTION


Solar ImpulseA symbol and an airplane

n 1999, Swiss aeronaut Bertrand Piccard and his English co-pilot Brian Jones completed the first round-the-world balloon flight, setting new records for both distance and time in the air. However, this last grand adventure of the 20th century still consumed four tonnes of propane (an oil-based product) to produce the hot air needed to keep the balloon aloft.

Piccard has now set himself a new challenge: to repeat his 1999 exploit, but this time using zero fossil energy. He plans to do this by flying day and night in an aircraft which has har-nessed clean solar energy to such an extent that it is avail-able for unlimited use, bringing us close to perpetual flight – with zero hydrocarbon consumption and zero pollution. This

may sound like a dream, a utopia, a new science-fiction scenario, even.

In reality, though, it is none of these. The Solar Impulse project is, first and foremost, a symbol for all of us. It seeks to gain maximum public support for technologies which will permit sustainable development, and to generate positive emotions around renewable energies. It draws public attention to the changes that will have to be made to safeguard the energy and ecological future of our planet. It gives a positive, stimu-lating image to the protection of the environment. And it shows that alternative energy sources, in combination with new technologies, can enable us to achieve what was previously thought impossible.

MANY PEOPLE TALK ABOUT IT, BUT FEW TAKE THE DECISIVE STEPIt is not enough to carry this message to the four corners of the world

with words only. Solar Impulse has launched itself once and for all into

ILiberating ourselves from fossil energyby claude michel

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about claude michelClaude Michel is Head of Internal Communication at Solvay, an international Chemical and Pharmaceutical Group. He is currently focusing on his position as Manager of the Solvay Solar impulse Parnership.

the adventure with a solar airplane, shaped like an enormous glider. The first prototype, currently under construction, has a wingspan of 61 me-tres in order to accommodate the photovoltaic cells needed to generate enough energy to carry a pilot around the world with total autonomy.

The operating principle is simple. During the daytime, solar energy is converted in to electricity, which serves to achieve three things: power the propeller motors, recharge the batteries, and gain maximum alti-tude – to store up maximum energy. During the night, the batteries power the airplane motors while the airplane itself slowly loses height, taking full advantage of its excellent aerodynamics. The next morning, at dawn, the cycle restarts, and so on ad infinitum.

FINANCIAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL BACKING FOR THE SOLAR IMPULSE PROJECT

Solar Impulse is rolling back the limits of mankind’s knowledge in nu-merous areas. From the beginnings of the project in 2003, it has been striving to push levels of technological prowess forward, a crusade that requires numerous qualities: pioneering spirit, attention to the human dimension, environmental awareness and innovation. Ultimately, the project harnesses the firm belief that Science and Technology are part of the solution to the challenges facing us.

The Solar Impulse project is visionary not only in its implementa-tion, but also as an example for a successful cross-industry alliance, as it is supported and funded by a range of corporate and institutional partners.

Financial support is being provided by its main partners: the Solvay

group, Omega and Deutsche Bank. The Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) is its official scientific partner, Altran its engineering partner and Dassault Aviation its avionics adviser.

Solvay, for example, as well as financial backing, has provided more than 4000 items of every size, from screws and nuts to the cockpit and certain battery parts. These objects, developed specially for Solar Im-pulse, are vital ingredients to the project, and have made the aircraft something of a flying laboratory.

Solar Impulse itself is playing a very active role by making available its competences in developing and producing innovative materials and technological solutions, carrying out technical evaluation testing on them, and predicting and stimulating their behaviour in extreme en-vironments.

Ultimately, this is much more than a technological project. It is a sym-bol for major initiatives in the fields of Innovation and Sustainable De-velopment, both cornerstones of the industries of the future Europe is seeking to build.

ON 9 APRIL 2008, Jacques Barrot, then Vice President of the Eu-ropean Commission in charge of transport, publicly assured Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg, Chairman and CEO respectively of Solar Impulse SA, of the sponsorship of the European Commission.“Optimising tomorrow’s technologies and materials to their limits in order to accelerate the advent of tomorrow‘s technologies – this is the challenge of the Solar Impulse”, Vice-President Barrot declared, speaking in Brussels. “It is an example to be followed by all players in society, and a symbol of what we ought to achieve.”

AN EPIC IN STAGES, LEADING UP TO THE CIRCUM-NAVIGATION OF THE WORLD The Solar Impulse project is being formulated over a series of steps that move it closer and closer towards achieving its ultimate target.• First prototype assembled in 2008–early 2009 • First test flights in 2009• First night flight in 2009• Second airplane built in 2010 • Tour of the world starting in 2011, circumnavigating the planet in five stages. A stopover will be organised on each continent to present the adventure to the public and to the political and scientific authorities. Each stage will last four to five days.

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HEALTH

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CAMPAIGN Europe for Patients

INTERVIEW Guy Lebeau, Eucomed Chairman

AGENDA Health events for 2009

CONSUMER PROTECTION EU Product Safety Rules OPINION European Rules on Fragrance Ingredients

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Consumer Protectioneu rules on fragrance ingredientseu product safety rules

the eu health agenda for 2009

Europe for Patientsthe commission’s new wellbeing plan

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How would you describe the state of the healthcare system today? What are the new challenges and developments in the field?In a way, I am optimistic. I really like the development in the field. There is a change of systems, of the way that states in the European community work. Obviously it is still a mosaic of different systems, but if you look back ten years and compare that time to now I believe there is a real will from every state to get organised and to at least work in the same direc-tion. That is why network information coming from different countries is becoming more important in helping different states to compare their situations. The task for Eucomed in the middle of all this is to help and to win solutions for healthcare providers.

Do you think we are moving in the same direction now as we were ten years ago? Is it necessary for the European healthcare market to move in the same direction?Nobody knows what will happen in the future, but I think the sharing of knowledge is important. There is a value to benchmark what is positive or negative in one country compared to another. I am optimistic because countries are communicating together in a better way than before.

How important is improving communications between Member States?Eucomed is a group of 27 national associations, and it is imperative we share our knowledge today and in the future. When you look back, you see that in its first phase, Eucomed was communicating with the Europe-an Commission regularly. In the second phase we became a good partner for the Commission in areas like medical technology. The next step for us is to be a centre of competence for information and solutions.

Looking at the member states there is obviously is a lack of knowledge, but is there also a lack of education?From my point of view the real issue is not the knowledge, because the knowledge exists. The real issue is the way we are going to communicate the knowledge. We want to make people aware of what medical technol-ogy can bring to healthcare.

Do you think that Europe is in a fit state for global competition in the healthcare market?I think the EU Parliament has a real will to have such developments in Eu-rope, and obviously we are working in the same direction. Industry brings in around 5 per cent of sales in this department, so we need to help our small, medium and even large companies to develop in the network of research and development. You know, what I really like is the fact that we

Interview “Put the patient first”A discussion with Guy Lebeau, Chairman of the Eucomed associationby max obenaus

have a good mix of small, medium and larger enterprises. We know that our industry will be efficient and can deliver what we need to deliver.

How do you rate the Commission’s plans to harmonise the rules for the doctrine of human tissue products?This is good because it shows the great dialogue between the Commis-sion and the industry players. We always applaud a good solution. The key for an innovation is the criteria of market access, the time of market access. This example shows that we successfully work together.

How does Eucomed support healthcare innovation across the EU?The innovation center is a project that we have with the European Com-mission to try to have in every country an infrastructure that helps the development of innovative centers to support academic starters. We are currently in the middle of this project.

How do you tackle issues of intellectual property rights in this regard, with the South-East Asian markets emerging in the same direction?I would say the protection of an innovation is the absolute key. But I do not think it is a European issue, and I am not going to refuse the globali-sation. This is something we are doing right across the world.

Are you also taking part in the discussions to keep the balance of the old ruled health systems? If technology advances, of course this is good for the population, but how do we keep it affordable for the consumer?We need to put products on the market that help patients but at the same time we have to act economically. What makes me optimistic is that the industry feels we need to be part of the solution, and not part of the problem. This is a great trend because it means that our industry will work tirelessly to achieve solutions for the consumer.

Do you think we have a distinct European health care policy?Ultimately, every country has the same goal. They want the best for their people, and it has to be affordable for the country. We are all facing the same questions and we are answering the need across the world in the same way. I believe people are going in the same direction.

Finally, do you think it is dangerous that the European healthcare sys-tem is getting increasingly similar to the American system?I believe as long as you put patient first there is no issue. We are very close to the patient and I don’t think anyone will forget that what we do is for the patient.

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The Association of the European Self-Medication Industry (AESGP) will meet in Madrid for a con-gress on the impact of EU legislative and regula-tory requirements on the national markets of non-prescription medicines. This event will focus on EU policy and provisions for non-prescription medicines. AESGPMadrid, Spain

The annual EU Open Health Forum provides a platform for all stakeholder groups to come together and solidify a shared vision for developing and imple-menting health care for EU citi-zens. A main goal of forum is to further coordinate the European health policies on the local and regional level. European CommissionBrussels, Belgium

“From myth to evidence” is the theme of Annual Meeting of the European Academy of Childhood Disability (EACD) in Vilnius, Lithuania. Under the retrospective theme, the meeting will take an in-depth and historical look at healthcare professionals from across Europe and their ap-proaches to working with children living with disabilities.

European Academy of Childhood DisabilityVilnius, Lithuania

HEALTH 2008/09

04.06.– 06.06.09 Approaches to Disability

10.12. – 11.12.08 European Public Health

04.02.09 Self-Medication Across Europe

31.03.09 A Safe Working Environment

The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) will conduct a Risk Assessment workshop in Surrey, England with the aim of providing the par-ticipants with the information and skills necessary to comply with the regulations of the European Management of Health and Safety at Work Regu-lations.

Chartered Institute of Environmental HealthSussex, England

13.05.– 14.05.09 Better Health for Europe

The 5th World Health Care Congress in Brussels will play host to 600 heath care professionals and policy makers from across Europe. This major interna-tional congress enables industry leaders to meet and share their best prac-tices, and also to craft future initiatives for improving healthcare delivery for Europeans. Confirmed speakers include Androulla Vassiliou, Commissioner for Health.

World Health Care CongressBrussels, Belgium

Charlemagne building, Brussels

Androulla Vassiliou

Self-medication

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Regulatory DevelopmentsEU product safety rulesThe summer of 2007 saw an unprecedented number of product recalls within the EU, mainly in the toys sector. Now Meglena Kuneva, EU Commissioner for Consumer Affairs, has warned both regulators and industry that they need to raise their game when it comes to ensuring the safety of consumer products. by andrew austin, sharon long and sarah young

magine that a manufacturer places an unsafe product on the EU market. A consumer buys that product and is injured by it. As well as adverse publicity, the manufacturer faces two types of legal liability: criminal or administrative liabil-ity and civil liability. Both types of liability are regulated by a complex mix of EU and member state law. The safety of consumer products is primarily regulated by the EU. The regime for consumer products excluding food and drink was put in place by the General Product Safety Directive 2001 (GPSD). The GPSD requires member states to ensure that only safe consumer products reach the market. A product is safe under the GPSD if it poses no, or only mini-

mal, risks to consumers over the product lifecycle. Obligations under the GPSD fall primarily on producers of products. Subsidiary obligations fall on other parties in the supply chain whose activities do not directly affect product safety—known as distributors. Importantly, pro-ducers and distributors must work to ensure that unsafe products are not placed on the market. If either acquires information indicating that a product may not comply with the general safety requirement, they must imme-diately notify the appropriate national regulators. This may in turn lead to a notification being sent to alert the Commission and competent authorities in other member states to the problem. Producers and distributors must also take corrective action—up to and including recalling products from consumers—in these circum-stances. Breach of these or the GPSD’s other requirements may lead to prosecution by national regulators.

CIVIL LIABILITY RULESMember states are free to set their own rules governing liability in con-

tract and in tort. In addition, in 1985 the EU passed the Product Liability Directive (PLD), which enables consumers to bring claims for compensa-tion against the producer of a defective product in respect of injury or property damage. The great advantage of the PLD for consumers is that it creates what is known as a strict liability regime. This means that a con-sumer does not need to show that the defendant did anything wrong, beyond placing a defective product on the market. In some cases, liability

may arise even where the producer in question did not know about the defect at the time of supply or where the defect was unavoidable. Under the PLD, then, a claimant simply needs to prove the defect in the product, the damage and the causal relationship. A product is deemed defective if it does not provide the safety that consumers generally are entitled to expect. Liability under the PLD is strict but not absolute, and a producer has seven defences available to him. The most important is known as the development risks or state of the art defence, which states that there will be no liability if, when the product was put into circulation, it was not scientifically possible to discover the existence of the defect. For companies operating in cutting-edge industries, this underlines the importance of monitoring the developing science.

Given the high profile which consumer safety issues currently enjoy, it is unsurprising that there are a number of plans in the pipeline that will change the regimes dis-cussed above. As regards the GPSD, 2007’s summer of re-calls led the Commission to undertake a root-and-branch review of the legal rules in place. This is likely to lead to even tougher enforcement in future, and new regulation covering product categories where the risks are thought to be highest. Another key development in future months and years will be even greater cooperation–and data ex-change–between the Commission and product safety

regulators in other countries, especially the USA and China. Product cri-ses are likely to have the potential to go global even sooner than before, demanding coordinated global responses from producers. There have been proposals for reform of the PLD to make it more con-sumer-friendly. Much more likely, however, is the adoption of new proce-dural mechanisms to help consumers bring claims, without affecting the underlying legal regime. In particular, the EU is consulting the introduc-tion of collective redress mechanisms for consumers. And although the EU is unlikely to become as litigious or plaintiff-friendly as the USA, the Commission’s current efforts may make matters harder for industry.

Product crises are likely to have the potential to go

global even sooner than before.

I

about the authorsAndrew Austin, Sharon Long and Sarah Young are from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, an International law firm.

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have worked in the fragrance industry for more than 20 years, and have always been closely involved with the indus-try’s trade association: the International Fragrance Associa-tion (IFRA). I am now its Director General. The fragrance in-dustry set up its own globally organised and jointly financed research programme via the Research Institute for Fragrance Materials (RIFM) as long ago as the 1960s, when we became aware that certain fragrance materials could cause skin al-lergies. RIFM started work to determine which fragrance in-gredients might be responsible for skin allergies. At that time there were no regulatory frameworks to monitor or control the use of fragrance materials. The industry collectively de-

cided to take this responsible and precautionary approach long before it was fashionable and, based on the findings of its research institute (RIFM), established a worldwide self-regulatory system via the IFRA Standards.

More than 40 years later, IFRA’s Standards and Code of Practice are binding on its members, which account for 90 per cent of the global market for fragrance compounds. There is also a Compliance Programme which tests prod-ucts to ensure the Standards are adhered to. Through this self-regulatory approach, the fragrance industry has voluntarily banned or restricted the use of about 150 sub-stances. The prevalence of allergies to the materials of fragrances is declining and the body of research and data held at the RIFM is second to none. Despite this responsible and thorough approach, which in theory should make the job of legislators and regula-tors easy, we have a situation in Europe where sound science and experi-ence appear not to be considered in proposed legislation.

At present the European Parliament is voting on the EU Toy Directive. As part of that Directive it is proposed to ban a list of 40 fragrance materi-als from being used in toys. This, I believe, is a reasonable approach since the industry itself has banned all these materials already and so has the EU’s Cosmetic Directive. However, some members of the European Parlia-ment wish to go further and ban a list of 13 allergens, which have been taken from a list of 26 allergens first identified by the EU Commission’s Scientific Committee for Consumer Products (SCCP) in 2001. The SCCP recommended that these 26 allergens be labelled on cosmetic products, if certain thresholds were exceeded, in order to inform the consumer. The industry, through its self-regulatory system, went further than the

regulator, and, as a precautionary measure, also restricted the use of the materials in products, including toys.

SCIENTIFIC DECISIONS MADE BY POLITICIANSSo why the proposed ban? It is difficult to say for certain. Politics per-

haps? Is it a potential vote winner to ban substances in order to protect children? But who doesn’t want to protect children? Could it be that the science is seen to be inconclusive or biased? In my opinion it is more likely due to a lack of trust, and not only a lack of trust in the industry, but maybe in institutional regulation in general, since the obvious approach would have been to align the Toy Directive with the Cosmetic Directive, as far as fragrance materials are concerned. Is this what EU citizens want from their elected officials or civil servants? I am not sure. But I suspect they want effective legislation based on sound science, which improves

their wellbeing without sacrificing their way of life. If EU legislators vote to ban these 13 substances they

jeopardise the use of more than 100 naturally occurring essential oils, which all contain some of these 13 sub-stances: essential oils such as lavender, rose oil, lemon-grass oil and cinnamon oil to name just a few. There is a tendency in today’s environment to become overly re-strictive based on assumptions and hazard (partly mis-using the precautionary principle), but often addressing a negligible risk and not based on scientific arguments. The ban of the 13 materials appears to fit into this way of

thinking. No discernable reduction in the prevalence of allergies to fra-grance materials will be seen in the very small one to two per cent of the general population thought to be affected.

I believe that to guarantee the safety of consumer products and ad-equately inform consumers sensitive to fragrance allergies, the labelling and restricting of these substances is adequate. Let the customer choose. I also believe self-regulation should be given the credit it deserves.

about jean-pierre houri Jean-Pierre Houri has been Director General of IFRA since 2005. He began his first job in the fragrance industry in 1980, after having worked in marketing and consulting. He has a PhD in Business Administration from the University of Paris.

IFor years the International Fragrance Association has had its own regulatory systems. Now, it must compete with the decision-making bodies of the EUby Jean-Pierre Houri

Opinion Let the customer choose

So why the pro-posed ban? It is

di�cult to say for certain. Politics

perhaps?

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Personnel Changes

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Wolfgang Clement

Think TanksNew EU-Russia Forum President

EU-Russia ForumPresidentNationality: DE Languages: DE, ENStart Date: 18.09.2008

WOLFGANG CLEMENT, former Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia and German Minister for Economics and Labour, has been appointed President of the EU-Russia Forum. Clement has been a member of the German SPD since 1970.

InstitutionsKuehnel repre-sents Austria

Institutions

Ashton in Commission

Catherine Ashton

European CommissionEU Trade CommissionerNationality: UK Start Date: 06.10.2008

CATHERINE ASHTON has been confirmed as the new European Commissioner for Exter-nal Trade. Her appointment by the Council of Ministers follows the departure of Peter Mandelson, who takes up the position of Sec-retary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform in the United Kingdom. She was nominated by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in agreement with Commis-sion President José Manuel Barroso, on Friday 3 October. Ashton, whose title in the UK is Baroness Ashton of Upholland, PC, was un-til now a Labour member in the UK House of Lords, the Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council in Gordon Brown’s first cabinet in June 2007. She is an economist, and her previous European ex-perience includes steering the Lisbon Treaty through the UK’s upper chamber and dealing with EU justice and home affairs issues in her earlier jobs.

Richard Kuehnel

EU Representation in AustriaNationality: AT Languages: DE, EN, FR Start Date: 01.09.2008

The European Commission has appointed RICH-ARD KUEHNEL as Head of Representation in Aus-tria. Kuehnel had previously served as a Member of Cabinet of External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

InstitutionsFeller joins EUPM

Stefan Feller

EUPMPolice Head of MissionNationality: DE Languages: DE, EN, FRStart Date: 01.11.2008

BRIGADIER-GENERAL STEFAN FELLER has been appointed as the new Head of the EU Police Mis-sion (EUPM) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He had been Head of the Conduct of Operations Unit in the Civilian Planning And Conduct Capability (CPCC) since 2007. Feller began his career in 1979 as a Detective with the North Rhine-Westphalia Police in Germany. He studied Public Administra-tion at university.

Regional Representations

New Danish office

Birgitte Wederking

Capital Region DenmarkHead of OfficeNationality: DK Languages: DE, DK, EN, FRStart Date: 01.08.2008

BIRGITTE WEDERKING has been appointed Head of Office of the newly created Capital Region Denmark EU Office in Brussels.

TICKERAndreas Mavroyiannis, Permanent Representa-tive of Cyprus to the European Union, Council of the EU +++ John Bowis, Rapporteur, European Parliament +++ Bernd Dittmann, Member, Eu-ropean Economic and Social Committee

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Representations

New Swedish EU Rep

Christian Danielsson

Permanent Representative of Sweden to the European UnionNationality: SE Languages: EN, FR, SEStart Date: 01.09.2008

CHRISTIAN DANIELSSON has been appointed Sweden’s Permanent Representative at the Permanent Representation of Sweden to the European Union in Brussels. Danielsson took up the post in September 2008, replacing Sven-Olof Petersson, who has become Swe-den’s Ambassador in Australia. Danielsson was previously head of the European Com-mission Directorate for the three candidate countries Turkey, Croatia and Macedonia. He has previously served as Head of Unit at the European Commission with responsibility for Turkey’s membership negotiations, as Deputy Head of Cabinet to Commissioner Günter Ver-heugen, at the Permanent Representation of Sweden to the European Union, as a member of Commissioner Anita Gradin’s Cabinet, and at Sweden’s former Delegation to the Euro-pean Union, among other positions.

Plutarchos Sakellaris

InstitutionsSakellaris at EIB

European Investment Bank Vice PresidentNationality: GR Start Date: 01.08.2008

PLUTARCHOS SAKELLARIS has been appointed Vice President of the The European Investment Bank (EIB). Sakellaris’ responsibilities on the EIB’s Management Committee include supervising operations in Denmark, Ireland, Greece, Cyprus, the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and South Africa. He also assumes responsibility for the EIB’s activity reflecting its energy policy and the Bank’s Economic and Financial Studies divi-sion. Previously, Sakellaris was Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers at the Hellenic Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Kristen Silverberg

InstitutionsNew US ambassa-dor to the EU

US Ambassador to the European UnionNationality: US Languages: ENStart date: 22.07.2008

KRISTEN SILVERBERG has been appointed the United States Ambassador to the European Un-ion. Silverberg presented her credentials to the European Council Presidency and to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso in Brussels on 22 July. Previously, Silverberg served from August 2005 to July 2008 as Assistant Secretary of State for International Organisa-tion Affairs, where she managed the work of more than 450 employees in Washington and at seven US Missions, overseeing US contribu-tions totalling over $2.4 billion.

Mario Sepi

InstitutionsSepi becomes the EESC President

EESCPresidentNationality: IT Languages: DE, EN, ES, FR, ITStart date: 22.10.2008

MARIO SEPI is the new President of the Euro-pean Economic and Social Committee (EESC). A Member of the EESC since 1995, Sepi has been President of Group 2, Employees, since 2002. His Presidency focuses on three priorities: strength-ening participatory democracy on the basis of rules included in the new treaty; relaunching a new post-2010 Lisbon strategy that actively takes into account globalisation; and consolidat-ing the defence of the European social model by fighting for the entry in to force and full applica-tion of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Martin Westlake

InstitutionsWestlake is EESC Secretary General

EESCSecretary General Nationality: UK Languages: EN, FR, ITStart Date: 01.10.2008

The EESC Bureau has appointed MARTIN WEST-LAKE as Secretary General of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). In a Eu-ropean career spanning 23 years, Westlake has worked variously in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Secretariat General of the Council of Ministers and the Secretariat General and then the Education and Culture Di-rectorate-General of the European Commission. He joined the EESC in 2003 as Head of Commu-nication. In 2006 he was appointed Director of Consultative Work.Ph

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Associations

Philippot to head EBU

Jean-Paul Philippot

European Broadcasting Union PresidentNationality: BE Languages: EN, FRStart Date: 01.01.2009

JEAN-PAUL PHILIPPOT, RTBF (Belgium) has been elected as the next President of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). He will succeed Fritz Pleitgen ARD (Germany), whose term of office will continue until the end of 2008. The EBU has also selected Richard Sambrook, BBC (United Kingdom) to be their next Vice President, replac-ing Boris Bergant, RTVLSO (Slovenia).

AssociationsVossen promoted at CEBS

Committee of Euro-pean Banking Super-visorsSecretary GeneralNationality: NL Languages: EN, NL

ARNOUD VOSSEN has been appointed Secretary General of the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS). He replaces Andrea Enria, who had held the position since the establishment of the Committee in 2004. Vossen joined CEBS Sec-retariat as Deputy Secretary General in January 2008. Before joining CEBS, he was Departmental Director at De Nederlandsche Bank, responsible for cross-sectoral policy issues.

Michèle Sabban

Associations

Sabban is the new AER President

Assembly of Euro-pean RegionsPresidentNationality: FR Languages: ES, FRStart Date: 13.11.2008

MICHÈLE SABBAN has been elected President of the Assembly of European Regions (AER), the largest independent network of regional author-ities in wider Europe. She had served as AER Vice President between 2006 and 2008, and has been Acting President of AER since April 2008. Sabban was elected from a group of three candidates to the two-year post during AER’s annual General Assembly. She has been President of the AER Ob-servatory on Gender Issues since 2004, and has also been Vice President of the Ile-de-France re-gion of France since 1998. Sabban has a degree in Fine Arts.

Andreas J. Zehnder

AssociationsZehnder is the new EFBS MD

European Federation of Building SocietiesManaging DirectorNationality: DE Languages: DE, ENStart Date: 09.10.2008

ANDREAS J. ZEHNDER has been unanimously re-elected as the Managing Director of the European Federation of Building Societies (EFBS). The decision, taken at the group’s Annual Meeting, will mean Zehnder will remain in the post for a further three years. Zehnder, Chairman of the Management Board and President of the Verband der Privaten Bausparkassen e.V. (Germany), has been heading the EFBS as Managing Director since 1993.

Angela Corbalan

Associations

Corbalan joins Oxfam

Oxfam InternationalEU Media & Advocacy OfficerNationality: ES Languages: CA, EN, ES, FR

ANGELA CORBALAN has been appointed as Media & Advocacy Officer of Oxfam International’s Brus-sels-based EU Advocacy Office. Corbalan, a former journalist, has worked in the field of communica-tions and media relations for other non-for-profit organisations, including the European Youth Forum, and for the EU Institutions (EC and CoR). She holds a degree in Communication Studies and an MA in International Politics.

TICKERAndrew Duff, President, Union of European Federalists +++ Fiona Hall, Vice President, EUROFORES +++ Piotr Mazurkiewicz, Secretary General, Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community +++ Khalid Ali, Secretary General, European Sports Security Association

Arnoud Vossen

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Jean-Marc Rapp

Associations

Rapp appointed EUA President

European University Association PresidentNationality: SW Start Date: March 2009

The European University Association (EUA) has elected Professor JEAN-MARC RAPP as its Presi-dent. Rapp will take over from current EUA Pres-ident, Professor Georg Winckler, at the associa-tion’s Spring Convention in Prague in 2009. A former President of the University of Lausanne and the Swiss Rectors Conference, Rapp is cur-rently an EUA Vice President. He will serve for three years (2009-2012) as the President of EUA, which represents more than 800 European uni-versities and 34 national rectors’ conferences.

Associations

Mikuriya at the WCO

Kunio Mikuriya

World Customs OrganisationSecretary General Nationality: JA Languages: EN, FR, JAStart Date: 01.01.2009

Customs Directors General representing the 173 Members of the World Customs Organi-sation (WCO) have elected their new Secre-tary General, KUNIO MIKURIYA. He succeeds Incumbent Secretary General, Michel Danet, whose term is set to expire at the end of De-cember 2008. Before being elected Deputy Secretary General by the WCO Council in June 2001, Mikuriya had spent 25 years with Japan’s Ministry of Finance, which he first joined in 1976. Since January 2002, he has been leading an effort to coordinate the work of the WCO Secretariat with other international organisa-tions such as the World Trade Organisation, with financing bodies such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, etc, and also from the private sector. Mukuriya’s term as Secretary General is set to run from 1 January 2009 until 31 December 2013. He holds a de-gree in law from the University of Tokyo.

Paul Bevan

Associations EUROCITIES appoints Bevan

EUROCITIESSecretary GeneralNationality: UK Start date: 04.11.2008

PAUL BEVAN has been appointed Secretary General of EUROCITIES, the network of Europe-an cities. Bevan succeeds Catherine Parmentier, who had been the Chief Executive of EUROCI-TIES since 2001. Bevan has more than 25 years of experience in all levels of city, county and regional government in the UK and has worked at European level within projects and networks since 1990. Most recently, he was Chief Execu-tive Officer of the Regional Assembly for South East England (SEERA) for the past nine years, during which time he led governance, partner-ships and strategic planning for the UK’s larg-est region, which has a population of more than eight million people.

Guido Glania

Associations New Secretary General at ARE

Alliance for Rural ElectrificationSecretary GeneralStart Date: 01.09.2008

The Board of the Alliance for Rural Electrifica-tion (ARE) has appointed GUIDO GLANIA as new Secretary General of the Alliance. Glania, a German national, is an economist who special-ises in international affairs. He has worked on trade and development policy for the Federa-tion on German Industries in Berlin and Brus-sels. The ARE Board also took the opportunity to elect four new members: Bernard McNelis, José Galindez, Balthasar Klimbie and Michael Wollny.

Matthias Krauss

Associations New President at the EPTA

European Power Tool AssociationPresidentNationality: DE Languages: DE, EN, FRStart date: 26.09.2008

The General Assembly of the European Power Tool Association (EPTAS), the trade organisation for Europe-based companies of the power tool industry, has elected MATTHIAS KRAUSS, CEO of the Mafell Corporation, as new its president. Krauss succeeds Bo Risberg, and will hold the position for two years.

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Consultancies

Peter Witt joins GPlus

Peter Witt

GPlus EuropePartnerNationality: DE Languages: DE, EN, FR, NOStart Date: 15.09.2008

PETER WITT has joined EU communications firm GPlus Europe as a Partner. As Deputy Per-manent Representative to the European Un-ion, Witt has represented Germany on busi-ness-related policies ranging from emissions trading, energy liberalisation, telecommuni-cations or consumer protection to chemicals legislation and all internal market issues. Witt played a central role in negotiating with the other Member States and, during the German EU Presidency in 2007, the European Parlia-ment and the European Commission. For most of his 35-year career, Witt was attached to the German Ministry for the Economy. He served in Geneva and Washington DC as well as seven years in Brussels, and was Head of Office of two German Economic Affairs Minis-ters in the 1980s. He took his retirement from the civil service in June 2008.

Martin Hope

Think TanksHope in Brussels

British Council in BrusselsDirectorNationality: UK Languages: EN, FR, IT, RUStart Date: 10.09.2008

The British Council in Brussels has appointed MARTIN HOPE as its new Director. He moves from his position as Director of the British Council in Moscow, a position he had occupied since 2006. Hope joined the British Council Na-ples in 1989, working as a teacher and teacher trainer, and set up a Business Communications Unit to provide training for the corporate sector. He later held jobs at the British Council Prague, the British Council Bologna and in Singapore, where he ran the English Language Centre.

Johnny Munkhammar

Think TanksMunkhammar as Research Director

European Enterprise InstituteResearch DirectorNationality: SE Languages: EN, SEStart date: 22.09.2008

The European Enterprise Institute (EEI) has appointed JOHNNY MUNKHAMMAR as its Re-search Director to structure and execute a new expansion of its activities to promote free en-terprise and free competition. Munkhammar is the Managing Director of Munkhammar Advi-sory, affiliated with think tanks like Timbro in Sweden and the author of several books, nota-bly European Dawn and The Guide to Reform. He has previously served as Senior Fellow at the EEI, editorial writer, and economic analyst for Swedish business and public affairs advisors.

Nicky Denning

CompaniesDenning opens new JLR Brussels office

Jaguar Land RoverHead of European Gov-ernment AffairsNationality: UK Languages: DE, EN, FRStart date: 11.08.2008

NICKY DENNING, the Head of European Govern-ment Affairs at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), has been appointed Head of the group’s new Brussels rep-resentation Office, which she recently opened. Previously, Denning worked at the European Automotive Manufacturers Trade Association, ACEA, for a period of six years. She has also held posts at the Confederation of Food and Drink In-dustries (CIAA), and began her European career as an assistant to a number of British Members of the European Parliament.

Sebastian Vos

ConsultanciesVos directs FIPRA Brussels Office

FIPRADirector Brussels OfficeNationality: NL Languages: DE, EN, FR, NLStart Date: 01.09.2008

Finsbury International Policy & Regulatory Ad-visers (FIPRA) has appointed SEBASTIAN VOS as a Director of its Brussels Office. Prior to joining FIPRA, Vos was Head of the Competition Practice at consultancy Hill & Knowlton in Brussels. Be-fore that, he worked as a lawyer at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Amsterdam and Brus-sels, specialising in Competition and Trade law. Vos has published on legal and political devel-opments in journals including Europe’s World, Bloomberg’s European Business Law Journal and European Competition Law Review. Ph

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Rick Zedník

Media Rick Zedník joins EurActiv

EurActivCommercial Director/Deputy Chief ExecutiveNationality: US Languages: ENStart Date: 01.09.2008

RICK ZEDNÍK has joined EurActiv as Commer-cial Director and Deputy Chief Executive. He will oversee the company’s marketing and sales activities. Zedník comes directly from The Wall Street Journal, where he spent six years direct-ing pan-European product sales and marketing. Previously, Zedník, a Slovak-American born in Germany, had been editor and then publisher of The Slovak Spectator newspaper in Bratis-lava, which he co-founded in 1994.

Think Tanks

Fischer in Brussels

Thomas Fischer

Bertelsmann Stiftung FoundationExecutive Director Nationality: DE Languages: DE, ENStart Date: 01.08.2008

THOMAS FISCHER has been appointed Ex-ecutive Director of the Bertelsmann Stiftung foundation’s Brussels office. The office is cur-rently expanding its activities to cover ad-ditional items that feature high on the EU’s political, economic, and social agenda. Fischer is responsible for the strategic realignment of the foundation’s activities in Brussels. He will also continue to work for the foundation in his special field of expertise, i.e. national ap-proaches towards multi-level governance in the EU. The office’s restructuring has meant that other Bertelsmann Stiftung employees will be taking on new roles. Stefani Weiss, who has represented the foundation in Brussels so far, will remain in charge of European security affairs. She has also taken responsibility for a new project of the foundation on the impacts of globalisation. Other positions are expected to be created or filled in the near future.

Dragan Barbutovski

Consultancies Barbutovski joins Weber Shandwick

Weber ShandwickSenior ConsultantNationality: SI Languages: DE, EN, FR, SI Start date: 01.09.2008

Weber Shandwick Brussels has appointed DRA-GAN BARBUTOVSKI as Senior Consultant at its Public Affairs practice. Barbutovski has over ten years’ experience in international public affairs and communications garnered in different roles in Brussels and beyond. Before joining Weber Shandwick, he was spokesperson for the Slov-enian EU Presidency in 2008, and for the Sta-bility Pact for South Eastern Europe, a Brussels-based intra-governmental conflict prevention initiative in the Balkans. He began his career as a journalist in Slovenia.

Martin May

CompaniesMay heads Vatten-fall’s EU Affairs

VattenfallHead of European Affairs OfficeStart Date: 01.01.2009Nationality: DELanguages: DE, EN, SE

MARTIN MAY has been appointed the new Head of Vattenfall’s European Affairs Office in Brussels. May replaces Reinhold Buttgereit, who has assumed a new position within Vattenfall in Berlin. Per Hallberg will Act in the post until May takes over. May has held a number of sen-ior positions in communications in the Vatten-fall Group, among them a five-year assignment as Head of Group Media Relations in Stockholm and at present as Head of Communications for Vattenfall’s German subsidiary in Berlin.

Benno van der Laan

Consultancies Van der Laan moves to Interel

InterelManaging DirectorNationality: NL Languages: DE, EN, FR, NL, PTStart date: 13.11.2008

Interel has appointed BENNO VAN DER LAAN as Managing Director for its 35-0strong Euro-pean Affairs practice, Interel Cabinet Stewart. He replaces Tom Parker, who is moving to Cam-bre Associates. Van der Laan spent 10 years as a Brussels-based EU consultant and is currently the head of Interel Cabinet Stewart’s office in Washington DC, which he established in 2001. He will continue to travel regularly to the US and Interel will look to further strengthen its capabilities in that market.Ph

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The MEP Awards ceremony 2008 took place at the Brussels Renaissance Hotel, honouring the top achieving MEPs of 2008. Among the winners were MEPs Claude Turmes and Catherine Trautmann.

GalaBrussels & EU Event Highlights

The Parliament Magazine

MEP Awards 2008 October 8, 2008—Brussels, Belgium

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EuroCommerce celebrated its 15th anniversary in style at the L’Arsenal venue in Brussels. Euro-pean Commission President José Manuel Barroso addressed the audience, and a number of work-shop debates were held before guests let their hair down and rounded off the evening with a buffet dinner and musical entertainment.

EuroCommerce 15th AnniversaryOctober 8, 2008—Brussels, Belgium

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Open Days 2008 focussed on the topic of “Regions and cit-ies in a challenging world”. Numerous workshops and debates were held, with participants discussing the most innovative options for the future of Europe. EU Par-liament President Hans-Gert Pöttering was on hand to congratulate participants at the event’s closing session.

Committee of the Regions

Open Days 2008October 6—9, 2008—Brussels, Belgium

EUROPEAN AGENDA 06/2008 — 57 —

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The Palais d’Egmont, Brussels was the location for this annual dinner event which brought together some 200 Friends of Europe Trustees along with EU Commissioners, Members of the European Parliament and many others from all walks of EU life.

On June 3 2008, the European Commission cel-ebrated the achievements of the best and most environmentally friendly businesses in the EU.

European Commission

EnvironmentBusiness AwardsJune 3, 2008—Brussels, Belgium

Friends of Europe

President’s Dinner October 9, 2008—Brussels, Belgium

Documents

European Agenda