Herman Van Rompuy, the President of the European Council, and Jose Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, will welcome U.S. President Barack Obama at the next EU-US Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, on November 20th 2010.

The transatlantic relationship includes a commitment to advancing the ideals of democracy and human rights, fighting terrorism, preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and promoting growth and jobs.

Further information:
European Council

On July 28th, members of the AmCham EU Trade Committee met with Mr. Tim Reif, the General Counsel for United States Trade Representative (USTR). Mr Reif is responsible for providing legal advice to the USTR, Deputy USTRs, as well as regional and other USTR offices.

At the AmCham EU breakfast meeting, Mr. Reif briefed AmCham EU members on the USTR's priorities, including: the completion of the Doha round; Free Trade Agreements; trade issues and disputes with China; and closer cooperation with the EU.

In the question and answer session, the USTR's General Counsel responded to several questions touching upon a number of trade issues from trade barriers and export taxes to the enforcement of IP rights and compliance with WTO rules. Mr. Reif also asked AmCham EU members about their business experience and the issues facing their companies in the context of EU-US trade relations. 

PHOTO: Mr. Tim Reif, the General Counsel for United States Trade Representative (USTR).

Related web links:
Profile of Mr. Tim Reif, General Counsel, USTR
United States Trade Representative
DG Trade
 

On Tuesday July 20th, Ms. Nadia Calviño (Deputy Director-General, DG Competition) addressed members of the American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union (AmCham EU) outlining the European Commission’s priorities in the field of competition policy for the next five years.

“Our top priority has been dealing with the crisis”, Ms. Calviño stated during her keynote speech at AmCham EU’s July plenary meeting, before adding that "there is consensus on the need to enforce competition, even in these difficult times".

 

The Executive Council of AmCham EU (ExCo) held its plenary meeting to coincide with the European Business Summit taking place in Brussels (June 30th- July 1st).

ExCo's two day programme of high-level meetings with key decision-makers from the European institutions started on Wednesday with a meeting with the European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Affairs, John Dalli, followed by a meeting with the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy.

AmCham EU's ExCo met also with President Barroso; US Ambassadors William E. Kennard (US Ambassador to the EU) and Michael Punke (US Ambassador to the WTO); the European Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedegaard; the European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, Michel Barnier; and European Parliament Internal Market committee chair Malcolm Harbour MEP.

On June 30th, AmCham EU ExCo chair, Mikael Hagström (SAS), participated in the EBS programme's panel on Driving Global Recovery: what can Europe learn from Asia?

The following day, Tom Regent (AT&T) participated in the panel session Transatlantic Economic Growth and Innovation.  Mark Spelman (Accenture) took part on the panel Innovating Industry: building a knowledge-based economy. 

PHOTOS: Top - ExCo members with President of the Council of the European Union, Herman Van Rompuy. Below - Mark Spelman, Vice-Chair ExCo, Commissioner Dalli, and John Vassallo, Chair of AmCham EU.

Photo Gallery of AmCham EU's Executive Council meetings at the European Business Summit

Video interviews with Executive Council members participating at the European Business Summit

Members from the AmCham EU Trade & External Affairs Committee met on June 29 with 13 deputy members of the Trade Policy Committee (former 133 committee) and trade attachés from the permanent representations of Spain, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Slovakia, Latvia, Portugal, Hungary, and Greece to the EU.

This meeting was an opportunity to exchange of views on the top trade priorities of importance to the EU and to AmCham EU members, including the Doha Development Agenda round at the WTO, multilateral trade system, EU-India free trade negotiations, EU-China trade relations, EU-Russia trade relations, and other bilateral trade relations.

Mr José C García de Quevedo Ruiz from the Spanish Permanent Representation also gave a comprehensive overview of achievements of the Spanish Presidency on trade policies.

This informal discussion was followed by a networking cocktail.

PHOTOS: (top)(l-r): Eric Amstutz (Caterpillar), Sharon Leclercq-Spooner (EPPA), Jose Carlos Garcia de Quevedo, Permanent Representation of Spain to the EU (below) AmCham EU members & Trade Policy Committee Members

On Friday June 25th, AmCham EU submitted its reply to the European Commission's consultation on the review of rules applicable to horizontal co-operation agreements. The consultation was opened by DG Competition earlier this year, as the two relevant "block exemption" Regulations and Guidelines will expire on 31 December 2010.

AmCham EU's submission offers detailed industry input, particularly in relation to rules on information exchange, R&D agreements and standardisation.

For more information on AmCham EU's position on horizontal co-operation agreements please contact Bernardo Matos at the AmCham EU secretariat tel: +32 (0)2 513 68 32.

• AmCham EU reply to the European Commission's consultation on the review of rules applicable to horizontal co-operation agreements (pdf)

AmCham EU has released a position paper on the revision of the directive on the waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) to share its concern in light of the Environment Committee vote of the European Parliament next week.

• AmCham EU is concerned about proposals opening the scope of WEEE, financial responsibility for household collection, collection target, visible fee and the need for clarification on the classification of B2C and B2B.
• If the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on WEEE (recast) were to be adopted in its current form, it would imply additional costs for industry without resolving the key problems with the existing WEEE directive. We do believe that many amendments would improve the draft legislation and solve some of the issues that AmCham EU is concerned with.
• AmCham EU's position on the revision of the WEEE directive (pdf)
• AmCham EU's position on the revision of the WEEE directive (Information paper) (pdf)

For more information on AmCham EU's position on the revision of the WEEE directive please contact Christelle Verstraeten at the AmCham EU secretariat tel: +32 (0)2 513 68 92.

On Thursday 3rd June 2010, members of AmCham EU's Policy Group and Board met with the newly appointed Head of the EU delegation to the US, Mr João Vale de Almeida (previously Director General at DG External Relations). Mr de Almeida is scheduled to take office in Washington DC at the beginning of July.

Mr de Almeida is optimistic about the EU-US relationship and wants to work with businesses to further enhance it. His priorities will focus on: moving the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) forward, bilateral and multilateral trade relations, concluding the Doha Development Round at the WTO, climate change and energy, improving human rights and development policies in Africa, EU-US convergence regarding terrorism and security and foreign policy with China, Russia, India, Brazil, but also Vietnam, Mexico and Chile and the Middle East. The meeting also gave AmCham EU Chairs an opportunity to present their Committee’s main transatlantic priorities. Mr de Almeida mentioned welcoming business inputs to further enhance the EU-US relationship.

PHOTO: Claudio Murri (Time Warner), Mr João Vale de Almeida (EU Ambassador to the US), Karim Lesina (AT&T)

On 2nd June, over 350 people gathered at the Concert Noble for an evening of culture, networking and entertainment. Representatives from the European institutions, transatlantic organisations, the Brussels business community and media representatives were present to hear recitals by Denis Kozhukhin and Evgeni Bozhanov - first and second ranked laureates of the Queen Elisabeth Competition for Piano 2010. The musicians were introduced by Lewis Kaden, Vice Chairman of Citigroup the patron sponsor of the evening.

John Vassallo conferred the Transatlantic Business award on this year’s joint winners Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank and Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the US Federal Reserve. Mrs. Tumpel Gugerell, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank accepted the award on Mr. Trichet’s behalf (Text of acceptance speech available here).  Ben Bernanke’s acceptance speech was shown at the Concert Noble. His video message can be viewed here.    

The evening concluded with a gourmet buffet followed by dancing in the Ballroom.

With thanks to the generosity of Gala Night 2010 sponsors:

 

Photo gallery
Ben Bernanke speech (video)
Jean-Claude Trichet speech (pdf)
 

On Thursday 27 May 2010, AmCham Bulgaria  celebrated its 15^th Anniversary with a Commemorative Conference which highlighted the transatlantic relationship and the Chamber’s work in Bulgaria in “bringing business together.” The half-day conference included two panel discussions with the participation of representatives from the Bulgarian and US government as well as local and international business representatives.

Susan Danger, Managing Director of AmCham EU participated in the conference alongside Bulgarian government ministers, Nikolay Mladenov, Minister  of  Foreign Affairs, Traycho Traykov, Minster of Economy, Energy and Tourism, Tomislav Donchev, Minister for EU Funds, Rosen Plevneliev, Minister of Regional Development and Public Works, Juan Verde, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce and several other high level participants. Susan highlighted the importance of the transatlantic economic relationship and need for close cooperation among business and government on both sides of the Atlantic.

PHOTO: (l-r) Stefan Ivanov, Vice-President, AmCham Bulgaria; Susan Danger, Managing Director, AmCham EU; and Borislav Dimitrov, General Manager, Cisco Systems.

AmCham Bulgaria