The Chamber President, Mr. Tancred Tabone headed an eight strong delegation to the European Parliament for Enterprises event which was held in Brussels on 14th October.

This event was the first of its kind wherein over 750 entrepreneurs from 45 European countries filled the seats of the European Parliament hemicycle to discuss four principal themes namely “The Current Financial and Economic Situation”, “Doing Business without Barriers”, “Creating an Entrepreneurial Europe” and “Tackling the Energy and Environmental Challenge”. Mr Tabone addressed the European Parliament for
Enterprises during the latter session. He expressed concern about the rising energy costs which are a veritable threat to business survival in isolated energy markets like Malta’s.

He highlighted that community-wide policies earmarking the availability of financial support for SMEs were still acutely missing from the energy policy package. He said that business communities urgently required concrete support for the installation of energyefficient equipment based on adequate energy audit assessments.

The event was opened by the President of the European Parliament, Mr Hans Gert Pöttering and the President of the European Commission, Mr José Manuel Barroso. Other speakers included Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Enterprise and Industry Mr Gunther Verheugen; Mr Andris Piebalgs, EU Commissioner for Energy; and the EU Commissioner responsible for the Internal Market and Services, Mr Charlie Mc Creevy.

The European Parliament of Enterprises was organized by Eurochambres in commemoration of its 50th anniversary and attracted widespread media interest in Brussels. It was closed by Mr Pierre Simon, President of Eurochambres.
Commenting on the experience at the European Parliament, Mr. Tabone stated “This event underlined the strength of a unified Chamber network at the European scale. Presidents of all European national Chambers of Commerce made their positions known to the European leaders present at the event. Our opinions will certainly not be ignored by the European Institutions and policy makers”.

During their two day visit to Brussels, the Chamber Delegation also participated in a conference entitled “European Business in the Global Economy – Competition or Cooperation”, as well as the Eurochambres 104th Plenary Assembly and Board of Directors meeting.