Breakfast-debate with Ana Gallo: European External Investment Plan and its benefit for Spanish Companies

Last 31st January 2018, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg hosted in its headquarters in Brussels a breakfast-debate with Ana Gallo, member of the Cabinet of the European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, about the “European External Investment Plan (EIP) and its benefit for Spanish companies”. Among the participants, there were members of the Chamber, business executives and representatives of Spanish autonomous delegations in Brussels.

Pablo López Álvarez, Vice-president of the Chamber and moderator of the event, started by saying a welcome word and introduced the speaker, highlighting her broad professional career related to the European Union. As member of the Cabinet of Neven Mimica, her main responsibilities are migration, employment, investment, innovative financing, audit and control, and her geographic operational areas are Latin America and the Caribbean.

Afterwards, Ana Gallo introduced the European External Investment Plan, a project designed by the European Commission to encourage investment in their partner countries in Africa and the EU Neighborhood region, to strengthen their partnerships and to contribute in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, helping to address some root causes of migration.

This plan emerged as a political response to the migratory crisis and to the immigration problem. In addition, in 2015 the global awareness led to the activation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Furthermore, Gallo explained the five action sectorial desks of this plan which are: renewable energy and connectivity, sustainable cities, digitalization, micro/SMEs and development of agro-food industry.

Then, she described some of the types of financing for this plan and the different kinds of projects that can be presented to the EIP. These projects must meet the following requirements: they must lead to the achievement of sustainable development goals and they must be realistic, viable and profitable.

She also explained the pillars that support the execution of this plan: it is a project constituted by blending platforms, it ensures until 80% guarantee depending on the country, it has a part of technical support and viability checking, and, in addition, the projects combine grants and loans from financial institutions.

For all those people interested in presenting their projects, Gallo explained how the EIP functions practically, and how the selection process works. If a Spanish company wants to present their projects, first of all they need to go to the One-Stop-Shop so the secretary of the program can decide which entity or development agency would be more convenient. Afterwards, the G-Tag, the committee where the national banks are represented, analyzes the project from a financial point of view, in order to check its viability. Also, the sectorial desks mentioned above, have been created to promote a better distribution of the funds among all the sectors that are meant to be funded.

After Ana Gallo’s speech, the Vice-President of the Chamber opened the debate, marked by a high participation of the attendees. Among the main issues, the most remarkable topics were the renewable energies on the EIP, the running of the project implementation, the countries where it is going to be presented and the functioning of the One-stop-shop.

New Year’s Cocktail 2018 Celebration in Luxembourg

Last January 24th, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg celebrated the New Year’s Cocktail in Luxembourg. Between the assistants, there were the Ambassador of Spain in Luxembourg and the President of Honor of the Chamber, Carlos María de Lojendio y Pardo Manuel de Villena. There were also many members of the Chamber, entrepreneurs, senior Spanish managers and representatives of European institutions and other local bodies.

Jose Luis Rodríguez Álvarez, Vice-president of the Chamber, thanked the participation to the assistants and remarked the evolution of the commercial relations between Spain and Luxembourg, promoted by the the Chamber of Commerce. Furthermore, the Ambassador of Spain in Luxembourg thanked the Chamber for its work, and expressed his best wishes on this duty in 2018.

During the cocktail, two flight tickets to Madrid or Barcelona were raffled, courtesy of the airline Luxair.

The event was celebrated in the Meliá Hotel and more than 60 people attended.

The Chamber wants to thank the sponsoring and colaboration of Bodegas Salferso Wine and Luxair in the organization.

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The Chamber supports the Three Wise Men Day in Belgium

As every year, the Three Wise Men, on their way back home, they stop in Bruges to give their presents to the Spanish-speaking children living in Belgium.

The Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg, has taken part, one more year, in the organization of this special event.

The past Saturday 13th January, the event took place at the Bruges Dolphinarium (Boudewijn Seapark) where hundreds of children who have been dreaming for a year about this moment were gifted by the Three Wise Men with candy and presents.

A breakfast, an “indoor” amusement park, a dolphin show, a lunch and an afternoon snack were the perfect way of having a magic day for the families of the Latin American immigrants in Belgium, especially for their children. Also, children from refugees families living in Brugge attended to this remarkable event.

We shared the slogan “Not a single child without a toy”. Together we can achieve it.

The Chamber thanks the collaboration of all the individual participants and sponsor companies, and specially the contribution of ASBL FAMILLES DU MONDE:  https://famillesdumonde.eu/

Conference about the new measures on labour law and tax law in 2018

The past 18th January 2018, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg organized in their headquarters a breakfast-conference about the new measures on labour law and tax law in 2018. The event was organized in collaboration with  Group S Business portal & accredited payroll provider and the law firm van Cutsem Wittamer Marnef & Partners. 

The first speaker was  Hugues Thibault, head of Group S’ International Department, who spoke about the new measures related to the Belgian labour law for 2018. During his presentation, he explained different topics related to it such as:

  • Reduction of labour cost : reduced social security contributions
  • Posting of employees : obligation to appoint a liaison officer
  • Profit sharing bonus : possibility to grant bonus not heavily taxed
  • Mobility allowance : returning his company car against cash
  • New notice periods in case of dismissals
  • IT tools used for personnel purposes: new social and fiscal treatment

Afterwards, Alain Vanderstraeten, lawyer and tax partner at van Cutsem Wittamer Marnef & Partners, explained the agreement reached by the Belgian federal government about the 2018-2020 tax reform package. Various of those tax measures are related to corporate tax. He highlighted the following ideas:

  • Decrease of corporate income tax rate
  • Minimum corporate income tax
  • Capital gain on shares
  • Withholding tax on capital decrease
  • Notional interest deduction
  • Tax consolidation
  • La Cámara agradece la alta participación de asistentes y la colaboración de Group S y el bufete de abogados van Cutsem Wittamer Marnef & Partners, que contribuyeron a que el evento fuese todo un éxito.

The Chamber would like to thank the big participation of the attendees and the collaboration of Group S and an Cutsem Wittamer Marnef & Partners, who contributed to the great success of this event.

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Looking for talent? Request your membership to the Mobility Plan in the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg

Benefits of being membership of the Mobility Plan

If you are a company in Belgium or Luxembourg and you would like to be member of the Mobility plan, you will have the opportunity to:

  • Count with young people with specific skills adapted to your business’ needs.
  • Have young people with the right attitude and motivation to embark on a new challenge abroad.
  • Participate in a program managed by the Chambers of Commerce with a great social impact and committed to youth employability and the productivity of companies.
  • Obtain the seal of company committed with young employment in recognition of it’s committed to youth.

The Mobility Plan of the Integral Qualification and Employment Programme (PICE) is a programme created by the Chambers of Commerce’s network of Spain and co-financed by the European Social Fund. This programme is part of the Entrepreneurship Strategy and Youth Employment that is part of the National Youth Guarantee System of Spain, an initiative of the Ministry of Employment and Social Security of Spain.

The Mobility Plan is being implemented by the Spanish Chambers’ network and its principal aim is provide personal and professional development’s opportunities to the young people joining the programme and, at the same time, to boost the productivity to the companies affiliated.

Together for youth employability

Through the Mobility Plan, the Spanish Chambers of Commerce in the European Union collaborate with the Chamber of Commerce of Spain and the Spanish Chambers’ network. The objective: to contribute to the improvement of youth employability thanks to training for their personal and professional development.

Request information Visit our webpage and sign up

Local Contact Point:

Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg
Rue Belliard 20, 1
1040 Brussels

Contact person in Belgium and Luxembourg:

Ángela Ustárroz
Angela.ustarroz@camara.es

For more information:
www.programapice.es/empresa/plan-de-movilidad