Online Breaktfast-Debate with Sonia Vila Nuñez, Head of Unit of “Management and Resources”, of the Presidential Service I.D.E.A and Policy Coordinator in the Cabinet of the President von der Leyen and her Deputy Head of Cabinet B. Seibert – Cabinet of the President von der Leyen, European Commission

On Monday 18 January 2021, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg organised a new virtual breakfast debate in the framework of its “Business Circle” platform.  Sonia Vila Nuñez, Head of Unit “Management and Resources” of the Presidential Service I.D.E.A. – Inspire, Debate, Engage and Accelerate Action, European Commission and Policy Coordinator of President von der Leyen and her Head of Cabinet, B. Seibert- President von der Leyen’s Cabinet, participated in the debate. The breakfast focused on the “Priorities of the European Commission for 2021: Impact on Spanish businesses”.

Pablo López Álvarez, Vice-President of the Chamber of Commerce and moderator of the event, welcomed and thanked the speaker and all the attendees for their participation.

Sonia Vila Nuñez began by presenting the I.D.E.A. presidential service as the ambition of the current presidency to bring academic and private sector debates closer to the legislative work of the institutions. She then highlighted the special context in which the European Commission’s Work Programme for 2021 will be developed with a clear priority on implementing the legislative measures taken in 2020. The current Work Programme is based on the need to achieve a rapid economic and social recovery from the pandemic. This will require linking this recovery to the dual, green and digital, transition and to an European resilience based in a strong social agenda and greater strategic autonomy. The Policy Coordinator also highlighted the Commission’s extensive work against Covid-19 and the various contracts signed with up to 7 vaccine manufacturers to cover vaccination in Europe and assistance to less developed countries. The focus was also on the various historical agreements recently reached such as the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027, the Next Generation EU recovery fund, and the Brexit agreement. Regarding the recovery funds, the speaker detailed the role of the national recovery plans and their link with the European semester and its country-specific recommendations.

Regarding the Work Programme for 2021, Sonia Vila developed the list of legislative and strategic initiatives that the European Commission plans to carry out in 2021. The Green Deal will continue to be of great importance due to the need to update energy and climate legislation with the new emission reduction targets for 2030. This will be developed through the comprehensive Fit 4 55” legislative package in areas such as taxation, construction, and climate diplomacy, among others. Other initiatives to be presented in 2021 include the border carbon adjustment mechanism and the strategies of 2030 biodiversity, circular economy and “Farm to Fork”. The second of the strategic axes will be the digital transition to achieve the objectives set for 2030. Any legislative development in this area will be based on a commitment with privacy and data control, together with the promotion of connectivity for all as the basis of a European digital identity. The future proposal for the development of a European digital tax and the reform of legislation for people who provide services through digital platforms stand out in this area. Finally, the work programme will also include developments in other areas such as competition law, industrial strategy, banking union, trade policy, social rights, or the building of a new transatlantic relationship.

Afterwards, on behalf of the member company and sponsor of the event Must & Partners, its Senior Partner, Ángel Rebollo, took the floor and thanked the speaker for her participation. He also wanted to emphasize the importance of European recovery funds for Spain, especially in certain sectors, as well as the potential social impact that these may have.

During the question time, the attendees were able to put forward their doubts and comments on numerous issues of interest. Thus, topics such as the European pillar of social rights and its possible link to the care economy, the technological skills deficit for digital transition, digital and energy taxation, or the inclusion of criteria for equality and non-discrimination of people with disabilities in national recovery plans were addressed.

From the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg we would like to thank Sonia Vila Nuñez, our member company Must & Partners for sponsoring this event and all the attendees for their presence.

 

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Online Breakfast-Debate with Ricard Ramón i Sumoy, Deputy Head of Unit of DG Agriculture of the European Commission and Mazaly Aguilar, Vice-president of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Parliament

On Thursday December 3rd 2020, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg organised a new virtual breakfast-debate within the framework of its “Business Circle” platform. The breakfast focused on “Towards a new agri-food model. The implications of the ‘From Farm to Fork’ strategy in the Spanish agri-food sector”. Ricard Ramón i Sumoy, Deputy Head of Unit of DG-Agri at European Commission, took part in the debate, which was moderated by Mazaly Aguilar, Vice-President of the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development. A discussion panel was then opened with Jose Carlos Caballero from Alianza Rural, Gabriel Trenzado, Director of European Union Affairs in Cooperativas Agroalimentarias de España and Juan Carlos Gallego, Farmer.

Pablo López Álvarez, Vice-President of the Chamber, made a brief introduction of the sector in our country and thanked all those present for their participation.

Mazaly Aguilar, Vice-President of the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and moderator of the event, introduced the different speakers and highlighted the importance of the agri-food sector and the farmers for our country due to its economic weight and territorial importance.

Ricard Ramón i Sumoy, Deputy Head of Unit of the European Commission’s DG-Agri, began his speech by explaining how the European Commission has worked hard to maintain a strong Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) based on direct allowances for farmers, which also involves maintaining the continuity and viability of agricultural holdings without forgetting responsible soil management in the medium term. The rapporteur highlighted how the agricultural sector is the first to be affected by climate change and the environmental challenges of sustainability.

In the current framework of the Green Deal, which aims to lead and accelerate the transformations needed to address the current climate emergency, the Commission is working on the Farm to Fork Strategy to address all these challenges.

This strategy is based on establishing common efforts and objectives for the whole Union and involves various legislative changes such as reducing the use of pesticides and fertilisers, promoting the organic sector in line with the market or reducing the use of medicines without forgetting the fundamental European strategic priority of defending biodiversity.

At the international level, it is hoped that European agri-food standards will be expanded internationally and will be a fundamental axis in the assessment of relations with third countries. Finally, Ramón i Sumoy highlighted the enormous opportunity represented by the recovery funds to undertake the changes and investments necessary to accelerate the indispensable transformation in various areas of the sector.

After the first intervention, the various guests at the discussion table were able to react, highlighting various aspects such as the importance of fund all legislation in scientific facts, the disjunction in terms of yields between organic and traditional agriculture, the need to focus on solutions for the sector rather than mere prohibitions, the role that technology will play in the transformation or the difficulty in measuring and quantifying the impacts on the sector.

The discussion panel was then opened to debate on various issues such as the challenges and opportunities posed by environmental regulations, the need to understand and adapt to the consumer, generating the right environment to take advantage of opportunities, as well as the impact of the Green Deal on relations with third countries.

Throughout the event, the attendees were able to express their doubts, questions, and comments on numerous issues of interest. Thus, topics such as the impact of European regulation in third countries where local conditions were not taken into account, the compatibility of European environmental standards with WTO rules, the adaptation of the CAP to the different territories, as well as the challenges of the sector to have profitability and fair prices that allow its viability were addressed.

From the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg we would like to thank all the speakers for their participation, as well as all those present for their attendance.

Virtual breakfast-debate with MEPs José Ramón Bauzá Díaz and Isabel García Muñoz: Priorities of the Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN)

On Wednesday November 25th, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg organised a new conference as part of the “Breakfasts with the European Parliament“, a meeting platform between Spanish companies and the European Parliament, on “The priorities of the Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) for the new legislature”. The event was attended by MEPs José Ramón Bauzá Díaz (Renew Europe) and Isabel García Muñoz (S&D).

Pablo López Álvarez, Vice-President of the Chamber and moderator of the event, welcomed and thanked the speakers for their participation and made a brief presentation.

José Ramón Bauzá began his speech by highlighting the radical change in the priorities and perspectives of all the European institutions following the Covid-19, including the Committee on Transport and Tourism. If in an early stage of the legislature the main priority was the Green Deal and the commitment to climate neutrality by 2050, in the wake of the pandemic, the absolute priority has become the urgent recovery of the two sectors most affected: transport and tourism. The MEP also stressed the need to achieve a safe and clean transport sector by providing sufficient funding for innovative decarbonisation technologies such as liquid gas, electric motors and hydrogen. With regard to tourism, Mr. Bauzá highlighted the enormous importance of the tourism sector for Spain, as it means around 15% of the GDP as well as millions of jobs, and the close relationship between the tourism and transport sectors. Despite this importance, there is no budget allocation at European Union level for investment in tourism, although the Parliament is working to achieve this.

During her speech, Isabel García Muñoz explained the strategic importance of the transport sector as a mechanism for territorial cohesion, external competitiveness and promoting economic growth. In the current framework of transition towards climate neutrality, a fair transition is necessary, which will involve sustainable, intelligent and inclusive mobility for everyone. Therefore, the European Commission is working on a new “white book” on transport and will promote certains means of transport such as inland navigation or railways through the single European railway area. The MEP also highlighted the need to achieve a full recovery of the tourism and transport sector through a commitment to digitalisation, retraining of workers and the interoperability and intermodality of transport.

During the question time, the participants were able to ask several questions on various topics. Thus, topics such as the Horizon Europe programmes or the single european airspace, the viability and transformation of airlines, investment funds in infrastructure or accessibility for people with disabilities in the air or rail sectors were discussed.

From the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg we would like to thank José Ramón Bauzá and Isabel García Muñoz and all those present for their participation.

Online Breakfast-Debate with Francisco Casalduero, Project Manager, Defence Development Programme, DG DEFIS: “The European Defence Fund: the European Commission’s view on the opportunity for Spanish industry”

On Thursday 19th November 2020, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg organised a new virtual breakfast debate in the framework of its “Business Circle” platform. The breakfast focused on “The European Defence Fund: the European Commission’s View on the Opportunity for Spanish Industry” and Francisco Casalduero, Project Manager, Defence Development Programme (DG DEFIS), European Commission was the guest speaker.

Pablo López Álvarez, Vicepresident of the Chamber and event moderator, welcomed and thanked the speakers and all the attendees.

Afterwards, on behalf of the member company and sponsor of the event, SENER, Fernando Horcada, Head of the Representative Office in Brussels, Director EU and NATO Programmes, took the floor and thanked the speaker. Horcada highlighted SENER’s long history in the field of defence both at a national level and through NATO. First of all, he wanted to clarify that the future European Defence Fund (EDF) will not be part of the European recovery mechanism (Next Generation EU) but of the multiannual financial framework (MFF) 2021-2027. The EDF will mean that for the first time European Union funds can be devoted to the defence sector due to a change in the position of the Member States as a result of the need to generate greater strategic autonomy for the EU as a result of geopolitical changes such as Brexit or the position of the US administration with respect to the financing of defence in Europe.

Francisco Casalduero began by summarising the history of some pilot programmes such as the Preparatory Action on Defence Research and the current European defence industrial development programme (EDIDP). Both these pilot programmes and the future European Defence Fund (EDF) are devoted exclusively to research and development of military capabilities, never to training or the acquisition of assets by Member States. Furthermore, these European projects are distinguished from other European programmes in that they are based on exclusively military requirements and aspects. These defence sector projects are based on innovation and cooperation between entities from several Member States, which is at the same time their greatest asset and challenge. The development of the EDIDP 2019 has yielded interesting figures that invite optimism regarding the future EDF: an average of 14 entities from 7 Member States take part in the projects, including a significant number of SMEs, in which Spain plays a very important role with a success rate of approximately 60%. The speaker detailed the status of negotiations on the future European Defence Fund (EDF), which will form part of the multiannual financial framework (MFF) for 2021-2027 and is therefore pending agreement between the European Parliament and the Council. The future EDF will be based on a work programme planned for the spring and will go beyond the classic military areas (land, sea, air) and will also integrate new areas such as cyber security, space and digital clusters.

During the round of questions, the attendees were able to put forward their doubts and comments on several areas of interest. Topics such as the eligibility of technologies and civilian technology centres for programmes in this field, the orientation of the programmes towards the Commission’s political priorities (Green Deal or digitalisation), the position of NRBC technologies in the future EDF, the facilities for applying to calls for proposals or participating in consortiums, and the continuity of projects between the various defence programmes were therefore addressed.

From the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg we would like to thank Francisco Casalduero, our partner company SENER Aerospace for sponsoring this event and all those present for their participation.

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Virtual breakfast-debate with MEP César Luena López: Priorities of the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI)

On Friday 13th November 2020, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg organized a new conference as part of the “Breakfasts with the European Parliament” cycle, a platform for meetings between Spanish companies and the European Parliament. The breakfast focused on “The priorities of the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) for the new legislature” and was attended by MEP César Luena López, vice-president of the Committee.

 Pablo López Álvarez, Vice-president of the Chamber and moderator of the event, made a brief introduction of the speaker to whom he thanked for his participation as well as all the attendees.

César Luena López began his speech by emphasizing the recent approval of the European Parliament’s position on the European Climate Law. This position includes a series of binding targets for Member States and the Union as a whole with the aim of reducing emissions by 60% by 2030, establishing intermediate targets for 2040 and finally achieving climate neutrality on the continent by 2050. The speaker also wanted to highlight from this draft legislation, which now moves to negotiations under trilogues, the implementation of a budget linked on carbon and a European council on climate change. The rapporteur on the European strategy for biodiversity gave a few insights on the dossier that will establish binding targets, generate a paradigm shift in consumption or adaptation of agriculture and fisheries with appropriate budget support. This biodiversity strategy must be based on funding of at least an additional 10% apart from the existing climate funds and address issues such as legal protection of soil and the management of invasive alien species in our ecosystems.

During the question time, the attendees were able to present their doubts and comments on many issues of interest. Thus, topics such as improving collaboration between sectors involved in animal health, the strategy “farm to fork”, the latest trends in Brexit or the potential impact of U.S. elections on environmental issues were discussed.

From the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg we would like to thank César Luena López and all those present for their participation.

 

Online Breakfast-Debate with Cristina Lobillo Borrero, Director of Energy Policy at DG ENER of the European Commission: The role of European energetic policy in achieving the objectives of the Green Deal

On Tuesday 10th November, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg organised a new virtual breakfast debate within the framework of its “Business Circle” platform. The breakfast focused on “The role of European energetic policy in achieving the objectives of the Green Deal” and Cristina Lobillo, Director of Energy Policy at DG ENER of the European Commission was the guest speaker.

Pablo López Álvarez, Vicepresident of the Chamber and moderator of the event, welcomed and thanked the speakers as well as all the attendees.

Afterwards, on behalf of the member company and sponsor of the eventRepsol, its Director of Institutional Affairs Spain & Europe, Marta Camacho Parejo, took the floor and thanked the speaker. Camacho highlighted the groundbreaking commitment of Repsol to the fight against climate change, as demonstrated by the fact of being the first energy company to commit to climate neutrality by 2050 or to sign the Kyoto Protocol. In order to achieve this ambitious goal, the enterprise is committed to a change of paradigm that involves the circular economy, technological neutrality, and the concept of the ‘refinery of the future’, based on hydrogen and synthetic fuels. Marta also pointed out urban fuels and biofuels as the necessary path for a relatively rapid decarbonisation of our economies, that will allow us to meet emission reduction and climate neutrality targets. Finally, she concluded by highlighting the value of industrial hubs in order to generate an innovative European industry that is a source of employment and economic value.

Cristina Lobillo Borrero began by outlining the strategy followed by the Commission over the last decade in terms of reduction of greenhouse gases, such as the reduction targets for 2020, the energy regulatory packages since 2007, and the Paris Agreement.Today, we face a scenario of renewed climate ambition.As a result of this ambition, the current European Commission made an ambitious commitment to reduce emissions by 55% for 2030 and achieve climate neutrality for the continent by 2050 through the Green Deal. Also, in this regard, the Commission launched the proposal for a Climate Law, currently under negotiation, as well as the implementation of a fair transition mechanism to assist with investments and adequate funds for those sectors that need more renovation or will be most affected.

Lobillo also put emphasis on the work being done by the Commission. They are working to propose in the work programme for 2021 a whole range of legislation that also includes the revision of some energy directives.  All this from a realistic approach based on impact studies. The speaker also explain the link between the recovery fund (Next Generation EU) and the Commission’s priorities, since obtaining these funds will be linked to the objectives of the Green Deal, the digital transition and the European semester. Finally, Lobillo highlighted the international reality in which it is more necessary than ever for the EU, which produces barely 9% of global emissions, to remain active in international forums in order to ensure that the major economic centres also commit to climate neutrality.

During the round of questions, the participants were able to express their doubts and comments on many areas of interest. Thus, topics such as the capacity of Member States to absorb all recovery funds given their volume, the proposals for the border adjustment mechanism with regard to carbon or the European hydrogen strategy or the renewal of the gas sector were discussed.

From the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg we would like to thank Cristina Lobillo Borrero, our member company Repsol for sponsoring this event and all attendees for joining this event.

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Online-Breakfast Debate: “European Recovery Plan: Current situation and future perspectives”

On Thursday 5 November, the  Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg organised a new virtual breakfast debate in the framework of its “Business Circle” platform, which focused on the “European Recovery Plan: current status and perspectives” and featured Enrique Verdeguer Puig, Counsellor of Economy in the Spanish Representation to the EU, Marta Marin Sanchez, Delegate of the Basque Country to the EU and Patricia Cirez Miqueleiz, Permanent Delegate of the CEOE to the EU.

Pablo López Álvarez, Vice-president of the Chamber and moderator of the event, welcomed and thanked the speakers and all those present for their participation.

Next, on behalf of the partner company and sponsor of the event, Ruth Estrada, partner in Schuman Associates, took the floor. Estrada initially stressed the unprecedented scale of the recovery funds under the Next Generation EU funds for a total of 750.000 million euros, of which Spain will be the second country to benefit most with 140.000 million, which represents 1.8% of the European Union’s GDP and around 70% of the 2020-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework. These investments, which are eminently public, must go hand in hand with public-private collaboration in order to immediately face the economic consequences of the current pandemic and, in the medium and long term, comply with the Union’s strategic objectives regarding the decarbonisation and digital transition of our economies. Estrada also wanted to highlight the fact that these European investments will be managed at the level of the Member States through national budgets.

 

Enrique Verdeguer Puig began his speech by describing the latest developments in the Next Generation EU’s negotiation, which are part of a broader debate with the Multi-annual Financial Framework and are complicated by certain sensitive points such as the rule of law or its link with other European programs. From the Council of the European Union, Member States have already concluded the appropriate agreements and everything is on track for the imminent opening of negotiations with the European Parliament through the trilogues. Despite the progress made in the negotiations and the general optimism, there are some specific points which are causing concern among the Union’s partners, such as the governance of payments in complex administrative contexts such as Spain, and the European Commission’s audit and control mechanisms over these funds. In this particular context, the Spanish administration is in constant dialogue with the European Commission through the competent task force. Finally, the Counsellor of Economy wanted to highlight the approval scheme that the Member State will have to go through before receiving the payments, such as the presentation of the national plans (until April) that will have to be linked to the recommendations of the European semester and the medium-term objectives of the European Union.

Secondly, Marta Marin Sánchez took the floor and referred to the need for the Autonomous Communities to be features within Spain’s national plan in those areas of their competence such as health, employment and education. The Basque Government Delegate in Brussels wanted to highlight how part of the recovery funds should be channelled to the Autonomous Communities through transfers from the state level and then implemented under programs or tenders that fit in with other strategic projects. In this scheme, it is also important to take into account the local level in order to try to adapt investments as much as possible to the terrain, and this is where opportunities for public-private partnerships can arise.

Thirdly, Patricia Cirez Miqueleiz made an intervention, presenting the business perspective on the Next Generation EU. The permanent delegate wanted to highlight the effort being made by CEOE to disseminate the opportunities presented by these funds for the private sector through the opening of a technical office and the creation of a digital platform to address the concerns of Spanish companies. In order to efficiently optimise these funds, it will be necessary to reform the administrative regulations in Spain to limit or shorten the deadlines and requirements of some administrative mechanisms given the size of the investments and the short time frame for their execution. Cirez also highlighted the fact that these funds must go hand in hand with structural reforms in areas such as the labour market, maintenance of pensions or ecological and digital transformation in order to comply with the recommendations of the European semester. Furthermore, these funds must not lose sight of recovery in the short term and must therefore be urgently directed towards the most affected sectors by the Covid crisis.

During the time for questions, the attendees were able to express their doubts and comments on numerous issues of interest such as the reduction of the administrative burden for companies that participate in these mechanisms, the different sensitivities present in the negotiations, the possibilities of public-private collaboration that includes the third sector, as well as the objectives of convergence and integration of the European Union in the recovery funds.

From the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg we would like to thank Enrique Verdeguer Puig, Marta Marin Sánchez and Patricia Cirez Miqueleiz for their participation, and our partner company Schuman Associates for sponsoring this breakfast debate and all those present for their attendance.

Online Breakfast-Debate with Clara Martínez Alberola, Deputy head of the ‘Task Force for Relations with the United Kingdom’ (UKTF)

Last Friday, October 23rd, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg organized a new session of its online Breakfast-Debate in the framework of its Business Circle platform. This event featured Clara Martínez Alberola, Deputy Head of the United Kingdom Task Force (UKTF) of the European Commission. The topic of the debate was Brexit: where are we heading in the future commercial relationship between the EU and the United Kingdom?. 

Pablo López Álvarez, vice-president of the Chamber and event moderator, welcomed and thanked the speaker and all the attendees for their participation.

Then, on behalf of the partner and sponsor of the event, Van Bael & Bellis, Pablo Muñiz, partner of the Brussels office, took the floor and thanked the guest speaker for her participation in the Breakfast-Debate despite her busy schedule. Mr. Muñiz highlighted the growing importance regarding many customs law issues, that were thought to be forgotten, because of Brexit but will surely affect the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union.

Clara Martínez Alberola began by thanking the invitation as an ideal opportunity to continue learning first-hand about the concerns of Member States and the various economic sectors in the Brexit negotiations. The speaker admitted that the negotiating teams are at a critical stage to achieve an agreement given that the transition period after the formal withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union ends on 31 December 2020, with the aggravation of the Covid-19 crisis as a background. Despite the tight deadlines, the EU negotiating team is working tirelessly to reach a fair agreement for both parties based in coherent rules and effective mechanisms for dispute resolution. Martínez outlined the various issues that present more difficulties to reach an agreement as well as the issues where there is greater consensus such as British participation in research programs funded by the EU or police cooperation. Finally, the deputy head of the UKTF stressed that the no-deal scenario would not imply the impossibility of reaching such an agreement in the future in different areas, although it is certainly a much worse scenario than reaching a full agreement on time.

During the question time, the attendees were able to present their doubts and comments on many issues of interest such as the controversy surrounding the internal market protocol for Northern Ireland, the rules of origin in the post-Brexit era, the uncertainty regarding standardization and public procurement, financial supervision or the complexity of customs controls in the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the EU.

From the Official Chamber of Commerce of Spain in Belgium and Luxembourg we would like to thank Clara Martínez Alberola for her conference, our partner company Van Bael & Bellis for sponsoring this Breakfast-Debate and all those present for their attendance.

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Online Breakfast-Debate with Alejandro Cainzos, Member of Cabinet of Margrethe Verstager, Executive Vice-President for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age

On Tuesday October 6th, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg organised a new session of its online Breakfast-Debate in the framework of its Business Circle platform. This event featured the participation of Alejandro Cainzos, Member of Cabinet of Margrethe Vestager, European Commission’s Executive Vice-President for a Europe fit for the digital age and focused on “EU Technological challenges for the next 5 years”.

Pablo López Álvarez, Vice-President of the Chamber and moderator of the event, welcomed and thanked the speaker as well as all the attendees.

Following this, David Luengo, director of the Brussels office of Indra, partner and sponsor of the event, took the floor and thanked the guest speaker for his participation in the Breakfast-Debate. Luengo made a brief presentation of the speaker along with a general description of the agenda for the digitisation that is managed from the Office of the Vice President Vestager. He also wanted to highlight Indra’s commitment with new international markets in this new wave of digital innovation.

Alejandro Caínzos began by presenting the digital agenda planned by the Commission for the current legislature, which aims to develop a common technology strategy based on the European model of digital transformation in which European citizens and civil society are expected to participate. Even if the European Union was late for the first wave of digital innovation based in the extraction of personal data, the Commission is working to make the next ten years the European digital decade based on industrial data through the appropriate regulatory framework together with productive investments that encourage the digitalisation of our economies and societies. For this strategy, it will be essential to have clear milestones on a number of topics such as connectivity, 5G, modernisation of public services, use of data to help SMEs and adaptation of the education system to digitisation. In all these areas, cyber security will be crucial. In the particular context of economic recovery in which we find ourselves, the speaker underlined the importance of the European digital development as 20% of all aid linked to the EU recovery fund (Next generation EU) will be used for the digitisation and modernisation of our economies. Finally, Cainzos highlighted the particular case of Spain, which will be one of the economies that will benefit from a greater volume of investment, given the impact of the pandemic. These funds will be the ideal opportunity to make decisive progress in digitisation by investing in the right technologies in this new wave of digital innovation.

During the round of questions, the participants were able to express their doubts and comments on various issues of interest such as the non-discrimination of people with disabilities in the use of new technologies, the portability and transfer of individual data, the role of professional training, the role of standardisation agencies or the establishment of horizontal rules in the regulation of state aid.

From the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg we would like to thank Alejandro Caínzos, our partner company Indra for sponsoring this breakfast debate and all those present for their attendance.

 

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Virtual Breakfast-Debate with María Teresa Fábregas, Director Recovery and Resilience Task Force at the European Commission

On Thursday 1st October, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg organised a new virtual breakfast debate in the framework of its “Business Circle” platform. The breakfast focused on “Recovery plans: sustainable growth” and María Teresa Fábregas, Director Recovery and Resilience Task Force at the European Commission was the guest speaker.

Pablo López Álvarez, Vicepresident of the Chamber,  welcomed and thanked the speakers as well as all the attendees.

Afterwards, on behalf of the member company and sponsor of the event, Iberdrola, its Director of European Public Affairs, Eva Chamizo, took the floor and thanked the spekaer and the entire team of the European Commission’s Working Group for Recovery and Resilience, for their great work in contributing from the European institutions to economic recovery. Chamizo stressed the need to commit to a green and sustainable recovery linked to the objectives of the Green Deal and allows private investment in clean energy. She also highlighted Iberdrola’s long career in prioritising investment in green energy, which made Iberdrola stand out among the leading companies in the sector.

María Teresa Fábregas began by outlining the key points of the future Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, which forms part of the Recovery Plan for Europe proposed by the European Commission. The intention of this mechanism is to contribute to the repair of the economic and social damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic without forgetting the great strategic challenges facing Europe.

This plan is aimed first and firstly at the ecological transition of the European Union towards a climate-neutral Europe by 2050 in line with the Green Deal. The speaker also highlighted as the second key of the economic recovery, the digital transition to adapt our economies and societies to new technologies. Fábregas went on explaining that it will be up to the Member States to present their national recovery plans to the European Commission from 15 October, which will ensure that they are properly implemented through the auditing and control mechanisms that are being applied to all European funds. The Director of the Working Group for Recovery and Resilience explained that the management of the mechanism’s funds will have to be done in accordance with the constitutional order of each country and in accordance with the distribution of competences in the case of decentralised Member States. However, national governments will have a certain margin to determine how they will manage them, either through transfers to sub-national entities (federated states, autonomous communities, etc.) or through central agencies.

During the round of questions, the participants were able to express their doubts and comments on many areas of interest. Thus, topics such as eligibility criteria and the mechanism for allocating funds for recovery, the social economy or more specific measures for the cultural and audio-visual sector were discussed.

From the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg we would like to thank María Teresa Fábregas, our member company Iberdrola for sponsoring this event and all attendees for joining this event.

 

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