General Assembly Meeting 2021

Last Thursday, June 24th, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg held its Ordinary General Assembly. Due to the current sanitary restrictions caused by the COVID-19, the Assembly was held for the first time in a hybrid format.+

After the agenda was read out, the President of the Chamber, Juan Rodríguez-Villa Matons, took the floor. He first thanked the members present for their attendance and then announced his decision to resign as President. After an emotional speech, recalling the milestones of his work at the Chamber for 16 years, the President thanked all the people who took part in the resounding success of the institution. He highlighted the work of the Vice-President Pablo López, since his appointment in 2010, whom he acknowledged to have served as President “de facto”, during the long period of crisis in which we are still in. He also celebrated the positioning the Chamber as a point of reference for Spanish companies abroad, especially in terms of European agenda and visibility before the European institutions. Until the election of a new President by the Board of Directors, Vice-Chairman Pablo López Alvarez will act as Acting President.

Then, the Secretary General, Marta González Benguria, reviewed the main activities and events organised by the Chamber in the past year 2020. The Secretary General highlighted the positive trend in the increase in the number of members in the last year, with a growth of more than 8% compared to the previous year. This trend is positive not only in quantitative terms, as the Chamber has 6 new sponsoring members, from 34 to 40, an increase of almost 18%.

blankShe also underlined the organisation of online events as one of the tools to continue with the traditional activities of the Chamber in a context of pandemic. Thus, the Chamber organised 53 events throughout 2020, mainly online, in close cooperation with its members. Of particular note were the online events developed in the framework of the “Business Circle” Platform which was able to attract important figures from the European institutions. The novelty of this 2020 were the working committees: the launch of “Competencia España”, focused on competition law and policy, and the “Spanish Financial Forum”, whose objective is to share experiences and generate business opportunities for Spanish companies in the financial sector.

Then, the Secretary General highlighted the role of the Chamber in the management of several European projects, two of which, for the first time, the Chamber has a coordinator role. In addition, the commercial area also remained active despite the paralysing effects of the pandemic on the economy, with 255 commercial consultations, and 9 direct trade missions.

Finally, she detailed the main items corresponding to the Balance Sheet for the financial year 2020, which was subsequently approved by all those present and represented. For the first time, the balance sheet exceeded one million euros and the profit was 125,177 euros.

The President then proposed the candidate members for presentation to the General Assembly and the General Assembly elected, for the first time with a telematic voting system, the following 8 members as vocals, representing their respective companies for a period of 3 years:

– Antonio Corpas (OneLife)
– Bert Dehandschutter (Racine; Degor)
– Sergio De Miguel-Jessel (Partner in his personal capacity)
– Abelardo García González (BBVA)
– José Gracia Barba (Meteora)
– Sophie Leconte (everis)
– Asier Marquina Sánchez (ArcelorMittal)
– Manuel Menéndez Barrero (Santander Consumer Bank)

blankAfter the vote, Vice-President Pablo López Álvarez intervened as Acting President to pay tribute to the outgoing President, Juan Rodríguez-Villa, whom he described as “the best President the Chamber could have had”. After acknowledging his admirable career and the important legacy he leaves behind, he proposed his appointment as “Past President”, for the remaining year of his mandate as Board Member. This appointment was unanimously approved by the members present at the General Assembly, who gave the President a heartfelt round of applause. The Vice President undertook to convene a Board of Directors meeting shortly to elect a new President and announced his candidacy.

 

María Palanca Reh, Economic and Commercial Counsellor of the Spanish Embassy in Belgium and Luxembourg, then took the floor to recognise the excellent performance of the Chamber, especially in a pandemic situation. She thanked the Secretary General, blankher team and all the members involved in the Chamber’s activities. After reiterating the official nature of the Chamber from the Spanish public administration, she concluded by thanking the outgoing President for his dedication. Finally, tribute was paid to the former Secretary Generals, María Catalán and Miguel Ángel Arrimadas, who spoke briefly to convey their thanks to the Chamber and to the outgoing President. Additionally, the President of the Chamber thanked all the young trainees for their vitality and commitment to the Chamber.

 

On July 2nd, a telematic meeting of the Board of Directors will be held to vote and appoint the next President of the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg.

 

 

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General Assembly Meeting 2020

On June 24th, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg hosted its General Assembly Meeting. Due to the spread of COVID-19 in Belgium and in order to follow the social distancing measures, the Assembly had to be celebrated in an online format.

 The Ambassador of Spain in Belgium, H.E. Ms. Beatriz Larrotcha Palma, and the Ambassador of Spain in Luxembourg, H.E. Mr. D. Bernardo de Sicart Escoda, both presidents of Honor of the Chamber, were present during the Assembly. The Economic and Commercial Counselor of the Embassy, Ms. María Palanca Reh, also attended the meeting as vicepresident of Honor of the Chamber.

 The President of the Chamber, D. Juan Rodríguez-Villa Matons, took the floor firstly to thank the present members its attendance and he apologized for any eventual technical problem because of the format that may have. blankHe also wanted to wish to all the members and its families the best against this pandemic. The President also mentioned the main news regarding the staff with the appointment of Marta Gonzalez Benguria as Secretary General after María Catalan left the post and the enrollment of Javier Rincón Cruz as Business Development Manager. The President wanted to thank María Catalan for its outstanding dedication to the Chamber for many years. The recognition was also extended to Miguel Ángel Arrimadas that leaves the Treasurer post. After this he gave the floor to the Secretary General of the Chamber.  

Marta Gonzalez Benguria explained the agenda of the Assembly and afterwards summarized the main activities and events organized by the Chamber during 2019. She also made a brief resume of the current situation that the Chamber is facing due to the impact by the COVID-19 and the lockdown measures taken. The Secretary General highlighted the rising tendency in the number of members in the last years that has been consolidated in 2019. The diversification in the Chamber’s activities during the last year was also highlighted with a special mention to the new services available for members in Luxembourg. At the end of its speech the Secretary General presented the beginning of the management of PICE international mobility program from the Spanish Chamber and supported by the European Social Fund.

Based on the statutes and as a recognition for all the years of dedication, the Secretary General and the President proposed to the Assembly to validate María Catalan and Miguel Ángel Arrimadas as Honor members, being validated by the Assembly by acclamation.  

 Due to the absence of the Treasurer in the Assembly and as the documents were sent to the members the income and expense accounts, the income statement and the balance sheet for the 2019 financial year were set as presented and approved by acclamation.

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After this the President proposed the candidates to the General Assembly. Given that the number of vacancies in the Board of Directors was equal to the number of candidates and as no one expressed against, the Assembly approved the following (4) candidates as members of the Board of Directors for a 3-year period:

  • Juan Alfonso Herrero (Mercadona)
  • Pablo López Álvarez (FTI Consulting, Hispania y Alvarez & Associates)
  • Carlos Rodríguez Cocina (Telefónica)
  • David Luengo (Indra)

 Additionally, the appointment of Abelardo García González (BBVA) was ratified by the Assembly.

The Ambassador of Spain in Luxembourg, H.E. Mr. D. Bernardo de Sicart Escoda took the floor for itself and in the name of H.E. Ms. Beatriz Larrotcha Palma, Ambassador of Spain in Belgium, to thank Miguel Ángel Arrimadas and María Catalán for its work over the last years.

The President of the Chamber thanked the Secretary General and its team for its work as well as to the young stagiaires for their vitality and commitment with the Chamber. Last but not least, he wished to best of luck to all the presents in this difficult time due to the current health crisis.