News

On Thursday, 11 June, AmCham EU hosted a security, defence and space edition of the American Hour, members only series and welcomed Gordon B. (Skip) Davis, Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Defence Investment at NATO. Roger Coelho, Senior Policy Director, AmCham EU provided opening remarks and the fireside chat was moderated by Rudy Priem (Raytheon Technologies), Chair, Security, Defence and Space Committee. Susan Danger, CEO, AmCham EU, closed the session.

 

The guest speaker gave an overview of NATO's efforts to combat COVID-19 so as to prevent the health crisis from becoming a security crisis and to ensure that NATO can continue to provide effective deterrence and defence. Some of the support that NATO has provided to civil authorities includes: setting up a crisis response team to coordinate and respond to requests from allies and partners, supporting regular information sharing, collection of best practices, building hospitals and providing strategic airlift for logistic support and for transporting critical medical equipment, personnel and patients. NATO has also worked together with the EU and the EU’s European Response Coordination Center to exchange information, provide logistic support and coordinate efforts, as well as on communication efforts to address the spread of disinformation which has targeted both NATO and the EU.

For our last ‘Town Hall’ for members, AmCham EU connected with Peter Beyer, Member and Coordinator of Transatlantic Cooperation, German Bundestag.

 

During the meeting, Peter shared his insights on the COVID-19 emergency and its impact on the EU as well as on the EU-US relationship. He stressed that the COVID-19 outbreak showed the fragility of cross-border cooperation in times of crisis and the need for a stronger and more united EU. According to him, stronger competences at the EU level are needed to allow for an effective response to the crisis, especially with regard to its economic impact. Peter noted that the extent to which the EU will be able to do that depends on the willingness of the Member States which are still very divided with regard to the economic recovery plan. 

 

As for the impact on the EU-US relationship, Peter indicated that the pandemic showed the need for more intensified transatlantic cooperation. Being natural allies, he added, the EU and the US need to start discussing a free trade agreement without further delay.   

Last week, during our Town Hall meeting for members, we connected with Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice-President for an Economy that works for People, European Commission.

 

The Executive Vice-President shared his insights on the COVID-19 emergency and highlighted that national lockdowns are affecting world trade, hitting the transatlantic supply chains as well as EU-US trade investment flows and that open markets and trade opportunities are the best way to revitalise the economy following the COVID-19 health crisis.

 

Further on the issue of trade, he stressed that resolving bilateral trade disputes has become even more urgent against the COVID-19 landscape. You can read his full remarks here. 

AmCham EU and Junior Achievement Europe (JA Europe) are delighted to announce the finalists of the 2020 Youth Entrepreneurship Award. Candidates from across Europe were in the running for the award after participating in a JA Europe programme, making it past the initial start-up phase and creating a business concept that showed potential. The theme this year focused on female entrepreneurship.

 

The shortlisted start-ups pitched their companies to a high-level jury panel during an online finale on Thursday, 11 June. 

 

The five outstanding finalists are Kirija Kandiah, Sara Green Brodersen, Cécilia Mzayek, Stéphanie Roland and Dominika Podolanová. 

The Queen Elisabeth Competition has been active since 1937 as one of the main music competitions of world-renowned importance. Only WWII had imposed a pause to the event prior to the COVID-19  postponement of the 2020 edition. The competition is relying mainly on private donations and needs financial support more than ever to go through this exceptional ordeal. Donations are vital and will make it possible for the Queen Elisabeth Competition to organise an outstanding and awaited piano edition next year, maintaining its standard of excellence.

 

Donations are tax-deductible and can be made here. For all details please visit the Queen Elisabeth Competition website. 

 

If you wish for your donation to be used be used to facilitate the participation of US candidates and jury members to the next competition edition in 2021, add ‘AmCham EU’ in the payment description. You can also keep up with the Queen Elisabeth Competition by taking a look at their summer virtual events including Flagey on Air and Sessions d'été de Tempo . 

AmCham EU joined representatives of Europe’s business community to caution EU Member State governments and the European Parliament against rushing to conclude trilogue discussions on the representative actions proposal and urge them to take due time to consider the complex issues still unresolved.

 

Trilogue parties have not met - even at technical level - for several months. Yet there are reports that the Croatian Presidency intends to discuss a Commission compromise text with Member States in the hope of concluding discussions at Coreper in just one week, on 10 June. This piece of legislation is of utmost importance for the proper functioning of private enforcement mechanisms in and between Member States and we are extremely concerned by any efforts to rush the examination of this new framework.

The AmChams in Europe network, which represents 45 AmChams in 43 countries in Europe and wider Europe, travels every year to Washington, DC to meet with high-level US stakeholders.

 

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the annual conference took place virtually this year from Monday, 11 May until Wednesday, 27 May. 

 

Executives from over 30 AmChams gathered together to meet with:

The topics of discussion focused on EU-US relations, US elections, US-UK trade as well as on COVID-19 and its influence on the transatlantic relationship. The importance of collaboration and coordination and the need for Chambers to act as bridgebuilders in these challenging times emerged in every discussion. 

Last week, the European Commission presented an ambitious recovery plan, including a new instrument ‘Next Generation EU’ to boost the EU’s spending capacity. The Commission’s proposal aims to tackle the ripple effects of the COVID-19 crisis on the European economy and puts forward an unparalleled financial commitment, along with strong policy measures to strengthen the Single Market as well as to enable the green and digital transformations. It has the potential to be one of the engines that will restart Europe’s economy, creating new jobs and prosperity to benefit all citizens. However, there is still a tough balancing act in front of us, which requires management of the short-term economic impact of the health emergency, while laying the foundations for what is coming next. 

 

AmCham EU has published a statement on the proposal last week and will continue to support policymakers throughout the entire recovery phase, therefore we have put forward some short-term recommendations to ensure that Europe does not stall on its road to recovery.

On Tuesday, 26 May 2020, AmCham EU hosted a virtual plenary meeting to discuss the state of play of the European Union one year after the European elections. The event featured a panel discussion with Katarina Barley, MEP (S&D, DE),Vice-President, European Parliament; Reinhard Bütikofer, MEP (Greens/EFA, DE), European Parliament; Antonio López-Istúriz, MEP (EPP, ES), Secretary-General, EPP Party and Jacob Moroza-Rasmussen, Secretary-General, ALDE Party.

 

The discussion addressed key issues relating to the COVID-19 impact on the newly elected European institutions, the Future of Europe and the EU-US relationship. On this occasion, AmCham EU also welcomed a new member, Fiserv. as part of its Plenary meeting.

 

For questions, please contact Roberta Brumana, Senior External Relations Adviser (RBR@amchameu.eu).