1 Mar 2012 - 18:30
British Chamber of Commerce in Belgium
11 Boulevard Bischoffsheim
1000 Brussels, Belgium
A high-level policy discussion with networking and drinks
Event hashtag: #britsineu
Robert Madelin, Photo: European Commission
The UK makes up 12% of the population of the European Union but only holds 5% of posts within its institutions. In 2011, for example, less than 2% of the applicants to the European Commission Concours were British and in 2012 we will see the 1972 intake of British citizens start to retire. What does this mean for EU policymaking and what does it mean for British business?
The British Brussels Network (BBN) is happy to welcome you to attend a high-level discussion with top British officials, policymakers and business representatives. This event will be of interest to all those who follow both EU and British decision making and politics as well as British citizens, including those who may be taking the forthcoming EU Concours.
Fully understanding the issues is a first step to developing pragmatic solutions to address a British problem with European consequences. The Brussels New Generation (BNG) is pleased to work with BBN to highlight and facilitate discussion on these important issues.
The one-hour policy discussion will be followed by drinks and networking. The event is open to all nationalities. Registration is mandatory.
Speakers
Robert Madelin, Director-General for Information Society and Media, European Commission
Jonathan Faull, Director-General for Internal Market and Services, European Commission
Michael Collins, Managing Director, European Government Affairs, Citibank
Dr. Richard Corbett, Member of the cabinet of Herman van Rompuy, President of the European Council
Moderated by Richard Corliss, Chair of Brussels New Generation
Welcome of behalf of the British Brussels Network by Phillip Souta, Director of BNE
The British Brussels Network was launched last year as an open source project intended to plug a gap in British influence in Brussels. We provide a forum to discuss European affairs from a British, open market perspective, and a political network for Brits in Brussels.
Brussels New Generation, powered by the British Chamber of Commerce in Belgium, is the leading network for young international professionals in Brussels. A core part of BNG’s mandate is to discuss and explore the EU business and policy making issues that matter.
2 comments
Anthony Coulson says:
Feb 28, 2012
I think the UK’s attitude towards Europe is sad if not lamentable. Our representation in Europe reflects this, and anything we can do to remedy it must be done.
David Thorburn says:
May 11, 2012
The first thing to say is that the UK suffers from a lack of understanding of Europe, how it works and how it tries to benefit all EU citizens. This lack of knowledge is partly down to the lack of column inches in the media and what coverage there is is mostly negative.
Education is the key to this and sadly the one hugely successful pedagogical tool that helped to explain Europe to UK students, along with all other EU secondary schools in the EMS, was the Europa Diary. This was provided under a framework contract which was recently suspended, by the lead DG. (No names, no pack drills!)
If the European project is ever to move forward with conscensus there has to be an understanding of a common purpose. This will be more difficult to achieve if the rules for membership are so prescriptive that the fault lines are allowed to grow larger.
Education of, “tomorrows decision makers, today”, as well as an understanding of the positive, as well as the negative, aspects of the “project” are key to reducing the UK’s position on Europe. This will be the driver to better UK representation in Europe. This will not happen overnight but we should make every effort, NOW, to continue to provide more information to all UK citizens, and in particular our children. It is, after all, they who are going to have to deal with the situation that we leave to them.