On November 18th and 19th 2018, representatives of 15 member associations met in Vienna to join European Entrepreneurs CEA-PME 27th Annual General Assembly. The first evening was hosted at the Embassy of Belgium to Austria in the form of an outstanding reception by HE Ambassador Mr. Ghislain d’Hoop and his wife.
The evening started with welcoming and keynote speeches by Ambassador d’Hoop, by Mr. Andreas Gnesda, the president of the Austrian Business Association ÖGV, by European Entrepreneuers’ and BVMW’s president Prof. Dr. h.c. Mario Ohoven, as well as a video message by Mr. Othmar Karas MEP (ÖV/EPP), Chairman of the SME Intergroup at the European Parliament.
The evening at the Embassy finished with a fantastic performance by the internationally acclaimed Tenor Fabio Andreotti, who performed on the notes of piano player Mr. Fabio Montani.
The second day of the Assembly General started with a meeting of the Executive Board. The Annual General Assembly started right afterwards with the opening speeches of Mr. Andreas Gnesda and Prof. Dr. h.c. Mario Ohoven. The presidents of the 15 members had then to honour to listen to and discuss the political impulse offered by Mrs. Angelika Mlinar MEP (NEOS/ALDE), Member of the EP-Committees on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) and Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM).
During the the formal part of the Assembly, the Secretary General of European Entrepreneurs, Mr. Walter Grupp, the Managing Director, Mr. Stefan Moritz, and the Treasurer and Vice-President of IBWF, Mr. Ullrich Hänchen reported about the work done and the budget in 2018 and gave a strategic outlook for 2019. The delegates agreed upon important decisions for the next year of activities, which will soon be put in practice. Stay tuned to soon learn more about coming new initiatives and projects.
For the afternoon session, we were pleased to welcome Mrs. Evelyn Regner, MEP (SPÖ/S&D), Member of the EP-Committees on on Legal Affairs (JURI) and on financial crimes, tax evasion and tax avoidance (TAX3).
Mr. Moritz presented the new project DigitaliseSME and introduced the new working groups set-up in July 2018: the first one “Professional Training in and for SMEs and mobility of qualified workers in Europe” was presented in details by Mr. Horst Dreimann, Secretary General of our new member EVBB, and the second “European Defense Fund: tenders and research projects with SMEs” was explained by Mr. Walter Grupp.
We would like to thank all our member representatives for coming and in particular the Austrian Business Association and its Secretary General, Mr. Stephan Blahut, for the organisation and the hosting of the Assembly. We are looking forward to the many initiatives, events and meetings planned for the upcoming year.
