Spanish Delegation meets with European Parliament and Spanish Officials in Brussels

5 March 2010

CECIMO welcomed an AFM delegation in Brussels on 23rd and 24th February 2010. The Spanish delegation was composed of Mr Arandia, President of AFM and Director General of lBARMIA, Mr. Pérez, Vice-President of AFM and Director General of ZAYER, Mr. Sáez, Director General of NICOLAS CORREA and Mr. Ortueta, Director General of AFM. They were assisted by the issue-owners of the CECIMO staff and the director general of CECIMO.

The visit had three main objectives:

· Raise awareness about Machine Tools amongst EU decision makers

· Review the current EU dossiers that have an impact on the European machine tool manufacturers

· Develop long-term working relationships with the MEPs and Officials from the Permanent Representation

The visits to the Members of the European Parliament were grouped by political party. The delegation had the opportunity to meet Mrs. Bilbao Barandica from the ALDE Group, Mrs. del Castillo Vera and Mr. Zalba Bidegain from the EPP, Mrs. Gardiazabal Rubial, Mrs Riera Madurell and Mr. Jauregui Atondo from the Socialist group and Mr. Sosa Wagner (independent).

In their description of the industry, AFM members demonstrate the strong and multiplier effect of machine tools on the whole manufacturing industry, despite the relative small size of the machine tool sector in terms of GDP and employment. Machine Tools were also defined as providers of competitiveness to the manufacturing industry. The CECIMO Delegates also explained the impact of the economic crisis and the current challenges that are facing the industry, in terms of order intake, production, employment, regulation and trade.

On the afternoon of Tuesday 23^rd February, the delegation attended the debate on the WEEE recast (Waste of Electrical and Electronical Equipment). MEPs were given the floor in order to comment on the proposal and ask questions and clarifications to the German Rapporteur Mr. Florenz. On the afternoon of Thursday 24^th February, the meetings were held at the premises of the Spanish Permanent Representation to the EU. AFM and CECIMO met with Mr. Calaf Solé, who is in charge of trade affairs, and with Mrs. Garcia Donoro, in charge of the WEEE directive in the Environment Department.

The outcomes of the meetings were very positive. AFM mentioned that those meetings should be considered as the first step of a long term partnership. MEPs were very open to support CECIMO’s activities and messages, and some of the EU decision makers even proposed some collaborative actions for the future. For instance, Mrs Bilbao Barandica is planning a visit with the ITRE Committee of the European Parliament (in charge of industry, research and energy) to the Basque region in 2011, and she suggested to include the visit of a machine tool factory in the program. Mrs del Castillo said that she was the coordinator for innovation policy in the ITRE committee and that, as such, she would be glad to support our sector by forwarding the messages of the industry to the highest level. Furthermore, she concluded the meeting by assessing that training, research and innovation and industrial property rights should remain the three pillars of the competitiveness of the European Machine Tool industry. As regards trade, Mr. Calaf Solé proposed that machine tools be the next sector for the Trade Sectorial Strategies launched by the EU Presidencies (the car sector was selected by Sweden and the next sector will be Ceramics as of April 2010). The objective is to raise European awareness on the strengths and weaknesses of one particular industry and to determine a common position for European trade.

Previously organised CECIMO delegations include visits from the Czech and Swedish member associations. The success of the visit of the CECIMO Spanish delegation to Brussels shows how the EU Presidency provides an opportunity for CECIMO member associations to raise awareness about the Machine Tool Industry among their national representatives and politicians to the EU. Belgium will hold the future presidency of the European Union, from 1^st July to 31^st December 2010.