Three members of the External Relations Department took a field trip to a chique conference of BusinessEurope, the umbrella for Chambers’ of Commerce all over Europe. Despite the presence of some fancy speakers (amongst which 3 European Commissioners), a nice new report, their 50th anniversary and it being a sunny autumn day; the mood was somewhat depressed amongst these business men. The financial crisis seemed to dampen the networking mood as the businness leaders gathered in small groups of friends, all speaking in their native languages. Outside the Commission, scared consumer protectors and other political activists demonstrated against this business meeting and the free trade policies of the EU, asking for more protectionsim in troubled times. The businesses and European Commissioners present were not feeling too intimidated. A fitting cartoon in the European Voice explains the issue quite well.
But at least we got to admire the force with which Vice President of the European Commission says ‘NO!’, met a friendly AIESEC’er with excellent PR skills (yes we’re envious), got some more inspiration for companies to stalk and had the general impression to be part of something important.
+ a very extensive lunch buffet
– waking up at 7.30