18 October 2007 - Berlaymont, Salle Jean Monnet Rue de la Loi,
Brussels, Belgium
The European Commission's department on Economic and Financial affairs (DG
ECFIN) organised in co-operation with UEAPME a conference on SMEs preparations
for the euro introduction. The conference took place on 18 October in
Brussels.
The conference aimed to identify the particular challenges for SMEs and best
practices for authorities and other stakeholders how to address SMEs and their
concerns.
The sessions did not only look back to the changeover in 2002 but also to
recent and on-going preparations. A particular focus was the impact of the euro
on financial markets and the challenge of preparing the IT systems for the euro
changeover.
The audience gathered representatives of the national authorities from the
newer Member States as well as representatives of chambers of commerce and SME
associations, both on European and national level.
Please note that for non-EC contributions, copyright rests with the
authors.
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Welcome by Mr Hans-Werner Müller, Secretary-General, European Association of Craft and Small and Medium Enterprises – UEAPME  [15 KB]
Opening speech “The euro and SMEs” by Joaquín ALMUNIA, Member of the
European Commission in charge of Economic and Monetary Affairs
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| Morning Session 1: | What has the euro changed for SMEs?
Chair: Mr Benjamin Angel, DG for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG
ECFIN)
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| 09:45 - 10:15 | "The impact of the euro on doing business" [21 KB]
Speaker: Mr Ian Martin, Managing Director, Martin Services Ltd./Business
Europe
Questions and answers
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| 10:15 - 10:45 | " The impact of the euro on financial markets" [823 KB]
Speaker: Ms Doris Ritzberger-Gruenwald, Head of Foreign Research
Division, Oesterreichische Nationalbank
Questions and answers
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| 10:45-11:00 | Break
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| Morning Session 2: | Lessons from past euro changeovers
Chair: Mr Benjamin Angel, DG for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG
ECFIN)
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| 11:00 – 11:40 | "How did SMEs prepare for the
euro?"
Speaker 1: Mr Daniel Gassmann, Eurochambres/Head of European Affairs Department, Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry [173 KB]
Speaker 2: Ms Marion Bywater, Consultant, Deloitte Questions and answers [147 KB] |
| 11:40 – 12:20 | "Special focus: the IT
challenge"
Speaker 1: Mr Ivo Swinnen, IT expert,Telindus [3 MB]
Speaker 2: Mr Andreas Naunin, Senior Vice President SME, SAP Germany Questions and answers [284 KB] |
| 12:20 – 12:45 | "Special focus: Pricing strategies" [179 KB] Speaker: Mr Benjamin Angel, DG ECFIN, European Commission
Questions and answers
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| 12:45 –14:00 | Lunch break
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| Afternoon Session | Preparing for the euro in the new Member
States
Chair:Mr Luc Hendrickx, Director, UEAPME
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| 14:00 – 14:20 | "What has changed for SMEs since the first wave?" [568 KB]
Speaker: Mr Marjan Ravnik, Adviser to the secretary-general, Chamber of Crafts
of Slovenia
Questions and answers
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| 14:20 – 14:45 | "How to address the challenges for SME preparation?" [82 KB]
Speaker: Mr Emmanuel Berck, DG Enterprise, European Commission
Questions and answers
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| 14:45– 15:15 | "How to communicate with SMEs on euro issues?" [2 MB]
Speaker: Mr Alan Camilleri, Executive Director, National Euro Changeover
Committee – NECC, Malta
Questions and answers
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| 15:15– 15:30 | Break
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| 15:30 – 16:30 | Panel discussion
Panelists: speakers from DG ECFIN (S. Appel), DG ENTR (E. Berck),
Slovenia (M. Ravnik), Malta (A. Camilleri), Eurochambres
(D. Gassmann), Business Europe (I. Martin)
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| 16:30– 16:45 | Concluding remarks
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