Publicat pe 21/06/2023

Geneva, June 20, 2023: The President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania (CCIR), Mr. Mihai Daraban, as a member of the board of directors, participated in the General Assembly of the Association of European Chambers of Commerce (Eurochambres), held in Geneva, on June 20 this year.

The General Assembly of Eurochambres had as its main point on the agenda the establishment of the concrete objectives of the European chambers of commerce, in order to transmit a common message to the European Commission, to be put into practice starting from 2024, after the time of the European elections.

“Romania came to the General Assembly of Eurochambres with two concrete proposals, formulated not only for the national benefit but also for the benefit of other European states. The first proposal refers to the need to implement a legislative framework of unitary chambers of commerce, at the level of the European Union (EU). At the moment, European chambers of commerce operate according to different laws, which leads to certain discrepancies in their level of representation in relation to other entities. If in countries such as Austria, Germany, France or Italy, the chambers of commerce are encouraged by the governments and there are very clear regulations regarding the affiliation of companies to these organizations, in Romania the chamber system does not benefit from any kind of help from the authorities, and the legislation from field is an outdated one, with no relation to current economic trends. Certainly, chambers of commerce need a unitary legal framework established at European level. The second CCIR proposal refers to the more efficient exploitation of the Danube River in order to intensify the transport of goods to the EU states, taking into account the geopolitical context determined by the aggression of the Russian Federation in Ukraine. The CCIR wants the total involvement of all the states bordering the Danube River in terms of the modernization of this transport corridor, thus ensuring a direct connection with the Port of Constanța for the whole year”, said the president of the CCIR, Mr. Mihai Daraban.

Background:

Eurochambres represents over 20 million businesses in Europe through 45 members (43 National Associations of Chambers of Commerce and Industry and 2 Transnational Chamber Organizations) and a European network of 1700 Regional and Local Chambers. Over 93% of these businesses are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The Chambers’ member companies employ over 120 million persons.