On the occasion of the Board of Presidents meeting in Brussels of 20 April, CU President and Presidents of PRE, TBE and FEPF met Deputy Director General of DG Trade Joost Korte on 20 April. This meeting allowed to exchange on horizontal trade issues including on trade barriers such as high tariffs and technical barriers to trade, impact of existing Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and opportunities future FTAs would represent for the EU ceramic industry. Cerame-Unie (CU) handed over to DG Trade the updated CU trade barriers inventory 2016, which is available to CU members.

CU President Alain Delcourt and Presidents of PRE, TBE and FEPF also met with DG GROW’s Deputy Director General Antti Peltomäki on 20 April.  The meeting was an opportunity for executives from the ceramic industry to hold a direct exchange focusing on the Post 2020 ETS Review, health and safety at work and Trade Defence Instruments.  The industry delegation also reported on positive developments in the sector on research & innovation and delivered an inventory of projects involving the ceramic industry financed under Horizon 2020 (notably under the SPIRE PPP).  CU Presidents highlighted the potential to build on this positive trend to further develop cooperation at EU level in research & innovation provided that obstacles hindering SME sectors can be overcome with the help of the EU institutions.