EURIS summit stimulates congenial Brexit dialogue

10 July, 2018

Representing industrial product supply sectors, which collectively account for over 25% of the UK’s total goods imports and exports, the event saw industry associations from across Europe come together to discuss and agree a joint UK-EU industry working plan to ensure a successful Brexit for product manufacturers.

The ‘high-level’ gathering involved contributions from Government advisers and CEOs of trade bodies from across Europe; including Germany, Portugal and Sweden, as well as contributions from the UK product supply sector.

Presented in a spirit of great openness and cooperation, the interactive nature of the meeting helped to identify and cement a great deal of common ground. It also paved the way for the creation of a EURIS European Network to help deliver the best possible Brexit outcome for the industrial product supply sector across the single market.

This newly created European ‘industrial product supply’ Network will be an advisory body for the potential impacts of the changing relationship between the UK and EU; for Governments, manufacturers and the media and will be offering real solutions to the challenges presented by Brexit for the sector as well as ideas on how to maximise the opportunities that Brexit presents.

Dr Howard Porter, EURIS chair, said: “We are delighted to be able to announce the creation of this EURIS European Network. The industrial product supply sector has come together in a constructive manner to establish a working party to deliver the best Brexit for our industry. This is an important time for our sector and we look forward to announcing the outputs of our network in the coming months.”

Core issues

Paul O’Donnell. head of external affairs at the Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA), explained EURIS had identified four core issues that it was committed to working on and developing. These were: Rules of Origin, the process by which can be determined what goods are from where; Notified Bodies – how the UK can continue to play a significant role in Europe and how European bodies post-Brexit can play a valuable consultative role within the UK to the benefit of all concerned; Standards and Regulations and the way they are applied – again setting out to ensure there is a strong regulatory alignment vis-a-vis the interests of British and European industry; and Customs Arrangements – with common interests on both sides for these arrangements to be as smooth and frictionless as possible.

On the same side

Steve Brambley, CEO of GAMBICA and vice-chair of EURIS, said: “We are the first industry group that has put together a summit with European counterparts across various European nation states with a view to working in a pan-European fashion rather than simply representing UK industry.” His comments were closely followed by those of Chris Buxton, CEO of the British Fluid Power Association (BFPA), who stressed that EURIS is apolitical. “When you take politicians out of the equation you can observe a clearer link between UK and EU businesses. We are basically a group of manufacturers who want to buy and sell products – we are on the same side.”

The British Pump Manufacturers’ Association (BPMA) was represented at the event by its president, Duncan Lewis (managing director of Xylem Water Solutions), its immediate past president, Peter Reynolds (managing director of Grundfos Pumps) and its CEO, Steve Schofield. Lewis said: “I was pleased to have attended the meeting and represent the interests of the pump sector in what is a crucial subject area for all companies, large and small. The discussions were extremely positive and seemed to be conducted without a hint of politics. I feel sure this first event will enable some traction to be gained and enable EURIS and its European Network to make a positive contribution to the post-Brexit landscape.”