The EU Club at the BCCI is an initiative of the Enterprise Europe Network, set in 2000, with the financial support of the European Commission. The ambassadors of the EU member states and candidate countries became honorary founders and members of the EU club.

 

Members of the Club are export oriented entrepreneurs, doing business predominantly with the EU, representatives of branch associations and business support NGOs, diplomats, high officials and political figures with manifested interest in the EU related issues and directly engaged in the process of EU policy-making, and journalists from all the national and regional media.

 

During its existence the EU Club was very active in the promotion of the process of EU accession, in organization of seminars, round table discussions and other debate forums on EU matters and in organizing various information and communication events. The EU Club has a national reach and is open for free membership. Its members so far are more than 700.

 

The EU Club proved to be a very efficient tool for the awareness raising of the BCCI members and of the business community as a whole of the challenges and opportunities for SMEs in the enlarged EU, contributing to the better integration of the local entrepreneurs in the EU internal market and to the visibility of the process of EU accession.

 

The EU Club is also a successful instrument for feedback information from the business community to the European Commission. The meetings of the EU Club where the representatives of the business, of the government and of the European structures meet at one and the same place contribute to informal discussions, sharing of experience and exchange of ideas on various European matters on the one hand, and on existing barriers and constraints, the local entrepreneurs face in the internal market, on the other.

 

The role of the EU Club was highly appreciated by the European Commission and it was included in the Regular Report on BEST (best national practices) and also in the Annual Report of DG Enterprise. Information about its activities was published in the rubrics "Best Practices" of the web site of DG Enterprise of the European Commission.

 

The EU Club was also viewed by the Eurochambres as one of the most successful tools for EU accession and included as such in their brochure "The Road to Europe".