On 17 July 2013, the General Assembly of the Croatian Lobbyists Association (HDL) held in Zagreb elected unanimously Mr. Natko Vlahovic as the new President of the Association. Natko Vlahovic who served as General Secretary of the HDL since its establishment in 2008 is also the Managing Director and Owner of the public affairs firm Vlahovic Group. Mr. Vlahovic is an accredited lobbyist within the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium.

Founding President Mr. Mate Granic was granted the ceremonial position of honorary president.

FoodDrinkEurope's mission is to facilitate the development of an environment in which all European food and drink companies, whatever their size, can meet the needs of consumers and society, while competing effectively for sustainable growth. FoodDrinkEurope’s contribution is based on sound scientific research, robust data management and effective communication, working within the regulatory framework to ensure that all food and drink issues are dealt with in a holistic manner.

Here below are the most proactive  EU stakeholders in EU-US trade deal broken down by prime categories: Aerospace; Agriculture, Food and Vegetables; Audiovisual and ICT;  Automobiles; Banking and Insurance; Chambers of Commerce; Chemicals, Biodiesel, Ethanol; Commerce; Consumers; Dairy Products; Eggs and Poultry; Employers Organizations; Engineering; Health; Legal ; NGOs; Policy Networks; Services; Telecommunications; Textiles; Trade Unions; Others.

The negotiating groups ( 150 delegates in 24 working groups) set out the EU's and US's respective approaches and ambitions in roughly 20 of the areas that the TTIP is expected to cover. They included: market access for agricultural and industrial goods, government procurement, investment, energy and raw materials, regulatory issues, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, services, intellectual property rights, sustainable development, small- and medium-sized enterprises, dispute settlement, competition, customs/trade facilitation, and state-owned enterprises.

In recent months, Cyprus has faced an unprecedented and deepening crisis that has necessitated drastic measures to resolve it. To address the short- and medium-term financial, fiscal and structural challenges, the country has agreed to an ambitious reform programme, backed by substantial financing from international organisations, aimed at restoring financial stability and achieving sustainable public finances to support the recovery of economic activity.

In politics, gridlock refers to the difficulty of passing laws fulfilling a party's political agenda in a legislature that is nearly evenly divided, or in which two legislative houses, or the executive branch and the legislature are controlled by different political parties. In United States politics, gridlock frequently refers to occasions when the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate are controlled by different parties, or by a different party than the party of the president.

On 14 May 2013 the European Parliament passed a resolution on EU trade and investments negotiations with the EU.

This the last week of official meetings at the European Parliament until the end of August but work will continue behind the scenes. MEPs will meet their constituents and members of the Economic and Environment Committees will travel to the United States to discuss with their U.S. counterparts the global crisis and how trade talks might affect environmental rules on carbon trading, air transport and food safety.

The next European Parliament Elections are approaching quickly. During 22-25 May 2014 citizens of the 28 EU member states will get the chance to elect their representatives to the European Parliament during 2014-2019.  
 

Lithuania is holding  the Presidency of the Council of the European Union since 1 July 2013 for the first time. This presidency will be the last full-term tenure of the current legislative cycle before the European Parliament elections in May 2014.

AALEP supports the goals of the Lithuanian Presidency, which is 'a Credible, Growing and Open European Union'.  The presidency has a demanding policy programme in the next 6 months ahead.

CREDIBLE EUROPE