The current focus by the EU is to reduce spending as much as possible to reduce budget deficits. This will cause lower growth and falling tax revenues. By doing that we will get a prolonged economic stagnation and a serious recession in the south of Europe (Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France etc..) Reducing budget deficits will not by itself solve the EU economic difficulties.

Armistice means a cessation of hostilities as a prelude to peace negotiations. In the context of the First World War, the armistice is generally referred to in context of the agreement between the Germans and the Allies to end the war on 11 November 1918.

Casualties (including killed and wounded) on both sides were enormous: 25,447,250

On the Allies'side (i.e. Entente Forces) 13,685,250

Agressive business lobbying on trade issues is much less common in Brussels that it is for example in Washington D.C. Indeed, U.S. firms and trade associations are very proactive in business-government relations on trade policy. This "bottom-up" approach contrasts with the "top-down" EU approach where public authority, in particular the European Commission, plays the predominant entrepreneurial role.

Greece has been sitting on a massive € 350 billion euro debt. Since May 2010, Greece has been surviving on a first € 110 billion bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund contingent on higher taxes and sharp cuts in government spending. The sixt installment of € 8 billion as part of the 2010 loan agreement of € 110 billion is urgently needed to stave off a catastrophic default.

L'Association des Avocats Lobbyistes (AAL) a pour objet de promouvoir le rôle des avocats dans la représentation d'intérêts et contribuer à la professionalisation de cette activité, amorcée depuis plusieurs années. L'Association est ouverte aux avocats et aux juristes d'entreprise qui ont un rôle décisif dans les actions de leur entreprise.

Le lobbying dans sa conception moderne est une composante légitime du système démocratique auquel il participe; il s'inscrit d'abord dans une logique d'informations des décideurs publics, nationaux et européens.

Through a referendum the Greeks will, for a change, decide for themselves how they and their country will move forward. The Greeks have had no real opportunity to do so for quite some time. For about a year and a half, Greece has been under foreign administration; it is de facto no longer a sovereign state. The government's most important task has been dragging the austerity programmes and structural reforms through parliament and implementing them. These are dictated by he strict troika of the EU Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

AALEP along with other relevant organizations has been invited by the EP-EC joint secretariat of the Transparency register to attend a meeting on 21 November 2011 to have an exchange of views on various issues related to the Register of transparency, namely concerning the revision of the financial guidelines.  The new financial guidelines will be published on AALEP website.

It is rare to find an EU company that is not developing a market strategy to benefit from the rapid growth of emerging markets such as Brazil, India, and China. As more and more firms copy each others' best practices, many of the remaining critical elements of the business environment are determined by the EU and third country governments. These include, among others, access to foreign markets for investments, protecting intellectual property etc.

Eurochambres' International Affairs Department wants to meet with AALEP to understand the network that we are currently developing in Brussels and beyond and better grasp and discuss our activities in our Action Plan. A meeting has been scheduled on 10 November 2011 with AALEP Chair.

A lot of political tensions are building up among EU member states: Diverging views between France and Germany. Tension between France and the UK , with Sweden and Poland in the background. Tension between France/Germany and Italy along with gestures and expressions that ridicule Italy. The European Commission feels like being sidelined by France and Germany who are running the show. President José Barroso believes that there should not be any separation between Eurozone members and the rest of the EU.