Friends of Europe

Friends of Europe is a well-connected lobby group whose Secretary General is lobbyist Giles Merritt. In June 2005 Friends of Europe ran an 'Atlantic Rendez-Vous Satellite Debate' titled 'After the EU-US Summit: Where do we go from here? Wednesday, June 29, 2005 - Brussels/Washington DC'.
The guest list shows the connections of Merritt and Friends of Europe. Of significance is the presence of John Houston of lobby firm Houston Consulting Europe along with several of his financial service clients.
==People==
As of March 2009 the list of people involved in Friends of Europe, as given on the Friends of Europe website,"Praesidium and Trustees", Friends of Europe website, accessed March 19 2009 "Team", Friends of Europe website, accessed March 19 2009 is as follows.
 	
===President===
Viscount Etienne Davignon
===Praesidium===
Giuliano Amato | Michel Barnier | Carl Bildt | Laurens Jan Brinkhorst | Pat Cox | Jean-Luc Dehaene | Anna Diamantopoulou | Elisabeth Guigou | Daniel Janssen | Jean-Pierre Jouyet | Pascal Lamy | Mario Monti | Jacek Saryusz-Wolski | Karel Van Miert | Guy Verhofstadt |
===Trustees===
Edmond Alphandéry | Enrique Barón Crespo | Joachim Bitterlich | Elmar Brok | John Bruton | Günter Burghardt | Robert Cox | Philippe de Schoutheete | Franz Fischler | Monica Frassoni | Catherine Gernay | Elisabeth Guigou | Sandra Kalniete | Wim Kok | Horst Günter Krenzler | Vytautas Landsbergis | Spiro Latsis | Erkki Liikanen | Robert Manchin | Erika Mann | Stefano Micossi | John Monks | Riccardo Perissich | Alojz Peterle | Paul Révay | Keith Richardson | Michel Rocard | Javier Solana | Dirk Sterckx | Frans van Daele |
===Team===
Giles Merritt - secretary general | Geert Cami - co-founder and director | Nathalie Furrer - director | Jessica Henderson - senior strategy development manager | Dominique Ostyn - project development manager | Nigel Olisa - membership and database manager | Ringaile Trakymaite - project manager |
==Funding==
Friends of Europe has two kinds of membership, individual and 'VIP'. VIP members are described as 'partners' and include a range of corporations and neoliberal think tanks from throughout Europe.
===Circa 2009===
As listed on their website:
*Adecco http://www.adecco.com
*Alliance http://www.healthandthefuture.org
*APCO Europe http://www.apco-europe.com/
*APEAL http://www.apeal.org
*AREVA http://www.areva.com
*BEDA http://www.beda.org
*BP http://www.bp.com
*BT http://www.bt.com/aboutbt
*Cargill http://www.cargill.com
*Cleary Gottlieb http://www.cgsh.com/
*Clingendael Institute - The Netherlands http://www.clingendael.nl
*Croplife International http://www.croplife.org/
*Deutsche Post World Net http://www.deutschepost.de
*Diplomatic Academy of Vienna http://www.da-vienna.ac.at
*Economic Development Foundation (IKV) - Turkey http://www.ikv.org.tr/ikv-eng/ikv-eng.html
*EICTA http://www.eicta.org
*Elcano Royal Institute http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/
*Euractiv.com http://www.euractiv.com/
*EuroMetaux http://www.eurometaux.org
*Europe Information Service http://www.eisnet.eis.be/
*European Business Summit http://www.ebsummit.org
*European Commission http://www.europa.eu.int/
*European Communication Strategies http://www.cs-brussels.com
*European Institute - Bulgaria http://www.europeaninstitute.net
*European Movement - Cyprus http://www.europeanmovement.org/members.cfm?mem_cyen=Cyprus
*European Movement - Denmark http://www.europabevaegelsen.dk/index.asp?languageid=33
*European Movement - Estonia http://www.euroopaliikumine.ee/english.html
*European Movement - Finland http://www.suomeneurooppaliike.fi/englanniksi.html
*European Movement - Lithuania http://www.europeanmovement.org/members.cfm?mem_cyen=Lithuania
*European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) http://www.ewea.org/
*ExxonMobil http://www.exxonmobil.com/
*Forum for European Journalism Students (FEJS) http://www.fejs.org
*Friedrich Ebert Stiftung - Czech Republic http://www.fes.de/intro_en.html
*Gellis Communications http://www.gellis.com
*Hanns Seidel Stiftung - Germany http://www.hss.de/homepage-e.shtml
*Hellenic Foundation for EU and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) http://www.eliamep.gr/main.asp?cat=1&exc=true
*Hewitt http://www.hewitt.com
*IBM http://www.ibm.com
*Institute for European and International Studies http://www.ieis.lu/frames/outer.htm
*Institute of European Affairs - Ireland http://www.iiea.com/about.html
*Institute of International Affairs - Latvia 	www.lai.lv/Kopaa_ANG.html
*Institute of International and Strategic Studies Portugal http://www.ieei.pt/english/index.php?id=1
*Institute of International Relations - Czech Republic http://www.iir.cz/uk/uvod.htm
*Institute of World Economics - Hungary http://www.vki.hu/eindex.shtml
*Intel http://www.intel.com
*Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale (ISPI) http://www.ispionline.it
*McKinsey & Company http://www.mckinsey.com/
*Microsoft http://www.microsoft.com
*Novartis http://www.novartis.com/
*Open Society Foundation Sofia - Bulgaria http://www.osf.bg/en/mission.html
*Pfizer http://www.pfizer.com/main.html
*Real Instituto Elcano http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/default_eng.asp
*Roland Berger Strategy Consultants http://www.rolandberger.com
*Royal Institute for International Relations http://www.irri-kiib.be/events.htm
*Shell International http://www.shell.com
*Slovak Foreign Policy Association - Slovak Republic http://www.sfpa.sk/index.php?jazyk=en
*SONY http://www.sony.com
*Swiss Life http://www.swisslife.com/slcom/en/home.html
*Telefonica http://www.telefonica.com/home_eng.shtml
*The Coca Cola Company http://www.coca-cola.com
*The Foreign Policy Centre http://www.fpc.org.uk
*The Konrad Adenauer Stiftung http://www.kas.de/proj/home/home/9/2/about_us-1/
*The Stefan Batory Foundation http://www.batory.org.pl/english/
*Top Interim http://www.topinterim.be
*Toyota http://www.toyota-europe.com
*T-Systems A division of Deutsche Telekom, http://www.t-systems.de
*Unilever http://www.unilever.com
*Veolia Environnement http://www.veoliaenvironnement.com/
*Visa Europe http://www.visaeu.com/
*Volvo http://www.volvo.comFriends of Europe Partners. Retrieved from the Internet Archive of 7 March 2009 on 13 January 2016.
==Programme==
:Registration
:14:30 - 15:00 Session I: How many EU - US fences still need mending?
:15:00 - 16:00 Moderator: Pat Cox & Giles Merritt (Brussels), Esther Brimmer (Washington, DC)
:Speakers: Ronald D. Asmus , Executive Director of the Transatlantic Center, Brussels , German Marshall Fund of the United States
:Robert A. Bradtke , Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs , US Department of State
:Roger Cohen , Journalist , The New York Times
:Michael Leigh , Deputy Director General for Europe & Central Asia, Near & Middle East, Southern Mediterranean , European Commission, DG External Relations
:Erika Mann , Member, Committee on Industry, Research and Energy , European Parliament
:Richard Wright , Director North America , European Commission
:Coffee break
:16:00 - 16:15
:Session II: Does the transatlantic economy need a new US-EU deal on governance?
:16:15 - 17:15
:Moderator: Pat Cox & Giles Merritt (Brussels), Esther Brimmer (Washington, DC)
:Speakers:
:Pervenche BerÃƒÂ¨s , Chairwoman , European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
:Don Bonker , Executive Vice-President , APCO
:John Bruton , Head of the Delegation , Delegation of the European Commission to the United States
:Peter Chase , Director of the Office of European Union and Regional Affairs , U.S.Department of State
:Matthias Ruete , Director in charge of coordination for competitiveness , European Commission, Directorate General Enterprise and Industry
:Coffee break
:17:15 - 17:30
:Session III: How free is the transatlantic market in financial services?
:17:30 - 18:30
:Moderator: John Houston (Brussels), Esther Brimmer (Washington, DC)
:Speakers:
:Paul Arlman , Secretary General , Federation of European Securities Exchanges
:Don Bonker , Executive Vice-President , APCO Worldwide
:Wilbur Monroe , Deputy Director of the Office of International Banking and Securities Markets , U.S. Department of the Treasury
:Ieke van den Burg MEP , Member, Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs , European Parliament
:David Wright , Director of Financial Markets , European Commission
:Networking Cocktail
:18:30 - 19:30
==contact details==
Website 
==Notes==