The BCCG New Year’s Conference followed by

reception on 24 January 2019 was attended by

over 200 members and guests.

As in previous years, the participants were invited by

Commerzbank, a BCCG sponsoring partner, to their beautiful

building at Brandenburger Tor. Brexit was the hot topic of

discussion, as it was due to happen very soon. While major

compromises had been reached in the negotiations between

the EU and UK, some main issues remained unresolved. It

seemed uncertain whether the remaining time would be

sufficient to finalise the negotiations successfully. As a no-

deal Brexit seemed to be on the table, with all its negative

consequences for business and people affected by it, the

question of whether businesses were preparing for such an

outcome arose.

Banks and industry are most concerned about the

consequences and have implemented initial measures to

minimize the negative effects of Brexit. At the same time, the

panel and guests felt that we have to look ahead and prepare

for the phase after the official exit date. The hope is that the

counterparts manage to reach reasonable agreements in

order to maintain smooth trade, economic and political

relations for the people of the UK and Germany.

The day ended with the traditional New Year’s reception

at the British Embassy, where the British Ambassador to

Germany, Sir Sebastian Wood KCMG, gave the opening

address, followed by Alexander Kulitz, MdB, FDP, and Michael

Schmidt, President, BCCG. |

Uwe Westphalwww.uwewestphal.com

Entrepreneurial chance or deep uncertainty – how business is dealing with Brexit

New Year‘s Conference and Reception

Keynote speakers were:

→ Michael Reuther, Member of the Board of Managing

Directors, Commerzbank AG, Frankfurt, speaking

about: Entrepreneurial chance or deep uncertainty –

how business is dealing with Brexit

→ Dr Kay Swinburne MEP, Vice-Chair, Economy and

Monetary Affairs Committee, European Parliament,

Brussels, illustrated the current positions of the negoti-

ators, including those of the UK Conservative Party.

→ Thomas Hacker MdB, Mitglied der FDP Bundestagsfrak-

tion, Mitglied im Ausschuss für europäische Angelegen-

heiten, Deutscher Bundestag, Berlin, replied that in his

view more could be done to reach a compromise sooner.

Subsequently, the following people took part in a panel discussion: Ambassador Axel Dittmann, Director for EU

Institutional Affairs, Brexit and EU Coordination, Federal

Foreign Office, Berlin; Richard Kühnel, Vertreter der EU

Kommission in Deutschland; Dr Ferdinand Pavel, Director &

Leiter volksw. Beratung f. d. öffentlichen Sektor, Ernst & Young

GmbH, Berlin; Dr Kay Swinburne MEP, European Parliament,

Brussels; Dr Kai Mertens, Managing Partner, Squire Patton

Boggs, Berlin; Marcus A. Wassenberg, Member of the Board,

Hamburg.

The panel’s moderator was Karl Hinterleitner, Editor, ZDF,

Berlin.

YEARBOOK 2019/2020 NEW YEAR’S CONFERENCE & RECEPTION

54 Regions & Events

55

YEARBOOK 2019/2020 NEW YEAR’S CONFERENCE & RECEPTION

Regions & Events