Ibán García del Blanco, MEP; and Pilar Ruiz Huélamo, director of the Delegation of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce to the EU.
In the March 2024 edition, the Europe Direct Castilla-La Mancha newsletter has published an interview with Pilar Ruiz Huélamo, director of the Delegation of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce to the EU. The full interview is shared below:
Pilar Ruiz Huélamo studied Law at the Faculty of Ciudad Real and specialized in Community Law at the Center for European Studies of the UCLM. She was an intern at the JCCM Delegation in Brussels and worked for 17 years in the European Parliament. Since September 2022 she has been the Director of the Delegation of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce to the EU.
1) How do you help from the institution that represents Spanish companies and those of our region? What kind of actions do you carry out from the Delegation?
The Spanish Chamber of Commerce is a public law entity that defends the general interest of Spanish companies. Its objectives include the accompaniment of public policies, the development of programs and participation in international business skills projects. As a whole, it is made up of a network of 85 Territorial Chambers in Spain and 44 Chambers Abroad.
Our goal, from the Delegation to the European Union, is to become a hub of institutional and technical support in Brussels for our chambers and companies. The defence of the general interest gives us a unique characteristic vis-à-vis our interlocutors. We have an action plan with this objective based on three axes: institutional representation, an information and technical assistance service and participation in Eurochambres.
The first is institutional representation, understood as the process of creating synergies with the rest of the Spanish and European institutions present in Brussels, so we organize events in collaboration with other entities, promote the presence and participation of our companies in the legislative debates that affect them and create support and collaboration networks.
The second pillar seeks to provide an up-to-date practical information service. We have developed three types of concrete actions: the launch of our website www.delegacionue.camara.es with daily updated information on European calls and tenders. We also organise monthly training seminars on EU funding programmes and opportunities, mainly for SMEs, 98% of our business fabric. Finally, we send out two weekly newsletters: every Monday the funding opportunities with the Infoflash funding and on Fridays the Infoflash news with news of interest from the European institutions.
Within this up-to-date information service, another significant area of activity for us is the organisation of working missions to Brussels, both for our Territorial Chambers and for our companies. Its objective is twofold: on the one hand, to bring the institutional framework of Brussels closer to our companies and, on the other hand, and for me the most important, to convey to the European institutions the challenges faced by our companies after a period of great regulatory burden such as the last five years.
Finally, the third axis is the participation of the Spanish Chamber in Eurocámaras, the European association that brings together more than 1700 local and national chambers of commerce and represents approximately 20 million SMEs in the EU. As a Spanish representative, I participate in the different areas of work: positioning, interventions in the various working groups, search for partners at European level, as well as assistance and organization of joint events. In this first year of activity we have managed to carry out more than 175 actions from the Delegation and we are ready to continue expanding our portfolio of activities with new initiatives in 2024.
2) One of its activities is to inform and advise Chambers of Commerce and businesses on European policies, initiatives and programmes. Do you think that the business fabric of Castilla-La Mancha is aware of the funding opportunities of the European Union? Where can you start looking for a company from Castilla-La Mancha that wants to receive EU funding?
The Chambers of Commerce of Castilla-La Mancha do a great job supporting companies and society in the region in their internationalization, training, digitalization, sustainability and entrepreneurship processes. Access to European funds in this new period is very competitive and we have to redouble our efforts through public-private collaboration to take advantage of the enormous potential of the region, which, among others, is a leader in sectors as important for our country as the agri-food sector.
Any company can contact its Chambers of Commerce for help and advice on the calls and funds available.
And also, of course, as I mentioned before, from the Delegation of the Spanish Chamber to the EU, we make available our portal of funding opportunities, and our weekly information bulletins.
3) At the moment in which we find ourselves, what do you think are the main challenges facing Spanish companies right now? And what do you think are the opportunities for Spanish and Castilla-La Mancha companies?
According to official data, in 2023, only 2.83% of Spanish exports to the European Union came from Castilla-La Mancha. In addition, in 2021, of the 3,377 Spanish companies exporting to these destinations, only 120 were from Castilla-La Mancha. These figures indicate that there is still much that can be done to promote the internationalization of companies in the region, although it should be noted that some sectors, such as wines or construction goods, do have a greater international presence. For this reason, the main challenge for Castilla-La Mancha companies would be precisely their internationalization. Added to this are other challenges common to the rest of the Spanish business community, such as the search for transformative solutions to recent shocks (energy crisis, scarcity of raw materials in some sectors, effects of climate change, etc.).
In terms of opportunities, Castilla-La Mancha has a consolidated industrial fabric, good access to telecommunications networks and the existence of measures in the region to help companies. In addition, in terms of international recognition, the agri-food sector is one of the sectors where Spanish companies are most valued, and Castilla-La Mancha has a very important agri-food sector, so it can take advantage of this recognition outside our country to promote its internationalization.
4) You studied at the UCLM, and one of your first 'work' experiences was the internship you carried out at the Castilla-La Mancha Office in Brussels. How do you remember your time through this experience and what would you highlight from it? How did this internship help you to start your career in Brussels? What advice would you give to young people who are considering doing this internship?
Indeed, after studying Law in Ciudad Real and the Master's Degree in Community Law in Toledo, it was the UCLM and, more specifically, Mr. Luis Ortega, who gave me the opportunity to fulfill my dream and come to Brussels for six months with a research grant. I remember this time with great affection and I would highlight, in addition to the human quality of the team at the time, the emotion of participating, even on a small scale, in the formation of the negotiating position of the Spanish State before the European Union. A few months later, the research I did helped me to defend my thesis and obtain the Diploma of Advanced Studies in EU Law, thanks to which I got other job opportunities.
My advice to young people considering an internship in Brussels is to do it, without a doubt! I would even go so far as to say that I believe that it should be an experience for all young people, to get to know first-hand the institutions of the EU, the only supranational international organisation, and thus to promote European values and culture.