Dear Colleagues,

I should like to take this opportunity to remind you about our next Tiles & Bricks Europe (TBE) Annual Meeting, which is set to take place in Naples from 19 to 20 June. And in this connection, a big thank you to our colleagues from ANDIL, the Italian Brick and Tile Association, who kindly offered to organize this year’s event parallel to their own general meeting. In view of Italy’s EU presidency starting on 1 July 2014, the time and place of our TBE Annual Meeting set a perfect signal.

This year too there will be ample opportunity to discuss important technical and environmentally relevant issues that concern the European clay brick and roofing tile industry. Some of the key topics on our agenda are clearly the progress in the implementation of the Construction Products Regulation (CPR) as well as future courses set in the EU’s energy and climate policy, especially the revision of the carbon leakage list within the framework of the EU emission trading system and the reworking of the EU guidelines on environmental and energy aid.

Naturally, we shall also address the TBE’s communications activities. These support our continuous efforts towards achieving a broader presence in the media and increased awareness among political decision-makers. The annual meeting will be concluded with a panel discussion on “Paving the Way to Sustainable Growth” in which representatives from politics and industry will discuss the role of the building industry and housing construction for European economic growth.

On top of that, Naples itself is quite an experience. Besides the professional agenda, an attractive support programme has been organized to present this wonderful city to you. I therefore hope that many of you will attend and look forward to welcoming you to our next TBE annual meeting.

Yours respectfully

Heimo Scheuch

TBE President