INTERNATIONAL
Elena Lai, director general of ETSA spoke of the Association’s work in two ‘Peer Parliament’ workshops which it organised as EU Climate Ambassador, 2022 being the Commission's ‘European Year of Youth’. Panellists included Jesper Jensen of Jensen Group, Andreas Holzer of Bardusch, pictured with Elena Lai, and Hartmut Engler of CWS.
Representing the interests of the younger generation in this workshop were ETSA's own Nikolas Schulze-Makuch, attending his first congress since being appointed and Nikola Kašparová of APaČ. Jean Carlo Alves da Silva of Elis and special guest, Janne Fillet from the European Commission also had their say. The panel began with a re-cap and video summary of the two previous ETSA Peer Parliaments and concluded with the CEOs and the younger generation debating not only the importance of committing to sustainability and circularity, but the drive to constantly improve and to strive collectively for a better and more environmentally conscious world.
Fillet commented: “We should be trying to bridge the gap between the ‘Brussels Bubble’ and what is discussed around the kitchen table or on the work floor. We need to give young people a voice as it is important they voice their opinions. We don’t want huge gap between generations. We need to attract new talent, listen to what they say and that will help you innovate and remain competitive.”
