Como, Italy.  Leading European business publications, members of the European Business Press (EBP), met at their annual meeting in Como, Italy today. The reason for choosing this picturesque Italian town for the event is that the EBP was founded in Como 50 years ago. 

From the very beginning, the aim of the association was to contribute to a united Europe and to develop a European spirit of solidarity among the members. Today, the most important role of the EBP is to enhance experience sharing and cooperations among its members. EBP members meet annually at Editors’ and Publishers’ Seminars to exchange ideas and to plan joint venture projects. A number of successful projects were launched as a result of cooperation among EBP members in past years.

Since 1991 EBP is presenting, at its annual meeting in June, the award to top European managers and companies based on a vote of EBP editors. This year the award went to Luca di Montezemolo, the Chairman of Ferrari.

The programme in Como included some very interesting speakers who talked about the future of Euro, financing the growth and other hot issues, such as Gianfranco Pollilo, the Undersecretary of Minister of Economy of Italy, Giovanni Pittella, the Vice President of the European Parliament, Dario Scannapieco, vicepresident of the European Investment Bank and Michele Norsa, the CEO of Salvatore Ferragamo. The host of the event was Milano Finanza. 

EBP counts 48 leading European business newspapers and magazines in 27 countries. Among its members are highly reputed publications such as Handelsblatt, The Wall Street Journal Europe, Les Echos, Capital, Milano Finanza, Trends/Tendances, EurActiv.com and many others. 

Among the recipients were personalities such as Ingvar Kamprad of Ikea, Jorma Ollila of Nokia, Bernd Pischetsrieder, former CEO of BMW and Volkswagen, Wendelin Wiedeking, CEO of Porsche and Wolfgang Mayrhuber, the Chairman of Lufthansa.