TJARK DE LANGE President of YES for Europe YES for Europe Başkanı Where There is a Challenge, There is a Young Entrepreneur Ready to Face it As President of YES for Europe, I represent more than 30.000 young entrepreneurs, the most lively and dynamic entrepreneurial expression at European level. Our network provides exchange between young entrepreneurs, fosters a common European strategy and innovates for a better environment and a sustainable development. We encourage the entrepreneurial spirit through our members best practice activities and share entrepreneurial experiences for a more dynamic Europe. Our main activities include the Annual Forum, five Executive Committee meetings and 12 presidential meetings. In particular the Forum, organised every year and gathered around 150 young entrepreneurs from all around Europe, aims at creating a direct dialogue between young entrepreneurs and EU decision makers on items of the main interest. In addition to presentations by experts, we organise also business meetings in the four main sectors. Moreover, our confederation contributes to the creation of our common house called Europe through position papers on different topics of main interest for young entrepreneurs. Recently YES for Europe has put forwards to the attention of the European Institutions four documents on the Euro, the New Economy, the Common Research Area and the Corporate Social Responsibility. This year during our Executive Committee meetings we will approve new common positions on the European Governance, the Enlargement, the Promotion of Young Entrepreneurship, the European Business Culture and the Labour Market. We are trying to develop our network in the EU Candidate Countries. It is a big challenge and where "there is a challenge, there is a young entrepreneur ready to face it". Being in Vitoria, which is part of one of the most active region of Europe and approaching a topic as the development of the information society is the demonstration of how a centenary culture contributes to its own development. It is for us a pleasure and at the same time a challenge to have the opportunity to combine this event and the Informal Meeting of EU Ministers for Telecommunications and the Information Society. This occasion gives all of us the unique possibility to offer a direct contribution to the development of the European future policy on Information Society. One of the main objects of the Spanish Presidency of the EU in the Telecommunications policy is the harmonisation and liberalisation of sectors combined with the re-launched of eEurope 2002 initiative. In the last round-table (30 January 2002) on "The 2001 Competitiveness Report" organised by the European Commission, DG Enterprise, the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has been listed with the Research and Development and Human Capital as the major factors for the development of the European competitiveness. The analysis done on these three elements have been complete, exhaustive and provided by a full range of different actors of the economical/social society. As Baron Daniel JANSSEN, Chairman of the "European Round-table of Industrialists", has stated during this conference, the "entrepreneurial community" is extremely disappointed by the lack of implementation of the decisions taken in the Lisbon Summit. We, as young entrepreneurs, want to underline this point; it is not anymore the time for studies and research, now it is the time for implementing in our Members States the decisions taken. The excuse of burocratic and administrative burdens are not acceptable anymore and we will be the driving force that will control and remark the development done by our Governments in this sector.This is our aim and our message that we are offering to the Informal Meeting of Ministers. TJARK DE LANGE: : "NEREDE AŞILACAK BİR ENGEL VARSA, ORADA ENGELİ AŞMAYA HAZIR GENÇ BİR GİRİŞİMCİ VARDIR" YES for Europe'un Başkanı olarak, 30.000'den fazla genç girişimciyi ve Avrupa düzeyindeki en canlı ve dinamik girişimci yapısını temsil ediyorum. Kuruluşumuz, genç girişimciler arasında değişim programları düzenler, ortak bir Avrupa stratejisi geliştirilmesini hedefler ve daha iyi bir çevre ile sürdürülebilir kalkınmaya ulaşmak amacıyla yenilikçiliği destekler. Temel faaliyetimiz, Avrupa'nın her yerinden gelen genç girişimcileri bir araya getiren Yıllık Forum'dur; bu toplantıda, genç girişimciler ve AB karar verme mercileri arasında doğrudan diyalog ortamı oluşturulur. Artık inceleme ve araştırma zamanının geçtiğine, AB'ye üye ülkelerin aldıkları kararları uygulama zamanının geldiğine inanıyoruz. Bürokratik veya idari engellerin bahane olarak kullanılmaması gerektiğini düşünüyoruz; ilgi alanımıza giren konularda hükümetlerimizin attığı adımları yakından takip etmeyi görev biliyoruz. Ayrıca özellikle genç girişimcileri ilgilendiren farklı konularda görüş raporları yayınlayarak Avrupa'nın ortak bir platform olarak ortaya çıkmasına katkıda bulunuyoruz. Örneğin euro, yeni ekonomi, ortak araştırma alanları ve kurumsal sosyal sorumluluk gibi konularda çeşitli yayınlarımız var. AB'ye aday ülkelerde de yapımızı geliştirmeye çalışıyor. Bu zorlu bir görev ancak "nerede aşılacak bir engel varsa, orada engeli aşmaya hazır genç bir girişimci de vardır."