Examination of Witness (Questions 158-159)
Mr Chris Welsh and Mr Roberto Ferrigno
7 MAY 2008
Q158 Chairman: Mr Welsh and Mr Ferrigno,
thank you very much for coming. Any interests which Members have
in the relevant field will be disclosed in the Lords' register.
We are on air and you will get a transcript of your questioning
and the answers, and of course we will be very pleased if you
wish to make any points on that or add to it at that stage. I
think you may have an initial statement to make, one or both of
you. Please do.
Mr Welsh: Thank you very much, my Lord Chairman,
for this opportunity and invitation to give evidence to your inquiry.
I am General Manager of Campaigns at the UK Freight Transport
Association. Just for some background, the Freight Transport Association
is the second largest freight association in the UK with 14,000
member companies. These members include retailers, manufacturers,
logistics companies, hauliers, utilities and even local authorities,
virtually all organisations and sectors of industry that are involved
in the movement of goods and freight. I manage FTA's 20 strong
team of policy managers and advise the Association on transport
policy. In that capacity I am responsible for FTA's Brussels office
and our liaison with the EU institutions and other stakeholders.
Between 1995 and 2002, I was based in Brussels as FTA's permanent
representative and for a five year period on secondment I was
Secretary-General to the European Shippers' Councils, which was
a PanEuropean Transport Freight Users Organisation, so during
that time I had been involved in quite a bit of European legislation,
both the initiation of legislation and framing and influencing
legislation.
Q159 Chairman: Mr Ferrigno, is there
something you would like to say too?
Mr Ferrigno: Yes. Thank you very much for inviting
Weber Shandwick this afternoon. My name is Roberto Ferrigno. I
am Italian and I am the Vice-President for Public Affairs with
Weber Shandwick in Brussels. Weber Shandwick is one of the leading
consulting agencies in Brussels dealing with the environment,
political communication. We work for a wide range of clients,
including non-EU governments, business organisations and non-government
organisations. In my position I coordinate a group of 20 consultants
and we work mainly, I have to say, with the European Parliament
representing the interests of our clients towards the European
Parliament, and I think that is all from my side and thank you
very much again for the invitation.
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