The appointed Euratex President Alberto Paccanelli (IT) has a clear vision for the future of the organisation: working together with EU institutions, European and international stakeholders, Euratex will continue to focus on its key pillars – an ambitious industrial policy, effective research, innovation and skills development, freem and fair trade, and sustainability.

Euratex President Alberto Paccanelli:

“Unity and collaboration between all member organisations will be essential to support Euratex in defending the interests of our industry.”

With international experience both in the textile industry and management consulting, since 2007 Alberto Paccanelli is CEO and shareholder of the Martinelli Ginetto Group in Bergamo, Italy, specialized in highend home textile products. For many years he has been actively involved in representing the industry at both European and national level, as President (2011–2014) and Vice President Treasurer (2014–2019) of Euratex, as member of the Steering Committee of Sistema Moda Italia, and as President of the Italian Technology Platform for Textile and Apparel. Mr Paccanelli will lead the team of Euratex Vice-Presidents Jean-François Gribomont (BE), Gregory Marchant (FR), Rusen Cetin (TR) and Bodo Bölzle (DE).

To run the Brussels office, Dirk Vantyghem (BE) has been appointed as the new Director General of Euratex. Mr Vantyghem has over 20 years of experience in representing European businesses, as a Director at the Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Eurochambres) in Brussels. With an economic background (College of Europe), his expertise relates to international trade, SME development, EU programmes and economic diplomacy.

Dirk Vantyghem, Director General of Euratex:

“I am committed to grow Euratex into an essential interlocutor for EU policy makers, and to support our membership in promoting a competitive industry. With a new European leadership coming into power, it is the right time to prepare ourselves for an ambitious partnership with the EU.”

Euratex

As the voice of the European textile and clothing industry, Euratex works to achieve a favourable environment within the European Union for design, development, manufacture and marketing of textile and clothing products. The EU textile and clothing industry, with around 171,000 companies employing 1.7m workers, is an essential pillar of the local economy across many EU regions. With over € 50 billion of exports, the industry is a global player successfully commercializing high added value products on growing markets around the world. Working together with EU institutions and other European and international stakeholders, Euratex focuses on clear priorities: an ambitious industrial policy, effective research, innovation and skills development, free and fair trade, and sustainable supply chains.