Confindustria Ceramica

02   Febbraio   2022

Elisabetta Gualmini chair of the EPCF

The new chair of the European Parliament Ceramics Forum (EPCF), MEP Elisabetta Gualmini, has been introduced to journalists by Confindustria Ceramica Chairman Giovanni Savorani and Managing Director Armando Cafiero

Elisabetta Gualmini is the first Italian to hold this prestigious position within the European parliamentary body which was set up in 1994 and whose previous chairs have included British MEPs Michael Tappin, Michael Cashman and Malcolm Harbour, and from 2016 to 2022 Spanish MEP Inmaculada Rodríguez-Piñero Fernández.


After expressing her sense of honour at being appointed, MEP Elisabetta Gualmini noted that the European Parliament has been working in recent months on several dossiers of exceptional importance for the Italian and European ceramic industries. In particular, she mentioned the impact of the “Fit for 55” package of measures implementing the European Green Deal. To be able to invest in the ecological transition and process of decarbonisation, she explained, the ceramic industry must be included among the sectors eligible for compensation for their efforts, especially at a time when it has become costly to reduce emissions and energy prices have become unsustainable. The Commission’s package of green measures must not prove to be punitive for many thousands of workers and companies.


The EPCF (European Parliament Ceramics Forum) is a cross-party grouping of MEPs that serves as a forum for in-depth discussion and debate on issues of interest to the ceramic sectors. Members of the European Parliament, ceramic producer companies and their national associations and representatives of trade unions across the continent are invited to the Forum meetings and enjoy a fruitful relationship with the European Commission, which participates in the meetings. The plenary annual meeting of the EPCF is held during the Ceramic Days, the series of sectoral and public events organised by the European ceramic industry association Cerame-Unie, which offers a unique opportunity for networking between representatives of all ceramic sectors and policymakers.

Elisabetta Gualmini is Professor of Public Policy Analysis at the University of Bologna and since May 2019 she has been an MEP for Italy’s North-East constituency. Within the European Parliament she is a member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, the Committee on Budgets and the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. In the last legislature, she served as Vice-President of the Emilia-Romagna regional government. She has also served as chair of the Istituto Cattaneo in Bologna and has directed and coordinated numerous national and international research and development projects. She has held visiting scholarships at the University of Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of Berlin and the London School of Economics and has served as a consultant and trainer for numerous public and private organisations.