Recap 2022 and outlook 2023

After thinking that we had overcome the pandemic in the outgoing year, we had to realise that other difficulties and challenges more than challenge us. We are all feeling the after-effects at all levels of the still disrupted supply chains as well as the lost procurement markets due to the war in Ukraine. Surprisingly, however, the construction industry has held up very well. Our members still have full order books, but we are clearly feeling the changes on the interest front. The first statistics show a significant decrease in building permits issued across Europe.

At the EUF level, we were able to pick up new wind with the annual general meeting in Stuttgart in June. The 2nd PCI - Alpencup, our "informal EUF - European Tile Laying Championship" at the beginning of July was attended by 7 nations and our Austrian colleagues were able to win the title this year. Bravo! The 3rd edition of our PCI – Alpencup will be held in Switzerland from 28th to 30st of June 2023. Unfortunately, we were not able to hold the meeting of the technical commission on the occasion of KERAMIKO in Vienna at the beginning of September as we had wished. Nevertheless, many thanks to Anita Wolf and the whole team of the Austrian Tile Fixer Association for having invited us to join you.

In mid-September, our President, Karl-Hans Körner, and I were able to visit our Danish colleagues, where we gained an excellent impression of the Danish training system for aspiring tilers. Once again, we were able to see that if we approach each other, we can learn a lot from each other. A big thank you to Eric Fog Larson and his colleagues - you are doing a great job!

At the end of September, the EUF family met again at the CERSAIE in Bologna at the invitation of Confindustria. On the one hand, we were able to adopt the "red thread" for the final editing of the "Guidelines for XXL Formats" and, together with Confindustria Ceramica, we were able to show a common way of how we can communicate together on the improvement processes in the production and processing of sophisticated ceramics. Our thanks go to Andrea Ligabue, member of the Board of Directors, and Simone Ricci, head of communication of Confindustria Ceramica. We very much appreciate your invitation and are already looking forward to our next visit to CERSAIE 2023. Our technical committee under the leadership of Peter Goegebeur has been working on the finalisation of the "Guidelines XXL Formats" over the last few months and we are confident that we will be able to adopt them at the next board meeting respectively an "AGM light" of the EUF on 8 & 9 May 2023 in Cork/Ireland.

Thank you very much for your great support and your commitment to a strong, successful, and prosperous tile industry. We are looking forward to a interesting and hopefully successful new year!