About us

Our story

The year 2004, the Czech Republic joins the European Union, which is a major milestone in our history. We became an integral part of the vast European national community and adopted completely new rules, laws, but also new policies that had been shaped together in Europe throughout the second half of the 20th century.

We have been there from the beginning and, in order to represent our national and commercial interests in the European Union, we established ACCESS EU in 2011, a European economic interest association based in Brussels. We were in direct contact with European institutions and have provided direct support and information to Czech members of the association on EU policies and strategies in their areas of interest and business.

At the same time, we continuously established strategic partnerships with leading consulting firms with extensive experience and a strong historical background, which elevated our access to information and EU stakeholders to a whole new level. Because access means success.

At the beginning of perhaps the biggest challenge in the history of the European Union, Europe, hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, realised the urgent need for direct, non-political representation of the Czech Republic in Brussels. The common problems of the Member States, the closer intertwining of European policies with commercial interests, the pressure to adopt the Green Deal, the unprecedented level and detail of European regulation and the biggest funding opportunities in the history of the EU; we need to take an active stand together.

The PORTOS law firm have decided to respond to these challenges by relaunching ACCESS EU in a completely new form. This relaunch builds directly on the existing values and function of the original European economic interest association and on strategic partnerships with leading consulting firms at the heart of EU affairs. The ultimate goal is to provide advisory services in the Czech Republic through a team of experts with direct Brussels experience.