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. Because access means success.

In 2018, ACCESS EU teamed up with Schuman Associates, a leading Brussels-based consultancy with a historic and extensive presence in Brussels and in European institutions and offices in 11 European countries. The company has been active in the field of European Public Affairs since 1989 and is today one of the most sought-after consultancies not just in the field of EU grant funding and implementation, but in many more.

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 the exclusive partnership with Schuman Associates to provide advice in the Czech Republic using a team of experts with direct Brussels experience.