05/12/2006 (Agence Europe) - The General Assembly of the UEAPME, the European SME employers' organisation, unanimously elected Georg Toifl as its president on Friday 1 December. The two-year mandate of this successful entrepreneur and Chairman of the Crafts and Trades Division of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKÖ) will start on 1 January 2007. In his acceptance speech, Mr Toifl announced that one of his priorities would be the strengthening and integration of SME organisations in the new Member States. He will also contribute to improving the regulatory framework to combat undeclared work. Finally, he will focus on energy policy. On this point, he felt that operators in the energy sector are hampering rather than promoting competition with SMEs being burdened by excessive prices. He also deplored the fact that SMEs are faced with a lack of choice when it comes to available energy providers. (ol)