THE crème de la crème of European business is toasting success after thewinners of the European Business Awards 2008 have been announced in Paris.

The success of companies and people including Procter & Gamble, IsuzuTruck (UK) Limited, Intamac Systems Ltd, Econcern, Petrotechnics Limited and Steve Leach (Group CEO, Bigmouthmedia) was marked before an audience of European business leaders, politicians and press at the annual gathering tocelebrate Europe's top businesses and business people.

Former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar presented The BusinessLeader of the Year Award to Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, President and CEO of Nokia.

French minister of economy, finance and employment, Christine Lagarde,welcomed the audience.

"It is wonderful that all 27 member states of Europe are together, particularly at a time when Europe has been so criticized for notmoving forward.

"We want a strong Europe and you are participating in theprocess of building a strong Europe, piece by piece," she said to the attendees.

This year saw entries from 25 of the 27 member states.

Entries flooded infrom April 2007, and the exhaustive judging process required more than 453 working days of combined effort from the judging panels and finalists.

There are seven award categories, with each category having up to ten "Ruban d'Honneur" recipients.

The Ruban d'Honneur recipients are then judged again and a winner declared in each category.

Volunteer judges are drawn from business, political and academic circles across Europe, and the lengthy process is known to be daunting for entrants.