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Minutes of the Board Meeting of the 16th of December 2006 Location:
Louvain Institute for Ireland in Europe, Janseniusstraat 1, 3000,
Leuven, Belgium Document 1e- Minutes
Participation to the ICA annual Conference in Prague The President explained that while the attendance of the President and the General Secretary, L.Tirelli at the ICA meeting included participating at the various workshops of the Conference, the main aim of the visit was to establish contacts with representatives of countries with which CEDIA has no relations. Representatives of several countries were met to include Russia, Rumania and Austria. Follow up contacts have not yet taken place. Sean Gaule noted that no report had been produced. A.Krohn da Silva commented that the official report will soon be available and that it will be put on the CEDIA Website.
L.Tirelli, the new Treasurer, informed the Board that he was now in possession of all the accounting documents for 2005 and 2006, remitted earlier by Clem Verheyden, the previous treasurer who had to resign following the withdrawal of his association (KVIV OBIR) from the CEDIA. All the accounts
were checked in the presence of the auditor and found correct. The expenses incurred in 2006 were low, less then 9 000 Euros at the beginning of December (and estimated as 11.000 Euros approximately for the end of 2006), due to a reduced number of meetings and consequently of related expenses. As far as activity is concerned, though it has been lower than expected, several important actions and events have taken place:
L.Tirelli informed the Board that he had not called for the payment of half fees for 2006 as decided at the last General Assembly, because, following changes in Belgium, Germany and Switzerland the future of the CEDIA was not looking that certain until very recently. He asked the Board to decide, if CEDIA should abide by the Assembly decision or postpone the call for payment until 2007. After extensive discussion, the Board decided to stick to the decision of the Assembly, which was a call for the payment of half of 2006 fees. The amount of the fees shall roughly cover the expenses of 2006 leaving the balance situation almost unchanged. L.Tirelli shall send the invoices as soon as practically possible accompanied by a letter explaining the current situation and an explanatory letter from the President. Note:
As the expenses of 2006 are going to be low compared to the 2006
budget, the President shall send a letter of explanation. L.Tirelli also
informed the Board that he has discussed with the bank (KBC) the
possibility of operating the accounts via Internet, which eases
considerably operations, when the operator is far away. He sought
the approval of the Board for the use of this procedure, this the
Board approved unanimously. 3 - Progress of the program of activities
No News Letter has been produced in 2006. A.Krohn da Silva explained that he does not have enough time nor support from the members to produce regularly a News Letter. He would appreciate to be discharged of this activity. As no candidate emerged he accepts to continue for the time being but expects a better contribution and support from the members. He proposed to make only an English version for simplification but P.Deram proposed to translate the letter from English to French, so the two versions shall therefore continue. Sean Gaule stated that reports of the Armagh meeting and of the ICA Conference could have offered an interesting content to the News Letter.
L.Tirelli recalled the history of the Website, noting that it had not operated for two years due to the absence of a Webmaster. VDL (Switzerland) had proposed to handle it but after the departure of H.Schmid as director from that organisation, it announced that it would not be in a position to contribute to this CEDIA activity. L.Tirelli reminded the meeting that the site had been recently modified according to the wishes of the Board and that it was fully operational, It does not need to be modified in the near future, but requires to be properly operated. A.Krohn da Silva proposed to handle the site in the short term in order to turn it to alive again. G.Photiou (Cyprus) proposed to evaluate if his association can handle the site as a second step. In the immediate future, A.Krohn da Silva shall contact EMMA (the site host) and get the codes of access and modus operandi. He shall transfer the information to Sean Gaule who agreed, with the support of his association (ASA), shall place the reports from the Armagh meeting (Permanent Education program/ CPD) and from the Leuven Study meeting (Presentation of the Commission senior officers and discussion on sensitive European issues) on the site. A.Krohn da Silva shall introduce the report from the ICA meeting.
After various considerations concerning the activities and the future of the CEDIA, Sean Gaule proposed that a survey be conducted directly with the national Associations in order to establish their views and expectations about the CEDIA activities and services. The President and Sean Gaule shall prepare a letter to the Presidents of these associations jointly. They shall also prepare a questionnaire that shall be assessed by the Administrators and that shall be joined to the letter. A first review of the answers shall be made during the Board Meeting planned to take place in Denmark in May and a final review shall take place in October/November during a second Leuven Study meeting where the President of the national Associations should participate.
This meeting was initially planned for last September, but was postponed in favour of 1st /3rd of February 2007. After consideration, it was recommended that the meeting should now take place in May/ June, in a convenient location in Denmark. The Board would also hold a meeting on the same occasion, thus negating the need and additional cost of holding the next Board Meeting in Lisbon as planned earlier. A request was made to the Danish Association that the agenda should be made much more explicit and should avoid giving the impression that matters treated in previous meetings shall be dealt with again. It was proposed that attachments to the agenda should clarify and make explicit the subjects to be studied, as for many potential participants the references made in the previous Agenda were not clear.It was also proposed that an invitation be extended to non member associations (Spain, Austria, Gembloux).
The President and members of the Board thanked Sean Gaule, the representative of Ireland, for planning and organising the seminar and its subject content, which had been held in the Institute over the previous two days. All the participants agreed that the Louvain Institute of Ireland in Europe and the organiser did a great job in succeeding to invite senior officers from the Commission, to include a high-ranking member of the Cabinet of the Agriculture Commissioner. All the subjects were dealt with at a very high level of competence, to the great satisfaction of these in attendance. It was agreed that this type of meeting is a typical example of the kind of service that may be given by CEDIA to national Associations. It is an obviously unique opportunity for members and associations, who do not necessarily have a possibility otherwise to establish personal contacts, and access to influential community personnel. As the first meeting of this kind, it covered a broad range of subjects in order to give an overview of the European Institutions, the decision making process and sensitive community policy matters, particularly in relation to Agriculture, Rural development, the environment and food safety. It also gave an opportunity to CEDIA and member associations an opportunity to make their views known to important community policy makers in particular, and to share views with a representative of an influential farmer’s organisation. It is proposed that a future meeting in October/November should concentrate on more specific subjects like the Bologna process, Agricultural Educational matters, qualifications /diplomas, CPD, Research, Funding availability etc, which shall become more and more a necessity for our members. The agenda, format, to include matters to be treated, representation on behalf of members etc remain open but shall take into account the wishes of Associations. in order to attract a larger attendance. As a general comment, considering the quality of the meeting, the Board regrets that the number of participants was not larger. It is proposed to have detailed consultation with member associations in order to address this issue. A report of the meeting shall be written by the ASA members, posted on the Website and distributed widely.
The ICA President and staff were met during the ICA Conference in Prague. A.Krohn da Silva will prepare and circulate the report of this Conference to the members of the CEDIA
L.Tirelli reviewed the current situation: the statutes were required to be modified at the end of 2005 in order to comply with some modifications in Belgium legislation concerning Non Profit Associations. A modified version of the statutes in English was presented to the Chamber of Commerce of Everlee by Clem Verheyden but was rejected as it should also have been in Flemish. Meanwhile KVIV OBIR have withdrawn from CEDIA, therefore the official address of our Confederation, CEDIA, has to be found in Belgium. The CEDIA needs to:
It was decided that L.Tirelli would re contact Clem Verheyden to make sure that the Chamber of Commerce is the right body for registration (the statutes have never been in Flemish and not submitted in Flemish in the past), and to ask him if he could recommend a lawyer (if required) and finally to give an indication of the cost of a translation in Flemish, if it appears to be necessary. Following clarification of procedures and requirements as outlined above, Sean Gaule will, if necessary, contact the Director of the Institute with a view of using the Institute as the official address of CEDIA. A.Krohn da Silva will also check with Vick Verheyden (a former very active Belgian member of the CEDIA) on his view about the registration of the statutes.
This was dealt with under paragraph 22
L.Tirelli explained that W.Sihorsch’s term of presidency of the German VDL had now finished and that he had been replaced by Dr. Markus Ebel-Waldmann. Despite a number of messages sent to the VDL office, and to the address of Dr. Ebel-Waldmann by Email, he said he was unsuccessful in establishing contact. The Board proposed to send a letter by post mail to the addresses as well as Emails to make sure that the letters are read. L.Tirelli shall keep the Board informed, as to the participation of Germany in the CEDIA as it is a very sensitive issue. As far as Switzerland is concerned, the replacement of H.Schmid by Dr Michel Roux lead to a period of uncertainty and difficulty re contact. Finally and at a late stage an answer was obtained but Dr.M.Roux but unfortunately could not come to either the seminar or the present Board Meeting. Contact with Sweden has been broken from sometime as none of the addresses we have are still operating. M.Kargo Sorensen (Denmark) proposes to contact them and inform CEDIA. A.Krohn da Silva has established a contact with M.Baldomero de Segura, the President of the Spanish Agronomist Association. He shall follow it up. The President of the Spanish Association should be on the CEDIA mailing list in order to inform him of CEDIA activities (reports on the Armagh, ICA and Leuven meetings and perhaps the minutes of the BM).
The CEDIA has held only two BM in 2006 and decisions required have not been made in time (statutes, official address). Sean Gaule commented that the number of meetings should not exceed two per year at present for cost reasons. On the other side with a low number of meetings contacts between CEDIA members may become loose and some necessary decisions may not be made in time. The Board decided that for 2007 only two meetings shall take place associated with working meetings:
The possibility of approaching the EFI (Alberto, please correct) and Gembloux were discussed. No decision for action was made.
6.1. - Next meetings
Dealt with in the paragraph 54 6.2. - Others |
