Minutes of the General Assembly

Paris, October 4, 1997

1. Opening

The President welcomed all delegates to the General Assembly and opened the meeting at 14.15 hrs.

2. Roll Call

Delegates from the following 28 nations attended the General Assembly :

AUSTRIA – BELARUS - BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA – CROATIA - CZECH REPUBLIC – DENMARK – ESTONIA – FAROE ISLANDS – FINLAND – FRANCE – GERMANY – GREECE – HUNGARY – ICELAND – ITALY – LITHUANIA – LUXEMBOURG – NORWAY – POLAND – PORTUGAL – RUSSIA – SLOVAKIA – SPAIN – SWEDEN – SWIZERLAND – THE NETHERLANDS – UNITED KINGDOM – UKRAINE.

With exception of Belarus, whose membership still needs to be ratified at the upcoming IPC General Assembly in Sydney, all nations had voting rights.

Further present was the full Executive Committee and three representatives of the IPC Athletes Committee.

Acceptance of late nominations
It was informed that two nominations had come in after the set deadline. Jorge Vilela de Carvalho was nominated as Secretary General and Wilfried Matzler as member at large. The matter was discussed and reference was made to the fact that no deadlines for submission of nominations was written into the constitution.
Daniel Binter moved and Peter Wehrli seconded to accept both nominations. The motion carried with 22 in favour, 3 against and 2 abstentions.

3. Adoption of the Agenda
It was moved and unanimously agreed to adopt the agenda as circulated.

4. Adoption of the Minutes
It was moved and unanimously agreed to adopt the minutes of the 1993 General Assembly as circulated.

5. Reports
5.1 President
A written report was circulated well in advance of the meeting. Mr. Wang highlighted the following issues: the importance of taking initiative in bidding to host competitions, the active support needed from all members for the development projects and, the financial problems of the committee. A solution for the financial problems may lay in creating an autonomous organisation with the rights to seek its own sponsorship.
An appeal was made to the member nations to pay the voluntary membership fee and Sweden was thanked for the extensive financial assistance offered to the administration of EUROPC.

Mr. Daniel Binter (Austria) supported the President in his appeal for payment of the voluntary fees. The member nations should be committed to support and run the EUROPC.

It was unanimously agreed to receive the report.

5.2 Secretary General
Mr. Carlsson had submitted a written report in advance and read out the concluding words.
It was unanimously agreed to receive the report.

5.3 Technical Officer
Mr. Sainsbury presented a very extensive report, which was circulated in advance. To the report was added that very successful European Championships in Wheelchair Dancing had been held in Harnosand, Sweden, in September.

On the question raised by Ms. Birgitta Blomqwist (Germany), if the heavy workload would change in the future so that the position of Secretary General of IPC could be carried out, Mr. Sainsbury explained that he was planning to take early retirement from his work with the University and, would have the time necessary to carry out all duties related to the position.

Referring to page 4 of the report, Ms. Blomqwist stated she had the impression that the Technical Officer was supporting the idea of having a separate championships programme for the different disability groups. She further remarked that introducing more controlling groups for the championships would considerably add to the costs for the organisers of the events.

Mr. Sainsbury replied that he in no way wanted to go back to the old system but supports the idea of a sports specific movement rather than a disability oriented organisation. Nevertheless, there is room for co-operation with the IOSDs and for co-ordinating the calendars in a collaborative way. Mr. Sainsbury further remarked that it is important to have a sports specific calendar, co-ordinated by each of the sport committees; there should be as many calendars as there are sports.
With regards to the controlling group, Tony Sainsbury suggested that if the Athletes Committee would be involved in the process, there would not be extensive additional expenses.

Mr. Freijd (Sweden) requested clarification on the page 5 of the report, dealing with the relations between IPC and IOSDs and the co-ordination of the calendars. Objections were made towards the fact that “IPC’s only real area of independent authority is in the area of Paralympic Games, and even there nations, sports and federations can decide not to be involved if they so wish“. Mr. Sainsbury replied that he did not mean that IPC should not organise any other championships than Paralympic Games but, that if there is a possibility for championship to be organised under the authority of an independent International Sports Federation, this should be done.

Referring to the issue of co-ordination of calendars on page 4, Dr. Karl Quade (Germany) stated that it is important for the IOSDs to allow their athletes to compete in all events, including the IPC competitions.
Mr. Martin Mansell (U.K.) supported this and referred to the blind athletes who were not allowed to compete in the swimming competitions.

It was unanimously agreed to receive the report with the comments made during the meeting.

6. Financial Reports
6.1 Accounts 1994-1997
Mr. Carlsson presented the accounts for the four-year period. He indicated that the main source of income had been the capitation taxes levied at European Championships. The assets in 1994 were 4.427 USD, the assets in June 1997 had been 11.491 USD.

An auditor’s report issued September 30, 1997, for the four-year period was submitted. Apologies from the auditor were received for not having included the 1994 audit report. The report is made but was erroneously omitted when forwarding the papers. It will be circulated to the members together with the minutes of the meeting.

It was proposed to conclude the financial year at the end of December; a transition period in accordance with the new Executive Committee will be introduced.

It was unanimously agreed to receive the annual accounts for the period 1994-1997.

6.2 Budget 1998 -1999
Mr. Carlsson reported that it was the responsibility of the outgoing Executive Committee to make a planning for the future. He submitted an estimation of the budget taking into account a calculation of the expenses for running the EUROPC and an estimation of the income.

It was unanimously agreed to receive the budget as a preliminary indication for the new Executive Committee to work with.

6.3 Annual membership fee
Mr. Sverre Bergenholdt (Norway) pointed out that the fee was currently a voluntary one and asked how it would be affected by the motion to create an independent organisation.

Mr. Hans Lindström (Sweden) suggested that should the motion for an autonomous EUROPC be accepted, first a procedure would come into place to produce a constitution. The General Assembly would need to discuss the acceptance of the constitution and in connection to this the membership fee would need to be discussed.

The motion of the Executive Committee to introduce an annual membership fee of 200 USD on a voluntary basis was unanimously accepted.

7. Motions
7.1 Transition period for the Executive Committee
With one vote against, the Executive Committee’s recommendation was adopted for the mandate of the Executive Committee to continue up to, and including the IPC General Assembly in the election years.

7.2 EUROPC technical structure
It was moved by Sweden and seconded by Germany that the new Executive Committee is commissioned to, in consultation with the relevant IPC Sports Assembly Executive Committees (SAEC) identify technical co-ordinating persons for each of the sports. The motion carried unanimously.
It was further agreed to adopt as guidelines that the responsibilities of these co-ordinators shall be, to work in close co-operation with the Technical Officer to,
- take initiatives to find organisers for European Championships
- be the liaison with the IPC SAEC’s
- follow up with organisers of European Championships that all formalities are carried out
- in consultation with the IPC SAEC’s identify TDs and necessary international referees/officials for European Championships
- report to the Technical Officer or Secretary General as appropriate
- recommend to the EUROPC Executive Committee activities aimed to promote the sport in Europe
- assist in development programmes in Europe involving sport.
It was recommended that the Executive Committee endeavour to find the necessary funding for the sports technical co-ordinators.

7.3 Independent EUROPC
Sweden moved and Germany seconded to agree in principle to establish EUROPC as an independent organisation with maintained association to IPC. The newly elected Executive Committee is commissioned to propose to the member countries a draft constitution for circulation and feedback by February 1998. An extraordinary General Assembly shall be held in 1998 to adopt the constitution.
The rationale for the motion was explained. It should be seen as a commission to investigate on the possibilities for creating an autonomous organisation. A legitimate body should be created which can sign contracts with organisers of the European Championships and with sponsors. It is understood that at the same time EUROPC would maintain strong relations with IPC. Other IPC Regional Committees are autonomous organisations.

Concerns were expressed with regards to the timeframe. The Russian delegate proposed to postpone the matter.
Peter Wehrli (Switzerland) supported the motion but felt that the Executive Committee would need more time to discuss the matter. He proposed to change the date for circulation of the proposal to June 1998. There was no seconder for the motion.

Mr. Hans Lindström (Sweden) explained that the motion was intended to commission the next Executive Committee to produce a draft proposal, which would be circulated to the nations for their input. Taking into account this feedback a second draft shall be produced, which will be submitted to the General assembly for approval. The final decision belongs to the General Assembly.

A vote was taken on the original motion put forward by Sweden. The motion carried (18 in favour).

8. Future European Championships
Ms. Helena Hankova (Slovakia) informed that an official bid is submitted by Slovakia to organise the 1999 European Championships Table Tennis in Piestany, Slovakia.

Dr. Karl Quade reported about the intentions of Germany to bid for the 1999 European Championships Swimming. There will be no limitations to numbers or classes.

9. Other Business
9.1 Severely disabled athletes: Mr. Sverre Bergenholdt (Norway) drew the attention to a motion to the IPC General Assembly, submitted by Norway, dealing with severely disabled athletes. He indicated the importance of ensuring good programmes for severely disabled athletes.
Wilfried Matzler (Athletes representative in the SCEC) reported that the Winter Sports Task force was currently looking into introducing new sports e.g. curling, for severely disabled athletes.
9.2 Athletes representation in EUROPC: Dr. Karl Quade (Germany) referred to the earlier discussion during the Conference and suggested that in line with the recommendations of the Athletes Committee, the Executive Committee would discuss the inclusion of an athlete representative in the Executive Committee.

10. Elections
The following persons were elected into the Executive Committee:
President : Hans Lindström Sweden
Secretary General : Jorge Vilela de Carvalho Portugal
Technical Officer : Karl Quade Germany
Members at Large : Sverre Bergenholdt Norway
Peter Wehrli Switzerland
Bruno Meschiari Italy

11 Closing
Mr. Wang thanked Mr. Auberger, Mr. Verneau and the FFH for hosting the meeting and wished the new Executive Committee the best of luck for the future work of the EUROPC.
Mr. Lindström thanked the delegates for their confidence and stated the new committee was committed and eager to work towards achieving the goals expressed during the conference.
Mr. Carl Wang was thanked for the many years of active involvement in the international scene in general and Europe in particular, and for the initiatives he had taken in order to create an international platform for sports for all athletes with a disability.

The meeting was adjourned at 18.00hrs.