FIM Europe General Assembly
From left to right:
Mr Jorge Viegas (FIM President), Mr Martin De Graaff (FIM Europe President), Mr Alessandro Sambuco (Secretary General)
The FIM Europe General Assembly took place face-to-face and via videoconference today 28th January 2021 from a broadcasting studio in Geneva, Switzerland. The event, originally scheduled in July 2020 on the occasion of the FIM Europe Congress in Prague, has been postponed due to the Coronavirus emergency.
So, in the framework of this virtual conference, the FIM Europe faced its first official virtual Congress with extremely positive feedback in order of number of participants (40 Federations connected) and engagement.
From the FIM Headquarters the FIM Europe President, Mr Martin De Graaff, the FIM President, Mr Jorge Viegas and the Secretary General, Mr Alessandro Sambuco welcomed all the National Federations members, starting a successful virtual Congress.
After the official opening of the FIM Europe President, the floor turned over to the FIM President. In his welcome speech, Mr Viegas wanted to say a few words in favour of amending the Statute on the possibility for an FMN President to be elected President of FIM EUROPE, which will be proposed at the next Congress in Belgrade. Mr Viegas was a witness when, for political reasons, this restriction was introduced and, in support of the proposal, states that for FIM Europe, being not possible to pay a Professional President as at FIM, it is essential to draw on the top managers present at the top of the FMNs.
The approval of the Minutes of the 2019 General Assembly held in Zagreb was the first item, following the report of the FIM Europe President. Then the floor went to the FIM Europe Treasurer Mr Juhani Halme, who presented the 2019 balance sheet deepening the 2019 financial statements and the 2020 budget, finding the approval of the members. Mr Laurent Delbroek gave a positive report about the financial situation as Chairman of the Internal Auditors.
With his speech, the 1st Deputy President and Chairman of the Sporting Council Mr Michal Sikora reported the notes of the Sporting Commissions work with the evaluation of the 2019. He marked the positive results of the last season before the Covid-19 pandemic had originally hardly hit all the calendars: in fact, both the attendance of riders in almost all disciplines and numbers of spectators gave good findings.
Also the 2nd Deputy President and Chairman of the Non-Sporting Council Mr Silvio Manicardi had the occasion to took stock of the non-sporting activities of the FIM Europe: even if the Coronavirus emergency stopped many events, the aim of the various organizations is to keep on the updating of the current situation in order to schedule and promote new events when allowed by each country.
Crucial time of the Congress was the election of the Vice President: after a second ballot with a preference of 47 votes Mr Jiří Šitina (ACCR) was elected for the vacant position in the Management Council. As only candidate, Mr Piotr Piekutowski (PZM) was elected for the vacant position in the Judicial Panel, while the approval of the renewed Medical Code was postponed to the next General Assembly on request of FFM President, Mr Sébastien Poirier.
At the end of the Congress, before the closing speech of the FIM Europe President, the President of the Czech Republic Federation (ACCR) Mr Jan Stovicek took the floor: sorry about the cancellation of the Congress in Prague because of the pandemic, he renewed the commitment to host FIM Europe in the future.
Mr Martin de Graaff, FIM Europe President
“First of all, I would like to thank the FIM and its President Mr Jorge Viegas for giving FIM Europe the possibility to held the Congress today from a broadcasting studio here in Geneva, with the same organization of tomorrow’s FIM General Assembly. It was necessary to inform about the developments in our federation and the member federations after the last General Assembly in Zagreb in July 2019. 40 federations were connected. We all listen carefully the reports of the 1st Deputy President, the 2nd Deputy President and the Treasurer, as well as the speech of Laurent Delbroek on behalf of the Auditors. I would like to welcome the new Vice President Mr Jiří Šitina from ACCR and Mr Piotr Piekutowski in the Judicial Panel. For the first time in the FIM Europe history the General Assembly was conducted in a virtual mood: a new way but with good results even if we all miss the social contact. We all hope to meet face-to-face at the next FIM Europe Congress in Belgrade next summer”.
