The FIM Europe Non-Sporting Council was held today in Rome/Fiumicino (Italy) and was preceded by three Non-Sporting Commission Meetings: “Public Affairs and Road Safety”, “Marketing, Promoting and Industry” and “Touring”. The “Environment” Commission will meet at the end of March in Warsaw but its Chairman was attending the Non Sporting Council.
Mr Silvio Manicardi, FIM Europe Vice-President, said: “As you can see from the report of each Chairman, the Commissions did very good work, both in revising the activities of 2017 and preparing for 2018. The results were shared with Mr Damiano Zamana, Programmes Director of FIM.
Apart from the internal activity, there are a couple of external items that are worth our attention.
First, the new developments in automated and semi-automated driving. This poses potential road safety problems for riders. It is essential this technology is designed to take account of all other road users. Cyclists, pedestrians, motorcyclists and drivers of conventional cars that do not have these new systems fitted.
Second, the new focus on electric mobility which is coming fast with new motorcycles and scooters coming to the market. We believe the new FIM electric racing series will accelerate the development of this in particular in increasing the range of these vehicles and the speed with which the batteries can be recharged”.
“I am very happy with the results of today’s meetings”, said FIM Europe President Dr. Wolfgang Srb. “The beyond sport activities, our second pillar, get more and more importance and are growing very fast. Political decisions and legislation have a huge impact on the sport and riding in general. It is our responsibility to be as close as possible to the decision makers and to be proactive.
The presence of FIM Programmes Director Damiano Zamana was important as a signal of our close cooperation with the FIM Administration”.
Public Affairs and Road Safety Commission, chaired by Jean-Pierre Moreau
“We had an interesting meeting – the challenge is to show how strong our organization is and how many people it represents. Motorcycling faces our new world of automation, electrification, electronics and other new technologies. FIM Europe will look to organise a symposium on the future of motorcycling under the banner “We, the riders”.
The 2017 “mobility test” of FEMA shows once again that motorcycling is the winner in urban mobility. We will always highlight this when speaking to authorities that too often only focus on public transport and cycling. FMI participated in this alongside FEMA with mobility tests in Bologna and Florence.
We will promote the new website www.fim-publicaffairs.com
We commenced planning for our next Road Safety Conference, which will be held in Nantes at the FIM Europe Congress about the link between racing and normal road use of motorcycles. In this way, we will have a more dynamic event. For example, air bag clothing used in sports and in some high end road suits. A second theme will be electro-mobility. Yamaha is joining BMW in the production of new electric scooters including a new Yamaha electric scooter in the A1 category. The development of electric power (in particular increased range) will be stimulated by the new FIM series for electric racing motorcycles”.
Marketing, Promotion and Industry Commission, chaired by Stjin Rentmeesters
“The Marketing Commission analysed the results of the survey sent to all FIM Europe Federations in 2017. With this data the Commission will work on a new presentation of FIM Europe and its member Federations.
The Commission has also worked on a new project to launch a webstore with official FIM Europe items including tee-shirts, sweaters and other products. The project was presented to the FIM Europe President and Vice President and will now be proposed to the Board.
The FIM Europe website and Facebook page and magazine were analysed and proposals for further improvement were made”.
Touring Commission, chaired by Nils Freivalds
“The Touring Commission welcomes new members – Ms. Andjela Klikovac (Auto Moto Association of Serbia) and Mr. Jukka Lainkari (Finnish Motorcycling Federation). The Commission looks forward to a productive co-operation with the new members and their active involvement in the Projects the Commission is working on, such as Tour Assistant training and the Motorcycle – Friendly Hotels Programme.
“The Commission is prepared to run the 2nd Tour Assistant Training in Barcelona, Spain, on April 14. We will gather participants from various countries, so the Tour Assistant Programme is recognized by more National Federations.
The Motorcycle – Friendly Hotels program is the challenging one, however the FIM and the FIM Europe will facilitate the promotion via their web-sites providing additional logo and promotion tools. The Commission has also updated the new tariffs for the Hotels for the next two years according to the Purchasing Power Parities (PPP) according to the EUROSTAT data on countries’ economical development.
Besides, thanks to Mr. Silvio Manicardi, the FIM Europe Vice-President, the Motodays event in Rome from 8th to 11th March, will have a dedicated stand for moto-tourism where all the moto-touring activities, including those of FIM Europe will be promoted. –Alongside the other non sporting aspects of FIM Europe.
The Touring Commission also contributed to an FIM Europe Position Paper on electric PTWs, automated vehicles and zero-emission policies. This will be used by FIM Europe to inform decision makers in Brussels as they make policy in these areas.”
Environment Commission, chaired by Adamo Leonzio
In absence of the Commission, which will meet at the of March in Warsaw, the Chairman Adamo Leonzio made a presentation of the activity as follows.
“After the Congress in Rome, the Environment Commission has restarted its activity operating in all the aspects connected to environmental issues according to its rules and programmes.
The Green Education Strategy (GES) has been developed during the second half of 2017.
Considering that about 70% of the motorcycling activity is held in Europe, the FIM Europe Environment Commission believes that it is of primary importance to develop close relationship with all organisations that are involved in promoting motorcycling sport to raise the environmental quality. This leads to the creation of an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) that takes into account all aspects related to the environment.
“Among the new activities of the Commission, is the publication of a document related to the ground sound level reduction. It consists in two sections: research into the technological world of all those innovations that lead to increased environmental compatibility in human activities; showing to the world good initiatives by our Federations, organisers and competitors, to encourage respect for the environment.
In March, the Commission will meet in Warsaw to plan for the FIM Europe Congress in Nantes. The Commission is also developing the “What’s new in environment” page in the FIM Europe website with new information.”
The Non-Sporting Council
