FIM Europe Non-Sporting Commissions
On Saturday 16th January the FIM Europe Non-Sporting Commissions Meetings were held in a virtual way with Zoom Video Communications platform. Besides the commission’s members, the virtual meetings were also attended by the FIM Europe President Mr. Martin de Graaff and the 2nd Deputy President Mr. Silvio Manicardi. Also present Silvia Monatti and Andrea Diamantini, responsible for non-sporting matters in the office.
At the end of the meetings the chairmen came together to point out the outcome of the meetings to the President of the Non-Sporting Council Mr Silvio Manicardi.
Mr Martin de Graaff, FIM Europe President
“Caused by the cancellation of the FIM Europe Congress last summer, the last meeting was in January 2020 in Fiumicino. Fortunately, the commission members went on with the most urgent items and developments in the internal contacts even if a lot of normal activities could not be continued. Plans were made for the coming season and next meetings at the Congress in July in Belgrade. The Environment Commission is following in headlines the work and rules of the International Sustainability Commission (CID) of the FIM: the chairman is member of this commission and will follow the policy. The Public Affairs Commission is working in close cooperation with the FIM members, the CAP director Jesper Christensen and Chris Hodder as FIM/FIM Europe director of Public Affairs. The Touring Commission could not organize the planned Touring events, however the plans for this year have been made. The Marketing, Promotion and Industry Commission has lot of ideas concerning communication and marketing tools. After the Congress in July the commission will be transformed in order to make use of experts in and outside the commission: the idea is also the involve the experience of the affiliated federations and our partners and share information”.
Silvio Manicardi, 2nd Deputy President
“The Commissions, also if in difficult circumstances, have deeply discussed the agenda and made proposals to cope with the situation and present new projects for the future. Anyway, I hope in a short time to be able to return to the meeting in presence; I strongly believe that the personal contacts are invaluable to share experiences and elaborate new ideas”.
Environment Commission
The activity in the field, as can be guessed, was extremely limited so the commission focused mainly on activities that could be done “remotely” using mainly the internet for research work on new solutions for an ever greater environmental respect that are in the same time also sustainable. We have also worked to prepare the working tools to be ready to operate at full capacity again once the situation is over. In this sense, the creation of a database of contacts at the national federations for a better dialogue was completed; some documents were created to be used during the events; a work was started to update the environmental guidelines with the technical evolutions that have occurred, and finally the revue of the On-Line Check List system to update it with the changes in the FIM Environmental Code 2020.
Mr. Adamo Leonzio, Chairman Environment Commission
“The pandemic situation well known to everybody has had a big impact in the activity of the commission too because all the activity on field stopped. In spite of this, I am quite satisfied with the work of the commission because we have continued our research of technical solution to minimize the impact on the environment of our activity. We will put them on line at disposal of everybody and moreover because we have worked in several projects that will allow us, as soon the situation gets back to normality, to be more and more effective in carrying on our mission in education and research”.
Touring Commission
The FIM Europe Touring Commission members shared their experiences within the pandemic period in their countries. For the most part the year 2020 was full of uncertainties, however some of the activities planned were executed, such as motorcycling tours in smaller groups and shorter periods of times. Of course, activities planned were organized respecting all restrictions and requirements to ensure safety for people that regards Covid-19 virus spread. The FIM Europe Tour Assistant Training in Barcelona was postponed for another time and a new date (possibly September or October) will be negotiated with the Honda Safety Institute soon.
Mr. Nils Freivalds, Chairman Touring Commission
“It was a great pleasure to meet and share views with the Commission members at least via Zoom platform. We shared our thoughts and experiences in motorcycle touring which has been affected by this global pandemic and I would admit most of the Touring Commission members are keeping up good spirits and staying positive, despite the fact many tours and events were postponed. The year 2021 has inherited several touring events postponed from the year 2020 and we all are being positive to succeed with those this season when hopefully countries and travellers get back to their normal. Travel, socializing, new emotions are the key for people to psychologically recover from a long period of pandemic and we all hope this will come true soon!”.
Public Affairs Commission
The commission discussed a full agenda of various topics in a meeting lasted about 3 hours with active discussions and participation of all members, expressing their views and conveying their national experiences. Key issues in the CAP agenda remained the Motor Insurance Directive, Driving Licenses Directive, Noise and Vehicle Roadworthiness. Particular emphasis was given to the Road Safety & Mobility Conference as well as to the CAP Europe vision in the new decade (2021-2030).
Mr. Dimitris Margaritis, Chairman Public Affairs Commission
“Under the circumstances, the group operates at a normal pace. There are many important issues that need to be addressed. There may be a downtime because of Covid at EU level, however we need to be prepared to effectively deal with these issues when work resumes in Brussels. To achieve this, we work as one team with CAP Global and we also work closely with FEMA. A recent example of our collaboration is a common position paper on the noise issue in Europe”.
Marketing, Promotion and Industry Commission
The main topic faced by the Commission was the “Event Promotion Tool Kit”, that will be prepared and distributed to all FMNs. This booklet is a guidance of how event organizers should promote events.
Mr. Blagoja Petrovski, Chairman Marketing, Promotion and Industry Commission
“The Commission had the opportunity to discuss the project “Event Promotion Tool kit”. This is a handbook that will be prepared and distributed to all National Federations and Clubs: it’s a practical handbook on how to promote and communicate events. This will help organizers on other hand how to gain media interest on one hand and to create interesting content that will be published on FIM Europe media channels in the future on other hand”.
