27 - 31 August 2013

1. Opening of the XVIII^th UEF Congress          

President Håkan Nystrand opened the XVIII^th UEF Congress at time 9.00 a.m.
2. Roll-call of delegates and approval of the list of delegates

Thomas Baschny presented the delegates at time 9.09 a.m.

 

Country	Votes	Delegate
Austria	1	Baschny
BDF, Germany	6	Jacobs (2), Keller, Nörr, Schmitt, Dohle
UBF, Bulgaria	1	Paligorov
Cyprus Ass., Cyprus	1	Pattichis
Foresters Ass., Cyprus	1	M. Christodoulou
Danske forst., Denmark	3	Proxy/ Bach
DSL, Denmark	3	Bach
Italy	4	Busti
UFAF	4	Hankala
METO	6	Seppä
SIT Lid, Poland	6	Kundzewicz
France	3	Van Peteghem
Sweden	4	Gustafsson
Switzerland	1	Hasspacher
14 organizations	44	votes

        ----------------------------------------------------------

3. Announcement of the number of members present and entitled to vote

According to Thomas Baschny there are 14 organisations presented that have 44 votes, Presidency has 7 votes, in total the Congress has 51 votes.

4. Election of the President of Congress and his or her deputy

Jaakko Niemistö (Finland) was proposed by Hans Jacobs (Germany). Niemistö was elected as the President of the Congress.

Tapio Hankala (Finland) was elected as the Deputy President of the Congress

Jaakko Niemistö gave best thanks of the confidence.

5. Election of two minutes-takers, who shall also count the votes

Jaakko Niemistö invited Eveliina Varis (Finland) and Tiina Eklund (Finland) as two minutes-takers. The selection of two minute-takers was approved.

6. Adoption of the Congress agenda

Jaakko Niemistö opened the discussion. No objections to Congress agenda were made. Agenda was adopted.

7. Adoption of the election rules

Michael Diemer (Germany) explained the election rules. There were no objections to the election rules. The rules of the election were adopted.

8. Report from the Presidency members

The President Håkan Nystrand, Vice Presidents Michael Diemer and Pjotr Grygier presented their reports of the Presidency members.

The President of the Congress announced the coffee break for 15 minutes at time 10.16 a.m.

The President of the Congress opened the Congress after coffee break at time 10.38 a.m.
The Vice President Hérve Némoz-Rajot and Assistant Secretaries Thomas Baschny, Anna Petrakieva and Treasurer Björn Karlsson presented their reports.

Treasurer Karlsson presented the financial report for the year 2012.

The President closed the point at time 11.34 a.m.

10. Auditors’ report on final audits

Christodoulos Christodoulou from Cyprus presented the Auditor’s Report for financial years 2010-2012 as well as recommendations for the new Presidency.

It was discussed why the balancies are different for year 2012 in the Treasurer’s report and in the Auditors’ Report. It was also discussed that Treasurer and the Auditors should use the same exchange rates for changing the currencies of the two balances: one in Swedish krone and one in euros. Explanation was approved.

Hans Jacobs asked about the travelling costs of the auditors and do they participate in every UEF meeting. Treasurer Björn Karlsson said that the both auditors are present in Congress and one is paid to GCM.

It was discussed whether UEF took part in formulating the EU Timber Regulation. Presidency answered that it hasn’t been taking part in any working group.

The President of the Congress closed the point at time 11.48 a.m.

13. Discharge of the Presidency

The President opened the discussion. There were no obligations and the delegates were in favor of discharging the Presidency.

The President of the Congress closed the point at time 11.49 a.m.

15. Motions put forward by the member organizations, each accompanied by a statement from the Presidency

The President of the Congress opened the discussion at time 11.49 a.m.

The President Håkan Nystrand said that there are no motions presented for the Presidency.

The President of the Congress Jaakko Niemistö said that if there is none - there is none.

The point is closed at time 11.50 a.m.

16. Action plan for the coming four years

Michael Diemer said that because there is no motions put forward he and Håkan have prepared an Action Plan for the coming years. Michael Diemer presented and proposed Action plan for coming four years.

The proposed Action plan was approved by the delegates.

The point was closed at time 11.58 a.m.

Coffee break for ten minutes at time 11.58 a.m. Coffee break ended at time 12.15 p.m.

17. Budget guidelines for the coming four years

The President of the Congress opened the Congress at time 12.15 p.m.

a. Changes on the fees

Treasurer presented the proposal of the Presidency for increasing the membership fee for 1,20 EUR.

The President of the Congress opened the discussion.

It was approved that the membership fee will increase to 1,20 EUR.

The point was closed at time 12.19 p.m.

b. Guidelines

The Treasurer presented the guidelines for the budget for the coming four years.

The President of the Congress opened the discussion.

The guidelines for budget for four coming years were approved by the delegates

The point was closed at time 12.22 p.m.

c. Rules for reduced member fee

Treasurer presented the proposal of reduced subscriptions (as expressed in the Annex Rules for reduced subscriptions).

The President of the Congress opened the discussion.

Michael Diemer explained the idea of the rules more in detail.

It was discussed if in the rules for reduced membership fees it could be stated that: “the member organization has to pay minimum of 20 % of the annual subscriptions...” instead of “the member organization has to pay 20 % of the annual subscriptions.....”

It was also discussed what UEF represents: can it talk in the voice of the organization that do not have the right to vote or does it only talk in the voice of the full members.

It was also discussed that the organizations that do not have the right to vote do not count as members in counting the member organizations represented in the meetings.

Was agreed that it is good for the UEF imago when is possible to talk in the voice of full members according to the members with reduced membership fee.

It was concluded that the member organizations has to pay the minimum of 20 % of the annual subscriptions, in minimum 100 Euro.

Other rights and duties where approved as presented in proposal.

The proposed change for rules was accepted at time 12.43 p.m.

19. Approval of budget for the next year

The Treasurer presented the budget for the next year.

The President of the Congress opened the discussion.

The budget for the next year was approved by the delegates.

The point was closed at time 12.46 p.m.

Lunch break for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

20. Election of the President

The President of the Congress opened the Congress after lunch break at time 14.06 p.m.

The President asked for nominations for UEF President from delegates presented in the Congress.

Mårten Gustafsson (Sweden) proposed Michael Diemer from Germany as the President for the UEF. No other proposals for candidates as President were presented.

Michael Diemer from Germany represented himself as a candidate for UEF President.

Michael Diemer was unanimously elected as President of the UEF.

Former President Håkan Nystrand shortly presented his best wishes for the new President of the UEF.

The President of the Congress closed the point.

21. Election of the three Vice Presidents

The President of the Congress asked for nominations for Vice Presidents from delegates presented in the Congress.

Ivan Paligorov (Bulgaria) proposed Hérve Némoz-Rajot (France), Tomasz Markiewicz (Poland) and Ilpo Puputti (Finland) as three Vice Presidents.

The nominated persons presented themselves.

The President of the Congress opened the election for Vice Presidents.

Hérve Némoz-Rajot was unanimously elected as Vice President.

Tomasz Markiewicz was unanimously elected as Vice President.

Ilpo Puputti was unanimously elected as Vice President.

The point was closed at time 14.22 p.m.

22. Election of the Secretary and Assistant Secretary

The President of the Congress opened the nomination for Secretary and Assistant Secretary.

Juhani Seppä (Finland) proposed Thomas Baschny from Austria as Secretary and Anna Petrakieva from Bulgaria as an Assistant Secretary.

The nominees presented themselves.

The President of the Congress opened the election for Secretary.

Thomas Baschny was unanimously elected as Secretary.

The President of the Congress opened the election for Assistant Secretary.

Anna Petrakieva was unanimously elected as Assistant Secretary.

The point was closed at time 14.26 p.m.

23. Election of the Treasurer

The President of the Congress asked for nominations for Treasurer.

Björn Karlsson from Sweden was proposed by Robert Nörr (Germany) as Treasurer.

The nominee presented himself.

The President of the Congress opened the election for Treasurer.

Björn Karlsson was unanimously elected as a Treasurer.

Point was closed at time 14.29 p.m.

24. Election of two auditors and two deputy auditors

The President of the Congress opened the nomination for two auditors and two deputy auditors.

On behalf of Austria Thomas Baschny nominated Christodoulos Christodoulou (Cyprus) and Henrik Bach (Denmark) as auditors and Beate Hasspacher (Switzerland) and Mattia Busti (Italy) as deputy auditors.

The nominees presented themselves.

The President of the Congress opened the election for two auditors and two deputy auditors.

Christodoulos Christodoulou was unanimously elected as auditor.

Henrik Bach was unanimously elected as auditor.

Beate Hasspacher was unanimously elected as deputy auditor.

Mattia Basti was unanimously elected as deputy auditor.

Point is closed at time 14.36 p.m.

The new President of the UEF shortly thanked the Congress delegates for the trust showed towards the members of the new Presidency.

25. Applications for new UEF membership (Czech Forestry Society)

Skala Vit from Czech Republic presented the Czech Forestry Society (CFS).

Hérve Némoz-Rajot confirmed that the documentation provided by the applying organization is in order.

President of the Congress asked for comments. No comments were raised.

The Czech Forestry Society (CFS) was unanimously approved to become a new member in UEF.

President closed the case.

New member was warmly accepted and congratulated by the new President of the UEF.

26. Proposals of next meetings

a. Governing Council Meeting 2014 and 2015

Ivan Paligorov, delegate of Union of Bulgarian Foresters, proposed the Governing Council Meeting of 2014 to be held in Bulgaria.

Piotr Grygier proposed the Governing Council Meeting 2015 to be held in Poland.

The proposed locations for next two Governing Council Meetings were approved.

Mattia Basti from Italy proposed that UEF should arrange cooperative meeting in Brussels with Society of Agrologist in a meeting arranged.

b. UEF XIX^th Congress 2017

No proposals for the next Congress.

Point was closed (at 15.07).

27. Closing of the XVIII th UEF Congress

The President of Congress thanked the participants of the Congress. The President closed the Congress at time 15.08 p.m.