General Assembly 2022 - POL

1 Welcome & Introduction by the President

The President opens the General Assembly and welcomes the delegates. 

2 Quorum

A two-thirds quorum is reached with all 38 National Federations (NFs) represented at this GA. The EEF has a total of 38 member NFs.

27 NFs are present in Warsaw, holding 11 additional proxies. The NFs of Malta and Bosnia & Herzegovina are also present in Warsaw but are only entitled to vote for the EEF President and are not counted for the quorum.

3 Appointment of Scrutineers

The General Assembly appoints the scrutineers for the General Assembly as follows:

• Wiveka Lundh (SWE)
• Amichai Alperovich (ISR)

4 Approval of the Agenda

The General Assembly approves the agenda as proposed for the 2022 EEF General Assembly.

5 Membership (affiliation, suspension, exclusion)

The General Assembly approves the membership affiliation of the NFs of Malta as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina to the EEF.

6 Approval of 2021 General Assembly Minutes

The General Assembly approves the minutes of the 2021 EEF General Assembly that was held in Vienna (AUT).

7 Approval of the Annual Report of the Board

The General Assembly approves the Report of the Board and the Report of the Working Groups / Committees. No comments are made.

8 Approval of the Financial Report 2021/2022

The General Assembly approves the financial report of the year 2021/2022. The report had previously also been approved by the EEF internal auditors Hidde Frankena (NED) and Ulf Brömster (SWE).

9 Release of the Board and Secretary General for the accounting year 2021/2022

The General Assembly releases the EEF Board and Secretary General for the year July 2021 to June 2022.

10 Approval of the EEF Auditors for the financial year that will end on 30 June 2023

The General Assembly appoints Hidde Frankena (NED) and Ulf Brömster (SWE) as auditors for the 2022/23 EEF financial accounts.

11 Presentation Sport Development

Quentin Simonet (QS) presents the EEF’s development initiatives of 2022 and refers to the EEF survey that was conducted in February 2022 in order to evaluate the current situation of development within EEF member NFs. QS also highlights the very successful launch of the EEF Evolution team competitions which will only be able to continue in 2023 if a sponsor can be found. The EEF also donated horse feed and haylage to Ukraine as humanitarian aid following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Furthermore, the EEF Development Manager Teodor Sheytanov is cooperating very closely with the FEI Solidarity team regarding any FEI Solidarity projects on the European continent. A first outlook on planned initiatives for the year 2023 is provided.

12 Presentation Sustainability Working Group

Nadia Kolodchenko, Chair of the EEF Sustainability Working Group, provides an insight into the subject of sport climate change and drivers of sustainability in sport with an indicative emissions map as well as an environmental roadmap for the EEF towards environmental sustainability in a strategic framework. The EEF’s aspiration is to inspire through action and advocate to deliver meaningful positive environmental change within the European equestrian community and beyond. 

13 Presentation Longines EEF Series

George Dimaras (GD) provides a short summary of the 2022 Longines EEF Series as well as on outlook on the provisional calendar for 2023. Currently the qualifiers for Region West are still to be confirmed. The host agreements for 2023 shall be signed by early December 2022.

14 EEF Board proposals for the change of the EEF Voting system & EEF Membership fees

The President opens the discussion and asks the 1^st Vice-President, George Dimaras (GD), to present the Board’s proposal for a change of the EEF voting system to establish a new structure with votes in four different categories. GD explains that this new voting system would apply to sports specific matters only (discipline rules, event rules, qualification criteria). Every EEF member NF would have one “general membership” vote. All EEF member NFs would be structured into three groups according to the number of their athletes registered in the FEI database. There shall be 1 vote for the group with the smallest number of FEI registered athletes (>0-99), 2 votes for the second group (100-999) and 3 votes for the group with the highest number of athletes (1.000 and more). All EEF member

NFs would also be structured into three groups according to the number of international FEI events organized in their country. There shall be 1 vote for the group with the smallest number of FEI events (>0-99), 2 votes for the second group (100-199) and 3 votes for the group with the highest number of international events (200 and more). Every EEF member NF that participated in Olympic or Paralympic Games during the three recent Games would have one “Olympic/Paralympic participation” vote. This results in a theoretical total range of votes per NF between one and eight, depending on the level of activity in the respective country. The voting rights will be established based on the previous Olympic/Paralympic cycle (i.e. the years 2017-2020) to provide an evolutive system which remains practical to understand and apply. The arithmetic mean of these years will establish the number of votes of a NF for the current Olympic/Paralympic cycle, i.e. 20212024. Of course, if approved by the GA, the voting rights will not be applied retrospectively but only for the future, i.e. the years 2023 and 2024. In early 2025 a new calculation for the voting rights during the next Olympic/Paralympic cycle (2025-2028) will take place, taking into account the data of the years 2020-2024.  

The President then presents the Board’s proposal on new EEF membership fees according to which six levels of membership fees shall be established based on the number of FEI registered athletes in member NFs. The “base amount” of membership fee shall be € 750,- (also for affiliated stakeholder clubs). Depending on the number of FEI athletes in a respective member NF a coefficient going from 1 to 10 will be used to multiply with the base amount of € 750,-. The membership fees will be established based on the previous Olympic/Paralympic cycle (i.e. the years 2017-2020) to provide an evolutive system which remains practical to understand and apply. The arithmetic mean of these years will establish the membership fee of a NF for the current Olympic/Paralympic cycle, i.e. 20212024. Of course, if approved by the GA, the membership fee will not be applied retrospectively but only for the future, i.e. the years 2023 and 2024. In early 2025 a new calculation for the membership fees during the next Olympic/Paralympic cycle (20252028) will take place, taking into account the data of the years 2020-2024.

The President opens the floor for questions. The Secretary General of the UKR NF expresses his objection against this proposal, stating that the criteria that will be used for the categorization of votes is putting Ukraine at a significant disadvantage due to the destruction caused by Russia’s war on Ukraine which will certainly also have negative longterm consequences for equestrian activities in Ukraine. The UKR NF also objects the proposal because it is against the principle of equality in sport. The President of the SWE NF proposes to review the situation of Ukraine again in 2024 in order to see how a fair solution can be found to this problem. GD confirms that such a review will take place, not only related to Ukraine but also related to the entire system in order to use the learnings of the first years of implementation to further improve the system. The President of the NOR NF states that a weighted voting system is being used in Norway and that it works very well. No further questions or comments are raised.

15 Approval of revised EEF Statutes

The General Assembly approves the revised EEF statutes with 36 votes in favor, 2 votes against and no abstentions. The required 2/3 majority is achieved.

16 Approval of the Budget for 2022/2023

The General Assembly approves the Budget for 2022/2023 with 33 votes in favor, 2 votes against and 3 abstentions.

17 Election of the EEF President

Theo Ploegmakers is re-elected as President of the EEF for the term 2022-2026 with 37 votes in favor, 0 votes against and 3 abstentions. The required 2/3 majority is achieved.

Note: The NFs of Malta and Bosnia & Herzegovina are entitled to participate in the election of the President as they are members of the EEF regional group in the FEI (but no yet members of the EEF itself). Thus, the total number of voting cards distributed for this agenda item is 40. 

18 Election of three ordinary EEF Board members

The following candidates present themselves to the General Assembly for election: 

• Elisabeth Max-Theurer (AUT)
• Alan Andabaka (CRO)
• Soenke Lauterbach (GER) (re-eligible)
• Ulf Brömster (SWE)

Soenke Lauterbach (GER), Alan Andabaka (CRO) and Elisabeth Max-Theurer (AUT) are elected by the General Assembly as ordinary EEF Board members for the term 2022-2026.

19 Election of the Chair of the EEF EU-Committee

The following candidates present themselves to the General Assembly for election: 

• Catherine Bonnichon de Rancourt (FRA)
• Paula Calamatta (MLT)
• Mark Wentein (BEL)

Catherine Bonnichon de Rancourt is elected by the General Assembly as Chair of the EEF EU-Committee for the term 2022-2026.

20 Election of members of the EEF EU-Committee

Paula Calamatta (MLT) and Mark Wentein (BEL) are elected by the General Assembly as Members of the EEF EU-Committee for the term 2022-2026.

21 Appointment of the 2^nd Vice-President

The President informs the General Assembly that he will appoint his 2^nd Vice-President after the next meeting of the EEF Board which will then be communicated to the members accordingly.

22 Appointment of Ulf Helgstrand as EEF Honorary Board Member

The President informs the General Assembly that Ulf Helgstrand (DEN), founding member of the EEF and Vice-President of the EEF for the past 12 years, has been appointed as an EEF Honorary Board Member.

23 Any other business: New accounting company

The Secretary General informs the General Assembly that the EEF has ended its financial accounting cooperation with Deloitte Belgium and has entered into a new cooperation with the Belgian accounting company VM Consult as of the financial year 2022/2023.

16 Closing

The President thanks the delegates for their attendance of this General Assembly and the fact that all 38 member NFs have participated in the important voting on a new voting system and amended membership fees.

Special gratitude is extended to the President and Secretary General of the Polish National Equestrian Federation for having hosted this General Assembly in Warsaw. 

The meeting is closed at 13h00.