European Federation of UNESCO Clubs, Centers and Associations

The Way to The European Federation of UNESCO Clubs, Centres and Associations

The days of Constituent Assembly (16 – 18th February 2001, Romania, Busteni) Seventeen delegations have arrived in Busteni, at the UNESCO Centre of the Romanian Federation of UNESCO Clubs, Centres and Associations, to take part in the Constituent Assembly of the European Federation of UNESCO Clubs Centres and Associations. They represented national federations or clubs of European countries where there are no structures at national level, and also a regional federation, the Catalonian federation. The national federations were represented by the Armenian, Belarusian, Cypriot, French, German, Greek, Italian, Moldovian, Polish, Romanian and Spanish delegations. The Russian delegation announced three days before the beginning of the Assembly that they could not participate. All these national federations are active members of WFUCA. The delegations that represented clubs from countries without representation at national level were the Belgian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Maltese, and Portuguese delegations, three of them being also active members of WFUCA (Belgium, Bulgaria and Malta). The Catalonian Federation, founder member of WFUCA till the founding of the Spanish Confederation, to which it was also founder member, has also participated in the Constituent Assembly. The Catalonian Federation left the Spanish Confederation, but it is recognised as an UNESCO non-governmental organisation by the Spanish National Commission for UNESCO. The works of the Constituent Assembly began by electing the Assembly’s Bureau. In order to reconcile different points of view about who does lead the Assembly, there was a first vote to establish the procedure. Thus a Co-presidency of the Constituent Assembly was established: Mr. George Christophides, vice-president for Europe of WFUCA (new rule) and Ms. Paula Iacob, president of the host country federation (WFUCA rule). This new rule had 8 votes in its favour. The rapporteurs were established by consensus: Ms. Marialuisa Stringa (Italy) and Mr. Patrick Gallaud (WFUCA).1 Then there was the vote to establish if the new procedures proposed by the Working Group, taking into account the proposed amendments, would be followed. There were 9 votes for the new procedures. It must be mentioned that the Armenian delegation, which came later, did not participate in the first two votes. During the afternoon of the first day (the 16th February), the procedures were adopted article, by article, after debating on each amendment proposed for the procedures. The Statute was adopted in the same way on the 17th of February. Several amendments were adopted. Consensus was not reached in some cases and a voting was necessary, being adopted the variant of the majority. The only delegation that has decided not to sign the Statute at the end of the works, consequently to this, not to join the new organisation was the German delegation. In this way, the Constituent Assembly has arrived to establish the European Federation of UNESCO Clubs, Centres and Associations having as founder members, 15 active members and one associate member, the Catalonian Federation. Through the adopted statute, there was founded an international, non-governmental organisation, new regional branch of the WFUCA that it is named “European Federation of UNESCO Clubs, Centres and Associations” and that reaffirms the support to the UNESCO Constitution, ideals and principles. It defines the Europe Region as an area of multiple cultures, civilisations and common values in the sense retained by UNESCO. It also understands the need to respect this cultural diversity, engaging itself in a partnership meant to promote the common objectives of European fellowship, peace and development in order to apply effectively the ideas and principles of UNESCO. The elections took place and the Statute was signed on February the 18th. All the elected members are mentioned in the Constitutive Document. Two Honorary Presidents were elected: Ms. Marialuisa Stringa and Mr. André Zwejacker. An Honorary Member, Mr. Josep Marines de Foix, was also alected. As Mr. George Christophides, the WFUCA’s Vice-president for Europe was elected President of the new federation, the only other nominated member of the new Executive Board is Ms. Jolanta Rostworowska. The members of the Nominations Committe were established by consensus as being the members of the Belgian, Croatian, and Italian delegations, because they decided not to send candidates for the new Council. Due to the requirements of the Romanian law, in order to establish the juridical status of the new organisation, an account commissioner has also been elected in the person of Ion Grosu, Romania. It was established by common agreement that the subscription will be 50$/year. Mrs. Maxim Victoria and/or Iacob Paula were authorised to handle the procedure of obtaining the juridical status for the European Federation of UNESCO Clubs and Associations, and were given the task of opening a bank account for the initial patrimony. The juridical status has been obtained on the 5th of March, 2001, file 1/2001/Romania, Prahova County Court, and the bank account for the initial patrimony has also been opened (no. 183/22.02.2001). We have succeeded in finalising the efforts to constitute the European Federation of UNESCO Clubs and Associations, despite all the difficulties and divergences, in a highly democratic spirit, open to free speech, explicitly appreciated by several participants. The preliminary path to the foundation of EFUCA Illustrated by some documents, the long way to this new federation could be taken as an example of the necessary perseverance to reach the constitution of a new unit of action in the field of the civil society. It is known that there were other attempts to create a European Federation, the first one dating back twenty years ago. It is almost impossible to obtain quick results if the democratic ways are respected, and a success can be obtained only through teamwork. By rights, Mrs. Marialuisa Stringa and Mr. André Zwejacker have been elected honorific co-presidents of the new federation, because they were the ones that had pursued this ideal with a profound belief and tenacity, and they succeeded in convincing a younger generation of their rightness. Thus, the Working Group came into being, in which people like Lionel Vinour, Silvio de Matos or Antonio Casares acted with enthusiasm and perseverance. Lionel, with his typical Cartesian spirit, has always had the wisdom of what is to be done and prepared, Silvio proved an amazing coagulating energy, and Juan Antonio brought tenacity. Even from the beginning, Jean Pierre Dehouck has always supported us in a competent and efficient way, managing to moderate things whenever the case was. So the Group became not only a working group, but also a group of friends that discovered with pleasure that they shared a lot of common values. Some of those are the respect for every human being and for every culture, and the belief in the necessity of a democratic approach in every action you take part. The Group grew from the beginning, but also during the two years’ work, thanks to other people’s will to join us. The Catalonians, the Moldavians - who stimulated by the new effervescence of European UNESCO movement, have established a federation of their own - the Slovenians and the Hungarians, who unfortunately could not participate in the Constituent Assembly, the Croats, the UNESCO Club of Malta and others, were conquered by the idea of creating a European Federation. Finally, one can consider that all the delegations that signed the Constitutive Document began to believe in the necessity of a European Federation, which would allow us to develop our friendly relations. We, the members of the Romanian delegation, despite the fact that being hosts imposes a lot of stressing work, felt this friendly atmosphere that governed at Busteni, even with those who did not join us in the new federation. We really hope to preserve these friendly relations and to develop them with the aim to enrich the direct relations between the UNESCO clubs of the Region Europe. Because we believe that the success of the new federation should and will be measured by the multiplication of these direct relations and by the good example of acting. The Working Group’s activity During the European Conference of the UNESCO Clubs in Florence, November 1998, Daniela Popescu, representing Romanian delegation, presented to the organisers, before the beginning of the conference, an Appeal for the constitution of a European Federation:

The Working Group

The third meeting of the Working Group was possible in Malaga through the kindness of the Spanish Confederation; unfortunately, the Romanian delegation could not participate. The French, Italian, Belgian, Portuguese and Spanish delegations have prepared the first draft of the statute. During the World Congress of WFUCA in Ekaterinburg, it was organised, outside of the official works, an informal meeting where all the European delegations have been invited and the Working Group has presented its first steps and results. Many delegations have affirmed that they are not prepared for the constitution of the new federation, so the Working Group made the decision to temporise the process and to postpone the date of the Constituent Assembly that was foreseen for October, the same year in Paris. The Romanian delegation proposed another meeting of the Working Group in Romania; the proposal was accepted. In Romania, in Busteni, in April 2000, the Working Group successfully adopted the final forms of the drafts of procedures and statute. The date and place for the Constituent Assembly was established: October 2000, in Paris. Another meeting between the Working Group and the representatives of WFUCA’s Executive Board: Paul Ortega, President, Patrick Gallaud, Secretary General, George Christophides, Vice-president, initiated by the French Federation took place in Paris, in July 2000. Three candidatures for the Constituent Assembly were retained: France, Romania and Cyprus. Again, some of UNESCO federations and clubs considered that the moment for a European Federation was still not favourable or that a new structure was not necessary. This position led to the Hanover Document addressed to WFUCA’s president, George Christophides. In order to respect their reticence, the Constituent Assembly was again postponed. Another meeting of several delegations, that could not cancel their departure, was held in Paris instead. It was established to send the points of view of the organisations favourable to the founding of a European Federation, through the voice of André Zwejacker, to the WFUCA’s Executive Board, at its meeting in Bilbao, in November 2000. WFUCA’s Executive Board decided to admit the candidatures of Romania and Cyprus to host the Constituent Assembly, in this order. WFUCA’s Secretariat was charged to send the official invitation and to receive the proposals for amendments to the procedures and statute. Some reserves were appeased in this way. The amendments were sent to the Romanian federation some days before the meeting and here they have been structured by articles so that the Assembly could analyse them in logical order. In place of conclusion The Romanian Federation was very honoured by the privilege to host the Constituent Assembly and it was conscious that other federations of greater extent and tradition deserved this honour. However, we thought that in these circumstances we have to be completely devoted to the idea that the hour of the European Federation has finally arrived. We have had great emotions and even fears about the success of this meeting, but we quickly realised that everybody was in search of a consensus. The Co-president of the Constituent Assembly, George Christophides, played a main role in reach this consensus. Jean Pierre Dehouck, the respected voice by all the jurists present to the meeting – and there were six of them – and by all the participants played also an essential role in choosing the best juridical solution. Finally, Lionel Vinour had the capacity to clearly explain the reasons for which an article or another has its particular content. We think that a person like Lionel Vinour with such a dedication for the ideea of European co-operation will continue to work in this way with us. For his moral verticality, the Romanian Federation has decided to award him the Excellence Prize for the year 2000. If an analysis of the proposed amendments is to be taken into account, it can be noticed that most of them express only the fear to create one more useless structure. Such a peril can not be denied. Unfortunately, only after a certain time after the founding of the new structure, it is possible to realise if this is the case. It is our duty to prove the contrary through our teamwork. In a Europe that wants to be the Europe of peace and cultural dialogue, we can find our field of action, even if our powers are quite modest, because we hold in our title a name that oblige us, the name of UNESCO.

Daniela Popescu, Mihaela Varga

[ Home ]