European Blind Union
10th general assembly, London, UK, 26/28 October 2015
Report by the Nominations Committee
1. Having regard to the Constitution of the European Blind Union
(EBU), and, in particular, Article IV, section 4, point 4.2.5 thereof, the 9th
General Assembly of the EBU called to Fredericia, Denmark, from
October 4 to 7, 2011 duly elected the below-listed persons to serve on
the Nominations Committee in order for them to carry out their assigned
duties until the end of the 10th General Assembly:
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Branislav Mamojka, chairman, Slovak Republic
Birgitta Blokland, Netherlands
Merja Heikkonen, Finland
Barbara Krejci-Piry, Slovenia
Rudolf Volejnik, Czech Republic
In the course of the 4 year period between the 9th and the 10th General
Assemblies, no postal ballot has been conducted to fill vacant seats left
by officers and other persons elected at the 9th General Assembly.
After the 9th EBU GA the following two persons resigned from their
offices without being replaced due to the short time to the 10th EBU GA:
Second Vice-president, Mr. Tommaso Daniele, Italy, resignation
submitted on 16. 1. 2014
Board member, Mr. Pete Osborne, UK, resignation submitted on 4. 3.
2014
2. In all its work, the Nominations Committee has given the utmost
consideration to the issues referred to in the EBU Constitution articles
itemized below:
A. Article II, section 1.5, on equal representation and participation of
gender and age groups in all EBU activities (selection of GA
delegates, elections to the Board, commissions, committees, etc.).
B. Article IV, section 3.6 on formal requirements related to nominations
for office.
C. Article IV, section 4.2.5 and 4.2.6 on the GA Proceedings and
powers of the Nominations Committee.
D. Article V, section 1, of the EBU Constitution on postal voting.
3. Referring to the above-enumerated articles of the EBU
Constitution, the chairman of the Nominations Committee in his letter
dated February 27, 2015 (see Appendix 1) called upon all members of
the EBU to table their nominations for President, First Vice-President,
Second Vice-President, Secretary General, Treasurer, Ordinary
Members of the Board, EBU representatives on the WBU Executive
Committee, and the Nominations Committee. That letter was followed by
the second call dated June 23, 2015.
By July 25, 2015, the Nominations Submission Deadline, the EBU
Secretary-General received 17 nominations of 14 nominees from 13
member countries of the EBU to 15 positions out of 21 positions to be
filled. There was not more than one nomination for each position to be
filled except for nominations to the positions of President (2 nominations)
and second Vice-President (2 nominations). Only one nomination for
ordinary member of the Nomination committee and no nomination for its
chairman were received. All received nominations comply with the
provisions and conditions for nominations set out in Article IV, section 3.6
of the EBU Constitution. The received nominations are as follows:
Officers:
President:
Mr Wolfgang Angermann, Germany
Ms Fazilet Hadi, UK
First Vice-President: Mr Alexander Neumyvakin, Russia
Second Vice-President:
Ms. Bárbara Martín Muñoz, Spain
Mr. Vaclav Polasek, Czech Republic
Secretary General: Ms. Maria Kyriacou, Cyprus
Treasurer: Mr. Philippe Chazal, France
Ordinary Board members:
Mr. Mario Barbuto, Italy
Mr Emin Demirci, Turkey
Mr. Bozidar Denda, Montenegro
Ms Ann Jönsson, Sweden
Ms. Ana Sofia Pedroso Lopes Antunes, Portugal
Mr Sinan Tafaj, Albania
EBU representatives on the WBU executive committee:
Mr Emin Demirci, Turkey
Ms. Ana Sofia Pedroso Lopes Antunes, Portugal
Mr Alexander Neumyvakin, Russia
Nominations Committee:
Committee members
Mr Rudolf Volejník, Czech Republic
Since there are two nominations for the positions of President and
Second Vice-president, the non-elected nominees can stay for election
for positions of ordinary Board members, if they agree with it. All
nominees except for Ms Fazilet Hadi agreed. Thus, two situations may
arise as specified below:
a. If Ms. Hadi is elected, there will be just eight nominations for
ordinary board members and no elections are needed for those
positions.
b. If Mr. Angerman is elected, there will be only 7 nominations for
ordinary Board members. Consequently, the standing EBU
President shall accept nominations moved at the General
Assembly to ensure that this vacancy is filled according to Article
IV.3.9 of the Constitution.
The above mentioned additional election will not be needed if the board’s
amendment concerning Article V.1.2 is approved by GA. Its new text
would be “The Board shall consist of the President, a first and second
Vice-President, Secretary General and Treasurer and up to eight
Members”. The words “up to eight members” mean that seven
nominations are enough.
Only ONE nomination for the ordinary member of Nomination Committee
has been submitted while at least four nominations are required for
ordinary members and one nomination for the Chairman. In order to
resolve this situation, Article IV.3.9 of the Constitution should be invoked,
according to which the EBU President shall accept nominations moved
at the General Assembly to ensure that those vacancies are filled.
4. Recommendations Presented by the EBU Nominations Committee
As a basic duty, the Nominations Committee checked the criteria set
forth in Article IV, section 3, point 6, which the nominees shall comply
with in order to be eligible.
Within this context, the Nominations Committee also tried to take into
consideration the following attributes:
 collaboration within the EBU structure characterized by solidarity is
a prerequisite in order to maintain and extend results achieved;
 the need to uphold the organizing competence and experience
which has developed since the founding of the EBU in 1984;
 the provisions of Article II, Section 1, point 5 of the EBU
Constitution regarding equal representation of gender and age;
 the need for balanced representation of blind and partially sighted
members;
 The need for balanced representation, which reflects the diversity
among different geographical parts of Europe.
However, the Nominations Committee has no real power to influence the
composition of the actual nominations due to the fact that it has to
consider only the nominations received. For example: among 14
nominees, there are 5 Women, which is 35,7%; among 15 positions to
be filled according to the nominations received, women have been
nominated for 6 positions, which accounts for 40 % of the total of
contested seats. There are 64% of blind nominees and average age of
all nominees is 55 years ranging from 34 to 75.
There is a long term tradition to include in the Nomination committee
report its recommendation of a composition of the board based on valid
nominations and the above mentioned considerations. In fact, the EBU
Constitution does not assign such power to the Nomination Committee.
There only exists the general requirement "to strive for equal
representation and participation of gender and age" formulated in Article
II.1.5 of EBU Constitution. This might be considered as a ground for that
tradition.
In its deliberations, the NC decided to propose its recommendations in
the light of that tradition, but could not agree unanimously on the
interpretation of point three of the above mentioned 5 considerations:
´the provisions of Article II, Section 1, point 5 of the EBU Constitution
regarding equal representation of gender and age´
The following candidates are recommended:
1. For position of president: Ms Fazilet Hadi
(With two votes in favour, one abstention, one against, and with one
member not being available)
2. For the position of second vice-president: Ms. Bárbara Martín
Muñoz
(With two votes in favour, two abstention, and with one member not
being available)
Having regard to Article IV, section 4, point 4.2.2. of the EBU
Constitution, this report will be duly presented to the 10th General
Assembly of the said European Blind Union.
The Nominations Committee shall recommend the Board to plan the
setting up of a Credentials Committee that would carry out all duties
related to the elections if appropriate. The committee also recommends
the same election procedure - voting tickets with text in Braille and print –
that was used at the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th General Assembly. The
Head Office informs the Chair that sufficient voting material is available.
Done in Bratislava, September 2015
Branislav Mamojka,
Chairman of the Nominations Committee, European Blind Union
Appendix1: Call for Nominations dated 27 February 2015
Appendix 1
FIRST CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
To all EBU national members
Date: 27 February 2015
Very important: Please acknowledge receipt of the present call to EBU
Office, at ebu@euroblind.org
Dear friends,
As you know, the European Blind Union will be holding its 10th General
Assembly from 26 to 28 October 2015 in London, UK.
Prior to the General Assembly the EBU Nominations Committee must
obtain nominations of candidates in order to check their compliance with
the EBU Constitution and to present its report to the General Assembly.
In compliance with article V, section 1.2, Article IV, section 4.2.5, and
article VI, section 5.1 of the EBU constitution, elections shall take place
for the following positions:
1. President
2. First Vice-president
3. Second Vice-president
4. Secretary General
5. Treasurer
6. 8 (eight) members of the Board
7. 3 (three) EBU members of the Executive Committee of the World
Blind Union
8. Nominations Committee – the chairman, 4 Committee members
An updated version of the Constitution of the EBU is available on our
website:
http://www.euroblind.org/about-ebu/the-organization/nr/14
At present, the EBU Board consists of the following persons:
EBU Board officers
President: Wolfgang Angermann, Germany
First Vice-president: Alexander Neumyvakin, Russia
Treasurer: Vincent Michel, France
Secretary General: Unn Ljoner Hagen, Norway
EBU Board members
Emin Demirci, Turkey
Maria Iñiguez Villanueva, Spain
Ann Jönsson, Sweden
Maria Kyriacou, Cyprus
Vaclav Polasek, Czech republic
Sergiu Ruba, Romania
Sinan Tafaj, Albania
EBU representatives on the WBU Executive Committee are:
Unn Ljoner Hagen, Norway
Alexander Neumyvakin, Russia
Sinan Tafaj, Albania
(EBU President is ex-officio member.)
Nominations committee:
Chairman: Branislav Mamojka, Slovakia
Members:
Birgitta Blokland, Netherlands
Merja Heikkonen, Finland
Barbara Krejci-Piry, Slovenia
Rudolf Volejnik, Czech Republic
After the 9th EBU GA the following persons resigned from their offices
without being replaced:
Second Vice-president, Mr. Tommaso Daniele, Italy (resignation notified
on 16 January 2014)
Board member, Mr. Pete Osborne, UK (resignation notified on 04 March
2014)
As provided in article IV, section 3.6 of the Constitution, nominations of
candidates to the above positions must be sent to the Secretary General
no later than 3 (three) months before the date of commencement of the
General Assembly, i.e. 25 July 2015.
Article IV, section 3.6 reads: “Nominations for office which must be
supported in writing by a majority of the delegates of the national
member representing the country where the nominee resides must be
sent to the Secretary General to reach him/her not later than three
months before the date of the meeting”
In compliance with the above article, all nominations must be:
 submitted in writing,
 signed by a majority of the delegates of the national member
representing the country where the nominee resides,
 sent to the Secretary General to reach her no later than 25 July 2015.
These three requirements must strictly be adhered to.
The address of the Secretary general is:
Ms Unn LJONER HAGEN
EBU Secretary General
C/o EBU Office
6 rue Gager-Gabillot
75015 Paris (France)
Tel: +33 1 47 05 38 20
Fax: +33 1 47 05 38 21
Please also send copies of your written nominations by e-mail to:
ebu@euroblind.org
ulh@adaptor.no
mamojka@unss.sk
It will make the work of the Nomination committee easier if copies of your
nominations are also sent to me in my capacity as chairman of the
Nominations Committee.
My address is:
Slovak Blind and Partially Sighted Union
Sekulska 1
84250 Bratislava
Slovak Republic
Tel: +421-2-69203420, 69203432
Fax: +421-2-69203447
E-mail: mamojka@unss.sk
I strongly recommend that nominations are submitted as soon as
possible. The Nominations Committee also reminds you of the policy
established within WBU and EBU about gender equality, and balance
according to age, visual conditions (blind and partially sighted), and of
regional representation. The Nominations Committee has to follow this
policy when preparing its recommendation for election to be included in
its report for the General Assembly. Appropriate time is needed for this
task.
The Nominations Committee plans to send out its report before the end
of August 2015.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Kind regards,
on behalf of the Nominations Committee
Branislav Mamojka, Chairman