Paris, 25 February 2020
General Meeting of 25 February 2020
MORAL REPORT FOR 2019
Our year began with our monthly meeting on 21 January. The Paris Europe Café was devoted to pensions in Europe, and Michel RIQUIER of AGE platform Europe gave a very in-depth and interesting presentation.
Our Annual General Meeting was held on Monday 18 February 2019 at 5.30 pm, at which we renewed our Executive Committee with one replacement, that of our Treasurer Jean-Claude NOUEL by Maria-Luise FESER, and also increased our membership fee to meet the expenses incurred by the multilateral. Our membership fee was therefore increased from €15 to €20. Thereafter, we held our monthly meetings: on Monday 18 March 2019, this was followed by an open debate on the consequences of Brexit. Another meeting took place on 15 April, at the end of which J-C RIZZOLI told us about the European Commission's positions on Artificial Intelligence. There was no Café Paris-Europe on 13 May. Finally, on 3 June, following the European elections, J-C HOUDOIN gave us a presentation on the future European Parliament.
On Sunday 30 June, the traditional Eurocapitales party was held at Jean-Paul DOGUET's home in Gas.
There was a meeting on 23 September without coffee, then on 29 October, Jean-Paul DOGUET gave a presentation on Uzbekistan, which he visited this summer. Another meeting was held on Tuesday 19 November. There was no Café Paris-Europe on 10 December, because the transport strike meant that the meeting had to be cancelled anyway. On 20 January there was a lively discussion on the current British political situation.
The year 2019 was also marked by two rather different but equally interesting and successful meetings: Our bilateral meeting in Skopje, in partnership with the European Movement of Northern Macedonia, took place on 14 and 15 June in Skopje. Within the framework of the EMI, we had the opportunity to contact Milena GJUROVSKA, the President of the European Movement of Northern Macedonia. She was largely responsible for organising this meeting, in accordance with her intentions. There were in fact two very distinct events: on Friday 14 June a reception was held at the Ambassador's residence, in the presence of His Excellency Christian Thimonier, but also François Lafond, adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs. After that, the next day we had a meeting with several speakers at the Stonebridge Hotel in Skopje, followed by lunch. There was Christian THIMONIER again, but also François LAFOND and several Macedonian personalities such as Muhamad HALILI, Vice-President of the Skopje ME, and Mrs GJUROVSKA, with simultaneous translation and television cameras due to the presence of the Ambassador. The general theme of the discussion was "From Partnership to Membership: Macedonia in Europe". For EUROCAPITALES, Jean-Paul DOGUET gave a presentation on the link between deepening and enlargement. It was a very interesting meeting, even if I was disappointed to see that a few months later President Macron rejected the prospect of Northern Macedonia joining the EU, a position that was not shared by the French speakers.
From 4 to 6 October 2019, our 20th Eurocapitales Multilateral Meeting took place in Paris, in accordance with our general model, which is now well established and has almost become a tradition.
On Friday 4th, the Steering Committee met at the MEF headquarters, where, at the request of our Finnish friends, we discussed how to ensure that the network has a permanent legal existence. This was followed by a welcome meeting at 6 pm and dinner at the nearby Gallopin restaurant.
The next day was the working day, Saturday 5th October, in the Salle Chaptal at the Hôtel de l'Industrie. The morning was devoted to Brexit: "Facts and arguments" with 5 speakers and Rainer GEIGER as moderator. First there was Yves BERTONCINI, with a commentary on the Brexit, then Emma BELL, from the University of Savoie, on the Irish border, Thibaut HERROIS, from Paris III, on "The UK and the world after Brexit", Jonathan FRYER (London for Europe) on "The present state of Brexit" and our friend Mark PATTERSON (London for Europe) on the question: "What will happen in Great Britain if there is no Brexit? There was a balance of languages and good translation, and everyone was interested.The afternoon was devoted to AI and the question asked was: "AI in European urban life, opportunity or danger?" moderated by J-C Houdoin. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get everyone I would have liked to come and there were only 3 speakers: Eric HUYBRECHT, who spoke about "European models of intelligent cities", and a guest from Finland, Vile MELONI, programme manager at the City of Helsinki, who spoke about "The role of data and AI in improving services in Helsinki". Finally, Laurence DE VILLIERS, Doctor of Computer Science, talked about "Facial and voice recognition, progress and risks", which was really fascinating. In the evening, there was a dinner at the Senate in the Salon Napoléon.
Sunday 6th was devoted to a tour of the Latin Quarter with our guide Michel Armalot. The farewell lunch took place at the Bouillon Racine.
The results of this XXth Meeting are largely positive, and we have lived up to previous meetings, judging by the very positive feedback. We have good experience and nothing was lacking. That said, there are a number of problems facing us: on the one hand, the difficulty of repeating this event this year, because we don't have the means to refinance this kind of event every year, even if we increase our membership fee, and for the moment we have no prospect of a partner.
PROSPECTS FOR 2020
Another problem raised by our Finnish partners is the existence of a permanent European structure that would give the network a legal existence that would go beyond mere voluntary work and could enable us, when the time comes, to join the EMI, at least as an observer. At the October steering committee meeting, the possibility of creating a European association with administrative headquarters in Brussels was raised. This prospect had already been raised a long time ago in 2005 when R. WASSELL opposed Regina LECOINTE. He even wanted a kind of federation of which he would have been president! It wouldn't have been such a big deal. With this in mind, we had a meeting with A-P VITALE on 12 October. She advised us to register our "Eurocapitales" brand with the INPI. I did so, and since 19 October we have had a recognised registered trademark for France. But do we need to go further? It's all going to come down to cost. Because the registration I'm mentioning only concerns France and cost 200€, which is within our means. It is valid for 10 years. An equivalent procedure for the EU, on the other hand, would cost €4,000, with no obvious benefit. So we'll have to wait and see, and I hope to be able to meet Mr Vandenkandelaere, the SG of the Belgian ME, soon to see if they can help us. The idea would be to set up an association in Brussels with a local account if necessary. We'll keep an eye on this if, and only if, it's financially feasible.
In addition, following the defection of our Swiss friend Joëlle de Seppibus, the problem of the next bi- or multilateral meeting arose. A promising contact was made with Dublin, with Mrs Lisa NIC AN BHREITHIMH who was very interested. The current context would make this meeting particularly interesting. But she has still not replied to my follow-up message of a fortnight ago, which is a very bad omen indeed.
What should we do if we don't have any proposals for a multilateral meeting this year? I think that, given our resources and membership fees, we could at best envisage organising our multilateral in Paris in 2021, and I wonder if we couldn't envisage a partnership with the Maison de l'Europe, but if not, we would honestly have to ask Helsinki or Athens to do it for us this year. Perhaps the success of 2019 will convince them. In any case, we mustn't drag our feet, and in the event that Dublin gives us a negative response, we must honestly warn all our partners.
Eurocapitales is alive and well, but Eurocapitales has to be earned and it needs everyone's help. I am confident that we will succeed and I thank you for your continued support. Today we must approve the increase in our membership fee to €30 and the formal renewal of our executive committee.
