Paris, 22 March 2021 by videoconference
General Meeting to be held on 22 March 2021
The Chairman, Jean-Paul Doguet, opened the meeting by reading out the agenda and presenting the annual report to the General Meeting, followed by the draft 2021 programme.
ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2020
Our year began with our monthly meeting on 20 January 2020 at François Coppé before dinner at the brasserie Au chien qui fume. There were no changes to the bureau, and our membership fee was increased to €30. The monthly meeting in January was followed by an open discussion on current British politics. We then held our meetings regularly with Paris Europe cafés whenever possible, switching to videoconferencing in February thanks to Skype and then JC Houdoin's Zoom subscription, given the travel restrictions due to the Covid epidemic. On 25 February 2020, there was a face-to-face meeting with our Annual General Meeting. On 16 March 2020, the meeting had been cancelled due to the confinement decided the following day. On 20 April, we had a presentation by JC HOUDOIN on "The health crisis, health spending and debt", followed by a contribution from Marliese FESER on the Commission's current situation following the Coronavirus epidemic. On 18 May, Jean-Paul DOGUET spoke on "Sardinia in Europe", following his trip to Sardinia in December 2019. There was no Café on 16 June. On 21 September 2020, Jean-Paul DOGUET dealt with the topical issue of "What is happening in the Eastern Mediterranean", which concerned Turkish politics. There was no Café Paris Europe on 19 October. On 23 November, JL RIZZOLI spoke about the American elections and JC HOUDOIN about the Eurostat report on the victims of the coronavirus. There was no Café Paris Europe on 14 December. Finally, on 18 January 2021 Bozena Stomal Weigel gave us a presentation on Belarus. On 26 February there was a meeting without Café Paris Europe.
The traditional annual Eurocapitales party was held in Gas on Sunday 5 July. We did not break the law as we were just under 10 people.
The year 2020 was marked by the introduction of confinement from 17 March, which largely compromised our bi or multilateral meeting activities, and we had to hold our monthly meetings by videoconference, with the regret that those who are not computerised were unable to join us. Admittedly, this has temporarily freed us from the problem of finding a meeting room. In fact, we had anticipated the confinement by launching these video meetings before the confinement, to avoid the problem of finding a room. The François Coppée was asking too high a price, €100 an hour, and the other venues we contacted were also too expensive. We have enough cash on hand to pay, but it would be a sheer waste of money if we had to renew a venue hire indefinitely. After all, even after deconfinement, we can envisage continuing to hold tele-meetings until we find a solution to this problem that is not too costly.
In any case, the issue has been temporarily postponed, especially as the temporary lifting of the confinement has been accompanied by a 6pm curfew. The reconfinement in the Ile-de-France region adopted on 15 March 2021 is accompanied by a ban on meetings of more than 6 people, which only reinforces the need for video meetings.
The problem of COVID 19 is a European one and is particularly troublesome for both our network and our association. It has prevented us from meeting in 2020, and it is likely that the same will apply in 2021, as the restrictions for Athens and Dublin are very strict. In the same way, but for slightly different reasons, we have had to postpone the creation of Eurocapitales International, a Belgian AISBL in Brussels. But it's only a postponement, because the direction is clearly set.
OUTLOOK FOR 2021
We face two challenges this year:
1. The creation 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 is conceivable, since Belgium has a number of International Non-Profit Associations (AISBL). The only problem is that of the domicile, which should be the MEI. My intention was to contact the MEI to obtain their agreement and the details of their notary, but the French members advised me to wait until June. What we would like to obtain is an agreement for a domiciliation without membership of the EMI. Ideally, all this should be sorted out by September. We will also have to consider translating the articles of association into English and holding regular annual meetings by videoconference, this time completely independently of COVID 19.
2. The second problem is holding our meetings. There are in fact two separate projects: the bilateral meeting with Dublin, which is compromised in person because of the double confinement in Paris and Ireland, and the multilateral meeting, which is also compromised in person. It's true that the situation has returned to normal in Helsinki, but travelling there would pose too many problems for everyone. As it seems to me essential not to deactivate the network, I think it would be a good idea to replace these meetings with videoconferences. This is undoubtedly a default solution, but it has the advantage of being inexpensive and of possibly being open to many more people, at least as far as the multilateral is concerned. We could hope to bring in speakers from all over the world, provided we find suitable software and resolve the issue of simultaneous translation. But if we don't have to pay for meals, rooms or catering, it's perfectly feasible. Of course, it would be a second-best solution, because nothing can replace travelling, discovering or rediscovering a capital city and having face-to-face discussions with real Europeans. But for the time being, it Is the best option.
Eurocapitales is alive and well, but Eurocapitales deserves and needs everyone's help. The current health crisis is a very daunting problem for everyone, but particularly for an association like ours, which has an essential need to organise and renew meetings. I am confident that we will succeed in meeting this unexpected challenge, and I thank you for your constant and invaluable support.
