EBL General Assembly
Delegates from 32 countries gathered in the Vugraph
auditorium on Tueasday morning to attend the General Assembly
of the European Bridge League. Present were also WBF President
José Damiani, WBF Vice Presidents Joan
Gerard (USA) and George Retek (Canada), as well
as ACBL President Al Levy and WBF Past President
Ernesto d’Orsi (Brazil).
The meeting started with the Extraordinary General
Assembly, convened by the EBL Executive Committee to discuss
amendements to the EBL Statutes. The main change concerned the
increase of the members of the Executive Committee from 10 to
12. All proposed amendements were approved unanimously.
The Ordinary General Assembly followed. The outgoing
President Gianarrigo Rona of Italy presented
a detailed report on the activities of his administration, and
referred to plans for the next four years. It was announced
that EBL Vice President José Oliveira of Portugal was retiring
after eight years of service. At the proposal of the
President, the Assembly named Mr Oliveira Honorary Vice
President. An election for the position of EBL President
followed, in which Gianarrigo Rona - the only candidate - was
comfortably reelected.
Elections for all 12 places of the EBL Executive Committee
also took place. Four new persons entered the board:
David Harris (England), Yves
Aubry (France), Sevinc Atay (Turkey)
and Goran Mattsson (Germany). The other eight
elected were members of the outgoing administration:
Radoslaw Kielbasinski (Poland), Micke
Melander (Sweden), Marc de Pauw
(Belgium), Anna Maria Torlontano (Italy),
Panos Gerontopoulos (Greece), Jens
Auken (Denmark), Marijke
Blanken-Burgers (The Netherlands) and
Jean-Claude Beineix (France).
While the votes were counted, WBF President José
Damiani briefed the meeting on recent develpments and
prospects regarding the position of bridge in the Olympic
world, where certain positive possibilities appear in the
horizon.
The General Assembly will continue with the second session
on Thursday morning, at 10 am, in the Vugraph auditorium in
Palais de l’ Europe, with mailnly financial matters on the
agenda. |