Minute of the EFSM Council Meeting and General Delegates Assembly, Barcelona, Spain, April 4th 2014, 14:00-16:30

Start of the Meeting at 14:00.

Present

  • A. Georgescu (representing also L. Jiga as delegate of RSRM, and M. Ionac as EMTRA delegate)
  • B. Battiston (Italy)
  • A. Muset (Spain)
  • P. Tos (Italy)
  • S. Geuna (Italy)
  • M. Innocenti (Italy)
  • A. Ghanem (UK)
  • Z. Dailiana (Greece, replacing A. Beris)
  • Y. Demirtas (Turkey)
  • K. Bacakoglu (Turkey)
  • Omer Ozkan (Turkey)
  • M. Bumbasirevici (Serbia)
  • P. Valenti (France)
  • H. Zegna (Portugal)
  • A. Stritar (Slovenia)
  • U. Knesser (Germany)
  • D. Schaefer (Switzerland)
  • E. Tukiainen (Finland)
  • Karl Malm (Sweden)
  • LT. Jensen (Denmark)
  • Soren Larsen (Denmark
  • I. Matei (Romania).

1. A. Muset, President of the EFSM Congress 2014 presented an update regarding the preparation and development of the Congress. He stressed that the financial climate nowadays makes very difficult organizing a congress, due the crisis and diminishing number of sponsors.

The Barcelona Congress is still developing and has a large international participation, with a very interesting scientific program, filled with instructional courses, symposia and sessions. The attendance is large and very interested in the scientific program.

2. Report of the EFSM Secretary General, A. Georgescu

A. Georgescu presented the activity report for the activities since the last EFSM meeting in Antalya.

The documents required for the legal registration of EFSM, as previously repeatedly demanded, were received only from the Romanian, Italian, Greek, Turkish, Spanish Societies, so these societies will remain as founding members, and all the others will remain regular members. This proposal was voted and unanimously approved.

The founding societies' documents have been received only in the last months, so they have been submitted to the Court of Authority, which accepted them and soon the Federation will have legal status.

The communication with the majority of the societies was very difficult, so Georgescu asked the delegates to ensure a better feedback in the future.

Also, he noted that the delegates' presence in the Council Meetings is mandatory, wherever and whenever it may be held, they having a responsibility in front of their society members to represent their interests.

Georgescu reminded that, as stated in the bylaws, a society with less than 100 members has the right to have one delegate in the EFSM Council, and if there are more than 100 members, two delegates.

The Turkish Society has 110 members, so they nominated two delegates (Yener Demirtas and Omer Ozcan). The proposal was submitted to a vote and was unanimously approved.

The Scandinavian Group has dissolved, the Finish and Swedish Societies being independent and asking to have a delegate of their own.

Sweden applied for membership during the EFSM meeting in Paris 2012, presented a report in the meeting in Antalya and now requested to become a full member of the Federation. The proposal was submitted to a vote and was unanimously approved.

E. Tukiainen submitted the notarized documents regarding the founding of the Finish Association of Reconstructive Microsurgery (Suomen Mikrokirurgiyhdistys) and requested that the society becomes associate member of the Federation for the next 2 years. The proposal was submitted to a vote and was unanimously approved.

In Serbia was founded last year the Serbian Association of Microsurgery and they asked to be accepted as an Associate member of EFSM. The proposal was submitted to a vote and was unanimously approved.

Georgescu asked A. Stritar if Slovenia wishes to become a full member or to remain an associate member. A. Stritar responded that in this moment the associate membership position suites his society's situation and that they will apply for full membership in the future.

A. Georgescu opened the floor for discussions regarding the UK society's situation. A. Ghanem presented a report about that and said that nowadays there is no microsurgical society legally established in UK, but there are a group of very interested and dedicated microsurgeons, enrolled in different surgical fields, which desire to create one. So, for the moment UK is no more represented in the EFSM, but when this society/group will be created, it will apply for associate membership position. The proposal was submitted to a vote and unanimously approved.

A. Georgescu submitted to the Council the proposal made by the German Language Speaking Group, which requested that, since the group is formed by 3 national societies (German, Austrian and Swiss), and also has in present 198 members, they should have 3 members in the Council. Georgescu also stressed that by approving this request it would mean a change in the bylaws, and also a completely new start from zero in the legalization process of the Federation. Georgescu opened the floor for discussions.

The Turkish delegate Bacakoglu supported the proposal.

B. Battiston argued that if that proposal were to be approved, it would mean that for every 100 members, every society would have the right to request another delegate, thus uselessly increasing the number of council members. He made a comparison with the WSRM situation, where there is only one representative for all the European countries, one for the Asian countries, etc. Also, he talked about the difficulties, which would arise from changing the bylaws in this moment.

U. Knesser remarked that if this proposal is not admitted, the German Speaking Group will have to present this response in front of their societies' congresses and probably they will not be part of EFSM anymore. He said that if the delegates were to be chosen in correlation with the number of members, Switzerland will never have a delegate.

S. Geuna and P. Tos remarked that it would be possible to change the delegates after 2 years inside the German Speaking Group, so as all the national societies will have representation in the Council. The German Speaking Group delegates denied their argument.

P. Tos said that it would be a great setback if all the judicial, financial and legal preparation made for the accreditation and bylaws until now would have to be exchanged.

S. Geuna said that the EMTRA has a delegate in the Council and proposed that the next EMTRA delegate could be from the German Speaking Group's part. The German Speaking Group delegates denied his proposal.

Battiston and Georgescu proposed that a solution could be that the group separates, so this way every country will have a delegate of its own. The proposal was denied, Knesser saying that the group was a work association, with very specific and functional characteristics, which precludes them from dividing.

A. Ghanem remarked that this group is a very functional one and their delegates should take into consideration the interests of all members, based on scientific and collegial premises.

His arguments were denied by the German Speaking Group delegates, which reiterated their response.

The proposal was submitted to a vote. The proposal was denied, with 2 votes in favor of the proposal and 2 votes abstain.

I. Matei, as Treasurer, presented the financial report and announced that the Federation has now a registration bank account, which will become the final bank account once the legal status will be finalized. As stated in the bylaws, each national society will have to pay to the EFSM a fee of 5 euros/member (amount decided in Antalya meeting). This fee should be paid for this year when the bank account will be ready, and in the following years it was proposed to be paid until march 31st of every year. The proposal was voted and unanimously accepted.

As stated in the bylaws, starting with this year the amount of 10% from the registration fees of every EFSM Congress will be paid to the EFSM. The amount was decided in the Antalya meeting.

Regarding the website, as decided in Antalya, the new Informatics Committee comprised from Pierluigi Tos (Chairman), Alexandru Georgescu and Ileana Matei (members), prepared the EFSM and EFSM congress sites. These were created, uploaded and upgraded all through the year, presenting all the news regarding the congress registration, abstracts submission, scientific program, committees, past, present and future information about EFSM. Also, a secretarial and IT support was created to support these endeavors.

I. Matei presented the EFSM website and explained all the possibilities of use and access. She offered all the delegates a CD containing the detailed explanations for the site and the access username and password (every country will have one username and password, which can be available to the delegates and President of that national society. She stressed that it will be mandatory to fulfill the fields regarding each society, with upgraded information.

As stated in the bylaws, the President of the Federation will ensure the fee for the administration of the website in the two year of his/her mandate and/or for the preparation of the Congress from the funds existing in the account of the EFSM. A. Georgescu and I. Matei presented the amount spent for the creation and administration of the website, for the legal registration of the EFSM (different societies' documents translations, the notarial and barristers fees, etc) which is of about 1500 euros.

The Secretary General reminded that starting with last year, the EFSM became affiliated partner with Journal of Reconstructive Microsurgery (JRM), journal which has an Impact Factor of 1 (2012). They offer a 50% reduction in subscription rate (271 euros) and require a minimum of 5 subscriptions from every society. The subscription will be paid to the EFSM, which will be invoiced twice per year by the publisher (April and November).

The EFSM may use up to one page per issue for publication of the federations' news and announcements. All societies should send to the EFSM their materials, so that this page should be build up.

The EFSM may choose to publish their annual meeting abstracts as a supplement to JRM at a 50% discount price. Also, it will be possible to have some special sections in JRM to publish groups of papers.

During the last 2 years, EFSM had some scientific collaborations with other societies, as: Turkish Society, Italian Society, FESSH, ESTROT.

EFFORT asked the EFSM to organize some sessions during their congress in 2015.

Moreover, EFSM accepted to scientifically endorse the International Master in Reconstructive Microsurgery.

The Greek Society for Hand Surgery and Microsurgery asked that the EFSM endorse their present year congress. The proposal was submitted to a vote and unanimously approved.

The Secretary General proposed that two new Committees should be created in the EFSM: Membership Committee and Bylaws Committee. The proposal was submitted to a vote and unanimously approved.

For the Chairman of the Bylaws Committee P. Tos proposed A. Georgescu. The proposal was submitted to a vote and unanimously approved.

For the Chairman of the Membership Committee B. Battiston proposed U. Knesser. He declined the proposal, because he could not be certain if his society will remain a member of the EFSM in the future.

So, K. Bacakoglu was proposed, voted and accepted in unanimity.

A. Georgescu proposed that a set of rules be created in order to guide the EFSM endorsements. The proposal was submitted to a vote and unanimously approved.

A. Georgescu proposed that a person should be involved in the management of the secretarial problems of EFSM, and should be paid from the EFSM budget. The proposal was submitted to a vote and unanimously approved.

A. Ghanem proposed that, in order to avoid confusions, that person should be called “clerk”. The proposal was submitted to a vote and unanimously approved.

Georgescu proposed that the allotted sum for the clerk should be of 1000 euros/year. The proposal was submitted to a vote and unanimously approved.

The Secretary General opened the floor for suggestions regarding the location and time for the next EFSM Council Meeting. He asked in which countries there will be a congress next year. The proposals were: Italy, Denmark, France, Switzerland or Germany. Switzerland and Germany denied the proposal, due to their possible future resignation from the Federation. After careful consideration of locations and financial possibilities, the location was decided to be in France, in Strasbourg, during the GAM congress. The proposal was submitted to a vote and unanimously approved.

The proposed date was May 16th 2015. The proposal was submitted to a vote and unanimously approved.

The Secretary General reminded that the next EFSM Congress in 2016 will take place in Turkey and K. Bacakoglu presented a report regarding the present state of congress development. He said that they will promote low registration fees (zero for early bird residents' registration) and accommodation at very reasonable prices, in order to stimulate a higher participants' number. The selected location is very attractive and they will try to provide a special scientific and social program.

P. Tos and A. Ghanem suggested to make the registration fees a little more balanced, in order to increase attendance responsibility and motivation.

Georgescu noted that the existing website of the 2016 Congress will have to be linked with the EFSM official site. The suggestions were well received.

A. Georgescu opened the floor for discussions regarding the society who will organize the next EFSM Congress in 2018, during its National Congress.

M. Bumbasirevici proposed Serbia as the next organizing country; the proposal was voted and unanimously admitted.

For the 2020 EFSM Congress the proposals were Germany (D. Schaefer) and, if it will not be possible, Italy (P. Tos). The proposal was submitted to a vote and unanimously approved.

A. Georgescu reminded that the proposal for the next Secretary General of EFSM, as presented in the Antalya meeting, is Alex Muset and opened the floor for discussions. P.Tos suggested that it would be beneficial if Georgescu would remain Secretary General for another term of 4 years. His proposal was upheld also by B. Battiston, who pointed out some difficulties encountered in the organization of the EFSM congress. A. Muset confirmed that he wishes to continue with the development of the EFSM, as the precedent Secretary Generals Battiston and Georgescu, and reassured the Council that the benefits acquired until now will be enhanced under his leadership. The proposal was submitted to a vote and unanimously approved.

The report was submitted to a vote and was unanimously approved.

The meeting was adjourned at 16:30.

SECRETARY GENERAL

Alexandru Georgescu

E-mail :

PAST SECRETARY GENERAL

Bruno Battiston

E-mail :

PRESIDENT

Alex Muset

E-mail :

TREASURER

Ileana Matei

E-mail :

EMTRA

Mihai Ionac

E-mail :

Stefano Geuna

E-mail :

WEB SITE

Pierluigi Tos

E-mail :

Lucian Jiga

E-mail :

M. Breborowicz

E-mail :

NATIONAL DELEGATES

UNITED KINGDOM

S.P. Frostick

E-mail :

TC Teo

E-mail :

DENMARK

Lisa Tott Jensen

E-mail :

FRANCE

Philippe Valenti

E-mail :

GERMAN SPEAKING GROUP

R.G.H. Baumeister

E-mail :

GREECE

Alex Beris

E-mail :

ITALY

Marco Innocenti

E-mail :

POLAND

M. Breborowicz

E-mail :

PORTUGAL

Horacio Costa

E-mail :

ROMANIA

Lucian Jiga

E-mail :

SCANDINAVIAN GROUP

Erkki Tukiainen

E-mail :

SPAIN

Alex Muset

E-mail :

TURKEY

Yener Demirtas

E-mail :

ASSOCIATE SOCIETIES SLOVENIA

Albin Stritar

E-mail :

SWEDEN

Karl Malm

E-mail :