The PES Committee/ETUCE Executive Board met in Brussels on 15th June to consider the latest proposals for draft By-Laws for a new integrated structure for the European region.
The Committee/Board decided that the proposed By-Laws formed an acceptable basis to call an extra-ordinary European Conference/General Assembly to consider their adoption for the European regional structure. The decision to call the Conference required a decision by a two-thirds majority. The PES Committee/ETUCE Executive Board also decided, without any objections, to recommend the adoption of the revised By-Laws to the extra-ordinary Conference/Assembly.
The extra-ordinary Conference will take place around 22nd November at the time scheduled for the next Committee meeting. Formal notice will be issued to the European member organisations in the near future.
The PES Committee/Executive Board also authorised the Bureau to complete the discussions with the current ETUCE General Secretary and staff of ETUCE about arrangements for transfer to employment under the new ETUCE should the By-Laws be adopted. The outcome of those discussions will be incorporated into the final document on transitional arrangements which will be submitted to the extra-ordinary Conference/Assembly.
A number of proposals for additional changes to the by-laws were placed before the special Committee meeting on 15th June. Some of these proposals were rejected by the Committee/Board the Committee/Executive Board and one was accepted. The Committee/Board also deemed some of the proposals worthy of further consideration and investigation and decided to set up a working group to undertake this task
The working group will discuss and make recommendations on possible ways of making the new European governing structures more balanced and representative of the whole membership of EI’s European region in the longer term. In addition it will:
(a) analyse the criteria and system of calculating supplementary dues for ETUCE;
(b) analyse the effects of allocating votes on the basis of the payment of dues to EI and ETUCE;
(c) examine the system for electing officers to the Bureau and, in particular, the advantages and disadvantages of assigning vice-president posts to particular sectors or particular regions or groups (eg post 2004 EU entrants) of member organisations;
(d) examine the system for electing national members to the Committee;
(e) examine the administrative and financial impact of extending the number of languages into which documents are translated and in which interpretation is provided at all ETUCE meetings.
The working group will be required to report back and make recommendations to the ETUCE Committee in 2011, with a view to concrete proposals, where necessary, being made by the Committee to the next ordinary ETUCE Conference.
The Committee/Board decided that the working group should consist of a maximum of ten members of the Committee, including the President, two vice-presidents and the ETUCE Treasurer, one representative from a country in the non-EU/EFTA area, one representative from a country which joined the EU in or after 2004, one representative appointed by the Committee from a country which joined the EU prior to 2004, and three other representatives appointed on a basis which ensures that the working group is broadly representative of the different geographical areas of Europe.