(Revised minutes) The Annual General Meeting of the European Go Federation Held on 27.7.2001 at Cassidy's Hotel, Dublin, Ireland 1. The meeting was opened at 19:06 * Present: Executive Zoran Mutabzija (President) Matti Siivola (Secretary) Thomas Pfaff (Treasurer) Tony Atkins (Vice-President) Oleg Gavrilov (Vice-President) Armenia Victor Zilberberg (delegate) Austria (absent) Belarus (absent) Belgium Gianni Dalla Giovanna (delegate) Bosnia (absent - sent apologies) Croatia Zoran Mutabzija (president) Czechia Jana Hricova (president) Denmark Thomas Heshe (member) Finland Matti Siivola (president) France Arnaud Knippel (delegate) Germany Michael Marz (vice-president) Hungary (absent) Ireland Stephen Flinter (delegate) Israel (absent) Italy Gionata Soletti (secretary) Lithuania (absent) Luxembourg (absent) Netherlands Jan van Rongen (president) Norway Terje Christofferson (president) Poland Roman Pszonka (board member) Portugal (absent) Romania (absent) Russia Oleg Gavrilov (vice-president) Slovakia Peter P.Karailiev (member) Slovenia Peter Gaspari (president) Spain (absent - sent apologies/written notes) Sweden Henric Bergsaker (secretary) Switzerland Alan Held (president) Turkey (absent) Ukraine Nataliya Bigun (member) United Kingdom Tony Atkins (secretary) Yugoslavia (absent) Auditors: Peter Zandveld (Netherlands) Mark Hall (United Kingdom) Observers/Second delegates: Stefan Hruschka (Germany) Fernando Fernandez (Italy) Frank Janssen (Netherlands) Robert Jasiek (Germany) Martin Finke (Netherlands) Neil Mitchison (Italy) Cristophe Dryepondt (France) Olivier Barotte (France) Erik Ekholm (Sweden) Emilia Grudzinska (Poland) Niklas Mellin (Sweden) Thomas Erker (Germany) Hans Kostka (Germany) * Denmark was not entitled to vote, because the Danish person was not an official of the Danish Go Association, nor had a letter to nominate him as representative. * The agenda was accepted. 2. Acceptance of previous year's minutes * Switzerland asked if the minutes had been on the web: they were at http://www.european-go.org/executive/agm2000.txt * The proposal from Sweden was accepted inserting the following in the minutes: "Henric Bergsaker asked both the resigning board and the new if they thought it a correct interpretation of article 8 in the EGF constitution that all correspondence to and from the members of the Executive should in principle be open, at least to EGF members, with the possible exception of internal correspondence between members of the Executive. Anne Tombarello and Martin Finke acknowledged that this interpretation is correct. Tony Atkins said that openness in the EGF is important." It was reiterated by the President that correspondence was available to officials of members and not to everybody. * Italy corrected Item 7b to: "Italy proposes lower entry fees for students and under 18." * Switzerland corrected Item 15 to: "Saijo Masataka may retire in the future or perhaps the Nihon Ki-in will prefer to send a younger professional..." The 2001 minutes were accepted with the above changes. 3. Admission of new member nations * No new member nations. * A contact letter from Azerbaijan had been received, but it did not ask for membership. 4. Reports * The report of the President, an appendix to the agenda, was accepted. He stressed the importance on promoting Go as a sport, as from the questionnaires only 3 out of 7 countries had Go recognised as a sport. Ideas such as joining GAISF, the world go web site and his proposed new constitution would help that aim. He confirmed to the Netherlands that the proposed constitution was a draft and it was not being considered at that time. France asked a question about the use of the name "Goe"; it is not necessary to use this in a future draft. * The report of the Secretary had been an appendix to the agenda. Despite being too short according to France, it was accepted. * Report of the Treasurer: A summary report and budget had been circulated before the meeting, but detailed accounts were only provided at the AGM. Italy and Switzerland objected to this and asked for a timely circulation in future. It was made clear that the Promotion and Training budget is separate from the Ing fund and separate accounts are produced. It was clarified that no Toyota Tour income was shown as the 2001 payment was after year-end. * EGF investment policy was discussed as Switzerland claimed 1500 EUR more could have earned if investment had been in bonds not stocks and it was pointed out some money had been lost before some stocks were sold. Some thought stocks were acceptable but others objected to their risk and long term nature. Stefan Hruschka claimed not to have been consulted despite being on the Finance Commission and it was claimed that Pierre Decroix disagreed with the policy. The meeting was reminded that the previous AGM had only instigated stock purchase by one vote. The meeting would have been better prepared to discuss the strategy if it had been given notice of the problem. Czechia proposed a motion that the EGF Finance Commission must decide at minimum vote 4-1 to buy or sell stocks and equity funds. The proposal was passed: 16 for, 2 against, 1 abstaining. * Financial statement by Ing Treasurer (Stefan Hruschka) was approved; the entire year's money had been received. 5. Report of the Auditors: T.Mark Hall reported the auditors were satisfied with the financial report. It gives true and accurate figures of the position of the EGF. The financial report was accepted. 6. Reports of chairmen of existing Commissions Reports had been made available as appendices to the agenda. *Report of Commission for Italy Oleg Gavrilov had personally visited Italy and produced a report on behalf of the Commission. It suggested that non-interference was the correct policy. There was long discussion as to the accuracy of the report, what the situation in Italy actually was, and whether the visit had achieved anything, especially as he had only contacted one party. Switzerland reminded the meeting of the purpose of the Commission. Oleg had inspected other constitutions and consulted an expert in sport law at St. Petersburg University. Olympic law specifies one member per country too, as does Croatian law. Italy said that if there was a legal issue it should go to a tribunal. Croatia suggested EGF Monitors should be appointed to ensure meetings were fair and democratic. Italy did not deny there had been problems, but stressed any Italian can join FIGG. Sweden claimed most of the points in the report were incorrect. Norway queries how the situation could be described as "normal". The acceptance of the report was voted on: in favour 7, against 9, abstaining 3: report rejected. *Report of the Rules and Ratings Commission The report stated the commission's activities and that more referees' workshops were planned. Many thanks were given to Niek van Diepen who had left the commission. Germany thanked Ales Cieply for the ratings, which was much enjoyed. *Report of appeals commission: The report recorded that no progress had been made, thus the commission should be driven forward to define operation and powers regarding appeals. *Promotion It was reported no tasks had been performed. *Education The report described some of the youth and training activities. *Internet No report had been received. 7. Election of officers and auditors Two candidates for President were able to address the meeting and answered questions on Olympic recognition, sponsorship and expanding the size of the executive. Over a recess a secret ballot was taken: * Zoran Mutabzija, 6 votes * Tony Atkins, 12 votes, elected Vice presidents: * Zoran Mutabzija, elected * Oleg Gavrilov, elected Secretary: * Matti Siivola, elected Treasurer: * Hans Kostka, elected Second investment manager * Thomas Pfaff Ing Treasurer: * Stefan Hruschka Auditors: * T.Mark Hall, auditor * Peter Zandveld, auditor * Frederic Renaud, assistant auditor for another year as only two auditors allowed. 8. The budget 2001-2002 Peter Zandveld thought more should be spent. Italy questioned the increase in budget for expenses. Thomas Pfaff replied this was to include unforeseen items; previously late claims for expenses or other unforeseen items meant spending was over budget. The budget was accepted. 9. Enlarging the executive to 7 persons The Croatian proposal to enlarge executive from 5 to 7 was voted in favour 3 against 15, not accepted. 10. Creation of any new Commissions It was decided that all the proposals about Italy would be handled under this item * The Swedish proposal was that representatives in European events should be approved by both FIGG and AGI, that the EGF encourages the selections to be made irrespective on affiliation and that the IGF be asked to do the same. This was a proposal made a while ago and could encourage them to organise together. Italy stated the position was like a bad divorce and the two sides maybe did not want to come together. France said that all clubs in Italy except Milano are part of AGI; Italy challenged this statement and asked for it to be put in the minutes. A vote was taken to determine whether the meeting should allow the AGI to speak or to override the President's right to invite them. The vote was 8 for speaking, 5 against, 3 abstained. Neil Mitchison on behalf of the AGI spoke and stated outside pressure was needed to get the two sides even working together as mediation had got no where. They recognised the AGI could not at present be part of the EGF. A commission would probably fail again. They supported the Swedish and French motions. The vote on the Swedish proposal was 7 in favour, 7 against, 3 abstaining, not accepted * The French proposal to take away the 2006 congress from Italy was discussed. Italy pointed out the country was not at war or anything and they needed to sign contracts. Czechia asked if anyone would be able to play and Italy confirmed they would. The vote was 6 in favour, 10 against, not accepted * Sweden suggested a new commission for Italy to be installed. The Italian delegate requested that preferably it should have members who know Italian and something about Law. The vote was 7 in favour, 7 against not accepted. T.Mark Hall said this implied that the Executive would have to pursue the Italian issue themselves. 11. Siting of future Congresses * The Italian proposals about forward planning and organisational guidelines for congresses will considered along the lines suggested in the answer of the executive. * 2002 Croatia: Venue is Zagreb and a flyer and web page exists, on which information about accommodation will be shown within a month. There will be 50 percent discount for students, but despite support from the country president a sponsor is still needed. * 2003 Russia, St Petersburg As St Petersburg is proving difficult, plans to have to Congress in Moscow were introduced: Hotel Izmailovo with $35 for double room and 200 places for cheap accommodation elsewhere. Talk was also made of using both cities with an overnight train trip for the weekend. The decision between Moscow and St Petersburg will be made by Easter. Visas should be not be a problem and can be given via the congress within three weeks, or via an agent. * 2004 Poland, Tuchola: A committee has been formed who will report on sponsors and prices in 2002. * 2005 Czech Republic: Bosnia (a late proposal) and Spain (very late proposal) also wanted 2005. The Czech Republic (Prague) was accepted with 13 votes in favour. Accommodation will be 30-40 EUR per night. * 2006 Italy, Rome: Details of this congress had already been discussed. * Later years were left to be decided later, France told that 2007 could be in Nimes or Montpellier and Spain and Bosnia should be encouraged to re-apply. 12. Toyota Tour It was not clear that funding for this would continue; it was cut for second rotation. An analysis of the success of the Tour should be made. * A proposal to add an extra tournament was not accepted * Germany presented a protest from the Hamburg organisers about lack of warning about the cut in prize fund. The protest was refused by the meeting. A tournament can either find the shortfall themselves, or drop a category. It was noted contracts were organised for the first rotation only. * A question was asked about the travel grants at the finals. Originally this was for young and east Europe players, but was extended to all top players, but still only 4 of the top 12 Tour players attended the finals. 13. New Pair Go Selection Rule * The proposal for a new system of qualifying for the World Pair Go Championship based on a revised European Pair Go Championship was not exhaustive. A detailed proposal will be worked on and presented for the next AGM. 9 votes in favour of deferring, against 4, accepted. 14. European Tournament Calendar * The European Tournament Calendar for 2001-2002 was partially complete. * The following were agreed as proposed: Youth 2002 Prague Pairs 2002 Cannes Ing 2002 Russia Youth 2003 Cannes 15. Representation outside Europe * IGF directors for 2002-2004: Switzerland proposes Tony Atkins, accepted * Pair Go World championship: Germany, Netherlands, UK and Russia will be from the big 5 (with France then Netherlands sitting out to balance the attendance). Turkey must attend in 2002 and the ordering for selection of the other four countries was agreed. * Team captain for Pair Go will be Thomas Pfaff. Team captain for WAGC will be Phil Gibson. 16. Items requested by member Federations * The Italian motion to put as many past AGM minutes on the web as possible will be looked into. * The Italian motions about the constitution would also be looked into. * Italy withdrew their other items * A Russian motion to change the Fujitsu final player selection was agreed to be considered by the appropriate Commission. Their other motion was not discussed. 17. Any other business * It was suggested that when the EGF gives places to international EGF tournaments, the EGF should check that the country of a player has paid its membership fees. This would give members an extra reason for paying. * Sweden stated they were resubmitting their motion in 2002, but would withdraw if the executive had moved towards solving the Italian issues. * T.Mark Hall asked if anyone else had suffered from IGS harassment, would they talk to him. * A vote of thanks was raised on the organisers of the congress. Meeting closed 00:30