Agenda and Supporting Documents GA July 2017 –...

General Assembly Agenda and Supporting Documents

15 July 2017

Odessa, Ukraine

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1 Agenda and Supporting Documents GA July 2017 – Odessa, Ukraine


Index

Agenda General Assembly 2017 4

Annex 1 – Voting Procedure 5

Annex 2 – Minutes General Assembly 18 February 2017 6

Annex 3 – Annual Report 2016-2017 12

3.1. Introduction – Erik-Jan Hakvoort 12

3.2. Annual Reports Board Members 12

3.1.1. President – Erik-Jan Hakvoort 12

3.1.2. Director of Relations (Vice-President) – Inna Panchuk 13

3.1.3. Secretary – Lizzie Francis 13

3.1.4. Board Member Politics – Gabriela Urbanova 14

3.1.5. Director of Events – Dimitri Bluashvili 14

3.1.6. Board Member Strategy – Ardjan Boersma 14

3.3. Annual Report General Secretary – Hepke Deelstra 15

3.4. Overview Strategic Goals ECPYouth 2016-2017 16

3.5. Annual Report Working Group Politics 17

3.6. Annual Reports Member Organisations 18

3.6.1. CDU Youth – Ukraine 18

3.6.2. Democratic Development Foundation – Ukraine 18

3.6.3. PCD Youth – France 20

3.6.4. PerspectieF – the Netherlands 20

3.6.5. PPCD New Generation – Moldova 20

3.6.6. SGP Youth – the Netherlands 20

3.6.7. Young EVP – Switzerland 22

3.6.8. YCD – Georgia 23

3.7. Proposal Fee Members 2018 23

Annex 4 – ECP Young Professionals 24

Annex 5 – Resolutions Member Organisations 25

Annex 6 – Amendments Odessa Declaration 28

Annex 7 – Report Selection New Board Members 29


Keep loving and serving Jesus. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13


Agenda General Assembly 2017 15 July 2017, Odessa, Ukraine

1. Opening and Welcome (09.00 local time) 2.1. Announcements and Voting Procedure (see Annex 1) Items marked with * require a vote of the Individual Members and the Member Organisations. Items marked with ** require a vote of the Individual Members, Member Organisations and Associates. 2.2. *Appointment Voting Commission 3. *Accepting Agenda GA July 2017 and Minutes GA February 2017 (see Annex 2) 4.1. Presentation Annual Report 2016-2017 (see Annex 3) By ECPYouth President Erik-Jan Hakvoort. 4.2. Q&A 4.3. *Vote Membership Fee 2018 (see Annex 3.7)

5.1. Presentation ECP Young Professionals (see Annex 4) By ECPYouth Secretary Lizzie Francis. 5.2. Q&A 5.2. * Vote ECP Young Professionals Short break 6. **Resolutions Members Organisations and Associates (see Annex 5) 7.1. Presentation Odessa Declaration + Themes 2017-2018 By the Working Group Politics. 7.2. Q&A and Presentation Amendments Members (see Annex 6) 7.3. *Vote Odessa Declaration 8.1. Presentation Report Selection Commission (see Annex 7) By the Selection Commission and ECPYouth President Erik-Jan Hakvoort 8.2. Presentations Candidate Board Members 8.3. Q&A 8.4. *Election Board Members (see Annex 1) 9. Farewell Inna Panchuk By ECPYouth President Erik-Jan Hakvoort. 10. Any Other Business End of the General Assembly (12.30 local time)


Annex 1 – Voting Procedure Voting procedure

All representatives of Member Organisations receive a red card. All Individual Members receive a blue and

Associates receive a green card. Associates can only vote on issues considering political content.

Every vote exists out of three rounds of voting.

1. In favour

2. Against

3. Abstain

Voting procedure election Board Members The election of new Board Members will be by a secret ballot.

Voting commission Will be proposed and installed at the beginning of the meeting. Voting weight

Statutes article 17.4-17.7 say:

4. In the General Assembly, the division of votes is as follows: a. Member Organisations in terms of article 4.a have three votes; b. Individual Members in terms of article 4.b have one vote;

c. Associated bodies in terms of article 5.1, have one vote concerning political content. 5. The number of votes by individual members and associates can only make up for forty -nine percent (49%) of the total votes. If the votes of individual members exceed forty-nine percent (49%) of the total votes then the

chairman of the association (or his substitute) is allowed to determine an alternative division of the votes that ensures that the individual members will receive forty-nine percent (49%) of the total votes. 6. A member in terms of article 4 may cast his vote only through a representative having power of attorney to the satisfaction of the chairman of the meeting.

7. Board members representing a member in terms of article 4 sub a should aim to mandate another person to represent this organisation and vote on behalf of thi s organization at the General Assemblies.


Annex 2 – Minutes General Assembly 18 February 2017

Present:

For the ECPYouth Board: Erik-Jan Hakvoort (EH), Inna Panchuk (IP), Dima Bluashvili (DB), Gabika Urbanova (GU), Ardjan Boersma (AB), Lizzie Francis (LF). General Secretary: Hepke Deelstra (HD).

For the Member Organisations / Individual Members: Jan Henric van Vliet (JvV) – Individual member

Alexandru Repida (AR) – PPCD New Generation, Moldova Klariska Ten Napel (KTN), Gijsbert Steenbeek (GS) – PerspectieF, the Netherlands Wilco Kodde (WK), Walter Jordaan (WJ) – SGP Youth, the Netherlands

Vianney de Labarre (VL) – PCD Youth, France George Taktakishvili (GT) – YDC, Georgia Anatoliy Aleksandrov (AA), Aleksej Matsekvych (AM) – DDF, Ukraine

Other Visitors Alina Koval (AK) – WG Politics / CDUY, Ukraine Rick van de Ven (RV) – WG Politics Hilbert Hunink (HH) – WG Statutes

Arthur Polder (AP) – Financial Audit Commission

Rianne Sout (RS) – Visitor Guido van Beusekom (GB), Nadine van Braak (NB) – ECPM Henk van der Veen (HV) – Accountant Armin Horvath (AH) – KDNP, Hungary

Absent Representative from *jevp, Switzerland 1. Opening and Welcome (09.30 CET)

By ECPYouth President Erik-Jan Hakvoort. EH: Welcome. I’l l start with a word from the Bible – looking at the story of Esther and 1 Corinthians 13.

2.1. Announcements and Voting Procedure (see Annex 1) Items marked with * require a vote of the Members.

EH: ECPYouth has grown within the last year, and we have a new member: welcome to Anatoliy and DDF from Ukraine. Please share with us about yourself/ organisation.

AA: Greetings. I’m from Odessa where the next summer school is. I look forward to connecting with you. DDF wants to produce fresh ideas upon Christian values - it was established officially 2 years ago. We

represent the Christian democratics, and we partner with EPP. EH: We also want to welcome the KDNP – Armin from Hungary. Peter Danku is his chairman. EH: There will be a lot of voting today. In the blue folders there are voting cards. Member organisations have

3 votes to cast, and the individual member has a red card (1 vote). There are 3 rounds of voting – in favour/ against/ abstain. I need 2 people to be in the voting commission to count the votes.

2.2. *Appointment Voting Commission

Proposal for members voting commission. EH: Are there 2 volunteers? NB: I will be in it.

GS: I will be in it.


EH: Do we accept this? Let’s have a vote. Who’s in favour? It’s unanimous.

3. *Accepting agenda General Assembly (GA) 2017 and minutes GA 2016 (see Annex 2)

EH: Do you all agree with this agenda? Yes. The minutes have also been sent round from the previous GA (2016). Please comment if you would like.

[No comments]

EH: These minutes are accepted. WK: We appreciated the minutes – they were well written and useful to us.

EH: We will vote in favour of the minutes. NB: All in favour. 4.1. Presentation Financial Report 2016, Budget 2017

EH: We sent this financial report round to you all. HD will present the finances. HD: Income: I will point to Henk if I need to, as he was the accountant. Let’s look at the 2016 numbers, and

say what we want to do in 2017. Regarding the income, we are very glad to get a VOE fund for last year

– we want to try and get this for the upcoming year as well. Also, fees: we didn’t manage to get all the fees from our Member Organisations – so I’d ask to you please pay. Also, the ECPM income is 30,000 euros from last year and for this year – some is for whatever we would like, and the rest is for sa laries/

hiring of a Board room/ financial accountant. We also get a fund from Sallux: they want to contribute towards people from Eastern Europe coming to events – we are pleased about this so we can have a more international audience. Our only problem is that we didn’t get the 6,000 euros fees – but that’s a minor point.

HD: Expenses: the salaries are as expected. Instead of a winter school, we do more regional conferences to reach more people in different countries. Last year, our summer school was in Bern, Switzerland, and we budgeted it well. Next year, we will have our summer school in Odessa, Ukraine (and it will be a bit cheaper than Switzerland). We want to start this year again with the Crossroads Academy (we had this

a few years ago for young people to be trained in political skills). We also want to extend our Working Groups next year.

4.2. Presentation Financial Audit Commission By the FCA-Members, Arthur Polder and Anatoliy Aleksandrov. AP: Most points were shared by HD. I want to emphasise that we need our member fees. Secondly, the

amount paid by ECPM is not clear in the budget – it’s due to the salaries fees (HD’s salary is paid directly from ECPM). I’d ask you [the Board] to make this clear in the budget. Regarding expenses, the public relations costs decreased, but the board meeting figures increased.

HD: About the expenses: if we had a board meeting, we tried to combine them with events – so the expenses are a bit higher. But, there were no expsenses for the ECPM GA – because we had a board meeting. We will try and make it clearer next year about where this money was spent.

HD: I would like to thank the people who helped with the budget. I think we made progress with this within

the last year – we’re grateful for this. 4.3. Q&A

AA: Some remarks – we need to increase our influence by public relations. It would be better to increase the finances here.

HD: If we want better public relations, we also need more effort from us – is this really necessary?

AA: Perhaps we can make a small working group to help with this – to help with a strategy to increase the influence.

EH: We will be talking about this strategy and the strategy commission later on in the morning. WK: A question about the budget – did the budget maker have an idea of the destination for the regional

conferences? Why is the budget for these events the same even though they will be in different locations (eg. Western Europe compared to Eastern Europe).


HD: I would say that we have borne this in mind – our summer school budget for the upcoming year is much

smaller than last year because it will be in Ukraine. VL: What is the crossroads academy money for? EH: The crossroads money will be combined with the regional conferences. I want to spend less.

VL: What are the fees returned to ECPM? EH: It’s a construction. ECPM gets money from the EU and needs to give some money back for it to work.

ECPYouth has to collect fees and return them to ECPM (it’s a law). HD: Another thing about the crossroads academy, we will have professional teachers there. Also, we have

cut down on expenses for specific topics – the budget for 2017 is 35,000 euros compared to 2016 which is 43,000 euros – we want to use the surplus money for Working Groups, etc.

AB: I can make a remark also. It will be a strategic goal for ECPYouth to professionalise our finances in the

coming years – eg. for reimbursement for the Board. We will then be able to make the ‘board meeting’ finances to be more specific – we will be able to better state how much money will go on travel/ accommodation, etc.

EH: Yes, we will make things more clear in the coming year.

AP: I also suggest that we make 2 labels: one for the salary of the General Secretary, and then the rest of the money from ECPM.

EH: We will update our budget and send it to you all in a month when you can comment more. We will change the structure of the income (adding one more line re. ECPM money), and also elaborate more

about how the money has been used. 4.4. *Vote Financial Report 2016 and the Buget 2017

The GA will vote to adopt the Financial Report 2016 and the Budget 2017. EH: Please vote. NB: All in favour.

EH: Thank you to the commission and also for Henk. HV: Everyone, welcome to Amersfoort. I am the financial accountant. I will ask the Board members to get

better with receipts. There has to be a better system. HD has done a great job this year – ECPYouth is getting better with finances. I would suggest having a treasurer in the Board for next year. Thank you

for letting me your accountant. EH: We agree.

5.1. Presentation Implementation Report Strategy Commission By ECPYouth Board Member Strategy Ardjan Boersma. AB: We have developed the strategy commission document into action points, and this is on our website.

1. Develop an up to date media strategy for more visibilitiy. 2. Professionalise the Board structure and Working Group structure. In the future, we will create fixed

Board positions. 3. Develop a stronger political campaign with the help of the Working group. 4. Professionalise finances/ reimbursement with costs. We can also be more innovative with costs. 5. Invest in strengthening the membership and network of ECPYouth. We already have 12 new 'friends'

since last night (the political cafe). The Board member for Relations will have to develop a strategy to grow our network - this will also make it easier to fi l l vacant Board positions.

I would love to hear your comments on this.

5.2. Q&A

KTN: I have many comments. First, communications and branding - the newsletter is great, but I would say that it should be open to everyone who wants it. As a member organisation, I would love to have more updates as to what the Board/ ECPYouth is up to - it would be good to have a formal email about the GA, for example.

AB: I think this is a task for Board member Relations - strengthening ties. Regarding not sending the documents, we thought we would put it online and we're moving towards the future - we can use the


internet and our website. In the last few days, you all visited the website.

KTN: I didn't get an email from you. AB: Sometimes we don't get receipt emails from you. KTN: About politics and values. In Bern, we discussed that we are a network, not a political party.

EH: For us to be a network, we need to know what we're based upon. It's good for us to have a theme to base what we do upon.

GU: We cannot avoid the political element- we need to be more active in this regard. It's a goal for us to determine exactly what we are about.

KTN: It's advisable to not have the political element too big. AB: We will have more of an activist element - we will hopefully integrate this into conferences. KTN: Involvement in other political youth events - this is good. How do you want to be more present in other

youth events? I went to the Christian Youth event in Estonia in November, but you weren't there. EH: We have action points for this - to attend other youth events and GAs. In 2017, we will be present at

more events to strengthen ties. JvV: How many individual members are there? Am I the only one?

AB: Yes. Members of Member Organisations cannot be individual members. EH: It's for people not from member countries. AB: We didn't promote individual membership properly yet because we are stil l figuring out how it works. KTN: Crossroads Academy - could you give more details?

AB: This is a concept from 2012 (one year only) - 3 weekends of discussion and training. People must apply and meet 3 times a year. This year, we will combine crossroads with the conferences.

DB: We are also looking for partners to help us with Crossroads (a team) - please speak to me.

IP: It's a training course and the same group of people go to all parts, and get a certificate at the end. KTN: One question about fixed board positions. In the bylaws, there is only one fixed position for President.

Do I need to change the old PerspectieF resolution? AB: We will discuss this after the break.

EH: We are not sure what positions we needed. We only drew up the new positions yesterday. Next year, we will test whether this works, and if it does, we will fix the positions.

WK: My compliments to your work. I want to ask about the political discussions - is there a Board moderator for this? Will that person be accountable to the Member Organisations?

EH: This is sti l l not clear, but we have a political Working Group. At the moment, their task was for the core values. Next, they will have to create a political program. We also want to give the Member Organisations to give their opinion about political issues - for example through our blog. We will ask you

to do this every now and then. AB: The political Working Group have the freedom to propose ideas, but the ultimate accountability

is with the Board. WK: I would like to underline that the Member Organisations need encouragement to participate with you.

WJ: A question about finances - how do you expect to get the money you've written? AB: ECPYouth will start applying to European funds in the future - for example for the Crossroads Academy.

This is ambitious as last year we tried and failed. We will try again for the funds from th e EU. I also

wouldn't underestimate the budget gained from 'friends' and members. We will have a roadmap in time for this.

AH: How can we make ECPYouth more significant in Europe, instead of in the Netherlands? In Hungary, we make sure we communicate well with political parties and have greater visibility. You need a strong

brand, for example emails sent to politicians. AB: This is valuable, but we are a network. We try to influence politics but also youth to become politically

involved from their own countries. EH: One of our strategy goals is for a whatsapp group with people working in the European Parliament - they

are sending us themes and helping with thoughts. In December, we all went to a ECPM conference (about Israel) and made more connections with ECPM MEPs.

GT: I have a question - what is the relationship between ECPYouth and the EU? Not all members come from

EU member states. EH: We are a network for countries close/ with an interest in the EU. One of our Board members works at

the EP with an MEP. AB: Our budget also partially comes from ECPM, which is from the EP.

GB: ECPM lists ECPYouth as an affi l iate organisation.


5.3. *Vote Implementation Report Strategy Commission

The GA will vote to adopt the measures to implement the report of the Strategy Commission EH: Let's vote.

NB: All in favour. Short break

6.1 Presentation Update ECPYouth Statutes, Bylaws and Code of Conduct By ECPYouth Board Member Strategy Ardjan Boers ma and WG Member Hilbert Hunink

AB: This is hopefully the end of a long process that started in 2015 to adopt new Statutes, Bylaws, and Code of Conduct. We worked with Hilbert Hunink and David. We needed a new selection procedure for Board members. Second, a Working Group structure. Third, a membership structure. The work was done following from a Resolution by PersepctieF at the last GA. We proposed various options to the Board,

and then the Working Group adopted the recommendations. As a Board, we presen t the proposal for the new governance documents. Our proposals will be projected onto the screen.

HH: We need to make all changes to the Statutes today so it will be cost effective. It is easier to change the Bylaws. We will then through the notary and vote on it at the next GA.

1. Statutes. Any questions? No. The Board fixed positions is spoken of in the Bylaws. AK: What is the difference between these and the previous Statutes? AB: The President was not formerly decided. Now, people will be able to apply as President.

JvV: Why are you not proposing individual members to also be in member organisations? AB: Due to the voting. We don’t think it’s fair to have individual members voting separately. WK: Article 11: 3 groups are mentioned for private individuals who can be on the Board. The ‘friend’ of the

association – is it not the same as the other options?

AB: ‘Friends’ are not always in the other groups. HH: We will not change this. JvV: How will you achieve 20 individual members? AB: In the Stategy, we will come up with a strategic plan as to how to do this.

EH: Yesterday, we spoke to someone from Sallux and will draw more members from Poland. We will also try and build ties with Germany/ UK/ Estonia. We have taken concrete steps so far and there are things in motion. In 2018, one of our events will be in Germany.

JvV: So the difference between individual members and friends is that friends don’t vote? EH: Yes, and friends pay 1euro a year. AB: One more point about Article 11 (a) we mean that people can be members of member organisation, or

individual members. We will rephrase this sentence.

HH: 2. Bylaws. These are the new Standing Orders. No comments. 3. Code of Conduct. These are new. AB: These explicity refer to the Christian values.

GS: One question – what it means to be a Christian is quite vague in the document. EH: We are a European organisation – we aim to be broad, not vague. We are not theological, but are based

on core beliefs in Jesus Christ. GS: True, but it sti l l very protestant. There’s a high focus on the Bible instead of other religious sources/

traditions. EH: We all share the Bible – it’s the main resource we all have. 6.2 [Presentation Amendments Member Organisations]

6.3 *Adoption Updates and Resolutions The GA will vote on the updated Statutes, Bylaws, the Code of Conduct [and the proposed amendments].

EH: We will now vote. Do you agree to adopt the documents? NB: All in favour. 7.1 Presentation Core Values Working Group Politics

By WG Members Rick van de Ven and Alina Koval


EH: The Political WG was made up of 3 people, but Natalia Tsirmpa is absent.

RV: I will explain the three core values. We are facing polarization/ debt crisis/ religious issues. We started looking at our core identity. 1. Dignity

This means truly being interested in someone else. 2. Unity in Diversity

Different backgrounds – social/ economic etc. But we are united in Jesus Christ. 3. Collaboration

Free trade, sharing ideas, etc. Social, political, etc. AK: Implementation of the core values. Our main ideas for events - the purpose is to strengthen the overall

position – to have reports, prayer groups, etc.

EH: Any questions? AH: How can we keep people engaged with the values over time? RV: We want our events to be based on the core vaues. AJ: I l ike 2 of the values – I’m not sure about ‘collaboration’ though. In itself it’s empty. Please give more

details. RV: We can develop this definition for collaboration. WK: How can the values influence the political direction? EH: We decide our core, then we work on political di rection. We may have a silence procedure for adopting

the documents. VL: I think you need to be more practical and link with a specific budget. AH: Can we also collaborate with schools?

RV: We can collaborate with many organisations. NB: Leo van Doesburg can help with this – he goes to school events in Europe. AK: We are thinking of collaborating with Universities. GS: Can you start thinking through different fields and where to implement this?

AB: Also making the difference between col laboration and unity and diversity is different and precise. 7.2 [Presentation Amendments Member Organisations] 7.3 *Adoption Core Values Working Group Politics

The GA will vote to adopt the working group document [and the proposed amendments] EH: We won’t vote today but the WG will carry on and we will send out the documents and vote by silence

procedure later on. 8. [*Resolutions on Political Issues Proposed by Member Organisations or Associated Bodies]

EH: We did not receive any resolutions. 9. Any Other Business

EH: Anyone? AK: If anyone can help us with the WG we would appreciate it. AA: It would be good to use google forms for interactive work.

EH: Good idea. End of the General Assembly (13:00 CET)


Annex 3 – Annual Report 2016-2017

3.1. Introduction – Erik-Jan Hakvoort In this section the Board concludes this season by showing you the work that has been done for ECPYouth. I’ll

start by thanking you all for the many hours that you put in the organization, to make sure Christian youth from

all over Europe could meet, discuss and exchange. First of all I’m thanking the Board members. Thank you for

your effort and your energy. Even if it’s sometimes hard to be far away from each other, we had a great

connection as a team, and all communication between us went smoothly. Thank you for the countless hours

spent on ECPYouth! In figure 1, I have listed the meetings we have had since the GA last July.

Figure 1. Overview Board meetings ECPYouth 2016-2017

Nr. Face-to-face meetings Phone call meetings

1. July 9th 2016 (Bern)

2. September 2nd and 3rd 2016 (Brussels)

3. October 6th 2016

4. November 9th 2016

5. December 9th 2016 (Brussels)

6. January 12th 2017

7. February 17th 2017

8. March 16th 2017

9. May 1st 2017

10. June 12th 2017

11. July 18th 2017 (Odessa)

Besides the great work of the Board members, I also want to thank the Working groups, starting with the Strategy Commission; followed by the Working group that helped revise the statutes; the Workgroup Politics; and of

course the newly formed Selection Commission (for new Board members). All of you helped ECPYouth take further steps towards growth and professionalization. I’m thankful that you wanted to be a part in this!

Below, the Board members have listed what they achieved this past season: events, initiatives, renewal, everything that ECPYouth has been working on you can find below. During the General Assembly of July 2017 (Odessa) you can ask questions about everything written in the reports.

Many events, initiatives and updates have made this a vibrant year for ECPYouth. But not only for ECPYouth-activities, it was also a special year for personal reasons! Three Board members (Inna, Ardjan and Erik -Jan) got married, and Dima heard that he was expecting to become a father! This ha s been great news, which has given

this season a silver l ining. Thank you for reading our reports and thank you in advance for your comments!

3.2. Annual Reports Board Members

3.1.1. President – Erik-Jan Hakvoort This season we formulated five clear strategic goals (see 3.4) To reach our goals I took several steps, together

with all or some Board members. Some examples included:

- A training session in Kiev, Ukraine for young Ukrainian politicians from CDU in November 2016.

- The 2nd Youth Prayer Breakfast in Brussels in December 2016.

- Chairing meetings between all Board members of ECPYouth and people from the EP, and from ECPM during

a Brussels-week, including the Prayer Breakfast in December 2016.

- The first February-GA in Amersfoort in February 2017.

- The first ECPYouth Political Café in February 2017.

- The Paris Regional Conference in April 2017.


- Stronger ties between ECPYouth and the Democrat Youth Community of Europe (DEMYC) in April 2017.

- A transparency-debate with ECPM in May 2017.

- Arranging for 25.000-euro funding for a Middle East Conference December 2017 in May 2017.

Together with Board members, friends and volunteers, I’m confident about our progress this season. I’m happy

to report to the GA that so much work has been achieved. I’m very much looking forward to next season, to build

upon the experiences and progress of 2016-2017.

3.1.2. Director of Relations (Vice-President) – Inna Panchuk Last year I was honoured to be elected as a ECPYouth Vice-President and Director of Relations. It was quite a special year for me as well as fruitful and challenging.

- I started in July 2016 with a visit to CDUY (Christian Democratic Union of Youth in Ukraine), where a meeting was organised with a new board. I presented ECPYouth and its activities and we discussed our main goals and future cooperation.

- As a result it was decided to organise a training for CDUY in November in order to show them how to grow and develop their organization. Al the decision was made to organise the next Summer School in 2017 in Odessa, Ukraine.

- I have discussed cooperation with another new potential member from Ukraine DDF (Democratic

Development Foundation). All the information about organisation was presented to the Board and all Member Organisations. Afterwards DDF was accepted as official new ECPYouth Board Member it was actively involved in ECPYouth life.

- I was helping to organise the training for CDUY in Ukraine in November with practical issues. - During preparations for the Regional Conference in France I helped with organising the event: booked a

hotel, found some speakers and participants. - Also was pretty busy with helping to organise Summer School in Ukraine: inviting speakers, forming a

program, technical details of event, inviting participants and promotion, control and support of practicalities and preparations of supporting documents.

- During the year was I have been busy updating and developing the ECPYouth database (contacts of member organisations, individuals, associations, speakers etc.).

- As Director of Relations I was in charge of communication with member organisations and individuals. - My Vice-President duties were directed to cover practical internal and external functioning of the

organisation directed to developing and running of ECPYouth.

- Due to my long experience in organising events I had a privilege to start to get involved in primary preparations for a potential event in Jordan in December 2017.

Therefore it was an interesting ECPYouth working year for me as I enjoyed serving ECPYouth with great pleasure

and I want to thank God for this opportunity.

3.1.3. Secretary – Lizzie Francis I was appointed to the ECPYouth Board in the Summer of 2016, and was chosen to be the Secretary. In this role,

I have been in charge of writing all meeting minutes and communicating relevant information to Member Organisations/ECPYouth Committees.

Additionally, I have been in charge of establishing a Working Group Politics. I set out the goals and deliverables for this group of 3 people (composed of members from the Netherlands, Greece, and Ukraine), and led initial meetings to ensure that the group were properly informed to write the new political vision and values for ECPYouth. I maintained regular communication with this group, and helped edit the document. The result of this

work has been to produce the 'Odessa Declaration', which will be presented at the GA 2017. I have been active in writing blog posts for the ECPYouth website, and I hope to be able to encourage more members to get involved with writing entries for this blog.

My vision for the upcoming year is to help ECPYouth move forward with clearer goals and achievable aims. We have an opportunity to strengthen the network and include more people into the vision of ECPYouth (inc luding

people from the UK); organise more focused events, including with activist elements; inspire and train more people to get involved in politics at a national and European level (through ECP Young Professionals); and


encourage more people to place God right at the centre of political thought (through events and our blog). I look

forward to the next year!

3.1.4. Board Member Politics – Gabriela Urbanova

Although this year was only my first year as board member of ECPYouth, it was for me really a year full of

experiences. As a board member Politics and at the same time as an assistant in the European Parliament, the

main aim of my work for ECPYouth was to help creating connection between ECPYouth and EU institutions,

especially EP. Therefore I was responsible for organization of European Youth Prayer breakfast, which took part

in the building of European Parliament in Brussels. This event was organized during the same week as traditional

European prayer breakfast and hosted by MEP Branislav Skripek. That enabled us to be more visible also for

other MEPs and christian NGOs being present during EPB in Brussels. This event was followed by our presence

at ECPM conference: Terrorism and Security. What EU can learn from Israel, organized by ECPM MEPs and board

meeting in Brussel.

Beside this event I saw during the whole year as my main my involvement in ECPYouth meetings with NGOs in

Brussel, ECPM office in Brussels, offices of MEPs and ECPM affil iated organization like Sallux. I tried to help

ECPYouth to be part of their projects. As a result, we are now starting to cooperate with Sallux on writing political

research papers and we are invited to cooperate in 2 new projects in Czech republic and in Germany in 2018.

Generally I can say, that I am very thankful that had the advantage to represent ECPYouth on different events

based on my work for Mr. Branislav Skripek, MEP and new president of ECPM and hopefully it was also vice-

versa.

However the biggest privilege for me, was to work with such incredible people who are connected in the

ECPYouth. I enjoyed very much every moment we spent as board of ECPYouth together. I am very happy that

ECPYouth is a community creating new friendships, praising the Lord and helping to enrich political potential in

young people and from my point of view that is the core mission what youth organization should be about.

3.1.5. Director of Events – Dimitri Bluashvili In September of 2016 I became an event director of ECPYouth. My main goal was to organize conferences and invite more and more people on ECPYouth events. I organized conference in different parts of Europe:

- Tbilisi, Georgia – From inspiration to impact (Religion in Politics)- September 2016. There were 25

participants from local organization – Young Christian Democrats and 20 participants from different counties.

- Paris, France - “Frexit” – (France without EU and EU without France - Risks and Opportunities) – April 2017 – with 15 participants from different country

- Summer School in Odessa, Ukraine - "Modern challenges: Overcoming Divisions as the Main mission of

Christian youth" The most important for ECPYouth is to get new members and be a more active younger generation. In next season our plan is to expand our network and organize more events in different part of Europe (and not only in

Europe).

3.1.6. Board Member Strategy – Ardjan Boersma

In September 2016 the Board appointed me as Board Member Strategy. My main goal was to implement the

recommendations of the ECPYouth Strategy Plan 2020 (SP 2020). I created a document with strategic goals for

ECPYouth (based upon the SP 2020) and a timeline for implementation.

One of the main advices of the SP 2020 was a revision of the statutes and bylaws of ECPYouth. Three specific

issues needed to be updated or formalised. First, the selection procedure for Board Members and the structure

of the Board; second, the Membership structure; third, the working group structure. I worked on this with Hilbert

Hunink, former Secretary of PerspectieF (the Netherlands) and David Naroushvili, member of the International

Secretariat of YCD (Georgia). Between November 2016 and February 2017 we had a few Skype meetings. I took

the lead on organising an extra General Assembly on 18 th February 2017, where the proposed changes of statutes


and bylaws were adopted as well as the strategic goals for 2016-2020 formulated by the Board. As the Board

decided that at this extra GA also the financial report of 2016 had to be discussed and the budget of 2017 should

be presented, I worked with Erik-Jan and Hepke on preparing this report.

On 17th February 2017 a new concept was launched: the ECPYouth Political Café, which was a great success (+/-

40 visitors). This Café was organised by Erik-Jan, Hepke and me.

Besides the work on the statutes and bylaws, I helped Lizzie to set up the Working Group Politics (WG Politics).

The initial task of the WG Politics was to develop a core values document for ECPYouth, to be presented at the

General Assembly in Odessa. When the WG Politics was created Lizzie was responsible for contacts with the WG,

although at some points I have been involved in the writing process as well.

Between February and June 2017 I worked on a new social media strategy for ECPYouth. I created a new design

for ECPYouth communication on social media and website, particularly for our events events l ike the Summer

School, the Regional Conferences and Crossroads. I discussed with several communication the ECPYouth media

strategy. In the next working year the social media strategy needs to be finalised.

On 23 May 2017 I represented ECPYouth at the ECPM GA in Warsaw. Together with Ja n Henric van Vliet (Member

WG Politics) I wrote a resolution on ‘Student Exchange after Brexit’, which was adopted by that ECPM GA.

In my opinion the past working year was good for ECPYouth. There was a great spirit within Board and we

managed to solve some issues that were on the table for years. Steps were made in professionalising and

strengthening the organisation in terms of members, involvement and dedication. I am looking forward to next

year!

3.3. Annual Report General Secretary – Hepke Deelstra It was an extraordinary year for ECPYouth. I feel gratitude for God’s blessings to our organisation. We were able

to organise regional conferences in Tbilisi (Georgia) and Paris (France), and furthermore we had a wonderful

Summer School in Bern, Switzerland, which we co-hosted with *jEVP.

We tried to strengthen our network through our newsletter, working groups and by communicating more with

the MEP’s and their assistances in Brussels. My role in this, is that I communicated all the relevant information

that I got from ECPM and SALLUX. A major improvement for ECPYouth, is that we started this year with a

newsletter, which we hope will attach more people to our youth organisation. I am the editor -in-chief of this

monthly newsletter.

Besides the several new things that I did, I had the common tasks of a General Secretary in the organisation, just

l ike the year before. My main tasks were managing the finance, arranging all the practicalities and help the board

with relevant political activities, actions, campaigns and congresses.

At all things comes an end. Also my time at ECPYouth. This was my last annual report for ECPYouth. I will leave

this wonderful organisation with pain in my heart. I am very grateful for the opportunities that ECPYouth gave

me and I wish ECPYouth all the best with getting young Christian people involved in European politics.


3.4. Overview Strategic Goals ECPYouth 2016-2017 Figure 2. Overview Goals ECPYouth 2016-2017

| Green = Done | Red = Not done | Orange = Work in progress |

Goals Sub-goals Actions Output Responsibility

1. Clear Vision & Strategy

a. Strategy Report Make summary of the Report. Determine which parts of Strategy Report to implement first + how

Strategic plan 2016-2020 + timetable

Ardjan

b. Political programme

Write a strategic political programme or 'core programme' (key values)

Strategic political programme

Working Group Politics, Lizzie

Organise Value Session with MO's + other parties

Value Session Ardjan, Gabriela

c. Direction for focus

After thinking about strategy and political points, determine what we will do for the next year and why it's important.

One/two main political themes

Working Group Politics

2. Stronger Relations

a. Internal network Introduce new Board + Year plans to MO’s

Press release / newsletter Inna

Develop newsletter (1x month) (Mail Chimp)

Monthly newsletter (email) Hepke

Create option on website to be added to this newsletter

Option on website Inna, Ardjan

Update ECPYouth Members/Associates database

Updated database Inna

Update External Contacts database Updated database Inna

Professionalize Individual Membership Updated standards for IM Ardjan, Working Group Revision Statutes

Start making use of working groups Working group for each event

All

Organise an extra GA GA Erik-Jan, Inna

Regular visit of MO’s events / GA’s 2x visit of MO GA All

Have 1x a month phone call with ECPM (Guido van Beusekom), 4x year with CPFE (Johannes de Jong)

Very short briefings of phone calls to the Board

Erik-Jan, Hepke

b. New Member Organisations (MO’s)

Extend the network of ECPYouth with one MO each year

1 new MO Inna

Invest in Associates, try to make them active MO’s or active Associates

Add all Associates to newsletter

Inna

c. Activities in new countries

Participate (give lecture/workshop e.g.) in conferences in new countries (see 4.b)

2x participation in new country

Erik-Jan, All

Identify underrepresented countries and people we know within them (add to External Database). Network with people in new countries and participants from

underrepresented countries, so see if they know larger groups or networks that may want to be involved.

Add contacts in new countries to External Database

Inna

Start visiting GA's of other political youth organisations (PYO’s) like YEPP, EDU etc.

1x visit of other PYO Erik-Jan

3. Impact a. Impact on EU Be present at ECPM GA + propose motion for a resolution

Resolution Gabriela, Erik-Jan

Be in touch with ECPM MEPs and Leo van Doesburg about current political issues + focuspoints

4x year meeting with MEP/Leo

Gabriela, Erik-Jan, Ardjan

Add prayer points to the newsletter / website. Add prayer to the Summer School

Prayer points added to the newsletter

Hepke, all

Be involved in the European Youth Event (2018)

Involvement in EYE Gabriela, Erik-Jan, Ardjan


Arrange meeting with other European PYO’s about how to influence the EU

1x meeting about influencing EU

Erik-Jan

b. Impact on Christian youth

Organise Summer School 2017 Summer School Dima

Organise Crossroads Academy Crossroads Academy Dima

Organise Regional Conference Tbilisi Regional Conference Dima

Organise European Youth Prayer

Breakfast

Youth Prayer Breakfast Dima,

Gabriela c. With Activism Have an activist conference + add

activism to Summer School Activist conference Dima, Lizzie

d. With Campaigns Develop a political campaign, related to year theme (1.c)

Campaign Gabriela, Ardjan

4. Visibility a. Social media Develop database with Christian press contacts (newspapers/websites)

Database press contacts Inna

Develop social media strategy to increase engagement on Facebook/Twitter

Media strategy Ardjan

Start using Instagram/Facebook/Twitter twice a day

Facebook posts Inna, Dima, Gabriela

Make sure the website is up to date, readable and visible on Google (search engine optimization (SEO))

Increases SEO Inna, Ardjan

Contact http://arramedia.com/about logo ECPYouth, formats, brochures etc.

Updated brochures, formats

Inna, Ardjan

Blog (1x per 2 weeks), written by representatives of MO’s or Board

Blog Hepke

b. In new countries Participate at conferences in 'new' countries (see 2.c)

2x presentation about ECPYouth in new country

Erik-Jan, All

5. Quality a. Funding Keep the already existing funding ECPM + FICDD + VOE

Funding ECPM + FICDD Erik-Jan, Hepke

Identify new resources and put it in a database

Resources database Ardjan, working group

For Crossroads Academy: apply for EU funding

EU funding for Crossroads Academy

Ardjan, working group

b. Standardizing processes

Organise and standardize the GA (agenda, documents etc.)

Standard GA Formats Inna, Erik-Jan

Create an actual budget Actual budget Ardjan, Hepke

Update the Statutes and the Standing Orders

Updated Statutes + SO Lizzie, Ardjan, Commission

Standardize application procedure + selection commission

Excellent application procedure

Selection Commission

Create standard description of Board positions

Standard description of Board positions

Erik-Jan

Standardize and professionalize Board meetings (agenda + minutes of previous meeting one week in advance, standard points on agenda etc.)

Standard format agenda Board meetings

Erik-Jan

Standardize reimbursement of travel costs for Board and participants

Reimbursement forms Hepke, Ardjan

Implement year plan-report cycle, review each FtF Board Meeting

Review each FtF Board Meeting

Erik-Jan

3.5. Annual Report Working Group Politics Politics, young people, and faith are the cornerstone of the ECPYouth. In order to work on the political

part, the working group politics was created at the end of the previous year (November 2016). Interesting

discussions about are a part of our daily business, involving personal stories, current worldwide events, and

God’s spirit to speak to us, are you already excited? The working group currently consists of four people:

Natalie Tsirmpa, Alina Koval, Jan Henric van Vliet, and Rick van de Ven, and is under supervision of both Lizzie

Francis and Ardjan Boersma. As a result of their work, the Odessa Declaration has been developed, which

described the political foundation for ECPYouth. Also, a Resolution has been written for the ECPM GA,

presented by Jan Henric – this was successfully adopted. Talking and writing makes up some, but not all of our


work. We are also initiating an interesting campaign to implement the ideas of the Odessa Declaration to build

God’s kingdom for the next season! Are you even more excited? The best is yet to come…

3.6. Annual Reports Member Organisations

3.6.1. CDU Youth – Ukraine Activities report for 2016-2017: April 2016 - the conference of European integration with the head of the representatives of EU in Ukraine. July 2016 - a visit of the Vise-president of the ECPYouth Inna Panchuk. She was sharing with the plans for the

future events and encouraged youth for the participation, was decided to arrange training for CDUY how to build and develop organization and decided to arrange next ECPYouth Summer School in Ukra ine in Odesa August 2016 - Christian youth summer camp ( in cooperation with Netherlands and Belarus ). September 2016 – Regional Conference in Georgia.

January 2017 - The president of ECPYouth Erik Hakvoort was visiting CDUYouth in Kyiv. The topic of the meeting

was " United building of the Christian politics in Europe with collaboration, experience exchanging and activities". February 2017 - General assembly in Amersfoort. Koval Alina as a political agenda was presenting the implementation of the core values in a strategy document.

March 2017- New board members, team building, new wave and strategy. 20 years anniversary of CDU - Forum with visiting of the leaders from ECPM and SGP. April - till nowadays - Cooperations with the local Christian youth organization and churches, such as student

union of the Christians, church "Skinia", prophetic cafe "Get to know your talent".

3.6.2. Democratic Development Foundation – Ukraine Here follows a chronological overview of the activities of DDF in the past year. 24/08/2016

Prospects for introducing the dual system of education: by DDF https://youtu.be/yPVQo82B-6M 02/09/2016 Economic aspects of climate change: road map for Ukraine. From August 30 to September 2, 2016, in Knyazhichy (Kiev region) the Summer School "Economic aspects of climate change" was held. DDF was a partner

organization. 29/09/2016 DDF representatives took part in the discussion of anti -corruption initiatives. Discussion "Stop Corruption. Public

actions in the Odessa region. The year of work of anticorruption public initiatives" took place on September 28 in Impact Hub Odessa (Odessa). 03/10/2016 Representatives of DDF took part in ECPYOUTH REGIONAL CONFERENCE TBILISI 2016.

09/10/2016 DDF took part in the seminar "Leaders of the Eastern Partnership for Change". On October 3 -5, 2016, in the framework of the three-year project of the leading European political foundations Konrad Adenauer and Eduard

Frey, a seminar "Leaders of the Eastern Partnership for Change" was held in Odessa.

https://youtu.be/yPVQo82B-6M


06/11/2016

Youth Forum of Odessa. Odessa, November 6, 2016, an event that is designed to unite the initiative and patriotic youth of the Odessa region. 09/11/2016

Representatives of DDF took part in the Forum of Ukrainian Youth. On November 9, 2016, the all -Ukrainian "Ukrainian Youth Forum" was held in Kiev, this forum completed a series of regional youth forums held in Ukraine during October 2016. 21/11/2016

DDF Participated in the international youth conference Visegrad4+, which took place from 17 to 20 November 2016 in the city of Kosice (Slovakia).

17/12/2016 The leadership of DDF took part in the celebration of 20 years since the founding of the largest Youth Organization of Hungary “Fidelitas”.

29/12/2016 On December 27-28, the International Forum of Young Politicians "Generation of Changes" took place in Odessa. He united more than 30 representatives from Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova. https://youtu.be/UM2PXc9sEnY

20/02/2017 February 8 in the city of Amersfoort (Netherlands), the General Assembly of ECPYouth was held. Anatoliy

Aleksandrov, Chairman of the Board of the DDF, took part in the work of the General Assembly. http://www.ddf.org.ua/ru_RU/v-amersforte-niderlandy-sostoyalas-generalnaya-assambleya-ecpyouth/ 04/03/2017

Participants from DDF took part in the seminar "Leaders of the Eastern Partnership for Change. Main Forum". On March 2-4, 2017, in the framework of the three-year project of the leading European political foundations Konrad Adenauer and Eduard Frey, a international conference "Leaders of the Eastern Partnership for Change. Main Forum" was held in Kyiv.

https://youtu.be/UM2PXc9sEnY

http://www.ddf.org.ua/ru_RU/v-amersforte-niderlandy-sostoyalas-generalnaya-assambleya-ecpyouth/


3.6.3. PCD Youth – France

Unfortunately, no Annual Report received yet.

3.6.4. PerspectieF – the Netherlands Written by International Secretary Klariska ten Napel. Email [email protected] Phone +31630774707

Website www.perspectief.nu/nl/internationaal_secretaris Facebook www.facebook.com/perspectief/

PerspectieF is the youth department of the Dutch political party ChristenUnie. We are an active group of young Christian politicians, whom are striving to have a voice in society and to make a difference in the Netherlands according to the Bible. Last year’s focus points were ‘youth with debts’, ‘young veterans’ and ‘freedom (of religion)’. We worked on these themes in project groups, with political output as a goal.

Besides that we worked on issues as Europe and the climate, which resulted in a manifest about the importance of the issue of climate change presented by all the political youth organizations in the Netherlands to our members of Parliament. The International team focused a lot on gaining a position on Europe, the rising populism

and the European Union. In that process throughout the last year we learned a lot. We stand for a Europe of collaboration on peace and justice. In March we had the national elections for our Parliament in the Netherlands. PerspectieF has been very busy campaigning for these elections to get a good output for our mother party this

last year.

As being an political youth organization we also strive to empower and train our members, that is why we held the Political training and Leadership training again this year. Through these trainings members can develop their political (leadership) skil ls. In that vision we also organized an excursion to Brussels, to visit the European Parliament, our MEP and several other organizations and institutions. This excursion was a great success, the

participants were very enthusiastic, learned a lot and we have had lots of debates.

3.6.5. PPCD New Generation – Moldova

Unfortunately, no Annual Report received yet.

3.6.6. SGP Youth – the Netherlands By Maarten van Nieuw Amerongen, Political Secretary SGP-jongeren Looking back, we should be very grateful for the many blessing we have got in the past year. Relative to the year before, we started the year with almost a complete new board (since april ‘16), including some novices over the

year. As we speak, SGP-jongeren has more than 7.300 members, which means we’re stil l the biggest political youth organization in the Netherlands. Our organization does not only develop in number of members, but also continues to present itself in the field of pro-life issues, security, Israel, education, agriculture and sustainability

on a Christian-reformed basis. In order to give you an insight in our daily work, I just collected a handful of our activities.


http://www.perspectief.nu/nl/internationaal_secretaris

http://www.facebook.com/perspectief/


License to Heal In December, SGP-jongeren offered the Permanent Parliamentary Commission on Public Health a manifesto called ‘License to Heal’, which is an initiative of 8 political youth organizations, supported by (academic) hospitals, health care funds and a huge amount of experts. License to Heal aims to pay attention to the poor accessibility of essential medicines, especially in developing countries. The manifesto calls politicians for collaborating to

negotiate with pharmaceutical companies, in order make drugs affordable for anyone.

New Year’s Eve ‘oliebollen’ action In the Netherlands we have the tradition of eating ‘oliebollen’ (deep-fried doughnuts). Because of the huge

pressure security services are faced with during New Year’s Eve and Day (abuse of fir ework, alcohol, e.g.) we delivered some ‘oliebollen’ to the police-, ambulance- and firemen. As you can see on the picture below, they really enjoyed it. Leader of the SGP, MP Kees van der Staay, called it a ‘very good action by SGP -jongeren, which

emphasizes that we stand completely behind those men and women, who risk their l ifes every day, especially during New Year’s Eve.’

Parliamentary Elections Campaign

On the 15th of March the Dutch voted for a new parliament. SGP-jongeren supported SGP during the campaign not only by mobilizing young voters, but also by meeting elderly. As a symbol, we handed out cookies on the streets to encourage young people to spend some time with elderly, who feel lonely due to the individualizing society.

Report of anti-Semitism Unfortunately, we had to report a case of anti -Semitism to the police in June. Local councillor Abdou Khoulani

(The Hague) called Jewish students ‘Zionist terrorists’ and ‘future child murderers and occupiers’, in response to a Facebook picture with SGP-leader Van der Staay. SGP-jongeren wanted to make clear that anti -Semitism is absolutely unacceptable and called people to report to the police as well. The fact that mr. Khoulani involved young students in his sick ideology, made the case even more stomach-churning. Unfortunately, fighting against

anti-Semitism stays one of our top priorities.


3.6.7. Young EVP – Switzerland

ECPYouth Summer School As you probably all know, our biggest event hosted in our entire history (which is a good decade now) was the ECPYouth Summer School that took place downtown the Swiss Capital, in Bern. The around 50 participants from 13 different nations made this an unforgettable time. The topic of migration is sti l l an ongoing one and we hope,

the Summer School brought inspiration to all participants. This highlight got nourished by lectures with highly qualified people, interesting debates, sessions in an exquisite place as the Federal Palace, by considering practice through visiting refugees-homes and by many other elements. It was a pleasure to build relationships and pass that great time together discussing, thinking and enjoying the river nearby.

Revised party platform

Inside of *jevp, we revised our party platform. For that reason, a working-group got formed which revised our existing positions after having involved the basis in bringing up topics and desired changes. This was followed by times of intense discussions until a new and solid thematic program got finalized and adopted. It reflects our positions based on our Christian faith in fields such as family, education, environment, economy as well as in

healthcare. Snow-weekend

During winter in our annual snow-weekend in the mountains, we took time to unite and think about politics. A lot of snow, fun, skiing, snowboarding, sledding and hiking was backed up by time for discussion and creating deeper bonds of friendship.

Regional meetings In different regions, local networks could be rebuilt and/or grow. Since politics starts in small frames, we are delighted that some new people joined our youth-party. Here and there, regulars’ tables start to grow and fresh wind is blowing through our regions. Stil l there is a lot more room to expand and we continue working to seek

the best for the people in the country we live in. For further information:

Christoph Bösinger, Board member *jevp Switzerland, [email protected] General secretary until August 2017: Reto Stalder, [email protected]




General secretary starting in September 2017 and replacing Reto Stalder: Raphael Hählen,

[email protected] (contact information valid as from 1st of September 2017) www.jevp.ch // Facebook: Junge Evangelische Volkspartei (*jevp)

3.6.8. YCD – Georgia Unfortunately, no Annual Report received yet.

3.7. Proposal Fee Members 2018 Figure 3 Proposal fee 2018

Individual Members Member Organisations

EU Countries 20 Euros 130 Euros

Non-EU Countries 10 Euros 40 Euros



Annex 4 – ECP Young Professionals Increasing the official age of ECPYouth Participants and Board members from 30 years to 35 years.

High- level proposal

To increase the official participation age range of ECPYouth from 18-30 years to 18-35 years.

Rationale

1. There has been an interest in ECPYouth (both at events and for Board applications) from

people above the current age limit for involvement.

2. There is an opportunity to expand the network by increasing the age limit.

3. There is an appetite to provide specific political career training to people in the 28 – 35 age

bracket.

4. There are mentoring and wisdom benefits to ECPYouth for having the active participation of

people from the 28- 35 years age bracket.

5. There is an opportunity to create more of a ‘bridge’ between ECPYouth and its parent

organisation, ECPM, as well as other organisations and events, such as Cornerstone, by

increasing the age limit.

Next Steps

In order to do this, ECPYouth proposes:

1. The Statutes & Bylaws are amended to permit members and Board applicants from people

up to the age of 35 years.

a. We present to the GA (Summer 2017) a proposal for changing the maximum age to

35. This includes changing:

i. Article 4b of Statutes: ‘’Private individuals, aged 18-35, not being member of

any Member Organization of ECPYouth, endorsing the vision documents as

mentioned in article 3’’.

ii. Article 13.4 of the Bylaws: ‘’Eligible for Board membership are adults of age

35 and below who meet the requirements as set out in the function

description’’.

b. Amending the Statues involves a financial cost. Therefore, the Statutes will be

changed after the Summer School 2017. We will work together with ECPM, as ECPM

will also have to amend its Statutes.

2. A new sub-group is formed within ECPYouth called ‘ECP Young Professionals’, to specially

reach out to people between the ages of 28-35 years.

3. Career-targeted events and workshops are planned to provide insight and training for the

new ECP Young Professionals community, to encourage and assist them think about a career

as a national politician or MEP.


Annex 5 – Resolutions Member Organisations

Resolution 1 Submitted by: PerspectieF (Member Organisation) Topic: Spiritual moment The General Assembly of the ECPYouth, Believing that, in the spirit of overcoming divisions, we have one thing that binds us all together: our faith in Jesus Christ, and therefore, Encourages the board to strengthen this bond by holding a spiritual moment of prayer and Bible reading and reflection every conference, on the theme of the conference.

Resolution 2 Submitted by: SGP Youth (Member Organisation) Topic: License to Heal The General Assembly of ECPYouth, Considering that, - A third of the world’s population has limited access to essential medicines, - Costs of new expensive medicines cause problems of accessibility also in developed European

countries, - The limited accessibility to medicines are caused by the current model for medicine

development. The current system is based on market exclusivity through patents and allows pharmaceutical companies to keep their prices high,

- About a quarter of the available drugs were discovered by knowledge institutions such as universities. The government finances medical scientific research, but sets no conditions on the price and accessibility of the discovered medication; leaving pharmaceutical companies free to ask high prices which cannot be accounted for by research and development costs,

- The high prices of drugs threaten patients’ right to treatment, and put health budgets under unsustainable pressure,

- The UN High Level Panel on Access to Medicines, provides valuable recommendations for governments and international institutions to address inexpedient inconsistencies between public health, medical innovation and the current research investment incentives and legal framework,

- The UN Human Rights Panel (A/HRC/32/L.23/Rev.1) recognizes access to medicines as a fundamental human right,

- The European Parliament recently adopted a resolution ((2016/2057(INI)) on how to improve access to medicines in Europe, highlighting numerous areas where member states can take immediate action,

- The European Union invests 1.6 billion euros in the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), a partnership of the EU with the pharmaceutical industry, without requiring conditions directed at access to the resulting drugs,

Believing that, - Medicine and other medical products should be accessible to everyone, - The human right to health and appropriate medical care is essential in sustaining societies,


- To achieve affordability and accessibility, all stakeholders in the development of medicine need to take responsibility. Governments should promote affordability as well as innovation regarding the drug development process,

- It is necessary for European countries to collaborate on negotiating with pharmaceutical companies regarding the pricing of innovative drugs to ensure their accessibility and the sustainability of healthcare systems,

Call upon Members of ECPYouth to, - Stimulate European Member States to require publicly financed research institutions to license

new active pharmaceutical ingredients responsibly. The resulting drugs originating from such institution should have a transparent cost structure and should have a responsible price to ensure access to this drug. These conditions should preferably consist of the following measures: o Require pharmaceutical companies to be transparent about the cost structure of a drug,

eligible for marketing and tax rebates; o Limit profit margins for medicines; o Before the reimbursement of a new drug the pharmaceutical company must prove the

added value of a newly discovered drug, based on cost-effectiveness and budget impact. - Stimulate collaboration among European Member States to collaborate on negotiating with

pharmaceutical companies regarding the pricing of innovative drugs to ensure their accessibility and the sustainability of healthcare systems,

- Stimulate the European Commission to take the following measures: o Promote the accessibility of medicines in low- and middle-income countries by making

market competition possible through non-exclusive licenses of European public research in these countries;

- Sign, as ECPYouth and individual Members, the manifesto “License to Heal” to bring the contents of this to a wide attention.

NOTE: The Manifesto ‘License to Heal’ can be found on the ECPYouth website, www.ecpyouth.eu/ga-odessa.

Resolution 3 Submitted by: SGP Youth (Member Organisation) Topic: Support for the state of Israel The General Assembly of ECPYouth, Noting with concern that, - Israel constantly faces hatred and all kinds of threats, including existential threats - These hatred and threats come from many levels, such as:

a) from the international community, usually via the United Nations with its double standard and obsessive bias against Israel, which appears from for example the fact that roughly half of all UN resolutions target Israel every single year;

b) state actors, such as Iran and many Arab states; c) non-state actors, such as the international anti-Israel BDS movement (boycott, divestment,

sanctions) and; d) from the individual level, which appears from an increasing number of countless anti-Semitic

and anti-Zionist manifestations, - Many European countries are increasingly involved in anti -Israel manifestations on all four levels,

and increasingly lack the political will to unambiguously support Israel, - Hatred and threats, and the continuation of both, are incompatible with peace and fruitful

negotiations aiming for peace in and for the Middle East,

http://www.ecpyouth.eu/ga-odessa

http://www.ecpyouth.eu/ga-odessa


Considering that, - Hatred and threats directly go against ECPYouth core value, which is life, both on the human,

individual level and on the state level, - Support for Israel is a fundamental question, which goes beyond the question of agreement or

disagreement with any particular Israeli policy, - Instead, the question of standing behind Israel is an issue of human dignity, peaceful coexistence,

and national sovereignty, - Israel is the only democracy and free society in the Middle East, - The historical ties of the Jewish people with the land of Israel are millennia old and undeniably

strong, - Anti-Zionism often easily turns into anti-Semitism, Calls upon ECPYouth and its Members to, - Publicly and actively support the state of Israel and the Jewish people, both morally and

politically, for example through statements and events, - Especially express unambiguous support for Israel when current events require to do so, - Oppose any initiative that undermines peace and promotes hate, such as the BDS movement Encourages ECPYouth to, - Organize an event around the issue of support for Israel and/or combati ng anti-Semitism, given

both the urgency and seriousness of the above considerations, and the fact that Israel will celebrate its 70th anniversary in the upcoming political year.


Annex 6 – Amendments Odessa Declaration To be added after 1 July 2017.


Annex 7 – Report Selection New Board Members ECPYouth Board response to the selection report 2017-2018

On June 12th 2017, the ECPYouth Board received the final report of the selection committee regarding

the election of new Board members. The Board was very pleased with the timely and professional

procedure, and wishes to thank Teuta Vodo (Albania, Brussels), Anil Kumar (Netherlands) and Mila

Boychenko (Ukraine) for their well-appreciated work. In this document, the Board will respond to the

recommendations of the selection committee and advise the General Assembly about the proposed candidates.

Proposed re-elected/ newly appointed ECPYouth Board members (2017-2018)

The Board advises the GA to adopt all four proposed Board members. We are in full agreement with the report of the selection committee and are very happy with this recommended candidates.

1. Ardjan Boersma proved himself an invaluable addition to the ECPYouth team in the last few

years as a Board member and active participant. His continuing work on strategic plans, social

media and structural improvements have been of tremendous importance to ECPYouth. We

fully agree with the committee’s advice to re-elect Ardjan into the Board of 2017-2018.

2. Blazej Duber has connections both in Poland as well as in Brussels. His excellent personality

and qualities look very promising. Alongside the ambition of ECPYouth to grow and be more

involved in Poland, the Board considers Blazej to be the right person to take ECPYouth to new

heights. Increasing Polish involvement within ECPM makes more Polish involvement within

ECPYouth a top priority. Therefore the Board also fully agrees with the nomination of Blazej to

become part of the team.

3. The board is very impressed by Roxana Stanciu – with her vision, her connections, and her

qualities. ECPYouth needs strategic thinkers and people that have experience with training

others. Roxane seemd the ideal candidate to support the team in reaching these goals. Her

connections within Romania, Brussels, and the UK make her an excel lent choice made by the

committee. The Board is looking forward to adding her to the team and therefore strongly

advises the GA to accept her nomination.

4. Dimitri Bluashvili has been with the ECPYouth team for some years now, and the Board

strongly advises to re-elect him for the next season. His spirit and enthusiasm for ECPYouth,

his endless energy, and the fact that he’s always ready when called upon, have proven

necessary for the atmosphere within the Board and at all ECPYouth events. The Board, as well

as Dima personally, recognize the concerns of the selection committee in that there is room

for improvement in terms of availability and the quality of events. However, concrete plans for

improvement have been made. Dima has more time on his hands next season, even though

he’s becoming a father, and the Board considers it a shared responsibility to always look for

organizational improvements. We trust he will prove himself an indispensable asset to the

team with a great network from Georgia. The Board therefore fully agrees with the committee

to re-elect Dima into the Board of 2017-2018.

Conclusion

One Board member (Inna) is leaving the Board.

The selection committee proposes that the number of ECPYouth Board members should

increase from 6 - 7 people.


The Board envisages seven tasks to be divided amongst the Board members. The Board advises

the GA to adopt all four candidates in order to fulfill the seven core tasks.

The Board agrees with the importance of having a seventh Board member, in order to be able

to execute ambitious plans in the next season.

Within the Statutes and Bylaws there is room for the GA to adopt 7 Board members, and there

are no financial obstacles.

In the future, the Board intends to create seven fixed positions.

Agenda and Supporting Documents GA July 2017 –...

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Transcript of Agenda and Supporting Documents GA July 2017 –...