Date: 2022, Dec. 09
Time: 18:00 – 19:40
Attendants: 32 European and international presidents
Agenda:
- legal notes on the voting paragraphs in our statutes and eventually upcoming costs (Franz)
- the situation in the “Transition Committee” for putting the new statutes into practice (David)
- Liability for arising cost for the dismission of Daniela Otero (Paolo)
- 2023 program including possible meetings in April and October 2023; date for the next zoom meeting with all national Presidents
- The Skal Europe project “Young Skal Professionals” (Tito Livio and Georgeta)
Minutes:
President Franz Heffeter opened the meeting and welcomed the participants. He thanked all for sparing time during the busy pre-Christmas activities and expressed his satisfaction with the excellent business in all sectors of tourism in Europe.
Ad 1.
Franz Heffeter reported that there are two statements from lawyers regarding the voting procedures in the statutes and the by-laws, one being ordered by President Burcin Turkkan, and the other by an independent Spanish lawyer. The statements are contradicting. Skal Europe contacted also other lawyers. All of them share the analysis that the statutes overrule the by-laws in case of contradiction. This was reported to President Burcin Turkkan and the EB. As there are no changes in the counting of the votes in Croatia to be expected the participants agreed to follow the advice of two former World Presidents not to raise internal quarrels but to ask the World President to publish both papers on the international website.
Ad 2.
David Fontanella reported on the first meeting of the Transition committee and on the distribution of the work into several sub-committees. There should be sub-committees for Legal Procedures”, “Regional Elections 2023”, “Operational Questions 2024”, “EB operations 2024” and “Transition Training” which last David is a member of. Eric Etienne is a member of the “Operations 2024” sub-committee. The participants thanked them for investing so much time and offered support whenever possible.
Ad 3.
Paolo Bartolozzi gave a short and precise statement on the possible financial impact of the dismission of CEO Daniela Otero although suffering from heavy flu. The reasons for ending Daniela’s contract are not to be discussed in this forum but it was mentioned that many clubs have written to the EB, the WP personally, and to SI Torremolinos that they deny taking over any financial accountability. Karine Coulange mentioned that according to a lawyer she has contacted Daniela Otero will lose the lawsuit if she goes for one. Therefore, to her opinion, no financial costs are to be expected for SI. President Franz Heffeter thanked her for this statement but said that the verdict must be waited for. Until then everything is just speculation.
Ad 4.
The members of the board reported that the quarterly meetings should be kept. Meetings for special issues could be added if necessary. They asked the participants to get Skal Europe informed about their national activities and to post them on the website. Skal Europe mentioned that the next European Congress should be held in fall 2023. Applications for holding the congress are welcome. The Young Skal Academy is an important event. Tito Livio and his team will announce details when available. The attendants were invited to motivate the participation of their qualified members. Antonio Percario mentioned that he wants to a Vatican meeting with an audience with Papa Francisco.
Ad 5.
Due to the tight timeline and the near end of the Zoom Tito Livio Mongelli just shortly outlined the idea of putting a focus on the new membership category of “Young Skal Professionals”. He and Georgeta Grecu will lead a group of Skal members to canalize ideas and projects. Young members are the future of Skal and careers in tourism must be enhanced and fostered by experienced members. A special meeting should be held on this project end of February.
The president thanked all the participants for their engagement and their motivation. He wishes all a good time and a merry Christmas or seasonal celebrations. He closes the session at 19:40.
Minutes were taken by
Dr. Franz Heffeter
President
