Big family gatherings are excellent occasions for connecting with people and discussing future challenges together. Between 11th and 14th February, EBU co-hosted its 12th General Assembly with its Portuguese Member ACAPO in Lisbon. Delegations from our National Members, as well as external special guests, participated in interesting debates about key areas for visually impaired people, as well as in sessions aimed at drafting the future lines of action for our organisation for the next four years.
In the year of our 40th Anniversary, our 12th GA served as an excellent forum to recall our main feats during our four decades of existence. One of our invited panelists, Ioannis Vardakastanis, president of the European Disability Forum, underlined EBU’s role in the inception of legislative initiatives such as the European Accessibility Act or the Marrakesh Treaty. At the same time, speakers like Arnt Beckstrøm, from our Norwegian member, pinpointed the role of solidarity in the growth of our blindness and partial sight community since the fall of the iron curtain in 1989. In this sense, participants showed satisfaction at the increased cooperation between EU and non-EU associations across Europe.
Apart from our contributions to improving the lives of persons with visual impairment during the last 40 years, participants also emphasized the challenges that they face in areas such as web accessibility. Bart Simons, EBU’s representative at ANEC, brought forward the importance of inclusion in an era marked by technological advances and the digital transition. In line with this, some participants raised awareness about the challenges of artificial intelligence, one of the most discussed topics nowadays at a political and social level. To get a better insight into this subject, we invited Christopher Patnoe, Head of Accessibility and Disability Inclusion for the EMEA region at Google, who highlighted the importance of the concept “Design for All” when developing new technological solutions.
During one of the sessions, we were also able to connect through video call with our friends from the National Assembly of Persons with Disabilities (NAPD) of Ukraine. One of the main issues they brought forward is the increasing number of blind and partially sighted people in their country since the start of the Russian invasion. Moreover, they also pinpointed the need to design personal-oriented plans while implementing rehabilitation policies. On a positive note, the NAPD’s representatives also thanked EBU and its National Members for their financial and networking support over the last two years.
EBU’s Board Elections Results: new faces for the next four years
As in each General Assembly, EBU held elections to select its representatives for the working cycle 2024-2028. For this period, Tytti Matsinen (Finland) was chosen as our new President. Being the first woman to ever held our organisation’s presidency, Tytti reminded participants that “people with visual impairments need to be at the center of awareness-raising initiatives for their rights.”
Regarding the remaining officers of our board, Bárbara Martín (Spain) and Kevin Kelly (Ireland) were chosen as First and Second Vice-Presidents, respectively. Roland Studer (from one of our Swiss members) was appointed as EBU’s new Treasurer, while Maria Thorsthensson (Sweden) was elected as our Secretary General. At the same time, both Roland and Maria were selected, alongside Tytti and Rodrigo Santos (Portugal) to represent our organisation in World Blind Union’s Executive Committee.
The rest of our board will be composed by David Aldwinckle (UK), Dagmar Filgasová (Czech Republic), Andreas Havsberg (Norway), Hubert Perfler (Italy), Jakob Rosin (Estonia), Sabine Ström (Germany), Sinan Tafaj (Albania) and Anja Uršič (Slovenia). Overall, their diversity of profiles reflect a combination of experience and wisdom with youth and eagerness to bring forward new ideas.
During the GA’s sessions, we also remembered the contributions to EBU by Rodolfo Cattani, Maria Kyriacou and Alexander Neumyvakin. All three of them passed away during the last two and a half years and their commitment to our organisation will always be remembered.
Our outgoing President, Wolfgang Angerman, was made an Honorary Life Member. for his work both within EBU and outside. On the same occasion, Mokrane Boussaïd, our former Executive Director, was also recognised as an Honorary Life Member for his many years of work with EBU, and our outgoing treasurer, Philippe Chazal, received the same distinction for his work in EBU and with organisations in France.
With renewed energies and new faces on board, we hope that the achievements of our past representatives will be the cornerstone to fulfil our most precious mission: being the voice of blind and partially sighted people in Europe.