Ulf Helgtstrand, president of the Danish Equestrian Federation, vice president of the European Equestrian Federation and member of the FEI Constitutional Task Force 2011, provided an update of the work of the CTF.
He called his report "Waste of time or Possibilities" and posted it on the website of the European Equestrian Federation.
Helgstrand wrote:
As most of you are aware the FEI established a Constitutional Task Force in March 2011. The mandate was to produce a report for the FEI Excecutve Board (EB). The communication with the FEI, surely not least within the task force itself, was not optimal, but anyhow we ended up with a report wich was ready only minutes before the presentation at the General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro (mid November 2011).
The report itself is confidential, but the powerpoint presentation which was distributed to all the EEF members was not. Nobody can blame the EB for not commenting on the report due to the late delivery, but how do we proceed from there? No doubt that the EB can do with the report whatever they want -- after all there is valuable information in it -- and it would be a pity if at least parts of it do not come to the surface and are discussed in order to optimize the structure in the future.
My general impression during my work with the task force was that the FEI has been well functioning last year and a big positive change has happened at the head quarters, as well as at bureau meetings, EB- meetings, etc. so that the need for structural change was not urgent any more. The FEI themeselves has made big progress with weekly meetings of the EB, monthly meetings for the bureau, a sports forum, etc. and it looks like a positive development. This is also the impression of our own representatives in the bureau (chairs of group I and group II).
However one thing was very clear in the report. The different continents have very different demands concerning development of our sport, just as we within Europe have between the many NFs, and as part of Europe I really look forward to realizing the spirit of "brotherhood" in the EEF.
Where continental associations exists there is a strong relation to these from the NFs, maybe even stronger than with the FEI itself, and this is because they most of all care for the development of the sport within the continents and want to influence on a continetal level what should be structured and developed.
My personal recommentation to the FEI is to start negotiations with all of continental associations and find a solution for how the continents can "govern there own sport" in close cooperation with the FEI, and I hope that our representatives will put the issue on the agenda for an upcoming bureau meeting. The sooner the better.
-- Ulf Helgstrand
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Related Links
Constitutional Task Force Presents Findings at 2011 FEI General Assembly
FEI Constitutional Task Force to Identify Optimal Governance Structure
Maharaj, Chair of Constitutional Task Force, Addresses National Federations