AEP General Assembly - Monaco - December 5th, 20009

1. The G.A. is opened a 10.45 with 51 participants and 37 powers registered. The President welcomes all members, reminding all that during the meeting both official AEP languages can be used.

2. A first point on the agenda concerns the Board: the resignation of Peter Kelly and José Grandela is ac¬cepted and their mandate taken up respectively by Peter Maybury and José-Ramon Moreno. The G.A. approves and joins the President in thanking Peter Kelly for his splendid work, done often in rather difficult circumstances.

3. The GA then approves the minutes of the 2008 GA held in Paris, the text of which had earlier on been sent by e-mail and also published in a Trait d’ Union.

4. A minute of silence is observed in remembrance of AEP members who passed away.

5. Moral report on the AEP’s 2009 activities.

The President states that the Board decided to have « Stability, Continuity and Quality » as its benchmarks for the Moral Report.

The list of main events in which the AEP participated is reviewed : London, Macon, Bern and Blériot-Plage, as well as several others as listed in the successive Trait d’Unions. Members do remain very active but their mobility has somewhat decreased, maybe due to the crisis. But that did not prevent the joint meeting with the Royal in London to be an exceptional one, largely thanks to the very efficient prepara¬tory work by Peter Kelly. Attendance at Monacophil, organised by Patrick Maselis, is high as well. With a long applause the Assembly recognises the work done by these two pillars of our AEP.

The President indicates that members obtained excellent results in many exhibitions and that they have also pub¬lished remarkable articles, both in OPUS and in other revues. The election of George Barker to the RDP is greeted with warm applause.

As for communication it can be stated that the President and Board Members attended many events. Fur¬thermore Trait d’Union has now a lay-out and content welcomed by mem¬bers. OPUS is once more a total success, the book on Poland being of the highest interest and a new benchmark . The President thanks both Guy Coutant and Mark Bottu for their remarkable work under budgetary restraints.

In 2009 too the AEP was able to keep a balanced budget and hence the Board proposes to maintain annual dues at 100 € , a proposal accepted by the Assembly.

Furthermore the GA confirms two earlier decisions: AEP publications will be only in the two official AEP languages ( English and French ) and communication by internet is to be favoured over regular post.

6. The 2010 campaign.

For future activities the Board favours an worthwhile participation in a maximum of 4 events. For 2010 it proposes Antverpia ( Antwerp ) from 9 till 12 April with a main focus on postal stationary ; London from 8 till 15 May, with a cocktail if feasible; Lisbon from 1 till 10 October, with its General Assembly having to appoint a new President and Board ; and finally also Sindelfingen from 28 till 31 October, where the AEP is the Guest of Honour.

Furthermore AEP members will participate in events in Bodrum, Turkey ( 25 to 28 March ), Paris ( various events ) and Luxemburg ( Luxphila from 1 till 4 July ). For 2011 the Board has penciled in the Royal of Canada ( Montréal, 13 till 15 May ) and the international exhibition of St.Pierre & Miquelon .

As for OPUS the Board proposes to retain the following subjects: « Postal History of the former European colonies » for 2010, « Spain » for 2011 and « Nordic Countries » for 2012. In one of these issues a special chapter on stamp engravers would be included. Furthermore the Board proposes to differ till 2011 the granting of the « Mérite Européen » and the « Grand Prix for the Professional Philatelic Press » .

All above proposals are approved by the Assembly.

Participation to all events is to be very carefully prepared and hence shall be coordinated by our col¬leagues von Scharpen, Barnier and Agostossi for Sindelfingen, by Luis Frazao for Lisbon and by two still to be appointed colleagues for Antwerp and London. A budget is foreseen for the printing of a brochure, similar to the successful one prepared by Peter Kelly for the joint meeting with the Royal, for the Lisbon and Sindelfingen events. Furthermore it is highly probable a new joint meeting can be held with the Royal in Lisbon, and an important presence of Nordic members can be expected in Sindelfingen.

7. Financial Report.

Mr Veillault, certified auditor, then presents his report in which he confirms the result of the financial year ending October 31, 2009 will show a positive result of 3.860,31 €. All accounts were found to be clear, accurate and correct and he thanks the Treasurer for his work. Replying to a question from the floor, the President indicates this result does not yet include any cost relating to the Monaco General Assembly, luncheon and dinner. He also promises that next year all figures and financial information shall be made available well in advance to the General Assembly, in both official AEP languages.

On basis of the Auditor’s report and other information provided, the GA approves all accounts and grants discharge to the Board. It also asks to further work on the basis of a balanced budget, no deficit spending nor touching reserves, and in priority facilitating the creation of publications.

8. Discussion on budget proposal for 2010.

The President confirms that the 2010 budget will take into account these principles. OPUS should not exceed a maximum of 200 pages and the very large majority of communications will be done by e-mail.

The President then turns to a delicate issue: that of his travel and per diem expenses. He confirms that in 2010 also he will personally bear the vast majority of these expenses and will seek reimbursement only of excep¬tional expenses. However, this system included a risk that future mobil¬ity of any AEP President and/or Director might be severely curtailed due to financial restraint. In other words, if for the future no ad hoc budget is foreseen mobility could become extremely limited. Hence the President would expect to receive, still before the Lisbon meeting, a proposal from the Board worked out without the President participating, on how to best tackle this matter for the future.

9. Miscelaneous.

The floor is then given to a delegation of the Philatelic Academy of Russia, headed by its President Andrey Strygine. After having made Patrick Maselis a Honorary Member of that Academy and Miss Inavnova having ex¬plained her creative work on stamps, our new member Sergey Tchachenko took the floor in order to report on progress made in creating and building the new International House of Philately in Moscow . There it will be possible to organise exhibitions, seminars and conferences, as well as to set up an important library. The AEP President thanks the delegation for all this good news, adding that a first joint AEP-Russian Academy event will be set up in Lisbon, during the exhibition there. He also voices the hope that the AEP might be one of the first to be allowed to make use of the new facilities in Moscow.

After Davit Franco has given additional and practical information on the Lions event in Budrum, the Presi¬dent invites Jean-François Logette to talk about the UPU’s plans to remain a very active partner of the AEP; it is willing not only to organise conferences, but also to eventually welcome a high quality exhibit in its premises in Bern. An invitation which no doubt will receive a positive answer soon !

All items on the agenda having been exhausted, the President thanks the Board for its work and all the Members for their support. He wishes them all the best for 2010, a year with plenty of interesting philatelic ac¬tivities, and invites them to gather again at next year’s GA in October in Lisbon The General Assembly is then adjourned at 12.10 pm.