Minutes of the General Assembly
Monaco December 3rd, 2011

The General Assembly is opened by the President at 10.35 am.

After having welcomed the 41 members present (24 powers of attorney were recieved ), the President indicated that 2011 had been a good year for our academy.

The minutes of the general Assembly of October 2010 at Lisbon are unanimously approved.

Starting his Moral Report, the President indicates that the number of active members presently stands at 219, to which the honorary members should be added, the number of which shall not be increased anymore.
The President states that the Board, at its meeting the previous day, retained the principle of a numerus clausus, with a maximum of 250 active members . M. Strauch intervenes to approve the idea of a numerus clausus but requests that more stringent criteria for admission be instaured. M. Slabbinck confirms that:

  • the two sponsors retain responsibility for the new member;
  • the new member should write an article for Opus withing three years after admittance:
  • the new member should participate in activities where the AEP is present;
  • the new member should be an ambassador for the AEP.
Whereupon the General Assembly unanimously approves the proposed numerus clausus.

Activities in 2011 consisted mainly in the active participation in the Venice exhibition in April, a nice and very well organised event. Le Président traveled to Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, Berlin and Athens.
The year was concluded with a superb event in Barcelona where the AEP was welcomed by the Royal Hispanic Academy for Philatelie for the presentation of Opus 2011, dedicated to the philately and postal history of Spain.

Activities planned for 2012 are essentially:
  • the Salon du timbre in Paris in June, where a luncheon will be organised;
  • the Swiss national exhibition in October, subject to confirmation by M. Voruz;
  • the IPHLA exhibition in Mainz in November where the AEP will deliver six conferences on the occasion of an important congress on philatelic litérature;
  • the national exhibition in Rome in November, where the 2012 General Assembly of our AEP will be held
No remarks being formulated on the Presidents’s moral report, it is unanimously adopted.

Proceeding to his Financial Report, the Treasurer indicates all figures presented reflect the situation on November 12th, 2011, notwithstanding our fiscal year ends December 31st. Mr Letaillieur informs that this year there will be a deficit of around 8 500 €, given the:
  • the printing of a Members’s List 2011;
  • the purcahse of medals;
  • decrease of publicity for this year’s Opus 2011.
However, the 2012 budget will not be in deficit.
AT present the AEP’s assets amount to 46 000 €.
All members will recieve the complete 2011 figures sometime in March 2012.

The decision was made to print the following Member’s List only 2014, after election of the new Board and President, and to set the annual dues for 2012 at 120 €. The latter point is unanimously accepted by the Assembly.

Mr Coutant, editor of Opus, then intervenes to elcome the presence of Mr. Strygin, President of the Academy of philately of Russia and Mr Tkachenko, director general of the Architectural Studio in Moscow. Indeed, the central theme of Opus 2012 will be the philately and postal history of Russia. He states that he already recieves many articles and expects to have to refuse several of them.
Mr. Strygin and Mr Tkachenko inform the Assembly that the exhinition Rossica 2013, with the active participation of the AEP will take place from 27 till 29 September 2013 in Moscow.
They then present Mr Maselis with the commemorative Fabergé medal, rewarding his contribution to the development of international philately.

Mr Maselis also receives, from Mr. Bartoc, Vice-President of the Romanian Federation of Philately, a medal to recognise the link-up of « two cultures and two friendships ».

Mr. Beech, Keeper and Director of the philatelic collections of the British Library, suggests an index be made of all articles having been published in Opus. M. Coutant replies that work has already been done and will very soon be posted on the AEP website.

Mr. Dubus states he would appreciate, as much in advance as possible, to recieve information on the themes retained for the next Opus issues, in order to have sufficient tiem to write articles.

Mr. Kosmala, member of the Academy of philately of Poland, presents to Mr. Bottu and Mr Coutant a book commemorating the 150th anniversary of the first polish stamps ; This as a token of thanks for Opus 2009 with had been devoted to Poland.

The President informs the following nominations were made by the Board:
  • Mr. Pierre Couesnon for the Mérite philatélique européen in recognition of the quality of his verious publications on polar philately;
  • the London Philatelist, review of the Royal of Londres, for the AEP Prize for the philatelic press.
The General Assembly is then closed by the President at 11.40 am.

H. Slabbinck
President		 S. Kahn
Secretary General