Name of the event: EHH Extraordinary General Assembly

Date: November 17, 2020

Location: Zoom

Number of participants: over 40

Contact emails: e.oksiuta@europeanhistorichouses.eu; theodoracanciu@europeanhistorichouses.eu; m.malaspina@europeanhistorichouses.eu

Appendix: presentation

Extraordinary General Assembly Summary

Unconventionally, the Extraordinary General Assembly took place virtually on November 17^th, 2020.

The main reason for gathering together all the governors was due to Statutory Changes 1 (Par 8.2.1),  Statutory Changes 2 (Changes demanded by the new Belgian law), Statutory Changes 3 (Changes decided in GA 2019), Existing members to be renewed until the end of 2022, Existing members to be renewed until the end of 2023, the Nomination of the newly proposed members until the end of 2023, as well as the Approval of accounts 2019 and budget 2020 (AISBL).

Everybody was virtually welcomed by the EHH Executive President, Alfonso Pallavicini. The first topic on the agenda was related to the renewals/changes in EXCOM (see presentation p. 7-12). Then, the new members of EXCOM had the opportunity to address their first words and introduce themselves to the governors.

Important to mention is that EXCOM had decided to expand in order to increase political visibility and lobbying capacities. Therefore, the initiative was mainly oriented towards the countries in which the association is not yet present, namely the Communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

 Dana Beldiman will be in charge of this twofold démarche. The idea is to present the importance of a Historic Houses Association to CEE countries. The new associations will therefore be granted a two-year “observer” status within EHH with no membership payment obligation.

EHH invited the new potential members who gladly presented their thoughts and the situations in the country they represent (see presentation p. 15-29).

The first speech was delivered on the behalf of Schlösser und Gärten in Deutschland e.V. (SGD). Afterwards, Károlyi Stately Home Fehérvárcsurgó was presented. Moreover, two more Romanian castle owners showed their will of creating an Association for private owners, as well as the President of Pro Patrimonio France who explained the importance of protecting the Romanian cultural heritage.

Another topic elaborated during the Extraordinary General Assembly was related to the financials. Alfonso Pallavicini presented a detailed overview of the 2018-2020 budget and highlighted the anticipated 2021 budget.

Thereafter, the Vice President, William Cartwright Hignett, talk about Next Generation. He gave an insight into the 2021 conference and explained the strategy behind the NextGen membership launch.

A topic of great interest was dedicated to lobbying. The Head of Office, Ewelina Oksiuta, outlined the fact that EHH is part of the European Commission’s expert group on cultural heritage in which the association is actively engaged. Moreover, she talked about two new networks that EHH joined in 2020 – European Tourism Manifesto Alliance and Climate Heritage Network.

At the moment, EHH is in touch with Chair CULT Committee European Parliament, Sabine Verheyen. A. Pallavicini, W. Lobkowicz and E. Oksiuta virtually met S. Verheyen and discussed the main priorities of our sector and the importance of buil heritage. 10 key messages were addressed by S. Verheyen (see presentation p. 40).

Another current priority of the association is the EU building stock renovation policy and private historic houses. Besides the general overview of this topic and its main aspects, Alfonso Pallavicini explained EHH current position and priorities against potential amendments to the EU legislative framework within the Renovation Wave Strategy, focusing mostly on the assurance that the exemption favorable to historic houses will not be modified and lobbying activity at the national level.

An inspiring part of the meeting was related to the activity review. Firstly, Ewelina Oksiuta was honorable to present the success of EHH in terms of EU projects. Blueprint Skills Alliance for Cultural Heritage is the first project to which EHH was selected. EHH was not selected for the submission of HORIZON 2020 – Coordination and Support Actions. However, two more projects were submitted at the end of October whose results are expected to be received in February.

Towards the end of the General Assembly, Ewelina Oksiuta has also presented some of the activities organised by EHH during 2019 and 2020 and showed off the virtual projects of the association – European Heritage Weeks: Facebook Live Visits and Houses of the Month.

The Extraordinary General Assembly was finalised with the Strategy 2019-2023 and key focus areas of 2021.

Open presentation