PRESENT: 56 members of EURBICA of whom 37 were voting members (28 category A members, 9 category B members). 19 were non-voting members. There were also one ICA representative and two observers present as well as EURBICA’s representative in the EU (Mr Patrick Cadell). The total number of attendants was 60.
The President of EURBICA, Mrs Martine de Boisdeffre (Director of the French Archives) acted as the chairman of the General Assembly. Mr Jari Lybeck (Director of the Provincial Archives of Hämeenlinna, Finland), the Secretary of EURBICA, functioned as the secretary of the General Assembly. The agenda that was followed in the meeting was mailed beforehand to the members of EURBICA.
1. ADOPTION AND ADDITION TO THE AGENDA: Madam chair proposed the composition of the executive board (used to be called also as steering committee) as an additional item to the agenda. The proposal was accepted.
2. ADOPTION OF THE REPORT ON THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY AT FLORENCE (MAY 29, 2001): The report (minutes) were approved.
3. CONSTITUTION OF THE BRANCH: Madam chair proposed that a working group be established within the executive board to prepare a final draft of the constitution. The draft will be discussed in the executive board and then submitted to the next general assembly as a proposal for the constitution of EURBICA. The proposed procedure was accepted.
4. COMPOSITION OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD: Under this agenda item, two questions were discussed: firstly, Mr Patrick Cadell’s membership in the board and secondly, the representation of the South-Eastern countries of Europe in the board.
Madam chair proposed that Mr Cadell, former keeper of the Scottish National Archives, who has an ICA mandate to represent the interests of the European archives in Brussels with regard to the institutions of the European Union, would be elected to an ex officio member of the executive board. Mrs de Boisdeffre pointed out that Mr Cadell works both for the countries belonging to the European Union and to the Council of Europe as well. She stressed the importance of trying to influence the decision makers in the European Union. Taking this into account, she said it would be natural that Mr Cadell belonged to the executive board. The proposal was accepted and Mr Cadell was thus elected to an ex officio member of the board.
The question of the representation of the South East Europe came up formally in June 2001 when Mr Panto Kolev, Chief of the General Department of Archives of Bulgaria approached Mrs de Boisdeffre and expressed the wish of the countries of that region, formulated in the meeting of the heads of the archival institutions of South-East Europe in Sofia on April 28, 2001, to co-operate closely within the framework of EURBICA.
Mrs de Boisdeffre pointed out that South East Europe should have a representative in the executive board The board’s proposal was that professor Josip Kolanoviƒ, National Archivist of Croatia be elected to the executive board to represent the whole region. The proposal was followed by the a short discussion. It was asked what were the criteria of the membership of the executive board and why the South East Europe in particular should be represented in the board. Mrs de Boisdeffre answered that any formal criteria of membership did not exist. It was largely a matter of interest and initiative. The South-Eastern countries of Europe have expressed their special interest to take part in the work of EURBICA. Secondly, one could refer to that fact that these countries are important in the sense that they cover a large part of Europe and its history. Madame chair pointed out that the composition of the board should be geographically as balanced as possible although the perfect equilibrium is hardly possible. After the discussion professor Kolanoviƒ was unanimously elected to a member of the executive board.
5. STRATEGIC PLAN FOR EURBICA: Firstly Madam chair presented to the meeting the three amendments to the strategic plan that were made in the executive board in its meeting on October 9 (the amended plan, see appendix 1). After that the strategic plan was dealt with in detail. As regards point 2.1 of the plan (research and cultural exchange programmes), it was agreed that information about new programmes should be sent to Jari Lybeck, secretary of EURBICA, for further distribution.
With regard to point 2.2. (training) of the strategic plan, Mrs Daria Na»eçz, the National Archivist of Poland, presented the questionnaire on international archival training courses/workshops. The questionnaire has been prepared on the initiative of EURBICA and has been prepared by the Head Office of the State Archives of Poland. The results of the survey will support organisers of training events at the stage of decision-making processes regarding the selection of subjects, frequency, and organisational issues. The questionnaire is addressed to archival administrations and national archives of European countries as well as to public archives and scientific institutions conducting or interested in training activities. The questionnaire is available on the website (Erreur! Source du renvoi introuvable. of the Polish State Archives. The interested parties are asked to fill in the questionnaire and send it to Head Office of the State Archives either by post: 00-950 Warszawa p.o. 1005 ul. D»uga 6, Poland or by e-mail: Erreur! Source du renvoi introuvable. or Erreur! Source du renvoi introuvable. by December 24, 2001.
Mrs de Boisdeffre stressed the importance of the training issues. She reminded that training was chosen as one of the priorities of EURBICA in the Florence meeting in May 2001. She also said that in order to make progress in this area EURBICA has to act swiftly. That is why it would be very good to have the filled in questionnaires already by Christmas. In the discussion that followed the survey was seen as a positive step. It was wonder if a list of available teachers could be composed in this connection. Mrs Na»eçz commented this by saying that the survey will give, among other things, this kind of information, too. One representative pointed out that the ICA section on archival education and training is about to make a survey on archival education, too. Mrs Nalecz pointed out that the focus of the EURBICA survey is on the needs of education and training, not on the factual situation.
Point 2.3 of the strategic plan is about legislation and regulations on archival matters. Under this heading the meeting discussed a database on archival and records management legislation which is to be created together with the ICA committee on legal matters. The chairman of the committee, Mr Claes Gränström spoke shortly about the project. He stressed that already in 2003 the database should be in operative use in some form. In the discussion that followed one representative was very sceptical about the project; he saw no need to have this kind of a database at all. Madam chair pointed out that the project got the approval of the Florence meeting and that there is large consensus about the usefulness of such a database. Then the meeting discussed the issue of languages. Every country should provide the project with an official English or French translation of their relevant legislation. If there are difficulties in providing the translations, EURBICA should examine the possibilities of getting support (translations) either from the Council of Europe or UNESCO. After the translation issue the discussion turned into the costs of the project. It was pointed out that if the project chose to produce a publication on archival legislation (like BARBICA has done) it might cover a large part of the expenses. This view got strong support from the attendants of the meeting. Mrs de Boisdeffre said that she did not believe that the costs would be enormous. She emphasised a step-by-step approach as a means to keep the costs in check. She also promised that Mr Jean le Pottier from her service will be allowed to devote a considerable portion of his working time to the database project. Mr Vladimir Tarasov from the Federal Archives bService of Russia proposed that a task force be established for the project. Mrs de Boisdeffre answered to this that a task force approach is already in use and invited Mr Tarasov to give his contribution to the project. Madam chair promised also that the executive board will inform the members of EURBICA about the progress of the database project. The idea of EURBICA’s own website got strong support from the representatives.
Point 2.4 of the strategic plan is about appraisal. Mrs Na»eçz explained about the questionnaire on appraisal and selection made by her service. The questionnaire is available on the wesite of the Polish State Archives (htpp://archiwa.gov.pl/files/appquest.rtf). The questionnaire now on the website is modified after the feedback given by the different members of EURBICA concerning the first version of the document. Mrs Nalecz thanked all those who had commented the first version and pointed out that it was still possible to comment the document. She emphasised the importance of collaboration with the ICA appraisal committee. The chair of the committee, Mrs Rosine Cleyet-Michaud told that one of the aims of the committee is to have a bibliography of appraisal literature on the ICA website. The production of a handbook on appraisal is also a high priority task of the committee.
6. INFORMATION ON THE "BLACK BOOK" OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION: Mr Patrick Cadell informed the general assembly about the recent developments with regard to the new edition of the so called Black Book (Archives in the European union). The new edition was first formally discussed by the National Archivists of the European Union and candidate states at Lund in April of this year. It was agreed at Lund that a working group representing Sweden, Belgium, Spain, France, the European Commission and ICA should take responsibility for the work. The group has met three times. There is an agreement on the contents of the book, and a number of experts have been invited to participate in writing it. According to Mr Cadell, the intellectual approval of the book is likely to take place when the National Archivists gather in Brussels on the 22nd of November. The political aspect connected with the book is more difficult. The production of a book is regarded as too minor a thing to justify its submission to the Council of the EU which would be, however, necessary for the support of the book.
Mrs de Boisdeffre proposed that she write a letter both to the President of the Commission (Romano Prodi) and to the Permanent Representative of Belgium in the EU (Franciscus Van Daele) in order to facilitate the adoption of the Lund resolution which includes the proposal of the new edition of the Black Book. The proposal was accepted. Madam chair promised that copies of the letters will be sent to the members of the branch.
7. FUNDING: Leopold Kammerhofer, who is the treasurer both of ICA and EURBICA, presented his model for the funding of the activities of EURBICA as well as for the coverage of Patrick Cadell’s expenses. He told that the regional branches are entitled to an annual appropriation of 3 500 Euros. This sum is gathered from the annual dues paid by the members of a branch. The payment of the appropriation depends on how the ICA dues of member countries are paid. When 80 percent of the dues are paid the branch in question can have its appropriation. Mr Kammerhofer said that he is not in favour of an annual extra due for EURBICA. That would complicate matters too much. Mr kammerhofer’s proposal was approved.
As regards the Mr Cadell’s annual expenses (ca. 4000 Euros), they have been paid from the budget of the ICA. Mr Kammerhofer said that this should be changed so that each country pay an additional, proportional payment to cover Mr Cadell’s expenses. Mr Kammerhofer promised to make the calculations about this and send them to the members of EURBICA. Mr Kammerhofer emphasised that he needed EURBICA’s approval in order to make additions to the present payments.
In the discussion it was asked if it was possible to make a budget concerning Mr Cadell’s expenses beforehand. Mr Kammerhofer answered that it was quite possible and would be done. Mr Tarasov pointed out that Mr Cadell’s activities concerned the European Union only. Madam chair emphasised on her part that Mr Cadell’s mandate was larger than that covering the whole Europe (in the sense of the Council of Europe). Mr Tarasov said that in the present financial situation of his service it would be very difficult to increase the expenses. Mrs Nalecz pointed out that the problem should not be exaggarated: the extra payment would be a few hundred US dollars per country only.
The handling of this issue was ended by a vote concerning Mr Kammerhofer’s proposal concerning the coverage of Mr Cadell’s expenses. 36 members voted in favour of the proposal. One member voted against the proposal. There were no abstentions in the vote.
7. OTHER BUSINESS: Under this agenda item, Mrs Natalija Glazar presented a report on the international cooperation of the archives of Slovenia. There was no other business.