Alzheimer Europe holds its Annual General Meeting

Thursday 30 September 2010

The Alzheimer Europe Board met in the morning of 30 September to prepare for the Annual General Meeting which was held the same day. At the Annual General meeting:

1. The Honorary Secretary, Sigurd Sparr, reflected that the 2009 Annual Report had an unprecedented list of successful outcomes, including the:

• ongoing campaign to make dementia a European priority (with nearly 60% of MEPs giving their support in 2009 to Written Declaration 80/2008 on the political priorities in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease),
• membership involvement in the exchange of information regarding the European Commission’s joint programming discussions,
• launch of Alzheimer Europe’s updated website, which integrates Alzheimer Europe’s conference website,
• two well-attended lunch debates in the European Parliament,
• publication of the 2009 Dementia in Europe Yearbook and two Dementia in Europe magazines,
• launch of the Dementia Ethics Network and the
• continued development of our policy work and strategic partnerships

2. The Honorary Treasuer, Heike von Lützau-Holhlbein, gave an overview of the financial report for 2009, saying that there had been a stable increase of income and that it had been necessary to adapt Alzheimer Europe’s budget to address the lack of EU funding during 2009. She extended special thanks to sponsors who had supported Alzheimer Europe through 2009.

3. The representatives of 22 Alzheimer Europe member organisations voted in the new Board, which will have its mandate for a period of two years. The 2010-2012 Board members are:

Executive members:

Heike von Lützau-Holhlbein, Germany (Chairperson)

Iva Holmerová, Czech Republic (Vice-Chairperson)

Maria do Rosário Zincke dos Reis, Portugal (Honorary Treasurer) and

Sigurd Sparr, Norway (Honorary Secretary)

Ordinary members:

Alicja Sadowska, Poland

Charles Scerri, Malta

Henry Simmons, UK (Scotland)

Liane Kadusch-Roth, Luxembourg

Maurice O’Connell, Ireland

Patrick Maugard, France

Sabine Henry, Belgium and

Sirpa Pietikäinen, Finland

The newly-elected Chairperson, Heike von Lützau-Holhlbein, thanked the outgoing Board members, in particular she thanked Maurice O’Connell, Sigurd Sparr and Sabine Henry for their contribution to the Executive Board and also Pekka Laine (Finland) who is retiring from the Board for his long service .

4. Discussed membership applications and welcomed a new provisional member from Italy, Alzheimer Uniti.

5. Reviewed the 2010 workplan, noting that by the end of this year Alzheimer Europe will publish a report on Assistive Technology, a 2010 Dementia in Europe Yearbook on proxy decision making and legal capacity as well as another Dementia in Europe magazine.

6. The Executive Director, Jean Georges, presented the members’ survey. Predominantly, the feedback received vindicated the work which Alzheimer Europe has carried out and will help guide future workplans. A draft Strategic Plan (2011-2015) was presented to the members who supported the general direction of the organisation in the future.