New statutes and a strategic development plan were approved at the European Canoe Association Extraordinary Congress in Antalya, Turkiye.
An eight-member working group prepared the new statutes which the ECA said considered the new circumstances and demands of modern sports organisations.
ECA President Jean Zoungrana was in the working group alongside ECA Board member Peter Karai, Canoeing Ireland Chief Executive Moira Aston, Danish Canoe Federation Secretary General Christian Jacobsen, Greece’s Alexandros Peratikos, Former Portuguese Canoe Federation President Vitor Felix, former Paddle UK Secretary General David Joy and former Dutch Canoe Federation President Ep Storming.
The proposed changes received the support of the ECA Board of Directors before being approved by delegates at the Extraordinary Congress on Saturday.
The ECA said the new statutes would help to improve its governance and work on the future development of canoeing in Europe.
“Today we have experienced a historic moment for the ECA with the adoption of the new statutes and a strategic development plan,” said Mr Zoungrana.
“The National Federations supported the proposals that were made by a large majority.
“This support of the federations is due both to the desire to give a new impetus to the ECA but also to the method of achieving it.
“Working groups were created and mobilised nearly 80 people from 20 different federations.
“Surveys have been carried out and the federations have been widely asked to give their opinions and these have been taken into account at each stage.
“The federations have been sensitive to this collective work and shared governance.
“I am deeply grateful for the work carried out by these working groups, for the commitment of the National Federations, and for the reflections also carried out within the framework of the ECA Board,”
Among the changes to the statutes are the emphasis of the ECA’s role in the organisation of championships, athlete’s wellbeing and relationships and responsibilities towards the ICF and other organisations.
Other changes include the membership in the ECA, such as eligibility, application, suspension and expulsion, as well as governance structure, establishing the Financial Committee and details about the running of Technical Committees.
“The new statutes having been adopted, so we now have to implement them,” said Zoungrana.
“This will lead us in the short term to create new sports commissions with five members where we had one to three members before, and to organise the representation of athletes within the ECA.
“In addition, in the medium term, there is the call for candidacy for the Ordinary Congress in March 2025 in order to fill the vacant positions and allow a greater consideration of gender equity issues with a minimum of members of the same gender or the election of a Vice President.
“Finally, these new statutes will allow us, at the end of the Congress in March 2025, to start implementing our development projects and our sports projects with an organisation adapted to our objectives.”
The Congress also saw the ECA present its strategic plan which was approved by delegates.
Consolidation of Europe’s presence at the Olympic and Paralympic Games and other multi-sport competition, developing paddle sports and strengthening cooperation between nations are among the aspirations outlined in the new plan.
“As far as the statutes are concerned, although a large majority was in favour of the proposals, there are still different sensitivities that have been expressed and brought other complementary points of view on gender equity, for example where we can still go further, as in some countries, or the structure of the ECA bodies,” added Zoungrana.
“For the development project, we mentioned for example the need to ensure that in our approaches we focus on sport for all, that we address all audiences, particularly those with physical and mental disabilities,.”
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