New FIVA president
Patrick Rollet has been elected as the new president of the Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens (FIVA). Delegates from 54 countries gathered from November 14-16 November 2013 in Split, Croatia to attend FIVA Commission meetings and the General Assembly. FIVA has the declared objective of preserving the rights of its member organisations around the globe.
The main item of business at the event was the election of the new President. Out of four candidates, Patrick Rollet, was elected for the next three years. He succeeds Horst Brüning, who will be remembered as the president who globalised FIVA with the recruitment of countries such as the USA, Canada, China, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. Serbia has been the most recent nation to join FIVA. Consequentially, 64 countries are now members of this worldwide organization which represents more than 1.5 million individual historic vehicle enthusiasts.
FIVA was incorporated in 1966 and has determined that it needs a more modern and professional structure for the future. Members accepted the plan for this presented by Bernhard Kaluzza, who proposed a completely new FIVA structure to take effect from the next General Assembly meeting in 2014.
On the political side, FIVA has reinforced its legislative action this year and has successfully lobbied the European Parliament to include an amendment to the new Roadworthiness Testing Directive.
The Legislation Commission, chaired by Tiddo Bresters, is preparing to carry out a new Socio-Economic Research Project, which will be launched in March 2014. The last survey organized by FIVA was in 2006 and needs to be updated.
FIVA wants to promote itself as a cultural organisation and therefore seeks recognition from UNESCO as an INGO (International NonGovernmental Organization). This is the next step after the creation of the Charter of Turin presented earlier this year in Stuttgart. A working Group is pursuing this objective.
The General Assembly thanked Tony Davies, who for the past six years has held the challenging portfolio of Trade and Skills. He has carried out surveys and lobbied other FIVA members to take action in preserving the traditional skills, restoring, repairing and archiving all aspects related to the historic vehicle movement. His successor is Jos Theuns, who was a member of the working group and he will continue to build on the foundations Tony laid.
The Events Commission of FIVA, chaired by George Ioannides, is considering the future of events. Due to the economical situation in most countries, fewer events are being placed on the FIVA Events Calendar.
Carlos Scosceria, Director of South America, reported on the excellent cooperation between the countries in this part of the world. He has piloted the model of having FIVA ambassadors covering a region and in the near future, FIVA will replicate this model, appointing ambassadors for Asia and the Middle East.
There were many positive outcomes from the 2013 General Assembly and the new FIVA President Patrick Rollet closed the international assembly expressing his intention to lead FIVA into the future as a truly professional organisation.