The UIC Executive Board -the high level body with a geographical representation of all “UIC regions”- met in Paris at the association’s headquarters on 5th March. According to the decision adopted by the General Assembly on 5th December 2008 in Paris, the mandate and composition of the Executive Board as during the 2007-2008 period was extended until 31st March 2009 in order to enable this UIC body to finalise the work of strategic importance of proposing to the General Assembly revised statutes and governance rules.
The meeting was chaired by UIC Chairman (until 31st March) Mr Kalyan Coomar Jena (Chairman Indian Railways Board) and Vice chaired by Mr Guillaume Pepy (President of SNCF) and all ‘UIC Regions’ were represented. Among the Presidents or CEOs attending, let us mention Mr S.S. Khurrana (appointed new Chairman Indian Railways Board), Hartmut Mehdorn (President DB and UIC Europe), Bert Klerk (ProRail, The Netherlands), Zbigniew Szafranski (PKP PLK), Mr Abdelaziz Chaabane (SNCFT, Tunesia), Henri Yobo Gosse (SIPF, Ivory Coast).
For UIC Management attended: Me Béatrice Dunogué-Gaffié, UIC Provisional Administrator, Luc Aliadière, Chief Executive and Vipin Sharma, Deputy Chief Executive;
The central topic on the agenda of the Executive Board was the preparation of the proposals to be submitted for approval to the next UIC General Assembly that will take place on 31st March.
The main issue was of course to examine and discuss the two sets of draft Statutes sent on one hand on behalf of the European members, on the other hand on behalf of the members of the other “UIC regions”, according to the conclusions adopted by the UIC Statutes Revision Group -chaired by the UIC Provisional Administrator Me Dunogué-Gaffié- at its meeting on 12-13 February. These two proposals of revised UIC Statutes were received at UIC on 17th February and circulated in due time to all Executive Board members on 18th February.
The discussion and comparison of the two sets of proposed statutes provided an opportunity for Executive Board members to express their views in a lively debate with convergences on a series of principles and remaining diverging views on a number of issues:
– UIC bodies and organisms,
– the Executive Board vs Steering Committee (voting rules and powers),
– the powers of the Director General of Services (DGS) who will bear the full responsibility for managing the association,
– the role and powers of Regional Assemblies (appointment of Regional director, rules for ‘buying’ services to the UIC headquarters, etc.),
– financial issues, fees and contributions,
– the list of amendments to be proposed to the General Assembly, in order to introduce an element of universal suffrage in the decision making process in addition to the generally-applicable proportional voting system (unanimously confirmed by the General Assembly in December),
– working modalities for UIC working bodies: platforms and forums, special groups,
– the management of the “Solidarity Fund”, the principle of which was proposed by Mr Yoshio Ishida (EJR) at last General Assembly in Paris and unanimously approved by all members as a mean of encouraging cooperation activities potentially benefiting to the entire railways community.
Relating to the process for appointment of the UIC Director General of Services (DGS), it is decided that a Working Group under chairmanship of Mr Ishio Ishida (appointed UIC Chairman), and made various representatives from “UIC Regions” would meet before the next General Assembly to review candidatures and propose the decision to be adopted by General Assembly.
The UIC Executive Board examined the draft budget for UIC in 2009 to be submitted for decision to the General Assembly on 31st March.
As the next General Assembly is going to formally establish the new governance rules for UIC and so to have a determining influence on the future of UIC as an association, the UIC Provisional Administrator Me Béatrice Dunogué-Gaffié, in application of the mandate given by the Paris court, will formally invite all UIC members to attend the General Assembly and decide on the two versions of the draft Statutes submitted.
