Minutes of the General Assembly,
University of Cambridge
West Road 7
Department of Politics and International Studies
Room G 2
17 October 2015 – 14 H. 30
Professor John Keiger, President of the Association, welcomed the members present and evoked the memory of Jacques Bariéty, President of the Association from 1983 to 2010, who died in 2014. He then referred to the conservation of the AIHCE archives in the possession of Mr. Bariéty by the Quai d’Orsay Diplomatic Archives housed at La Courneuve. Following a request by the services of the Archives on the modalities of the consultation, the President sought the opinion of the General Assembly. It was decided to make the AIHCE archives available for consultation, provided that such a request is addressed to the President of the AIHCE.
Professor John Keiger then moved to item 1 of the agenda.
1 – Overview of activities
The Chair detailed:
- The Munich meeting in January 2011, at the invitation of Prof. Horst MÖLLER from the Institut für The meeting was accompanied by a symposium on French foreign policy in the Cold War.
- A meeting in 2012 in Strasbourg about problems relating to the transfer of the Association’s bank accounts from LCL to La Banque Postale
- A meeting in Paris in 2014, between the president, the treasurer and the general secretary to consider the settlement of financial issues and to discuss AIHCE future projects.This was followed in January 2015 by a further meeting of the president and the treasurer about the change of bank.
- A meeting of the executive committee on March 12 2015, in Paris discussed the future projects of the Association and prepared the GA in Cambridge
He then presented the scientific activities and emphasized the publication of both the proceedings of the Amsterdam Symposium (under the direction of Profs. Fleury, Kovacs, Schramm and Knipping), and the proceedings of Luxembourg (under the direction of Charles Barthel). These proceedings were published in the collection of the Association “Europe and the Europes”, Peter Lang. Two scientific events were held in Munich in January 2011 and Cambridge in October 2015. The latter event will lead to publication in the collection of the Association.
He then highlighted the work of website renovation undertaken by Frédéric Clavert (Lecturer at Lausanne), whose responsiveness and competence he praised. We thus have a suitable website. It is now time to populate it.
Finally the president explained his development of contacts with the Association of young researchers in European history (RICHIE) and notably Christian Wenkel. Regular meetings have taken place to link both assoications’ websites, to consider the integration of RICHIE members into the AIHCE and its activities. This cooperation has resulted in the election of RICHIE representatives to the executive committee of the AIHCE.
2 – Financial Review
The floor was then given to Professor Chantal Metzger, Treasurer of the Association. She recalled the difficulties related to the change of banks and set out the financial situation. She distributed to the members present a financial statement. It is attached to these minutes.
On October 14th, 2015:
- Savings account: 21 000 Euros
- Current account: 92 Euros
She then raised the question of the cost of subscriptions. It was proposed to renew these at the following levels:
- 30 Euros for one year, and 50 Euros for two, per member
- 20 Euros for one year, and 30 Euros for two, for students, doctoral students, post-docs
It was also decided that contributions would not be taken for 2015, given the lack of activities, but begin from 2016.
3 – Acceptance of the Treasurer’s review of financial accounts
The General Assembly unanimously voted through the Treasurer’s presentation of the accounts.
4 – Renewal of Executive Committee
A number of members of the board did not stand for re-election: Profs. Franz Knipping, Horst Möller, Ion Bulei, Dusan Kovacs, Charles Barthel, and Jean-François Fayet. The other officers remained candidates for their succession: John Keiger, Chantal Metzger, Bruna Bagnato, Evgenia Obitchina Christine Manigand, Thomas Schramm, Frank Hadler, Jean-François Eck and Sylvain Schirmann.
Three colleagues sent letters of candidacy: Emmanuel MOURLON-DRUOL (University of Glasgow), Frédéric Clavert (University of Lausanne) and Gjergely Fejérdy (University of Budapest).
A debate took place on the absence of representatives from some European areas and of historians of Europe based outside Europe. It was decided that the Executive Committee should proceed by co-option to expand the committee to include colleagues in these areas. Contacts are to be made with colleagues working on areas from Central and Eastern Europe to the Iberian Peninsula, Scandinavia and to non-European colleagues. Prof Frank Hadler intends to sound out colleagues from Central and Eastern Europe. Suggestions were made for Spain (Munez, St Jacques de Compostela) and Portugal (José Magone). The next board meeting will take stock of these contacts and make the decision to welcome new entrants.
Following open discussion the GA passed to a vote on the renewal of officers of the Association. Are renewed unanimously the nominees listed here: Keiger J., C. Metzger, B. Bagnato, Manigand C., E. Obitchina, T. Schramm, F. Hadler, JF Eck, S. Schirmann. Were unanimously elected for the first time to the board: E. Mourlon-Druol, Clavert F., G. Fejérdy
The newly elected board then allocated functions. Are appointed as follows:
- John Keiger, President of the AIHCE
- SCHRAMM Thomas, Vice-President of the AIHCE
- Chantal METZGER, Treasurer of the Association
- Sylvain SCHIRMANN, Secretary General
- Frédéric Clavert, Deputy Secretary General
- Christine MANIGAND, Publications Manager
5 – Subscriptions
See point 2 above.
6 – Projects and prospects
The officers wished to establish the minimum of an annual meeting of the executive committee. This could take place in an easily accessible city (capital cities, eg London, Brussels, Berlin, Paris, etc.).
Three important points were raised:
- The visibilityof the association: for activities (seminars, workshops or conferences), it is important to enter into a logic of cooperation with other organizations of historians. We need to develop convergence and synergies with associations of young researchers; and with certain national committees of the ICHS (International Congress of Historical Sciences). In this respect, links with RICHIE should be cemented, such as joint sessions at international conferences, including at their own conference in Budapest.
- Developing convergence makes sense in view of the ICHS Congress inAugust 2020 in Poznan, Poland. Prof Schramm, Vice-President of the AIHCE, is one of the anchors of this congress. The general theme is focused on Central Europe. The association should be present at this congress in line with the theme, which could be the subject of a symposium. It is therefore necessary to establish within the next 2 years an idea of what – and who – we want to participate in Poznan. A schedule is therefore needed: in 2016, we should agree on our proposals; in 2017, we should send details of our proposals to ICHS, following the meeting of the ICHS in Moscow. This assumes we should renew our affiliation to the ICHS.
- The Doctoral prize: the board wishes to create a Doctoral Prize (see meeting of 12 March 2015).The discussion at the GA revealed the material difficulties in the implementation of that prize: the prize languages, the procedure, staffing, and rules. The secretary general is charged with writing a note on this issue, identifying all difficulties and outlining a possible process. This note will serve as a starting point for a discussion on this point at the next board meeting.
- Any other business evoked the prospect of a symposium in 2018, for the 50 years of the Association.
In conclusion all participants stressed the need for the renewal of activities to continue and to be on a regular basis.
Professor John Keiger, president of the Association, having confirmed that all items on the agenda had been discussed thanked those present and closed the General Assembly of the AIHCE at 1600 hours.