The EHF holds its General Assembly and Annual Conference
Brussels, 23 May 2017 – Humanists from all over Europe are coming home from Wroclaw, Poland where the EHF held its 2017 General Assembly on Friday followed by a two-days conference entitled Humanism and Rationalism: current challenges and ideas for the future.
During the General Assembly, members elected an entirely new Executive Board. Freshly elected President Giulio Ercolessi (Italy) emphasized the achievements of the former Board and warmly expressed the EHF’s gratitude its respect to former Board President Pierre Galand under whose presidency the organisation witnessed unprecedented development.
The new Board is composed of the following members:
- President: Giulio Ercolessi (Coord. Nazionale delle Consulte per la Laicità delle Istituzioni, Italy)
- Vice-President: Michael Bauer (Humanistischer Verband Deutschlands, Germany)
- Vice-President: Kaja Bryx (Polskie Stowarzyszenie Racjonalistów, Poland)
- Treasurer: Jean De Brueker (Centre d’Action Laïque, Belgium)
- Raluca Ciocian-Ardeleanu (Asocia?ia Secular-Umanist? din România, Romania)
- Véronique De Keyser (Centre d’Action Laïque, Belgium)
- Ineke de Vries (Humanistisch Verbond, Netherlands)
- Panayote Dimitras (Humanist Union of Greece, Greece)
- Patrik Lindenfors (Humanisterna, Sweden)
- David Lopez (La Ligue de l’Enseignement, France)
- Gordon MacRae (Humanist Society Scotland, UK)
- Lone Ree Milkaer (Humanistisk Samfund, Denmark)
- Adele Orioli (Unione degli Atei e degli Agnostici Razionalisti, Italy)
- Nada Peratovic (Center for Civil Courage, Croatia)
- Frank Stappaerts (deMens.nu, Belgium)
Saturday and Sunday were dedicated to our yearly conference co-organized by the EHF and its Polish member organisations, the Polish Rationalist Association and the Polish Humanist Association. Spread over two days, the conference gathered more than 100 participants and focussed on the following issues:
- Populism and Democracy in Europe: challenges and responses.
- The argument of political correctness and freedom of expression: where do Humanists stand?
- What does it mean to be European today? In search of a European identity
- Critical thinking in the digital era? Is smart technology making people smarter?
Passionate discussions allowed more than 100 humanists and rationalists to exchange their views, analysis, worries and hopes on these key questions shaping public debate in many of our European countries.