Congress votes on motions relating to EHF statutes

Motions relating to the statutes of the EHF were in the focus of the EHF Congress on Friday afternoon as the member federations agreed to a number of changes that will be now be implemented.

The first motion that received the Congress' approval was a motion by the EHF regarding a separation of functions.

The EHF had put forward the motion that there should be clear separation of functions for those holding top office within the EHF (president, vice president and treasurer) due to the scale and responsibilities attached to these positions and also to avoid conflict of interests.

The proposal said that those elected to these three core positions within the EHF should not hold related positions in their national federations at the same time, and should withdraw from these positions upon election to the EHF.

The motion was agreed upon with a majority of 78,3 per cent of votes.

The Congress also approved the EHF's motions regarding the term of election for board members, a motion regarding the election of the member for club competitions within the Competition Commission and a motion regarding the increase of members for the Court of Handball.

The EHF proposed that the election term for boards and committees, notably the Professional Handball Board, Women's Handball Board and EHF Nations Board, should be brought into line with the four-year election cycle of other EHF bodies.

This motion received 81,4 per cent of all votes and it means that elections for a four-year period will be held in 2016.

The EHF also proposed in order to optimise representation of stakeholder interests, and in line with bodies such as the Professional Handball Board, that the member representing club competitions within the Competitions Commission should be elected and nominated by the group recognised by the EHF as representing the clubs participating in EHF competitions rather than by Congress.

This motion received 75,7 per cent of all votes.

The next motion by the EHF addressed the large workload of the EHF Court of Handball. To ensure better neutrality in the composition of its panels, it was proposed to extend the number of additional members from five to six.

91,1 per cent of the federations voted in favour of this motion.

Earlier the EHF had withdrawn its motion on rules for previous holders of top positions within the EHF.

The EHF had proposed that those officials who serve for the maximum three terms of office should not then be able to hold a lower funtion within the EHF, given the possible destabilising effect and questions that can arise regarding competence and responsibility from such a situation.

Norway and Austria withdraw their motions

At the beginning of the discussion about motions relating to EHF statutes the Austrian Handball Federation (ÖHB) also withdrew their motion regarding the age limit for elections.

It had been proposed that the age limit for election to the EHF Executive Committee, which currently states that an executive committee member shall not have attained the age of 68 at the time of election or re-election, should be removed.

However, ÖHB President Gerhard Hofbauer in a short speech to the Congress said that a discussion involving all member federations should start after the congress to find the right people with both capacity and experience to shape the future of the EHF in the best possible way.

The Norwegian Handball Federation then withdrew their motion on promoting gender equality in handball as well.

The NHF had proposed that one additional vote should be granted to federations at a Congress where the delegation comprises members of both genders. In this case each member of the delegation should hold office within the national executive committee or a corresponding senior position (e.g. Secretary General).

Similar to the ÖHB's motion, former Norwegian player Else-Marthe Sorlie Lybekk (pictured above) played the ball back to the federations, saying that each of them should do everything possible to promote gender equality and to continue to include women in senior positions.