On Saturday, February 10, 2024, during the jubilee XV State Beekeeping Fair, the European Beekeeping Association was founded in Belgrade.
By the day of the Founding Assembly session, 26 European beekeeping associations had joined the European Beekeeping Association (EBA).
18 of them were able to physically attend the founding Assembly, and we also had 2 observers from Germany and Ukraine.
The following representatives of their associations attended:
Boštjan Noč, Beekeeping Association of Slovenia
Peter Bross, Hungarian Beekeeping Association
Jorge Spiteri, Malta Beekeepers Association
Paul Boyle, Federation of Irish Beekeepers Association
Stephen Barnes, British Beekeepers Association
Valentine Hodges, Ulster Beekeepers Association, United Kingdom
Urška Intihar, Expert Association of Professional Beekeepers of Slovenia
Radule Miljanić, Union of Beekeeping Organizations of Montenegro
Jurgen Binder, New Beekeeping Association of Germany
Mihail Vasilev Mihajlov, United Bulgarian Beekeeping Association
Juozas Olekas, Lithuanian Beekeepers Association
Mende Trajkovski, Union of Beekeepers Associations of North Macedonia
Damir Barašin, Union of Beekeepers Associations of the Republic of Srpska
Razvan Coman, Romanian Beekeeping Association
Tetyana Vasylkivska, Non-Govermental Brotherhood of Ukrainian Beekeepers
Plamen Ivanov, National Bee Branch Association of Bulgaria
Viros Kyriakos, Association of Greek Bioapiarists
Rodoljub Živadinović, Serbian Federation of Beekeeping Organizations
Observers who are allowed full participation in the Assembly but without the right to vote:
Ellmann Torsten, Deutscher Imkerbund e.V.
Andrii Bazhyn, Union of Beekeepers of Ukraine
The Assembly was led by Biljana Tomić, technical secretary of the EBA from the initiative committee for the establishment of the EBA.
The Founding Assembly was attended by Mrs. Karin Rau (GIZ project manager, Support for Diversification of Economic Activities in Rural Areas of Southeast Europe SEDRA II) and Irena Džimrevska, both from the Macedonian GIZ, without whose support we would not have been able to organize the Founding Assembly at such a high level.
Mrs. Karin Rau addressed the delegates at the Founding Assembly and encouraged them in their joint struggle for the proclaimed goals. She spoke very inspired and responsible, for which we especially thank her. She emphasized counterfeit honey as our biggest problem and expressed hope that we will succeed in our fight to regulate the market.
The second keynote speaker at the Founding Assembly was Boštjan Noč, president of the Beekeeping Association of Slovenia and the initiator of the establishment of the EBA, who spoke about the motives for this idea, and mostly about counterfeit honey as a dominant problem.
The third keynote speaker was the president of SPOS, who welcomed the guests from numerous countries, and emphasized the importance of achieving the proclaimed goals for the future of global beekeeping, which is seriously threatened.
Then the Chairman of the Founding Assembly, SPOS President Rodoljub Živadinović from Serbia, was elected, who led the session according to the predetermined agenda.
Although the goals were long established, they were once again discussed, and some changes were added to the draft Statute. In the end, the statute was adopted in its final form, and a decision was made that the beekeeping associations have 30 days to confirm it at their statutorily competent bodies and to inform the EBA about it. As soon as the last alliance confirms the final version of the Statute, whenever that may be, the elections for the leadership of the alliance are announced on the same day.
Namely, at the Founding Assembly, the temporary leadership (which would work until the election of the leadership) was not elected, because there were not enough candidates.
Boštjan Noč from Slovenia was nominated for president with 7 candidacies, but he explicitly refused the candidacy. For 5 members of the Executive Board, only three candidacies arrived: Tetyana Vasylkivska from Ukraine (1 candidacy), Peter Bross from Hungary (2 candidacies), Rodoljub Živadinović from Serbia (3 candidacies). Biljana Tomić from Serbia was nominated for EBA secretary general (4 candidacies). Spaso Popović from Montenegro (1 candidacy) and Mende Trajkovski from North Macedonia (1 candidacy) were candidates for the Supervisory Board.
After the discussion, it was decided to form a working body with all the powers of the president and the Executive Board of 5 members, which will manage the European Beekeeping Association for the next month or two, until the election of the leadership. All delegates have undertaken to find candidates who want to work, that is, give their heart to the activities that follow us, and soon we will get leadership.
The selected temporary five-member working body included:
Boštjan Noč from Slovenia
Juozas Olekas from Lithuania
Plamen Ivanov from Bulgaria
Biljana Tomic from Serbia
Rodoljub Živadinović from Serbia
Slovenia was unanimously chosen as the seat of the EBA.
The layout of the EBA logo and flag has been determined.
The amount of the annual membership fee for beekeeping organizations has been determined according to the number of member beekeepers who have:
Up to 500 members: 350 euros
Up to 1000 members: 500 euros
Over 1000 members: 1000 euros
Most of the discussion was about the membership fee, and the least about the upcoming ways of working. This confirmed once again that all the beekeepers of the world are similar and that they have the same problems, i.e. that they have no money.
In the Statute, you will find the main objectives of the EBA in Article 6:
Article 6.
6.1. Implementation of continuous activities in the fight against counterfeit honey in Europe, through the protection and strengthening of the European consumer, in order to prevent consumer fraud and threats to producers – beekeepers from European countries. Work towards the establishment of a uniform procedure for the detection of forgeries throughout Europe. Work on establishing a reference European laboratory for honey. Work on the promotion of all bee products;
6.2. Establishment of a unique agro-ecological program of measures on the territory of Europe aimed at agro-ecological payments – incentives per beehive as compensation for the pollinating role of bees in maintaining ecological balance, biological diversity and food production in Europe;
6.3. Undertaking strategies to protect the health and repopulation of bee colonies in Europe, through agro-ecological measures, all with the aim of reducing the mortality of bee colonies through cooperation between beekeepers, farmers, veterinarians and interested persons from the sphere of agriculture and science, through the exchange of experiences and knowledge, mutually learning about spraying periods and other applications of insecticides and pesticides, disease prevention and control, proper handling of medicines for bees;
At the end of the Founding Assembly, we symbolically celebrated the establishment of EBA with guests from abroad with honey champagne produced by the family of Dejan and Nemanja Milošević from Požarevac, and we thank them for this opportunity.
We also express our gratitude to all beekeeping organizations who, with their good will, were able to send their representatives to the EBA Founding Assembly! Let’s hope that our efforts will bear fruit as soon as possible.