New Board for a new era at IFOAM EU

The organic sector is calling for a new era, Organic 3.0, at BioFach this year - calling for and exploring the conditions for the sector’s future development. In Europe, IFOAM EU has been actively leading the sector in the call for a new European Organic Action Plan and in providing input to the regulation review process launched by the European Commission in 2012, with a new draft regulation expected to be published in March. A strong mandate is needed to lead these ambitious processes.
 

IFOAM EU is has announced that IFOAM EU members turned out in high numbers for an extraordinary general assembly, with 25 countries and 112 members represented. A key point on the agenda was the election of a new board, which follows a structural change approved by last year’s general assembly. IFOAM EU is now governed by a two chamber system with the first chamber being the board elected by the general assembly and the second-chamber being representatives elected amongst IFOAM EU members in a given country.
 
The members of the new board are: 
 
President: Christopher Stopes, EcoS Consultancy, United Kingdom
Vice President for Regulation: Sabine Eigenschink, Austria Bio Garantie, Austria
Vice President for Policy: Thomas Fertl, Bio Austria
Treasurer: José Luis García Melgarejo, Ecovalia, Spain
Dominique Marion, FNAB, France
Jan Plagge, Bioland e.V., Germany
Aira Sevón, Finnish Organic Association - Luomuliitto Ry, Finland
Albena Simeonova, Bulgarian Organic Products Association, Bulgaria
Bavo van den Idsert, Bionext, Netherlands
 
The sector, regional and gender representation criteria were all met with in the first round of voting and the new board includes representatives from countries where the organic sector is still in the early stages of development. More information is available from IFOAM EU Group