General assembly of FSFE Free Software Foundation Europe Sumatrastrasse 25 8006 Zürich Switzerland Saturday, June 7th 2008. 15:47 Opening by the Chair. By invitation sent on March 3rd 2008 we have come together for the general assembly in Zurich on Saturday June 7th, 2008. Members attending the Assembly: Shane Couglan Georg Greve [Chair] Matthias Kirschner Reinhard Müller Jonas Öberg Bernhard Reiter Henrik Sandklef Members not attending: Gareth Bowker Werner Koch (Werner Koch assigned his vote to Henrik Sandklef by signed email to the President) Guests: Irina Dzhambazova Ciarán O'Riordan [Minutes] Agenda: 1. Greeting 2. Determination of resolutionability 3. Approval of protocol of general assembly held Saturday, June 30th 2007 at FSFE Brussels Office, Rue Michel Ange 68, Brussels 1000, Belgium 4. Confirmation of parting member(s): Stefano Maffulli 5. Membership confirmation of new member(s): Shane Coughlan 6. Report of Extended Executive Committee 7. Structural review of FSFE 8. Miscellaneous 9. Closing Re 1. Greeting The Chair welcomes all to the GA. Re 2. Determination of resolutionability 7 of 9 members are present. Werner Koch has assigned his vote to Henrik Sandklef. With an orderly invitation and 8 of 9 members represented, the Chair declares the general assembly to be resolutionable. The Chair asks for changes to the Agenda, none requested. The Agenda is thus adopted. Re 3. Approval of protocol of general assembly held Saturday, June 30th 2007 at FSFE Brussels Office, Rue Michel Ange 68, Brussels 1000, Belgium The Chair reads out protocol of previous general assembly for confirmation, notes that trivial typos exist. No secret vote is requested. Shane Coughlan declares intention to abstain, should he have a vote, since he was an observer at that general assembly and hasn't yet been confirmed. Result: 7 for, 0 against, 1 abstention. Re 4. Confirmation of parting member(s) The Chair informs the general assembly that Stefano Maffulli tendered his resignation and that the resignation has been accepted. Re 5. Membership confirmation of new member(s) The Chair notes that Shane Coughlan applied for membership. The application was passingly granted and requires confirmation by the general assembly. No secret vote is requested. Result: 7 for, 0 against, 1 abstention. The Chair declares Shane Coughlan confirmed as a member of FSFE and once more welcomes him to the general assembly. Re 6. Report of Extended Executive Committee The Chair notes that the year has included difficult times, that managing the finances required particular work, but that the finances are now under control. It is noted that the media coordinator had to be let go despite being clearly committed and having done valuable hard work. It is noted that we would like to maintain a working relationship with him. Bernhard Reiter is thanked for his help in closing discussions with the media coordinator. The Freedom Task Force (FTF) is noted for having contributed greatly to improving FSFE's overall status and the implementation of the strategy decided upon at the 2006 GA in Manchester. Matthias Kirschner is thanked for having taken over and stabilised the Fellowship. He is also thanked for his outstanding work on Document Freedom Day (DFD). It is noted that DFD helped build links with the Serbian team and that the Fellowship will need more human resources in the future. It is noted that good work was done on EU policy and by the German team. It is noted that OOXML took a lot of FSFE's effort, and that FSFE's work in that campaign has been useful and is ongoing. FSFE has done good work in SELF, on legal and substantial issues. Turbulence has been encountered. FSFE's participation has worked to clarify conflicts of interest. More turbulence is quite possible before the July close of the project. The STACS project, on the other hand, is quite problem-free. Workshops have been organised in London and Belgrade, with positive feedback. The Head of Office (HoO) Reinhard Müller presents the finances and notes that monthly reports are now being made. It is reported that, in general, there are no financial or cashflow problems in the foreseeable future. Large donations and the FTF are thanked for contributing to this situation. Re 7. Structural review of FSFE Based on decisions taken at the previous assembly, discussion documents and draft amendments to the constitution were circulated on or before May 27th 2008. These served as the basis for extensive discussions on the previous day, which included all members present for the general assembly minus Henrik Sandklef. All members of the general assembly were given printouts of both the old and draft constitution, which was based on the discussions of the previous day. These printouts were carefully reviewed by all present members in the hours before the opening of the general assembly. Changes fall into two sets: a) Constitutional changes for Executive Director, including a reform of the Executive Committee, Extended Executive Committee and Head of Office, which are transformed into President, Vice-President, Executive Council and Financial Officer. b) Constitutional changes for adding Fellowship seats to the General Assembly, allowing a general election among FSFE's Fellowship programme for two alternating two-year seats in FSFE's assembly. On suggestion of the Chair, the sets are voted upon separately. On change set a, the introduction of an Executive Director. No secret vote is requested. Result: 7 for, 0 against, 1 abstention. The Chair declares the amendment has achieved the necessary majority of more than three quarters of valid votes. On change set b, the introduction of Fellowship seats to the GA. No secret vote is requested. Result: 8 for, 0 against, 0 abstentions. The Chair declares the amendment has achieved the necessary majority of more than three quarters of valid votes. The Chair declares that both constitutional changes have achieved sufficient majority and are thus adopted and that the assembly will need to decide upon several transition items for the new structure. Transition item #1: The Financial Officer position was created through transition of the Head of Office. The Chair proposes that Reinhard Müller stay on as Financial Officer and that a transformation of roles takes place so that he will be exonerated at the next general assembly for his work as Head of Office and Financial Officer. No secret vote is requested. Result: 8 for, 0 against, 0 abstentions. Transition item #2: The Chair proposes that pending the filling of the position of Executive Director the distribution of tasks among President, Vice-President and Financial Officer should remain as-is. No secret vote is requested. Result: 8 for, 0 against, 0 abstentions. Transition item #3: The Chair proposes that one Fellowship seat should be filled in time to have a Fellow at the next GA. Election for the 2nd seat will take place approximately one calendar year later. No secret vote is requested. Result: 8 for, 0 against, 0 abstentions. Transition item #4: Bernhard Reiter proposes that while the general assembly does not foresee any conflict between the approved constitutional amendments and requirements of the tax authorities, if minor changes to the constitutional amendments are needed in order to remain compliant with tax requirements and requirements of being a non-profit, the Executive Council be authorised to make such changes. No secret vote is requested. Result: 8 for, 0 against, 0 abstentions. Agenda item #7 is declared completed. Re 8. Miscellaneous Bernhard Reiter thanks the President and the EEC for their hard work throughout the year. The Chair asks for other miscellaneous items. None are proposed. Re 9. Closing The GA is officially closed at 17:54. Ciarán O'Riordan Georg C. F. Greve [minutes] [chair]