During the 6th EUFOS Congress, a number of administrative meetings took place, among them the General Assembly of the EAORL-HNS on July 1st, 2007.

Presidential Welcome

In his opening comments, Prof. Klaus Jahnke told participants about the general opinion that EUFOS and EAORL-HNS, which have worked together very hard for this conference, should merge in the future. “It is important to speak with one voice,” he stresses.

He continued, explaining that EUFOS and EAORL-HNS should come together to define their goals and duties, adapt their constitutions to create a common one, which should soon lead to a common website, a common secretariat, etc.

A letter of intent regarding a merge, written on behalf of the EAORL-HNS Executive Committee and supported by Prof. Heinz Stammberger, Prof. Jan Olofsson and Prof. Peter Clement, was signed by Prof. Klaus Jahnke during the EAORL-HNS Executive Committee meeting on February 18, 2007 and sent to the President of EUFOS. This letter of intent was approved by EUFOS Executive Committee in Brussels on February 24, 2007.

After a discussion on how quickly such a merge should take place and who should work on the new bylaws, the Assembly was asked for a vote of confidence whether or not the merging process should be started immediately. All delegates present except one raise their hands in agreement, so it was approved to start the merging process as soon as possible.

Report of the General Secretary

In his report, General Secretary Prof. Jacques Magnan explained the EAORL-HNS voting system. All in all, there are 25 votes, distributed in the following manner: EUFOS has 3 votes, the other founding members of the EAORL-HNS (UEMS, EAONO, ERS, ELS and EHNS) each have two votes, as does EAFPS. All other members have one vote.

All societies are encouraged to send information on courses, congresses and events to the website to try to get a complete event calendar, which has become a popular feature of the EAORL-HNS homepage, www.eaorl-hns.org.

In his closing statement, Prof. Magnan stressed his belief that the misunderstandings between EAORL-HNS and EUFOS are a thing of the past and that co-operation should run smoothly from now on.

Vote for a new General Secretary

As Prof. Magnan had decided to step down as General Secretary of the EAORL-HNS, a new member with profound knowledge of the EAORL-HNS should replace him. Prof. Marc Remacle (ELS) was proposed as a candidate by Prof. Jahnke. Since there are no other candidacies, the voting takes place right away and Prof. Remacle is unanimously elected as the new General Secretary of EAORL-HNS for the next 4 years.

According to the bylaws, the General Secretary and the Treasurer may be re-elected for another 4 years, but not the President. As both the society’s President and Treasurer will step down in Mannheim in June 2009, the assembly was asked to think about possible candidates.

Report of the Treasurer

In his report, Prof. Bernal-Sprekelsen informed the assembly that there have been few expenses in the past year, mainly bank fees and remuneration for the society’s webmaster. He reminds the delegates that according to the EAORL-HNS constitution, in order to be eligible to vote in the General Assembly, member societies need to have paid their membership fee.

1st EAORL-HNS Meeting, Mannheim June 2009

Prof. Karl Hörmann (EASM) made a presentation about the first EAORL-HNS Meeting, due to take place in Mannheim from June 27-30, 2009. As he pointed out, special care was taken to avoid any conflict or overlap regarding timing or scientific content with the XIX IFOS World Congress in 2009 in Sao Paulo. In addition, ELS offered to join the congress as they had previously planned a meeting in Heidelberg.

He then introduced a project called the Young Excellence Support Group in ORL (YeorlSG) and asked for cooperation with this foundation intended to support young doctors. Prof. Ingo Herrmann (EGDG) explained that a foundation should be created and a pilot study should be presented in Mannheim as well.

Prof. Carel Verwoerd (ESPO) responded by describing actions taken in The Netherlands regarding help for young doctors, and suggested an Instructional Course in this field to be scheduled for Mannheim. Subsequently, Prof. Jahnke proposed Carel Verwoerd to lead this instructional course.

Co-optive membership of MSOA

The MSOA (Mediterranean Society of Otology and Audiology) was presented by its current President, Prof. Nuri Özgirgin. After confirmation that its constitution had been officially registered, as required by the EAORL-HNS bylaws, the MSOA was unanimously approved as a co-opted member.

Closing Remarks

Prof. Jahnke thanked the assembly and closed the meeting with words of gratitude for Jacques Magnan for his excellent work over the past years.