Minutes of the ENIL Board Meeting
Berlin, 5 May, 1997

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Present: John Evans, Adolf Ratzka, Regina Reichert, Bente Skansgaard,
Observers: Jamie Bolling Jos Huys, Uwe Frevert, Dorothea Brozek, Anne MacFarlane

Apologies: Manfred Zrb, Arthur O, Gordana Rajkov

1. Minutes of the last board meeting

1. Change Nr 2 in the Minutes by removing the first paragraph

2. Structure of ENIL, - flexible network, moves faster/more flexible but does not represent regions.

4. New Board Members

Jos Huys from Independent Living Vlaanderen Belgium was nominated by his organisation to become a Board member of ENIL. As some ENIL board members cannot always go to meetings in Brussels, it is very useful for him to be a member as he is based in Brussels. It was agreed that Jos be nominated as a Board member at the next General Assembly.

5. General Update

Applications still to be sent out to new members

(a) Criteria: It was pointed out by Rachel Hurst that we were excluding organisations joining because the criteria was that organisations had to be controlled by over 9004 disabled people. It was pointed out that this was not accurate and was not in the ENIL Statutes. In the Bylaws of ENIL it states that organisations must be run and controlled by disabled people and new organisations must submit their constitution first before becoming members so that they can fulfill ENIL criteria.

(b) Fee: The fee of £5 individual membership is too low and un-econmical as to casb the cheque would cost more than the fee. It was agreed that the fees would be ECU 50 for local organisations and ECU1OO for national organisations. Individuals would be free.

6. ENIL and the European Disability Forum

Due to ill health John was unable to attend the first General Assembly of the EDF in Brussels in March but be managed to find Jos to replace him at late notice. ENIL was officially accepted as a new rnemher of the EDF and we have been informed that we will not be able to officially be EDF Hoard members until October/November.

ENIL's interest is to be a Board member of the EDF as this is the main decision makin8 body on disability issues in the EU. There are four new positions now in the EDF and Nicola Bedlington has become rhe Director. Whilst we have a lot of respect for Nicola Bedlington and the work she has done, we were still disappointed that the first director of the EDF is not a disabled person.
EDF is not as progressive as would like it to be due to the traditional members who are still involved. These are organisations run by non-disabled people. ENIL must convince EDF of the need for organisations run by disabled people to access Rinds. This is now part of its statutes.

7. Non-discrimination Clause in the EU Trcaty

The Irish disability movement worked hard in getting a non-discrimination clause introduced into the EU treaty. This is just the beginning. It could be vetoed and taken out by the Dutch government who are now holding the presidency, as they have already done this once. Thanks to the lobbying work of EDF and other Dutch organisations it has now been re-submitted but the situation still seems precarious and we still have much lobbying work to do up to the June EU summit meeting. Germany, France and Denmark seem to be the main probelms now in opposing the introduction of the non-discrimination clause as the new Labour government in the UK are supporting the inclusion of the clause.

8. New Funding Guidelines and Fnnding Proposals

New funding applications with the deadlines on 5th May and 13th June have been recently released by the Commission. Only 15 awards will be rnade on the first deadline of Pan 3. We are submitting a funding proposal for this section III of the application for 5th May deadline.

• application Section III put together: 5 copies of CV, bylaws, report etc have been completed thanks to John, Adolf, Jamie and Jonathan. Lis to format it after Berlin meeting and send off. Adolf to obtain bylaws of all member organisations.

• 410 000 SEK applied for, to cover running costs for ENIL, web site, board meetings and training seinars

• Other two applications:

  Part I projects - deadline 13th June
  

  (1) Adolf suggested a research project on the comparison of transport provision between areas/cities and land of accessibility in Germany. It would involve a compilation of a Handbook as part. of the research. Uwe seemed interested in this and would explore it with his colleagues in Kassel.

  (2) It was felt that another viable proposal could be a conference and study visit in order to set up a CIL in a Southern Eurpean Country. This initial work has already been drafted by Bente and Adolf

  
  

  (3) The Dutch members are also considering making an application to hold an Independent Living conference in Holland in the autumn and combine this with an ENIL board meeting.

It was interesting to note that we received a letter from Mobility International asking us if we needed any asistance in putting a funding application together for these bids. Ironically, we are the experts in the Independent Living sector and part of our aim in becoming more involved in the European work is to take over control from Mobility International in this sector and make the Commission more aware of us.

9. What is ENIL niche?

A brainstorm was held to come up with some ideas of why ENIL is different from other organisations We could then use these ideas in drawing up some publicity and promotion material for ourselves, Adolf was keen to work on this.

• possibility for any disabled person to join - individual or organisation

• expert advice in Personal Assistance and Direct Payments

• developing the physical and organisational infrastructure in Europe

• promotion of self-run and directed organisations

• practical solutions with pilot projects that can be demonstrated

• exchange of ideas such as Personal Assistance, Direct Payments, resources, solutions

• focuses on the indidvidual in the centre of attention (DPI is a shell of international politics)

• network - flat organisational structure

• working all over Europe

(Any other suggestions e-mail to Adolf)
(We need a logo - anti-discrimination logo and ENIL logo)

10. Report of Experts Meeting in Ireland

This report has been circulated to everybody. It took longer than was wished but this was due to internal difficulties the Dublin CIL was going through. It is another useftil ENIL document which we can put on the internet.

11. Update from different countries

Fax from Ireland to John E, re. two demonstrations against the Irish government by the Irish CILs. They have recently been put into a difficult position and have lost funding. All this even after the Irish government had made such a high profile of their commission report on disabled people. The Irish CILs are now setting themselves up as independent Companies due to funding collapse. Therefore changing from the Charity structure to ar Ltd Company. Our Irish colleagues are in a serious situation and we wish them well in their attempts to overcome this.

12. Funding and ENIL Brochure

Funding is in the hands of the Gods - Part III application to be submitted. if this is successful we can go ahead with brochure or flyer.

13. Action Plan and Future Projects

it was relt we should wait and see what happens to the funding application and not to overstretcb ourselves at the moment.

14. Reports

Adolf - Reported on his work in Slovak Republic
After the velvet revolution etc and the reshuffle in the countries politics there was much change. It had a state pension system before but now from (1.1.98) everything will be means tested. There will be a new law for Direct Payments thanks to work Adolf has done funded by PHARE. 21 People have formed a group to employ their own assistants

16. Date and Venue of next Meeting

To be arranged. The Dutch are keen to bold one in Holland together with a seminar.