EUROMIL held its biannual Presidium meeting in Athens on 10 and 11 May at the Greek Army Officers Club on 10 and 11 of May 2006. This was the first EUROMIL Presidium hosted by ETAL, the «Mutual Support Association (Solidarity)» and SAS, EUROMIL’s current two Greek member associations. Only since 2005 in verdict 5265/2005, the «Court of Common Pleas of Athens» ruled that also active members of the armed forces should be allowed to join and establish trade unions as all other citizens with restricting the exercise of strike.
EUROMIL held its biannual Presidium meeting in Athens on 10 and 11 May at the Greek Army Officers Club on 10 and 11 of May 2006. This was the first EUROMIL Presidium hosted by ETAL «Mutual Support Association (Solidarity)» and SAS, EUROMIL’s two current Greek member associations. ETAL is an officers association of retired military personnel and family members founded in 1996, whereas S.A.S. founded in 1982 is an association of graduates of the school of non-commissioned officers of the air force with as members mainly retired but also some active soldiers. In Greece there are several associations for retired military personnel. Only since 2005 in verdict 5265/2005 the «Court of Common Pleas of Athens» ruled that also active members of the armed forces should be allowed to join and establish trade unions as all other citizens with restricting the exercise of strike.
The Presidium is a standing committee of EUROMIL consisting of representatives of all member unions and associations as well as members of the board of EUROMIL. The Presidium provides impetus for the development of EUROMIL’s policy objectives. 77 delegates from 20 member Associations and 20 nations were present. It also briefs delegates on work in progress.
AUME and ZBZZ IORWP are granted full EUROMIL membership
The Presidium uninamously voted for full membership to the Spanish association AUME (Asociación Unificada de Militares Españoles) representing active soldiers and the Polish Union of Former Professional Soldiers and Reserve Officer ZBZZ IORWP. EUROMIL now counts 25 member associations from 22 countries.
Election of new Board members
Han Busker, President of MARVER/FNV from The Netherlands, Antonio Lima Coelho, Chairman of the Portuguese Association ANS and Ivan Milov, Chairman of the Bulgarian «Legia Rakowski» were newly elected to the EUROMIL Board by the Presidium.
CoE Recommendation 1742 (2006)
Council of Europe Recommendation 1742 which was adopted on 11 April 2006 at the Council of Europe plenary session in Paris was also put to debate during the Presidium. EUROMIL efficiently pushed for this recommendation which reflects EUROMIL’s objective to leverage common standards for soldiers of all ranks in Europe. EUROMIL calls on the Members States of the Council of Europe to apply and respect the rights mentioned in the recommendation but also to install an annual reviewing or monitoring mechanism. There are three categories of rights mentioned: firstly the «basic» fundamental freedoms and rights without restrictions (i.e. right to life, right to protection against torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, right to full enjoyment of civic and voting rights, etc.), secondly «political rights» with restrictions (right to freedom of expression, right to freedom of assembly and association, right for respect to private and family life, the home and correspondence and thirdly to respect «economic and social rights» (i.e. right to receive fair remuneration and a retirement pension, right to health protection and work security, the right to decent and sufficient nutrition).
