May 18th-21st 2006
The meetings in the Executive Committee take place regularly twice a year and generally in connection with EFPP conferences. This meeting was an arrangement by itself as there was no EFPP conference at this time. It was arranged in Dublin in order to meet Irish colleagues. In connection with this meeting, professor Paul Williams, who is also the editor of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis (IJP), gave a public lecture which was attended by 30 colleagues and other interested parties. Paul William’s inspirational clinical paper initiated an interesting and lively discussion. Peggy Deeny, who is the Group Section co-ordinator, currently represents Ireland in the Executive Committee and she had organised this meeting. In the Adult Section, Ireland is represented merely in the role of observer and without delegates. In the Child Section, its membership is active. We wished to support our colleagues in Ireland and inspire them to continue developing their network in the field of psychoanalytic psychotherapy. There is a growing interest in Ireland for psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy but it is still at an initial stage. EFPP wishes to contribute to this development.
The Executive meeting itself had, as always, a rich agenda for this meeting, with both routine items and specific topics. There are two important items I would like to call attention to: The first important topic for this meeting is the forthcoming Delegate Meeting 2nd - 3rd March 2007 in Stockholm, where the 4 th section PCFP will be included among EFPP’s three other sections. Such an inclusion has to take place over time, step by step, and this is how it is planned also for the 4 th section. It will entail a certain amount of structural changes for the organisation, first and foremost in terms of changes in the Constitution, and the composition of the Executive committee will also have to be changed. Several models have been discussed and the final proposition will be presented in the material for the Delegate Meeting in Stockholm. Pierre Benghozi, who is a co-opted member in the Executive Committee and Co-ordinator for PCFP’s work group, also took part in the meeting in Dublin. There is still much work to be done for the PCFP Work Group before they are ready to submit suggestions regarding their own delegates, etc.
At the next Delegate Meeting, several members of the Executive Committee will be standing for re-election and others will be stepping down as Committee members. This will also lead to changes in the work of the Committee.
The next important topic has been the development of internal work routines and procedures for the work of the Executive committee. This has been going on for some time and one of the results has been the introduction of the “Developmental plan” which is an ongoing structured description of the tasks of the Executive Committee and the Sections, as well as the financial consequences. EFPP has a healthy economy, but systematic planning and comparing tasks with expenses will make it easier to carry out the long-term functions.
When we evaluated our work in the Executive committee, we all agreed that it is demanding but also extremely interesting. A number of decisions are made and the internal routines need to be constantly improved in order to ensure that the decisions, which are taken, are actually put into effect and followed up. Working out a “Work plan” (Logbook) is also an instrument for comparing objectives, decisions and their implementation.
The next Executive meeting will take place in connection with the Berlin conference 09 th – 12 th November this year. Welcome to Berlin!
For the Executive committee
