Sante Conselvan, president (left), and Wim Buyle, vice president
The flexo technical associations of the Benelux (EFTA-Benelux), France (ATF), Italy (ATIF), Spain (ATEF) and the UK (EFIA) have formally established FTA Europe as their common European umbrella organisation.
The inaugural general assembly of the new organisation took place in Brussels on 5 February at the offices of Intergraf, the European federation for print and digital communication, where FTA Europe registered its address.
At the first meeting, the founding members also elected its board. Sante Conselvan (president of ATIF) was elected as the president; Wim Buyle (board member of EFTA-Benelux) will act as vice president, and Debbie Waldron-Hoines (director of EFIA) as treasurer. Jules Lejeune (Lejeune Association Management, the Netherlands) was appointed director of the newly established organisation, while Beatrice Klose (director of Intergraf) will act as the association’s secretary-general.
Mr Conselvan commented, ‘The establishment of FTA Europe is an important step forward for the European flexo community. There are formal or informal platforms for the advancement of flexo in at least 10 countries across Europe, with a total membership that will not be far off from the numbers of our parent organisation FTA in North America. Each of the national organisations is doing excellent work in their own country or language region, but so far a common European platform has been lacking.
‘With FTA Europe, we are aiming to tackle common European issues that each of us cannot achieve on our own. By establishing our office in Brussels with Intergraf, we will benefit from its existing European connections, and with the engagement of Lejeune in our management, we will have an important liaison with several packaging organisations related to flexo.’
The new umbrella organisation has three major objectives:
1. Encourage technical standardisation and the dissemination of standards of practice across European borders.
2. Develop a European curriculum and certificate for professionals operating in the European flexo industry.
3. Supporting its member associations through joint European advocacy as well as collaboration in promotional activities (awards) and the development of a technical knowledge resource.
