1. Opening of the meeting

Moshi Berenstein, the President, opened the meeting.

The meeting was attended by 38 members (29 present and 9 represented) out of 84 members, thus exceeding the quorum required (28 members) to hold the General Assembly.

Moshi Berenstein reminded participants about the EIA Code of Conduct and the necessary need to respect its provisions at all times during and around the meeting.  

The agenda and minutes of the last General Assembly meeting, held on 15 June 2023 (online), were approved.

2. Financial matters

Xavier Botrel presented the 2023 financial results. The 2023 financial results were approved by the General Assembly.  Then, Moshi Berenstein presented the EIA budget for 2024. The EIA budget for 2024 was approved by the General Assembly.  

Moshi Berenstein reminded the members of the increase in membership fees for 2024 (+10% for European companies and + 30% for members outside Europe).

3. Election of Board members

The General Assembly accepted the resignation of Thierry Haller (Rivulis) as a member of the Board of Directors with effect from 21/06/2024.

The General Assembly elected 3 following new members of the Board of Directors for three years from 21/06/2024:

• Antony Sèches (Rivulis), replacing Thierry Haller
• Adrian Cliffe (Valmont Industries), new candidate 
• Michaël Fayaud (Urbasense), new candidate

The General Assembly decided to renew the mandates of the following members of the Board of Directors for a period of 3 years from 21/06/2024:

• Moshi Berenstein (Netafim)
• Xavier Botrel (Rain Bird)
• Giulia Giuffre (Irritec)
• Damir Cizmek (In-Aqua)
• Michel Histel (HSC Histel)
• Santiago Casanella Rocca (Hunters)
• Joao Florido (Norma Group)
• Frédéric Fleszar (Solem)
• Javier Juarez (Azud)

The General Assembly accepted the resignation of Anne-Claire Rasselet (Orgalim) as delegate for the day-to-day management with effect from 21/06/2024.

The General Assembly decided to transfer the company’s registered office to 1000 Brussels, Rue Montoyer 31 (AliénorEU’s offices), with effect from 21/06/2024.

The General Assembly decided to entrust AliénorEU with the management of the EIA’s accounts.

The General Assembly decided to entrust to the srl “MYB2B.BIZ” the power to carry out the formalities of publication in the Moniteur Belge resulting from the decisions taken by the General Assembly.

4. Report on EIA activities

Moshi Berenstein explained that the association has strengthened its activities to promote sustainable irrigation and to raise awareness of its benefit in the face of current major challenges.

Ragarding memberhip, Fleur Martin, EIA Communication Officer, explained that in 2023, 16 members resigned and 19 new members joined. Since the beginning of 2024, 8 new members have joined. There are today 84 members.

Moshi Berenstein gave an update on the activities of the EIA Working Groups. The Working Group on « Sustainability in Agriculture » has been very active on the issue of EU Taxonomy, and it has also worked on plastic recycling. The Working Group on « Training and Knowledge Transfer » has been developing an EIA course on « Basics of landscape irrigation » which should be completed and approved for launch by the end of the year.

Moshi Berenstein presented the events and activities he and Bruno Molle, EIA Executive Advisor, took part in since the previous General Assembly.   

Fleur Martin, EIA Communication Officer, updated the members on the latest communication activities and in particular on the events organised, the website, the LinkedIn page (with 3616 followers in June 2024) and the new Instagram page. Fleur Martin invited the members to share the EIA’s posts on social media to increase EIA’s visibilty.  

Bruno Molle, EIA Executive Advisor, updated the members about his activities. He informed the members about the participation of EIA in 3 consortia that sumited 3 European projects on climate linked with irrigation (2 on agriculture and 1 on urban landscape). The 2 projects on agricutlure received a very good score (13 out of 15), but this was not enough to be accepted and they are now on the supplementary list. The project on urban landscape was also rejected, but the consortium is ready to present a new project when there will be new calls. He also informed the members about the preparation of a round table with the European House – Ambrosetti (TEHA) to communicate the results linked with the EU Taxonomy to the new European Commission (a priori end of November).

Finally, Moshi Berenstein thanked the participants for their participation and closed the meeting.