European Paralympic Committee Elects New Board

The European Paralympic Committee (EPC) held its 8th General Assembly over the weekend in Vienna, Austria, electing a new President and Executive Board.

John Petersson from Denmark was elected the new President, with Luca Pancalli from Italy becoming the new Secretary General. Craig Carscadden from the Cerebral Palsy International Sports & Recreation Association (CPISRA) was elected Treasurer and Samuel Rosko from Slovakia was elected Technical Officer. Members at Large include Petra Huber (Austria), Vytautas Kvietkauskas (Lithuania), Mikhail Terentiev (Russia), and Denis Jaeken (Belgium).

The terms for the new President and Executive Board are both four years.

Included on the agenda this year at the General Assembly were reports from Board members, EPC’s accounts, progress reports from the Organizing Committees of the Vancouver 2010, London 2012 and Sochi 2014 Paralympic Games, as well as a discussion on the EPC’s involvement in the upcoming International Paralympic Committee’s (IPC) General Assembly in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, this November.

Representing the IPC at the General Assembly were Chief Executive Officer Xavier Gonzalez and Chief Operational Officer Georg Schlachtenberger.

Transferring the EPC from Germany to Austria was one of the key agenda items, as the organization had been registered in Germany although its headquarters and permanent office is in Vienna.

The EPC also held its traditional conference on the previous day, which focused on “The Process of Sports Independence”.

The EPC’s outgoing President is Enrique Sanchez-Guijo from Spain, a Paralympian who has won a total of three gold medals and one bronze from the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games and the Atlanta 1996 Paralympic Games. During his term, Mr. Sanchez-Guijo helped the EPC to achieve the securing of its headquarters and permanent office in the Austrian capital for the Committee and professional staff in order to supplement the volunteer work from Executive Board members.

For more information about the European Paralympic Committee, please visit www.europaralympic.org.