[FSFE PR][EN] FSFE adds Fellowship representation to General Assembly

[press at fsfeurope.org]

[for immediate release]

      FSFE adds Fellowship representation to General Assembly

Today FSFE is announcing its revised constitution, adding two
Fellowship Seats to its General Assembly. [1] This will give Fellows
of FSFE a direct representation in FSFE's strategic decision making
body.

The Fellowship is FSFE's larger community. [2] Launched in 2005, it
provides a meeting place with regular online and offline activities, a
framework for activity and cooperation, a migration path into the
organisation, and one of the most important ways of supporting FSFE's
work in all areas, providing both resources and political support.
Now the Fellowship also provides a path into the General Assembly.

In early 2009, FSFE will post a call for nominations among all Fellows
who have been with the organisation for at least a year. Before the
next convening of the General Assembly, candidates will come up for
election among all Fellows in time for the first Fellowship Seat to be
filled. The second seat will be defined the year after. Those elected
will serve a two year term and there will thus be one election per
year from now on.

The required constitutional change to allow for this was prepared
after the 2007 General Assembly and adopted unanimously by the eight
members of the GA represented at FSFE's 2008 annual meeting from June
6th to 8th in the FSFE Zurich office.

Georg Greve, FSFE's President, commented: "We were convinced that we
should introduce an element of accountability towards and strategic
involvement of the Fellows in FSFE. More than an advisor or an
observer, we wanted this involvement to be as an equal. Of course we
were eager to put this into practice soon, but constitutional changes
should never be taken lightly since a hasty change could have severe
consequences. So we did it as fast as our responsibility to FSFE
allowed and are glad we got it done now so that next year's General
Assembly meeting will already be with the first Fellow."

Matthias Kirschner, the Fellowship Coordinator added "Because this is
the first year, we're going to have to work hard to give the Fellows a
way to get to know each other.  Each candidate will have a platform,
so it will be possible for the voters to know them, but we also want
the candidates to know the voters.  As well as improving the technical
infrastructure on fsfe.org, we'll be increasing the number of regional
Fellowship meetings in the coming months."

Pablo Machon, FSFE's Vice President, said: "We modelled our voting
system on that used by Debian.  It's a well tested method and has
proven to be resistant to voting anomalies.  To be a candidate,
someone has to have been a Fellow for one year already.  This is
because we want the Fellowship representative to know the organisation
and what it's like to be a Fellow.  For voting, all Fellows can vote
as soon as they sign up."

 [1] http://fsfeurope.org/about/legal/constitution.html
 [2] http://fellowship.fsfe.org/


About the Free Software Foundation Europe

  The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit
  non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and
  involved in many global activities. Access to software determines
  participation in a digital society. To secure equal participation in
  the information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free
  Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the
  furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study,
  modify and copy. Founded in 2001, creating awareness for these issues,
  securing Free Software politically and legally, and giving people
  Freedom by supporting development of Free Software are central issues
  of the FSFE.

  http://www.fsfeurope.org/

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