November 2024
EASVO General Assembly
Brussels, Belgium
The next EASVO General Assembly will take place in Brussels, Belgium on November 28th, 2024 at the Public Health Ministry building, Avenue Galilée / Galileelaan, 1210 Brussels.
The FVE General Assembly will follow the next day and conclude on Friday at 17:00.
June 2024
EASVO General Assembly
Heraklion, Greece
On June 13th, 2024, the EASVO General Assembly took place in the beautiful and sunny city of Heraklion, Greece.
This year, the assembly was conducted in a hybrid format, allowing members to participate both in-person and virtually. Mark McCarthy, the EASVO President, chaired the meeting.
The event welcomed various members and special guests, including Jacob Vedder from Luxembourg, Sean Wensley from the United Kingdom, and Dietmar Gerstner from Austria.
A notable segment of the assembly was the presentation by the newly established Young EASVO Network, which focused on the development of soft skills. This network addressed common challenges and opportunities related to training, interagency collaboration, visibility, and recognition within the veterinary profession.
We had an insightful update from World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) on several topics: the results of the WOAH Observatory's thematic study on transport and introduced the new chapters on slaughter practices, and the WOAH standards consultation process, which aims to enhance animal health and welfare standards globally.
A joint session on soft skills was held with various sections participating. This session highlighted the importance of soft skills across different areas of the veterinary profession and discussed strategies for enhancing and integrating these skills into professional training programs.
The assembly also featured strategic updates from EASVO representatives involved in various working groups, including the Animal Welfare Working Group (AWWG), Medicines Working Group (MWG), Mental well-being Working Group/DEI (MWB/DEI), and the Veterinary Public Health/Sustainability Working Group (VPH/S WG). Furthermore, updates on the FVE 50 years celebration Task Force were provided. The members unanimously adopted the final EASVO Workforce Investigation Report, which underscores the organization’s commitment to addressing workforce challenges and improving conditions for veterinary professionals.
In addition to these updates, there were discussions on topics of interest for the members. These included the Austrian Congress of Food Inspectors, recent visits under the Animal Health Law (AHL), WOAH's approval of Norway's disease-free status, and the reorganization of the Irish Official Veterinary Services.
The meeting concluded with a joint session with all FVE sister Sections on soft skills.
November 2023
EASVO General Assembly
Brussels, Belgium
On 16th November 2023, the EASVO General Assembly took place in Brussels.
We agreed to support all of the items for vote on the FVE General Assembly agenda, and enjoyed interesting discussions on several issues. A significant proportion on your agenda were the EASVO Board elections: Mark McCarthy (IE) was elected as President, supported by two Vice-Presidents – Andrea Leutgöb-Ozlberger (AT) and Mikko Turku (FI), Secretary General – Ole-Herman Tronerud (NO) and Treasurer – Cornelia Rossi-Broy (DE).
An exchange of views followed on Animal Welfare during Transport and we were grateful to be joined by the WOAH sub-regional representatives Estelle Hamelin and Thomasz Grudnik , to discuss their work on long-distance transports of animals. During these discussions we agreed to recommend that FVE and the AWWG consider to provide technical expertise and advocate further for harmonised implementation of achievable animal transport rules in all European countries, and third countries, including for companion animals and horses.
Importantly we also discussed EASVO business, and heard that our finances were in good health. In line with the objectives of the EASVO Strategy 2023-2025, we discussed the analysis of the workforce survey, and have nominated an EASVO representative to the new FVE Veterinary Public Health and Sustainability Working Group as well as to the FVE/UEVP Medicines Working Group. We held our usual discussions of items of interest for our members, including the progress of the EAZWA AHL Guidance Handbook.
And last, but not least, we held a joint session with all FVE Sections on One Health.
June 2023
EASVO General Assembly June 2023
Zaječí, Czech Republic
FVE General Assembly ZAJEČÍ – report
EASVO was delighted that so many of our members were able to meet in person in Zaječí, and all members who were not able to attend sent their voting positions by proxy. EASVO members were joined by Beth Sabin Head of Global Outreach for the AVMA and, as always, were ably supported by Wiebke from the FVE team. EASVO agreed the voting positions for the new FVE Board and to support the other items for vote on the FVE General Assembly agenda.
The members enjoyed interesting discussions on several issues and welcomed honoured guest speakers, Rafael Laguens, President of the World Veterinary Association, speaking about “Veterinary is a Health Profession”, and Estelle Hamelin from WOAH speaking about the recent WOAH General Session and the important Animal Health Forum themed discussions on Avian Influenza.
EASVO members were updated on actions from our new EASVO Strategy – the representative on the new AWWG is EASVO Vice-President Mark McCarthy and EASVO nominated a representative for the new Veterinary Public Health and Sustainability WG. Importantly, the Workforce Survey was successfully completed with 425 responses and, along with an initial analysis, and EASVO agreed on the next steps for more analysis, integration with the FVE 3rd survey of the profession and the actions that will flow from this information.
And subsequently, EASVO is delighted to report that President Jane Clark has been elected to be a Vice President on the next FVE Board (2023-25) where she will be able to represent the views of EASVO along with the wider Veterinary Profession in Europe.
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