Open letter from Jose Ramon Moreno. The last as FEPA President

 

Dear philatelic friends,

 

This is my last letter to you as FEPA President. According to our Statutes after two terms I must leave the position at the next FEPA Congress.

 

I want to express my gratitude for the positive collaboration that I have received from each and every one of you.

 

From the first day I was elected it was clear for me that I had been elected the President of FEPA but not the Boss of FEPA. The Bosses are you, the 44 National Federation, Association and Union members of FEPA.

 

My task has been to try to serve you, being close to you, and so know your problems better and be able to help you in the best way I could.

 

During these years I have visited 28 FEPA Member countries responding to your kind requests, in quite a few countries, more than once.It was my pleasure to meet the responsible of your Postal Administrations, your sponsors, either from the goverment or private institutions, in order to reinforce the importance that they maintain or increase their support for your national philately.There were some occasions where I was not able to attend your philatelic events because I already had previous commitments and I am really sorry for that.

 

Thanks to the work of the Presidents of FEPA and members of the Board who did the job before me, FEPA has become an appreciated and respected institution in the philatelic world. That’s something that’s not built in one or two terms.

 

More and more FEPA members want to involve FEPA in their international exhibitions, in their national events with international participation and in the multilateral exhibitions.

 

From now to the end of the year we still have nine FEPA Exhibitions. And this continues to grow.There are also already a good number of exhibitions with FEPA Patronage or Recognition for the next years.

 

Important philatelic Auctioneers and Postal Administrations have been attracted to support us with their advertisements in the FEPA News magazine and on the FEPA Website.

 

The FEPA Finances have improved considerably, providing reserves to ensure the future of FEPA for quite a few years even in adverse circumstances.We have enjoyed of having an excellent Treasurer, Alfred Kunz. He wrote in the minutes of the last Board meeting, “the situation is so positive now because fortunately some members of the FEPA Board are making “donations” to FEPA by not asking for refund of the cost of philatelic trips representing FEPA”.

 

And FEPA profited from a reduction in printing costs, as our General Secretary, BojanBracic, found a new printer for the magazine “FEPA News” and obtained very special rates, so thanks to Bojan,and to theSlovenije Post for its distribution.Not to be missed the work that involves the distribution of the magazine, hundreds of kilos of the packages, among the many other activities undertaken by of Bojan in favor of FEPA.

 

Moreover, the magazine is produced in an artisanal way, which involves a huge workload for us, but reduces the cost drastically.

 

While the expenses are well controlled, the income has increased significantly, because we have a larger number of advertisers, and because the continuous increase in the number of FEPA exhibitions. It has also allowed us to reduce the FEPA fees.

 

I want also publicly to express my gratitude to our Vice-President, Giancarlo Morolli, for his endless help and support as an experienced advisor. His outstanding efforts in providing the Regulations for the Digital Literature is just one example. Equally excellent has been the hard work by Birthe King leading the team who provided the Regulations and the development of the Picture Postcard Class and reviewed those of the Open Philately. These FEPA regulations have been adopted by the FIP.

 

The FEPA Website is a reference for European philatelic information because of the great work of our Webmaster Ari Muhonen. The Board would not have been complete without the participation of Nicos Rangos, a great contributor to the magazine and always volunteering to do what is necessary with a big smile.All the members of the Board have actively participated in the many FEPA Seminars and events supporting and promoting philately.

 

I was really lucky to have on the Board such members, efficient philatelists and wonderful persons.

 

Only very few times were there problems among some of our national Federations. I must say that those Presidents involved made easy my job of solving it.

 

In fact, my greatest satisfaction is to leave FEPA with peace and harmony amongst ALL of our 44 National Members as befits our hobby.

 

It has been a pleasure and an honour for me to serve as FEPA President during these years.

 

Thank you very much for putting your trust in me.

 

With my best wishes to all of you and of course to my successor as FEPA President.

 

Best regards,

 

José Ramón Moreno