Regional Report - Europe

Regional Report - Europe
from IVU News Oct 2000

Claude Pasquini
I.V.U. Liaison Officer for Europe

As the I.V.U.'s international liaison officer for Europe, I've been involved mainly in the following activities:

Council work via E-mail:
This included discussions on the new constitution, deliberations, problem-solving, decision making and voting processes on the list of the International Council.

Public relations via E-mail:
This included answering all sorts of questions concerning the environmental, hygienic, medical, esthetical and ethical aspects of vegetarianism and veganism, counseling people with regard to a vegetarian/vegan life-style and nutritional behavior; pinpointing, for inquirers, the sources of information they were looking for, as well as public speaking for the promotion of vegetarian/vegan ideals in Belgium, France, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Poland and Thailand.

I participated in a Malta private T.V. Show, in various radio and T.V. programs in Luxembourg and a talk-show with world famous Michel Montignac, the French gourmet nutrition author (11 million books sold)

Participation in various Congresses / festivals

Vegetarian festival of the Belgian Association Végétarienne (June 99)
E.V.U. congress in Widnau, Switterland (July 99)
Mediterranean Vegetarian Festival, Malta (October 99)
Nutrition and Heath Congress, Brussels, Belgium (November 99)

The major problem I encountered was the lack of money of the Eastern European national and local vegetarian/vegan societies, and the listless and forgetful attitude of a number of national and local members when their membershipp fees are due. It appears I.V.U. hasn't entered sufficiently into the consciousness of European vegetarianlvegan societies yet. While its web site is most popular, I.V.U., as a world organization, could do more to support, in one way or another, the Eastern European vegetarian/vegan organizations that often see their good intentions fading away in the general destitution they have to deal with.