Participants of more than 20 nations meet in Seville

The Irak war, the tensions between Europe and the United States, SARS and the economic crises led to one of the most dificult conference preparations ever. Nevertheless was the Conference Chair José Manuel Talero García able to welcome about 50 consultants from not less than four continents and 20 different nations in Seville/Spain.
Due to the elections in Argentina and Paraguay, that took place on the same weekend as the EAPC Meeting, the initial goal of a joint conference between the two continents Europe and Latin America, could not be met as planed.
The conference with a total of 12 panels and 18 more than interesting speeches was nevertheless one of the most informative meetings in the still short history of the Association.

Spain under election fever
The fact the the spanish government supported the US during the war against Irak although a big majority rejected this attitude and the fact that local elections will take place in May 2003, were the causes for some shortnoticed cancellations of renowned representatives of Spanish parties. Therefore the Conference Chair José Manuel Talero García had to fill this gap and presented spanish politics. And he was an excellent replacement.

Schröder’s way to majority
The first big focal point was set by Bernd Schoppe, planing chief of the SPD, who offering a fascinanting presentation, explained the strategy and the steps of the SPD at the German National Elections in fall 2002 which brought another majority for Red/Green although starting from a desperate initial situation.

Is democracy in danger?
The afternoon of this first conference day offered some really exciting moments featuring four more than experienced consultants. Joe Napolitan and Ken Feltman, both from the United States, Bo Krogvig from Sweden and Volker Riegger, Germany, discussed the topic “Security versus Democracy – Are terror, crisis and war killing further development of Democracy?” under the moderation of EAPC President Andrey Bulychev from Russia. Thereby it was expressed that such dramatic developments certainly do influence the process of democracy. Volker Riegger tried to determine the role of political consultants in a 10 thesis program which was received with special interest by all participants.

“Migration: Oportunity or risk”
The first day was rounded itself of with a very interesting panel including Andrés Valdez Zepeda, Mexico and Marco Cacciotto, Italy, who firstly talked about the topic migration at this EAPC Conference. The discussed problems with integration and emigration in America as well as in Europe presented a first insight to the present participants concerning a topic that will be of growing importance for both continents.

Elections, Elections...
A real fireworks of case studies and campaigns of European, Latin American, Asian and African elections build the focal point of the second conference day. The initial point set a brilliant presentation of the Austrian campaigns for the Parliamental elections 2003 by Christoph Hofinger. Equally impressive was the analysis of the Turkish Parliamental Elections 2002 presented by Mehmet Ural, Turkey. Igor Mintusov, Russia, provided a more than interesting overview on the development of democracy in the Baltic States doing a presentation on the electoral campaigns in Latvia and Lithuania.
Pekka Kivelä, Finland, completed this morning with a speech on the finish Parliamental elections before Louis Lyonel Voiron from France opened the afternoon session talking about the French elections. An absolute première was an exciting presentation on the campaigns for the elections in Morroco, done by Aboubakr Jamai, chief editor of “Le Journal”, one of the most read daily newspapers of this country.

90 % for Europe
Alojz Peterle, former Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and current chair of the Slovenian Comission for European Affairs, who came directly from Brussels to Seville, talked about the campaigns for the EU Referendum which met a 90% approval of the Slovenian public.

Next Generations in Politics
In the following Dominik Meier and Martin Säckl presented “Degepol”, the German Association for Political Consulting which could be seen as an example for a stronger co-operation of young political consultants.

Brazil as Conference Conclusion
The conclusion of the conference was presented by Cila Schulman introducing the Brazilian Presidential Elections. The scheduled speech on the Parliamental Elections of El Salvador by EAPC Vice President Pär Lönegard had to be cancelled due to time problems and will be made up for in November at the IAPC Conference in Prague.

A fantastic social program
The participants of this years EAPC Conference were especially delighted by the social program that has been organized by Conference Chair José Manuel Talero García and EAPC Executive Secretary Susanne Hartinger. Among the attractive activities were an impressive guided tour through Seville including the Royal Palace followed by a Spanish evening with Paella and Flamenco. The EAPC Gala Night at the Conference Hotel Alcora as conclusion of the meeting was also a very spectacular event, especially due to the Folk Forrest Song by Bo Krogvig from Sweden and a great mouth-organ presentation by Alojz Peterle.

Postmeeting with many highlights
A 3 days tour through the South of Spain which was joined by about a fourth part of the conference participants, build an unique finale to the EAPC Conference on the Iberian Peninsula. Included in the program was the visit of the Mosque of Cordoba and the Alhambra in Granada as well as a Sherry tasting at Osborne in Puerto the Santa Maria, the horse riding show in Jerez as well as following the steps of Christopher Columbus in Huelva. In Huelva by the way the EAPC group was surprised by a great reception of the Royal Columbus Society which was concluded by a joint dinner in the presence of the President of the Society, José Maria Segovia as well as of the mayor of Palos de la Frontera and the regional delegate to the Andaluzian Parliament. Another unforgetable event was the dinner invitation by EAPC Past President Volker Riegger at his summer house nearby Cadiz which was enlightened by unique hospitality.

José Manuel Talero-García		Bernd Schoppe		Volker Riegger, Ken Feltman, Andrey Bulychev, Joe Napolitan, Bo Krogvig
Mehmet Ural, Gerlinde Manz-Christ, Andrey Bulychev		Andres Valdez-Zebeda, Ana Fernandes, Marco Cacciotto		Christoph Hofinger
Mario Ballerini, Mehmet Ural		Pekka Kivelä		Igor Mintusov, Louis Lyonel Voiron
Barbla Schaerer, Aboubakr Jamaii		Igor Mintusov		Martin Säckel, Dominik Meier
Sepp Hartinger, Alojz Peterle		Cila Schulman		Ken Feltman, Pär Lönegård, Joe Napolitan
Flamenco-Night		Susanne Hartinger		EAPC-Gala-Night
Bo Krogvig´s Folk Forrest Song of Dance		Mouthorgany Presentation by Alojz Peterle		Visit Horse ride School in Jerez
Cherry testing at Osborne		Meeting with Columbus Society		Sepp Hartinger, Camela Romeo, Major of Palas de la Fronterra, Pilar Pulgar, José Maria Segaria, José Manuel Talero-García