This year’s first General Assembly Meeting, held in Maia, Portugal, at the kind invitation of our Portuguese colleagues of ANPL, was nothing short of a great success!
The event began on Friday the 26th of June with a reception hosted by the Mayor of Maia, Mr Antonio Silva Tiago. Amongst those present, Dr Carlos Abreu Amorim, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs of the Portuguese Republic and Mr Luís Pais Antunes, President of the Portuguese Economic and Social Council, have delivered inspirational speeches on their vision of our sector in the context of their country’s society, and the European Union at large.
Mr João Ascenso, President of ANPL, and our own President, Mr Klaus Thürriedl, have then taken the floor to highlight the central role of the professions of compass, law, healthcare, and number, play as pillars of democratic societies based on the rule of law.
A friendly dinner concluded the first day of the meeting.
On Saturday the 27th of June, work began early at the beautiful Quinta da Gruta with Klaus Thürriedl’s speech on the future of our professions. Motivating and thought-provoking, the President’s speech kicked off a very fruitful meeting, the highlights of which were the adoption of a position on the European Parliament’s report on the health work-force crisis, prepared by our Health Working Group (chaired by EUPLMG), and the reports of the chairs of our Working Groups on Gender Equality (Confprofessioni), Professional Qualifications (Unión Profesional), and Artificial Intelligence (UNAPL).
One new Observer Member, the European Union of Yoga, and one new Correspondent Association, the Malta Institute of Accountants, were welcomed to the CEPLIS family, and important orientations were set up for the continuation of our work.
Immediately after the General Assembly Meeting, in the context of our Permanent Committee, our colleague, Elsa Veloso, has shared her expertise on the effects of AI on the work of our professions.
A succulent lunch, generously offered by our colleagues of ANPL, has concluded the event, leaving everyone in a very good mood, as you can see by the smiles in the family photo.
Links to the speeches can be found below.
