RETUN-SEE 2nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY – INFORMATIVE LETTER

no ..36../ Athens 09 / 02 /2009

Dear colleagues,

The 2nd General Assembly of RETUN-SEE, as we all know, was held in Istanbul, Turkey, from 17 until 19 October 2008.

In that meeting the authorised representatives of our Organization Trade Union Members participated and also trade-unions and political organisations attended the meeting. Of highly importance for our Network should be considered the presence and the proposals of colleague Manfred Warda, General Secretary of ICEM, who supports our Network and is looking forward in a future cooperation. Retunsee Presidium is in a procedure of setting a date for a meeting with the General Secretary of ICEM . Furthermore other organizations , that unfortunately couldn’t attend the General Assembly, have sent greeting letters , such as the European Union Energy Commissioner, the Energy Community of South Eastern Europe, the General Secretary of EMCEF and EPSU etc.

Unfortunately, the 2nd General Assembly of RETUN-SEE began with the resignation of colleague Milan Kovasevic from President and Representative of RETUN-SEE.  The reasons of colleague Milan’s resignation were mentioned in the personal letter he has sent us and it was read in the General Assembly. We all know that it was very difficult for him to take such a decision. We would like to thank him for the experience and the precious help he offered to establish this organisation and to make RETUN-SEE an equal partner in the wider region of SE Europe. We wish him every success in his life.

In the 2^nd General Assembly various issues were discussed and the following decisions, mainly of organisational character, were taken.

DECISIONS OF RETUN-SEE 2^nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Ø      After the resignation of colleague Milan Kovasevic from President and member of Executive Committee of RETUN-SEE, the General Assembly decided unanimously that Vice-President, colleague Franc Dolar  will act as President up to the next congress in 2010 and the new member of the three- member Presidium will be  colleague Mustafa Oztaskin (PETROL IS – Turkey).

Ø      The new members of Executive Committee, since the non participation of colleague Esad Durmus (TES IS – Turkey) and the resignation of colleague Milan Kovasevic, are colleagues Miodrag Rankovic (EPS – R. Serbia) and Milorad Terzic (ELECTRONOECONOMY – Montenegro).

Ø      Colleagues Grosu Constantin (LAZAR EDELEANU – Romania), Dane Ristovski (OKTA – Fyrom) and Veljko Zunic (ATUEPIS – R.Serbia) were unanimously elected as members of Auditing Committee, according to article 6 of the Statute .

Ø      In the General Assembly we discussed the modification of the articles of the existing Statute for the Presidium and the Executive Committee . A draft modification of the Statute, will be available for everyone in the web

site of RETUN-SEE. All Organization Members will have enough time to send their proposals – remarks up to the next General Assembly, which will be held approximately at the end of 2009. The final draft Statute with modifications should be completed before the Congress of 2010, in Romania.

Ø      Unanimous decision – resolution against the privatisation of R. Serbia’s Oil.  You can find this resolution in the web page of RETUN-SEE.

As we have already informed you, RETUN-SEE web page is www.retun-see.com and e-mail info@retun-see.com. As you will see when you visit web site there is a need for further web page development . For this reason you are kindly requested to send to Athens and Belgrade Office, any document you consider as essential, so this web site can be an information tool for all of us in order to minimise if possible distance between us.

·          On the 18-19/11/2008 the 1st Social Forum of Energy Community of SE Europe was held in Tirana, Albania and we participated with colleague Franc Dolar, Vice-president of RETUN-SEE. Documentation of this meeting will be available in RETUN-SEE web site in the following days.

·          On the 13-15/11/2008 colleague Nikos Orfanos, General Secretary of RETUN-SEE was present and intervened in the social dialogue round table, organized by the colleagues from R.Serbia, due to NIS privatisation . Our proposals and the unanimous resolution of our General Assembly were given to the round table .  We also declared our full support and our commitment to be near them in the difficult problems that they have to face.

·          In the frame of the above meetings and contacts RETUN-SEE had also some important discussions with Mr. Slavtcho Neykov, the Director of Energy Community Secretariat, Mr. Oleg Yu. Sidomonidze, the HR Director of GAZPROM, as well as with colleague Lev Mironov, President of Trade Union ROGWU .  Since we had a positive development in our contacts with Mr. Slavtcho Neykov, the Presidium of RETUN-SEE was officially invited in its first meeting with Energy Community of SE Europe on the 26^th of January 2009 in Vienna, Austria. Although this first meeting had a typical character, we discussed various issues concerning our contacts and our cooperation with the authorised bodies of Energy Community of SE Europe. This meeting with the Energy Community was of a great importance since for the first time we had the chance to communicate as equal partner .

Following meetings of RETUN-SEE Presidium will be scheduled after its meeting that will be held approximately on early March in Slovenia.  We will keep you informed for the progress of all these meetings.

With fraternal regards

Nikos Orfanos

General Secretary

RETUN-SEE