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UEAA in the past


UEAA was founded in Bologna, Italy, in 1999. In October 2000 the first General Assembly (GA) in Florence, Italy, enacted the union’s bylaws. 14 European academies were members in the beginning, not all of them members of the EU. Italy’s academy held the first presidency. Vice-president became France.

The following GA was held in Paris, France, in October 2002. In connection with the meeting, discussions were also held on issues like GMO and research in the media turmoil. Vice-president became Russia.

In June 2003 a meeting was held in Florence when the Italian Academy celebrated its 250th anniversary. It was focused on the relationship between agriculture and the environment.

France convened a meeting for UEAA’s Steering Committee in November 2003. The theme of the discussion was, among others, on the newly created website’s content, and on the fact the organization had not been recognized by the Council of Europe.

The following GA was held in June 2004 in Moscow, Russia, at the same time as the celebration of the Russian academy’s 75th anniversary. During the meeting, topics such as genetics and biotechnology were debated about. From this point, Russia went on as chairman while Romania was elected as vice-chairman.

France convened another meeting of the Steering Committee in November 2005, where the next GA was especially discussed. In June 2006, Romania hosted the following GA in Bucharest. The symposium in conjunction with the meeting had the theme “Soil fertility and the future of agriculture in Europe”. Romania, took on the chairmanship and Latvia was elected as vice-chairman.

In May 2007, a seminar was held in Yalta, Ukraine, where the theme was “Environmental protection in agro-ecosystems”. Among other things, climate change and organic farming were highlighted.

UEAA’s fifth GA was held in May 2008 in Riga, Latvia. The topic for the conference symposium was “Renewable Energy Resources, Production and Technologies.” Latvia’s presidency, came into force and Ukraine was elected vice-chairman.

In Jurmala, Latvia, in May 2009, a new seminar was organized. This time, the theme “Science Development in the Environment of the World Financial Crisis” was chosen. The upcoming General Assembly in Ukraine in 2010 was discussed. Finally, the important roles of science and research in economic development were underlined.

UEAA’s 10th anniversary took place in May in Odessa, Ukraine. The topic was “Scientific Methodological Grounds of System of Safety and Quality of Foodstuff.”. Ukraine, was in charge, stepped in as chairman and Sweden became vice-chairman.

In October 2010 Sweden and Ukraine met to establish links, strengthen cooperation and discuss the coming time as chairman and vice-chairman. The General Assembly in 2012 in Stockholm was discussed.

In 2011, a seminar was held in Paris, France, in conjunction with the French academy’s 250th anniversary. The theme was “Science, society and global food systems”.

In May 2012, KSLA lead the General Assembly in Stockholm on the theme “How work is organized in the UEAA countries to meet the challenges of trans boundary epizootic diseases including zoonosis?”. During this meeting, KSLA came in as chairman of UEAA and the Czech Academy was declared vice-chairman.

In September 2014, The 8th General Assembly of the UEAA was organised by the CAAS in Prague, Czech Republic. The presiding academy for period 2014 – 2016 was the Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) in Prague, Czech Republic, which was represented by Prof. Vilém Podrázský, and the vice-presidency was elected the FAA (French Academy of Agriculture), represented by Prof. Michel Thibier. Academies from England, Georgia, Slovakia, and Portugal applied for UEAA membership. The Steering Committee has seven members for this period, and consists of representatives from Sweden, Czech Republic, France, Latvia, Romania, England, and Portugal. The topic theme of GA in Prague was “The GMO Use in Agriculture”.

In April 2015 was held “Forum of the UEAA” in Kyiv, Ukraine. Forum was organised by National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine (NAAS). The main topic of the meeting was “European Agrarian Sciences – policy, legislation, practice and lessons for Ukraine”. At the conclusion of the negotiations was accepted resolution “On collaboration among European Agrarian Academies, Research centers and relevant Institutions to reform the agrarian science”. The meeting was attended by 11 members of the UEAA ( France, Czech Republic, Norway, Romania, Lithuania, Moldova, Latvia, Germany, Georgia, Poland, Ukraine ).

In december 2015 was held session of the UEAA working group of the SC. The meeting was attended by representatives of CAAS (Czech Republic), KSLA (Sweden) and FAA (France). The Conclusions from the session were following :

  1. To prepare the UEAA website for use of participants (urgently necessary for French part – organisation of next meeting the GA of the UEAA in Paris) – responsibility of the Czech part (till February 26, 2016).
  2. Actualisation of the member list (Czech part, till December 15, 2015).
  3. Actively prepare the GA of the UEAA meeting in Paris in October 2016 (French part).
  4. Develop contract within the EU bodies including exploring the funding possibilities (Swedish part).
  5. Explore the possible candidate for next vice-presidency (French part).