The initiative, unique in its kind and of considerable importance, will finally be presented to the public during the prestigious Foil World Cup "Mazars International Challenge de Paris".
On Saturday 14 January 2023, the official presentation of the “Solidarity Programme” will be held in Paris, a project strongly desired by President Giorgio Scarso and shared by EFC Comex. The initiative has been embraced by six Founding Federations: France, Hungary, Spain, Great Britain, Sweden and Italy and one other (including Austria among the founding members is being evaluated). The project supports one of the most important objectives of the EFC Statutes: “to ensure amicable mutual support, of technical and other kinds, between European fencing federations and to tighten the ties of friendship which unite fencers of all European countries”.
The Programme has been designed to encourage technical, cultural, organisational and managerial exchange and to strengthen a spirit of solidarity between European Federations. Thanks to this agreement, coaches, athletes, referees and managers of Federations will benefit from technical growth thanks to the organization of special seminars, webinars and training courses.
Contributing Partner Members and Federations will be happy to share their knowledge in a spirit of cooperation, friendship, and mutual support, sharing with all of European fencing its know-how and experience. In particular, the 6 Federations involved, thanks to their history, technical level and organisational skills have each offered to organize courses, bearing all the costs related, for various categories: coaches, athletes, safeguarding officials, match directors and Managers of Federations and referees.
The presentation of the project will be attended by many authorities: the Italian Minister of Sport and Youth Policies Andrea Abodi, the Hungarian Secretary of State of Sports Gabor Schmid, the Diplomatic Representatives Emanuela D'Alessandro, the Ambassador of Italy to France, the Ambassador of Great Britain to France and delegate for Olympic and Paralympic Sports Greg Mulheir. The Presidents of the Olympic Committees will also be present: Italian, Giovanni Malagò (also IOC member), Hungarian Zsolt Gyulay and Spanish, Alejandro Blanco. The leaders of the Partner Federations will sign the commitment protocol. The Hungarian Federation will be represented by President Zsolt Ksampa and Secretary General Henriette Tamas, the Swedish Federation by President Otto Drakenberg, the Spanish Federation by President Jose Luis Abajo, the English Federation by President Hilary Philbin, the Italian Federation by President Paolo Azzi and the French Federation by President Bruno Gares. The European Fencing Confederation will attend with President Giorgio Scarso and Vice President Etienne Van Cann.
All the Authorities, following the press conference, will be invited to attend the finals of the prestigious Foil World Cup, successfully organized every year by the French Federation, at the Pierre De Coubertin Stadium.
