This year's EUREL General Assembly was once again a platform for detailed discussions between the EUREL member associations in addition to the personal encounters. Ultimately, decisions must be made that will ensure EUREL's successful course in the future. The General Assembly was chaired by the incumbent President Prof. Dr. Bernhard Jakoby (OVE, Austria). A special highlight of this year's General Assembly was the admission of the new member MEE - Hungarian Electrotechnical Association into the EUREL family. In addition to the adoption of the 2025 budget and various reports on past and future activities, the agenda also included the election of the EUREL President for the period 2025/26 and the regular election of 3 of 6 positions in the EUREL Executive Committee. With the new elections in particular, EUREL has demonstrated that the organization is becoming younger and more female.
General Assembly 2024 in Vienna
Admission of the new member MEE - Hungarian Electrotechnical Association
With the admission of the new member MEE, the path of constant expansion and enlargement of EUREL initiated by EUREL Chairman of the Board of Directors Markus B. Jaeger could be continued. Two high-ranking representatives of the MEE, President Lajos Gelencsér and Secretary General Imre Veisz, attended the EUREL General Assembly on behalf of the Hungarian Electrotechnical Association. The admission process started at the beginning of the year and was further advanced with a visit by Markus B. Jaeger to the Hungarian capital Budapest as part of various meetings with MEE representatives. The admission of the new member MEE was unanimous. Welcome to EUREL, dear friends of the Hungarian Electrotechnical Association.
Election of the EUREL President 2025/26
With Dr. Daniel Costianu (39 years old) from the Romanian EUREL member AIEE - Association of Energy and Electrical Engineers of Romania, an engineer was up for election for the office of President who can rightly be described as a EUREL home-grown player. Dr. Costianu first came into contact with EUREL in 2011 during his Master's degree in electrical engineering. His entry into the world of European electrical engineers at EUREL was through his participation in the EUREL International Management Cup - IMC, which will take place for the 18th time next year. Over the past 13 years, Dr. Daniel Costianu has always been closely associated with EUREL and has participated several times in the annual international activities that EUREL offers for young European electrical engineers. He was Vice-Chairman of the Young Engineers Panel (EUREL YEP), EUREL's organization for young engineers, for two years and then Chairman of the EUREL YEP for one year. Finally, he is the founder and board member of the Association of Energy and Electrical Engineers of Romania (AIEE). Professionally, Dr. Costianu works as a project manager for Siemens Energy Romania and has 18 years of experience in projects in the energy sector for conventional and renewable power generation plants, transport and distribution of electrical energy in Romania and the Republic of Moldova. The election of the next EUREL President, Dr. Daniel Costianu, was unanimous.
Dr. Daniel Costianu: "I am delighted that someone who joined EUREL's activities as a student in 2011 and has always championed the interests of young European electrical engineers has now been elected to the highest representative position of EUREL. This is a very high appreciation of my work and a motivation for the young members of the individual EUREL member associations, who see that consistent passion and commitment can take someone to the top."
Regular election of three of the six members of the EUREL Executive Committee (ExCo)
A change in the EUREL Executive Committee was already apparent months ago. The three long-standing members Markus Burger (Electrosuisse, Switzerland and member of the EUREL Board of Directors), Jan Danielsson (SER, Sweden) and Jorge Lica (Ordem Dos Engenheiros, Portugal) are retiring in their home countries. They also want to clear the way for the next generation at EUREL. With Prof. Dr. Georgiana Dunca (AIEE, Romania), a woman was elected to the ExCo for the first time in a long time. In addition, Sergiu Hollinger (SEEEI, Israel) and Marcel Stoeckli (Electrosuisse, Switzerland) are now members of the ExCo. Stoeckli also moved up to the Board of Directors. In addition, Arkadiusz Jurczakiewicz was elected as the new Chairman of the ExCo. All elections were unanimous.
Goals of the current President Emil Koifman
In his speech on taking office for the 2024/25 period, EUREL President Emil Koifman (SEEEI, Israel) thanked the hosts OVE for their warm hospitality and generous hosting of the General Assembly in the OVE premises. Thanks were also given to the outgoing EUREL President Prof. Jakoby, who, for example, created another instrument with the EUREL PhD Best Paper Award to give the younger generation a platform. Fortunately for EUREL, Prof. Jakoby is available to EUREL for another year as Past President.
For Emil Koifman, it is a special honor to be the first Israeli president of EUREL: "After we founded the SEEEI in Israel, it was particularly important to us to establish a worldwide network of friends. There was EUREL from neighboring Europe, of course one of our first points of contact. In collaboration with the engineers at EUREL, we can better meet the challenges ahead in an increasingly technological world. Together with EUREL, we are also fighting for many more well-trained specialists - especially female ones - in the areas of electrical, electronic and information technology engineering."
Emil Koifman announced that he will make several proposals for joint activities during his one-year EUREL presidency. First of all, he wants to strengthen the cooperation and exchange of experience for the training of engineering personnel for the transition to the modern electrical world focusing on internship and specialization. Furthermore, President Koifman wants to establish more working groups within EUREL for the preparation of position papers on topical issues such as “Microgrid and Net Zero Energy Buildings”, “Energy Storage in the Grid of the Future”, “Clean Transportation Systems”, “Contribution of energy sector to greenhouse gas emission and climate change”, “Cyber security for critical infrastructures” and “EMP threat to power grid”.
In addition to this very ambitious one-year work program, Emil Koifman has asked the Chairman of the Board of Directors of EUREL, Markus B. Jaeger (VDE, Germany), to lead a joint team “EUREL 2030” dedicated exclusively to the future of EUREL. Emil Koifman: “Since joining EUREL as Chairman of the Board of Directors in autumn 2019, Markus B. Jaeger has made outstanding and decisive decisions for the successful future of the organization and has also filled them with life and content. He has modernized EUREL, integrated more young engineers - male and female - and advanced the content of the work.”