Annual General Assembly 2025: movement-building for resistance
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On 25 June 2025, the Annual General Assembly (AGA) of SOLIDAR and SOLIDAR Foundation took place in Brussels. We gathered our members and allies to take important decisions, exchange about our shared challenges and connect.
The meeting was kicked off with introductions by Mikael Leyi, SOLIDAR Secretary General, Salima Chitalia, Project Manager at Pour la Solidarite and our host for the day, and Anne van Lancker, President of the Board of SOLIDAR.
The first important decision of the day was the approval of the full membership of the Institute for International Assistance and Solidarity (IFIAS). IFIAS is an organisation that promotes democracy and conflict resolution around the world, and supports the coordination of civil society and grassroots organisations globally.
We also adopted SOLIDAR’s 2024 Annual Report, key financial documents, our 2026-29 strategy, and a joint declaration on peace.
Finally, the elections to the Board took place. We are looking forward to working with our new Board:
President: Anne van Lancker, FOS
Vice-President: Klaus Thieme, SOLIDAR Suisse
Treasurer: Salima Chitalia, Pour La Solidarité
Simon Parkinson, WEA
Thomas Carlhed, OPIC
Marta Iglesias, MPDL
Rosario Sanchez, La Liga Española de la Educación
Oceane Danieli, La Ligue de l’Enseignement
Andrea Malpassi, ARCI
Susanne Drake, Internews Kosova
Antje Helbig, AWO
We then held the AGA of SOLIDAR Foundation, at which the 2024 Annual Report and financial documents were adopted. There was also a vote to change the name of SOLIDAR Foundation to SOLIDAR+ and to change the internal rules, marking the beginning of a new strategic period and the consolidation of the identity of the organisation. We concluded the meeting by voting in the new Board:
President: Anne van Lancker, FOS
Vice-President: Simon Parkinson, WEA
Treasurer: Salima Chitalia, Pour La Solidarité
Mikael Leyi, SOLIDAR
Erasmo Palazzotto, CGIL
Miodrag Mihajlovic, IDC Serbia
Isabelle Palanchon, CEMEA
Once the statutory matters were concluded, we began the Political Forum. This involved a World Cafe in which our members discussed their shared challenges in an environment of shrinking civic space. The discussion centred around three main challenges: (1) Global shrinking civic space and the rise of the far-right, (2) Criminalisation of dissent, and (3) Criminalisation of solidarity. The outcome of these conversations will feed into an internal guiding document which will shape our approach to shrinking civic space in the upcoming strategy period, and a position paper on the Commission’s proposed Civil Society Strategy, the public consultation for which is currently open.
The World Cafe was followed by a strategic roundtable discussion which featured a distinguished panel of speakers:
- Fabrizia Panzetti, Secretary General, S&D
- Giulio Romani, Confederal Secretary, ETUC
- Patrizia Heidegger, Deputy Secretary General, European Environmental Bureau
Fabrizia Panzetti shared important insights related to the current make-up of the Parliament and the problems it presents, especially with regard to the back-peddling on key commitments for a just transition. She outlined that the challenges of this mandate, and made clear that we must raise the level of political debate in order to ensure that we do not allow progress on just transition and important environmental and social protections to be undone.
Giulio Romani commented on the rise of the far-right as a global issue, and the need for alliance building in order to counter this trend. He highlighted the need for progressive actors and movements to come together to promote shared priorities.
Patrizia Heidegger shared takeaways from environmental NGOs who were targeted by certain factions of the Parliament as recipients of funding under the LIFE programme. She emphasised that these were political attacks with the aim of undermining and limiting civil society’s voice, and the importance of working with political allies in order to block these attempts.
The discussion was followed by a fruitful Q&A with our members and allies, during which some key priorities going forward were discussed.
As always, the AGA proved a crucial moment for our network to come together for important conversations and decision-making. We thank our members, allies, and guest speakers for their participation, and we congratulate our new Board members on their election. Until next year!
xSOLIDAR is happy to welcome new organisations among its members. Their addition to the team brings a diverse range of skills and experiences and is expected to infuse fresh perspectives and innovative ideas to our network. SOLIDAR welcomes warmly:
