Annual General Assembly 2026: making positive change together
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On Thursday 28 May, we gathered our members in Brussels for the Annual General Assembly of SOLIDAR and SOLIDAR+. It was a day of important decision-making and discussion for our network which will shape much of our work over the next year, and in particular our approach to the EU’s next long-term budget.
In the morning, we kicked off with the AGA of SOLIDAR which was chaired by our Board member, Klaus Thieme from Solidar Suisse.
We were delighted that two affiliated members changed their status to full members, Migration Consortium and Samaritan International. We are very grateful to both for their continued commitment to the work and values of SOLIDAR and SOLIDAR+.
We were also excited to welcome CARDET as an affiliated member and the newest addition to the SOLIDAR family. We continued the morning with the AGA of SOLIDAR+ which was chaired by Simon Parkinson from WEA.
In terms of Board updates, we welcomed Rosario Sánchez from La Liga Española de la Educación y la Cultura Popular to the Board of SOLIDAR for a second mandate and Vasiliki Tsekoura from DAFNI KEK to the Board of SOLIDAR+. Additionally, our Election Committee was updated, and is now composed of Sergio Bassoli from CGIL, Ania Skrzypek from FEPS and Anne-Rieke Stuhlmann from Samaritan International. We are looking forward to working with our updated Board:
President: Anne van Lancker, FOS
Vice-President: Klaus Thieme, SOLIDAR Suisse
Treasurer: Susanne Drake, Internews Kosova
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
Sanjin Plakalo, Pour la Solidarité
We also look forward to continuing working with the Board of SOLIDAR+:
President: Anne van Lancker, FOS
Vice-President: Simon Parkinson, WEA
Treasurer: Susanne Drake, Internews Kosova
Mikael Leyi, SOLIDAR
Erasmo Palazzotto, CGIL
Miodrag Mihajlovic, IDC Serbia
Isabelle Palanchon, CEMEA
In the afternoon, we held our Political Forum. This year’s forum consisted of a capacity-building session with our members around the negotiations of the next Multiannual Financial Framework, followed by a discussion of SOLIDAR’s recommendations for the MFF in line with our policy pillars. These discussions will feed into our advocacy and communication linked to the MFF over the next year and a half, and we were grateful for the lively conversations and important reflections that came our of them.
We welcomed key partners and allies for a cocktail reception to close the day, which was also an important moment for exchange and reflection on the discussion of the day.
These moments allow us to find collective solutions to the challenges that face us all, including a more difficult funding landscape, more hostile political interlocutors and shifting political priorities. Networks like SOLIDAR have a key role to play in our current political context, and we look forward to continue to work together in solidarity. Until next year!
