Article 10 The bodies of the association are:

the Presidency, which is the administrative organ of the association;
the Executive Committee; which is the general assembly of the association, and
the Congress.

THE PRESIDENCY

Article 11 The association is managed by the Presidency, which is the management body of the association in the meaning of article 48, 6° of the Belgian law of 27 June 1921 on the non-profit associations, the international non-profit associations and the foundations. The Presidency is composed as follows:

the President;
a maximum of twelve Vice-Presidents;
the Secretary General;
the Treasurer; and
the honorary Presidents

Only representatives of Members are eligible for these functions. On the proposal of the President, the former Presidents of the association (the "Former Presidents") can be invited to the Presidency meetings,. To the extent practically possible, the mandates in the Presidency shall be allocated observing a balanced spread between countries of the European Union and between Members of the association. Each Member is allowed to propose candidates for the functions of President and Vice-President. Candidates must be nominated, in writing, to the Secretary General, fifteen days prior to the date of the election. All Members shall be informed of the names of the candidates not less than three days prior to the relevant meeting of the Congress.

The President and the Vice-Presidents are elected by the Congress by secret ballot for a renewable term of five years. The Congress elects the President by a simple majority of the valid votes cast. The Vice-Presidents are elected in one single vote. If there are more than twelve candidates for the function of Vice-President, the twelve candidates who are best ranked, are elected, provided that each candidate obtains at least half of the votes cast. Abstentions are not considered valid votes. If there are less than 12 candidates for the function of Vice-President, a vote takes place and each candidate needs at least half of the valid votes cast to be elected.

The Secretary General and the Treasurer are elected by the Presidency, upon proposal by the President. To safeguard the independency of the association, the position of President is not compatible with an employed profession by the EPP or the EPP Group in the European Parliament. The members of the Presidency may resign at any time, by giving notice to the Presidency of this decision to resign by registered letter. The members of the Presidency can also at any time be dismissed by the Congress, with an absolute majority of the votes.

If a mandate falls vacant, the Presidency may co-opt a temporary replacement, and the mandate of the co-opted board member must be confirmed by the first general assembly following this appointment. The members of the Presidency are not remunerated for the exercise of their mandate, unless decided otherwise by the Congress.

Procedure for the election of the President and the Vice-Presidents. The Congress will elect the President and a maximum of twelve Vice-Presidents. Nominations for the functions of President and Vice-President must be submitted by member organisations. This right can be suspended by the Presidency for those members that didn't pay their annual membership fee. The nominations must be in writing and addressed to the Secretary General at the latest fifteen days prior to the date of the election. The nomination of a candidate President must be supported by its own member association and their national EPP party. Besides, at least two other member associations must support this nomination. The nomination of a candidate Vice-President must be supported by its own member association and their national EPP party. All members shall be informed of the names of the candidates not less than three days prior to the relevant meeting of the Congress. The elections of the President and Vice-Presidents shall take place using a separate and secret ballot each, in the following order: President and Vice-Presidents. The election part of the Congress will be chaired by an Election Officer/ an Election Committee of three Congress delegates appointed by the Congress. The Election Officer/The members of the Election Committee may not be himself/themselves a candidate President or Vice-President. Each candidate shall have the opportunity to introduce himself (five minutes) and to answer to questions. One third of the Congress delegates can initiate a debate on the candidates. The candidates shall leave the room for the duration of this debate. They can be called back at any time to answer questions. Each election stage shall be separately held and no election stage shall proceed until the vote on the previous election has been announced by the Election Officer/Committee. Voting in the elections is conducted as follows:

Each Congress delegate with voting rights shall receive a ballot paper. All ballot papers shall be stamped with the ESU stamp or verified by the Secretary General's signature. Each ballot paper shall have the names of all candidates of the respective election stage printed on it.
Each voting delegate shall mark up to one name on the ballot paper for the election of the President and shall mark a minimum of six and a maximum of twelve names on the ballot paper for the election of the maximum twelve Vice-Presidents. If there are less than 12 candidates for the function of Vice-President, each delegate shall vote for at least half of the candidates and for no more than the number of candidates proposed.
Up to twelve names on the ballot paper for the election of the maximum twelve Vice-Presidents.
The secrecy and anonymity of the vote shall be guaranteed by technical means such as an election boot
Unmarked ballot papers will be counted as abstentions and ballot papers with more marks than names, will be counted as spoilt ballot paper.
The Election Officer/Committee shall supervise the collection of the ballot papers and the counting of the names by the tellers and shall announce the results as fast as possible.
In the event of a dispute arising out of the elections, the Election Officer/Committee shall make a decision, which shall be binding.
If there are more than twelve candidates for the positions of Vice-President, the twelve candidates who are best ranked, are elected.
The President is elected by a simple majority of the valid votes cast. The best ranked candidate with a simple majority of votes is elected.
If there is a parity of votes or none of the candidates has a simple majority of votes arising out of the election of the President, the Election Officer/Committee shall call immediately for a second ballot. If it does not bring about a decision and no candidate wishes to withdraw, (the Election Officer/Committee shall draw lots) or (President has a casting vote).

Article 12 The Presidency has the powers attributed to it by the law, these by-laws and the internal regulations. Its competences consist inter alia of:

ensuring the implementation of decisions taken by the Executive Committee and the Congress;
preparing the annual accounts and budget;
ensuring the representation of the association within the EPP and towards other institutions and organizations;
monitoring the work of the Secretary General, and more in particular the budget;
issuing statements on behalf of the association in the framework of its program further to a decision of the Executive Committee or Congress;
deciding on the admission of Members and Observers;
the election of the Secretary General and the Treasurer, upon proposal of the President.
preparing the meetings and agenda of the Executive Committee and the Congress.

Article 13 The members of the Presidency shall meet at least two times a year, upon convocation by the President by letter, fax or email at the latest two weeks in advance, unless in case of urgency. The President shall be obliged to convene a meeting of the Presidency if requested to do so by four Vice Presidents. The meetings take place on the day and at the time and location stated in the convening notice. The notice also contains the agenda, which is determined by the President. The Presidency can only debate the items that have been included in the agenda, unless all members of the Presidency that are present unanimously agree to deliberate on additional items at that time. The Presidency can validly decide only if half of its members having voting rights are present or represented. In case of failure to achieve this quorum, a second meeting can be convened with the same agenda, which can validly decide, regardless of the attendance quorum.

Decisions shall be taken by a simple majority of the votes cast, excluding absentees, abstentions and invalid votes. Each member of the Presidency shall have one vote. In case of a tie, the President has the casting vote.

The meetings are chaired by the President. The Secretary General shall draw up the minutes of the meetings, which shall be kept at the registered office of the association. A member of the Presidency can give a proxy to attend and vote at a meeting of the Presidency, provided that proxies can only be given to another member of the Presidency, it being understood that a member of the Presidency shall not be granted more than two proxies for one and the same meeting. On the proposal of the President and by decision of the Presidency, the Presidency may delegate specific powers and tasks to members of the Presidency, members of other bodies of the association or employees of the association. On the proposal of the President, the Presidency may invite third parties and experts to meetings of the Presidency to give advice to the Presidency. The meetings of the Presidency may also be organized by video- or teleconference.

Article 14 On the proposal of the President, the Presidency may approve a proposal by having all members of the Presidency sign for approval a circular setting out the proposal. In this case, the Presidency is not required to call a meeting. The circular must include the following information:

a statement that the text is a proposal for a decision of the Presidency;
a statement that the decision shall only be approved if signed by all members of the Presidency;
a statement that in order to be approved, the decision may not be amended and that no reservations may be expressed by members of the Presidency;
a statement that all the members of the Presidency must return the document signed and with the handwritten words "read and approved";
a statement indicating the number of days within which the signed circular must be returned to the association.

A report confirming the deliberations shall be drawn up and approved by the next meeting of the Presidency.

The written procedure in the Presidency For practical reasons or due to time constraints the written procedure can be conducted by e-mail.

Art. 14 bis

When the Presidency has to take a decision or must pronounce on a transaction falling within its competence in respect of which a board member has a conflict of interest, that board member must inform the other board members before the Presidency deliberates and may not participate in the decision process. The notion of conflict of interest may be of a financial, moral, personal and/or family nature.

THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Article 15 The Executive Committee is the general leading body of the association in the meaning of article 48, 5° of the Belgian law of 27 June 1921 on the non-profit associations, the international non-profit associations and the foundations. The Executive Committee is the strategic political body of the association. The Executive Committee is composed as follows:

the members of the Presidency, who shall each have one vote;
the Members of the association, who shall to that effect designate two delegates, who shall each have one vote.

Statutory Financial auditors, Internal Auditors and Observers are entitled to attend the meetings of the Executive Committee. On the proposal of the President, the Former Presidents can be invited to the meetings of the Executive Committee. On the proposal of the President, the Executive Committee may invite third parties and experts to give advice to the Executive Committee. Persons invited to attend the meetings of the Executive Committee do not have voting right. Article 16 The Executive Committee has the powers attributed to it by the law, these by-laws and the internal regulations. Its powers consist inter alia of:

ensuring unity of action by the association and influencing the achievement of European policy in the spirit of the program of the association;
stimulating and organizing systematic relations between its Members and Observers and their respective EPP member parties,
stimulating and organizing systematic relations with related senior citizens organizations, platforms and coordination structures;
approval of the annual accounts and the budget;
deciding on the exclusion of Members and Observers;
formulating recommendations to the Congress as to amendments to the by-laws of the association;
any powers conferred to the Congress, to the extent that such decisions cannot be postponed until the next Congress;
discharge of the mandate of the members of the Presidency;
any residual powers not expressly conferred to the Presidency or the Congress.

The Executive Committee may establish standing commissions and ad hoc working groups to study specific problems, and decide to dissolve them after having heard the president of the commission or working group. The procedure for the establishment of commissions and working groups (EXCO). Ad hoc working groups and standing commissions are set up by the Executive Committee for a specific period and have the task to prepare specific documents or study specific problems. Working groups and commissions can be chaired only by representatives of members of ESU. The position of Chairman and Vice-Chairman of a working group is applied for by a qualifying individual and appointed by the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee may appoint one Chairman and two Vice-Chairmen for each working group or commission. The Chairman of the working group or commission is responsible for drafting a working program. The Chairman can appoint a Vice-Chairman to replace him in case of absence or hand them over some specific tasks. In case of a disagreement, the Chairman decides what should be included in the final report. The Chairman shall always seek to reflect the consensus of the working group or commission. The draft reports our reports of the working groups and commissions are submitted to the Presidency and put on the agenda of the next meeting of the Executive Committee. Article 17 On the invitation of the President, the Executive Committee meets at least annually or whenever the interests of the association so require. An extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee must be convened if a request is made to that effect by at least one-third of the Members of the association. The Executive Committee shall be convened by letter, fax or email at the latest two weeks in advance, unless in case of urgency. The Executive Committee can validly deliberate and decide, provided that half of the members of the Executive Committee are present or represented, unless otherwise provided for in these by-laws. The convening notice sets out the agenda. Meetings are held at the registered office of the association or at any other location stated in the convening notice for the meeting. All decisions of the Executive Committee shall be taken with a simple majority of the votes cast by the members of the Executive Committee having voting rights, excluding absentees, abstentions and invalid votes. In case of a tie, the President has the casting vote. A member of the Executive Committee, or a delegate representing such member, can give a proxy to another member of the Executive Committee or delegate entitled to attend and vote at the meetings of the Executive Committee, to attend and vote on his behalf at a specific meeting of the Executive Committee. The number of votes that can be delegated to one single member of the Executive Committee or delegate entitled to vote at the meetings of the Executive Committee is limited to three. The meetings are chaired by the President. The Secretary General shall draw up the minutes of the meetings, which shall be kept at the registered office of the association.

THE CONGRESS

Article 18 The Congress is composed as follows:

the members of the Presidency, each having one vote;
the delegates of the Members of the association that are part of the Executive Committee, each having one vote;
a number of delegates of the non-suspended Members of the association as follows:
1. each Member of the association shall have the right to designate ten additional delegates, and each delegate will have one vote.
2. if the country in which the Member of the association has its registered office has more than ten million inhabitants, it is entitled to one additional delegate per each ten million inhabitants.
3. if more than one Member of the association has its registered office in the same country, the ten delegates need to be allocated between those Members, who will decide between themselves how these delegates will be allocated on a given meeting.

Each person entitled to vote at the Congress can give a proxy to attend and vote at a specific meeting of the Congress provided that proxies can only be given to another person entitled to vote at the Congress, it being understood that such person shall not represent more than three other persons on one specific meeting of the Congress. Statutory Financial auditors, Internal Auditors and Observers are entitled to attend the meetings of the Congress. On the proposal of the President, the Former Presidents can be invited to the meetings of the Congress. On the proposal of the President, the Congress may invite third parties and experts to give advice to the Congress. Persons invited to attend the meetings of the Congress do not have voting right. Article 19 The Congress has the powers attributed to it by these by-laws and the internal regulations. Its powers consist inter alia of:

deciding on the (political) program of the association;
approving amendments of the by-laws;
electing the President, Vice-Presidents;
electing the Honorary Presidents, upon proposal of the President;
appointing the Statutory Financial Auditor(s) (if applicable) and the Internal Auditors of the association;
deciding on the dissolution of the association.

Procedure for the election of Honorary Presidents A Honorary President is nominated by the President and elected by the Congress, at simple majority, by which he or she is considered elected. Voting in the elections is conducted as follows:

Each Congress delegate with voting rights shall receive a ballot paper. All ballot papers shall be stamped with the ESU stamp or verified by the Secretary General's signature. Each ballot paper shall have the names of all candidates for Honorary President printed on it.
The secrecy and anonymity of the vote shall be guaranteed by technical means such as an election boot
Unmarked ballot papers will be counted as abstentions and ballot papers with more marks than names, will be counted as spoilt ballot paper
The Election Officer shall supervise the collection of the ballot papers and the counting of the votes and shall announce the results as fast as possibl
In the event of a dispute arising out of the elections, the Election Officer shall make a decision, which shall be binding.

If no simple majority can be formed (the Election Officer shall call immediately for a second ballot. If it does not bring about a decision the President has a casting vote. Article 20 On the invitation of the President, the Congress meets at least every five years. An extraordinary meeting must be convened if a request is made to that effect by the Executive Committee or at the request of at least one-fourth of the Members of the association. The Congress shall be convened by the Presidency by letter, fax or email at the latest one month in advance, unless in case of urgency. The convening notice sets out the agenda. Meetings are held at the registered office of the association or at the place stated in the notice of the meeting. Items that have not been included in the agenda cannot be resolved upon unless approved by the Congress with a majority of two-thirds of the votes cast. The Congress can only validly decide if at least half of the Members of the association are present or represented.

All votes and election procedures shall be made by a simple majority of the votes cast, excluding absentees, abstentions and invalid votes, except for amendments of the by-laws and the dissolution of the association that require a majority of two-thirds of the votes cast. In case of a tie, the President has a casting vote. The meetings are chaired by the President, or, in case of absence of the President, by one of the Vice-Presidents. The Secretary General shall draw up the minutes of the meetings, which shall be kept at the registered office of the association.

The procedure for the convocation of the Congress. The convening of the Congress is made by the Presidency. The invitation must be in written form and send out by letter, fax or e-mail, giving information about the place, the date and the agenda. It has to be sent out - eventually together with the regulation of the Congress - to the member-organisations, at least one month beforehand (unless in case of urgency). The member-organisations are responsible for the information of their delegates. The President has to be informed, at least two week before the opening of the Congress, of the names and the addresses of the delegates as well as of a delegation head. The agenda shall contain at least the following points:

Opening of the meeting
Finalisation and adoption of the Agenda
Confirmation of the Quorum
Appointment of Tellers
Voting upon motions (program, amendments by-laws,...)
Reports
Statements
Appointment of Election Officer/Committee
Elections of President, Vice-Presidents
Election Honorary Presidents (if proposed by the President)
Appointment Statutory financial Auditor(s) and maximum four Internal Auditors
Any other business
Closing of the meeting

SECRETARY GENERAL

Article 21 On the proposal of the President, the Presidency elects a Secretary General, in charge of the day-to-day management of the association, including the representation of the association within the limits of the day-to-day management. The Secretary General is elected for a renewable term of five years. The Presidency elects a Secretary General with a simple majority of the votes present or represented on the meeting. This day-to-day management includes inter alia (i) the management of the daily business and exercise of the decisions taken by the bodies of the association; (ii) the drawing up, with the approval of the President, of agenda's for meetings of bodies, the coordination of the convening of meetings, their preparation, and the drawing up of minutes and (iii) taking care of the financial management together with the Treasurer. The Secretary General is entitled to implement decisions of the Presidency. The Secretary General is also authorized to appoint an attorney at law to represent the association in judicial proceedings either as applicant or defendant. The Secretary General prepares and provides the Executive Committee at the beginning of a new year with a report of the activities of the association for the ended year and a proposal for activities in the year that starts. Procedure for the election of the Secretary General and Treasurer. The Secretary General and the Treasurer are elected by the Presidency, upon proposal by the President. The election of the General Secretary and Treasurer will take place at the first Presidency meeting after the Congress. Unless asked otherwise by at least 1/3thd of the Presidency members, the election will be by show of hands. The elections for both positions have to be seen as separate procedures. They are elected at simple majority, by which he or she is considered elected. In case of a tie the President has a casting vote. If upon request of at least 1/3thd of the Presidency members the election cannot by conducted by show of hands, the Presidency members with right of vote will receive a ballot paper. If no simple majority can be formed after this secret election, the President will call for a second round. If after this second round there is still no simple majority the election will be postponed until the next Presidency meeting. It remains the right of the President to propose a candidate.

TREASURER

Article 22 On the proposal of the President, the Presidency elects a Treasurer, in charge of the financial management of the association, with a simple majority of the votes present or represented on the meeting for a renewable term of five years. At the beginning of a new financial year the Treasurer prepares and provides, together with the Secretary General, a report on the budgetary perspectives of the association to the Presidency and the Executive Committee. The Treasurer is also responsible for organizing the funding of the association and its activities, by means of donations or any other legal means. The financial regulations. The necessary means for the realisation of the ESU's tasks are coming from its membership fees, incomes from manifestations, sale of brochures and publications or from other activities, gifts, allowances, allocation of funds, other incomes. The financial year corresponds with the calendar year. Each year the Treasurer, in cooperation with the Secretary General, has to submit the annual accounts for the ended year and the next year's budget plan to the Presidency. The Presidency must submit the annual accounts and budget to the Executive Committee for approval. The Treasurer will also, together with the Secretary General, draw up a report on the budgetary perspectives of the association to submit to the Presidency and the Executive Committee.

REPRESENTATION

Article 23 The association is validly represented towards third parties by:

the President; or
two members of the Presidency acting jointly; or
for matters of day-to-day management and any other matters conferred to the Secretary General by the by-laws, the Secretary General; or

special proxy holders appointed by the Presidency or, for matters conferred to the Secretary General, by the Secretary General, within the limits of their powers.

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