Dear EAEPE Member,  

We are happy to announce that a new EAEPE Council has been set up after the last elections in December 2011. The new Council is a truly pluralistic team with a strong commitment to preserve the varieties of disciplines, different Research Areas and the plurality of theoretical perspectives of the Association.

This is the New Council: 

EAEPE Secretariat 

President of EAEPE: Wolfram Elsner, University of Bremen (Germany) welsner@uni-bremen.de

General Secretary:  Pasquale Tridico, University Roma Tre (Italy) tridico@uniroma3.it

Treasurer: Oliver Kessler,  University of Groningen (Netherlands) o.a.kessler@rug.nl

Newsletter and Website Editor of EAEPE: David Gindis, University of Hertfordshire (UK) d.gindis@herts.ac.uk (to be co-opted)

Ordinary Council Members of EAEPE

Jean-Christophe Graz, University of Lausanne (Switzerland)  jean-christophe.graz@unil.ch

Hardy Hanappi, Wien University of Technology (Austria) hanappi@tuwien.ac.at

Maria Lissowska, Warsaw School of Economics (Poland) lisso@sgh.waw.pl

Uskali Mäki, University of Helsinki (Finland) uskali.maki@helsinki.fi

Paolo Ramazzotti, University of Macerata (Italy) ramazzotti@unimc.it

Sidonia von Proff, University of Marburg (Germany) vonproff@staff.uni-marburg.de 

With this, the organizational break and crisis of the last months of 2011 has become somewhat mitigated. The new council has started its work with new enthusiasm and full commitment. It is working for the revitalization of EAEPE, for the true plurality of Research Areas and will defend the pluralism of theoretical perspectives that always has been one of the big assets of EAEPE. The new Council will aspire to re-establish EAEPE as an arena for lively and cutting-edge discussions and debates. A major priority will be to attract more young people, PhD students and people from European countries which are under-represented so far. 

The next major steps have already been set up by the new Council. We now have locations and programmes for the following Scientific Activities:   

1. the EAEPE Symposium on Labour Markets in Rome on 10-11 May 2012
2. the EAEPE Summer School in Rome on 2-6 July 2012
3. the EAEPE Annual conference in Krakow on 18-21 October 2012.

 See the calls for papers and the programmes attached below. 

The Council also already planned the 2013 Annual Conference to take place in Bilbao, and might be partly integrated with the conference of the international network on macroeconomics and macroeconomic policy. 

EAEPE still is not in a good shape financially. The documentation of EAEPE's incomes, expenditures, and financial assets has been poor in the last years. Building up a sound and viable financial system and a solid financial position for EAEPE will perhaps be the most critical item on the agenda of the new Council for the next months. This also requires establishing an auditing system, missing thus far. Thanks to the volunteering of one of the best experts in auditing, Fieke Van Der Lecq, we are running a preliminary auditing for the past years in order to start with a sustainable system this year. 

As regards the EAEPE and Gunnar Myrdal Prize, in order to run it on a larger and more competitive basis for this year, the Council decided on an exceptional basis to extend the deadline until March 31, 2012. We warmly thank those of you who already sent an entry, and encourage those who haven't to think about their recent book or articles and consider them as candidates for the EAEPE and Myrdal Prizes. Please check the website and do not hesitate to contact Jean-Christophe Graz for the procedure. We look forward to receiving your entry. 

The Council is aware that the EAEPE website needs to be improved. We will have to generally overhaul it (if not to build it completely anew) and make it the effective instrument for members that it is supposed to be. Since no one has run for the position of the EAEPE web editor in the last election (December 2011), this position was still vacant, and the Council found a new web editor, David Gindis, who agreed to be co-opted in the Council according to Clauses 9.1 and 9.2 of the EAEPE Constitution. 

Last but not least, last year's crisis has confirmed the necessity of reforms of the EAEPE with its written and formal as well as  its tacit rules and institutions. The new Council hopes to be able to propose at least some amendments to the membership meeting in Krakow for discussion and decision next October. 

In a word, we have already put in motion many major improvements, and much still has to be done – an organisation that has become 24 years old now deserves, and needs, special care. The new council and the members have to stabilize and revitalize the Association at this critical phase. So all please come to EAEPE, remain in EAEPE, be active in EAEPE and support the new Council.  

Best wishes, 

The EAEPE Council

Wolfram Elsner, David Gindis, Jean-Christophe Graz, Hanappi Hardy, Oliver Kessler, Maria Lissowska, Uskali Mäki, Paolo Ramazzotti, Pasquale Tridico, Sidonia von Proff.  

31, January 2012