Opening of the IPRS Meeting, Vienna, 24. July 2005

By Wolfgang Behm – Chief Editor of the Bundestag – Berlin

Dear colleagues from all over the world, welcome to the meeting of the Intersteno Parliamentary Reporters’ Section here in Vienna, Austria. It is a great pleasure for me to welcome here reporters from Australia, the Czech Republic, Germany, France, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Norway, The Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, and the United States. I hope I don’t forget anyone.

Once again – as in Rome 2003 – it’s me, a common committee member, sitting here in the chair instead of the IPRS co-ordinator. The committees' co-ordinator, Paul Hadlow from the United Kingdom resigned from his post because of health reasons and his changing in a new duty in Westminster, which does not allow additional activities.

As I already pointed out in Rome, IPRS is the forum for parliamentary reporters in the Intersteno and should remain it, because a plenty of participants in the congresses are reporters in parliaments and courts. They do need their place under the roof of Intersteno, one of the oldest organizations joining professionals.  

But IPRS needs to be modernized and vitalized to become the constitutive and effective branch of Intersteno, it should be. The few remaining members of the IPRS co-ordinating committee, sitting here in front of you, were not able in the last two years to give the necessary incentives and launch the renewing of IPRS.  

For that reason the board of Intersteno decided to take over the duties of the co-ordinating committee, until IPRS is really on the way into the future. That means, this assembly here will not choose a new co-ordinating committee. At this point I would like to express my hopes, that a sufficient number of active reporters in the board can look after the interests of reporters in Intersteno.  

The big number of colleagues being here in this meeting today is the expression of a great interest in IPRS, the reporters’ branch of Intersteno. Let’s have an attractive meeting this morning and proceed to the agenda, proposed by Cees von Beurden, co-ordinator of scientific committee.  

I propose to use the English language in this meeting today. If that creates problems a consecutive translation from/to German is possible. But in that case we’ll have an additional need of time.  

Now may I ask Mrs. Gradischnik from the Austrian Parliament at the beginning to address this assembly.

Agenda IPRS Meeting Vienna, Austria , 24. July 2005    

Wolfgang Behm (D):               Opening words  

Brigitte Gradischnik (A):       Welcome on behalf of the Austrian parliamentary reporting service  

Cees van Beurden (NL):         The situation of IPRS  

Vivian Widgerey ( UK ):           Review of Reporting Services at Westminster (management point of view)  

Emma Brazier ( UK ):                Review of Reporting Services at Westminster (Union point of view)  

José Hageman (NL):                How a blind reporter (with dog) works in the Dutch parliament  

Pavel Dibelka (CZ):                Present and future tasks of the Czech parliamentary reporting service  

Cees van Beurden (NL):         Parliamentary reporter, not just a job, but a special job

  The aim is, that all speakers are very short (not more than 5 minutes each) to have plenty of time left for the discussion.  

I expect that Mr. Alexander Newton, Principle Assistant Editor of Hansard, will also attend the meeting. A large number of parliamentary and freelance reporters have announced to attend the meeting, coming from: Australia , Switzerland , the Czech Republic , Germany , France , Italy , Ireland , Island, Japan , Mexico , Norway , the Netherlands , Poland and the USA.

  IPRS Co-ordinating Committee, elected in Rome

Paul Hadlow,  Great Britain (Chairman)

Wolfgang Behm, Germany

Anne Grete Orten, Norway

Evitta Friedrich, Austria

Maria Gudjonsdottir, Iceland

Milagros Hidalgo, Spain

Appointed member:

Danny Devriendt, Secretary General of Intersteno