Present were: 
Jan van Muilekom (president), Gerd Eicker (Vice-President), Wilhelm Dahl, Nuria Sempere, Mario Sperenzi, Timo Veijola, Viktor Zadnik, Rosina Sobrido - director Escuela Municipal de Musica de La Coruña (present at point 7), Hans Brupbacher - European Youth Music Festival Switzerland 2002 - 
(partly present), Gerrie Koops (secretary general, report)

Opening of the meeting and adoption of the agenda
Jan van Muilekom opened the meeting and welcomed all participants. He thanked the Escuela Municipal de Musica de La Coruña for their hospitality and for arranging the meeting. He gave a special welcome to Hans Brupbacher who was invited to the meeting to give a general view on the European Youth Musical Festival 2002 and the General Assembly 2002.

European Youth Music Festival 2002 and GA in Switzerland 
Hans Brupbacher handed out a concept project description for the European Youth Music Festival, the Presidium meeting and the General Assembly 2002. He gave an overview of the proposed program and mentioned that there are still difficulties in finding the total budget of 2.7 million S.Fr. For the outstanding money the Swiss have engaged the active support of many people and have organised several activities. 
The Presidium advised the Swiss organisation that they:
- should arrange a meeting in March or April with senior politicians in order to persuade them to subsidise the Festival. (appr. 85% of Spain and 75 % of Norway's budget has been subsidised by the ministry) the President of EMU could be present at such a meeting; 
- could reduce the costs if groups organised their own transport during the festival. Switzerland should inform participating groups as soon possible and should ask them if they prefer lodging in the same place or area because of the transport;
- could invite important politicians from participating countries to the conference.

The Presidium decided that:
. EMU would try to secure subsidies from the European Union.
. EMU (the small working group who are holding a meeting with Europarliamentarians in March in Brussels) should make a proposal as to how it could participate in the EXPO Conference and how interested parties could be invited. 

Minimum Requirements when organising a European Youth Music Festival
The president thanked the working group for preparing a proposal for minimum requirements for a European Youth Music Festival including general application papers. 
Having discussed this proposal it was agreed that several corrections should be made before sending it as a proposal to the GA in October. 

The Presidium decided that:
. the proposal would have to be changed in two sections: 
a) minimum requirements and
b) suggestions;
. an introduction to why it has been written should be added;
. the proposal should end with the proviso that if someone is able to come up with a good enough argument the Presidium has the right to skip one of the minimum requirements;
. the corrected proposal should be sent to the General Assembly in Slovenia in October 2001. 

European Youth Music Festival / General Assembly 2004 and the General Assembly 2003 
(and 2005, 2006)
The president mentioned that a letter had been sent to all members inviting them to nominate their association as organiser for a Festival or a General Assembly.
The Presidium has received an application from the Danish/Swedish for the Festival and General Assembly in 2004.
Two applications for the GA in 2003 were handed out during the meeting:
. the Spanish Association would like to organise the Presidium and the General Assembly in La Coruña with a Congress that could offer a European vision of the music school developments;
. the Finnish Association would like to combine the meetings with the Kuopio Orchestra, Chamber event. Timo Veijola remarked that because this event will take place every three years the Finnish Association could also arrange the GA in 2006.
. Mario Sperenzi mentioned that Italy would like an option for 2005

The Presidium decided that, in October, the GA would receive a proposal stating that the following countries would organise the Festival and/or the General Assembly:
. 2003 the GA by Spain (La Coruna)
. 2004 the Festival and GA by Denmark and Sweden
. 2005 the GA by Italy (option)
. 2006 the GA by Finland (a strong suggestion and claim)
The president will inform Spain, Denmark and Sweden. The concept requirements will be sent to Denmark and Sweden as a recommendation.

General remarks
- The president gave the floor to the Presidium to report on any outstanding developments within his/her country/association.
. Gerd Eicker reported that from 18 - 20 May 2001 the VdM would be organising a Congress 'To learn from each other' in Leipzig for 1500 teachers. He invited the Presidium to the Congress and offered to send them the congress newspaper.
. Wilhelm Dahl reported that the Nordisk Musik- och Kulturskole Union had had an interesting meeting in Oslo two days previously. He reported that the Norsk Kulturskoleraad wants to build and maintain a professional relationship with politicians and stakeholders.
. Jan van Muilekom mentioned that the VKV is still looking for a manager. He reported that Holland relates closely with regular schools. This has resulted in a special year-long education program for teachers of the Dutch Arts Institutions to enable them to teach arts in regular schools.
- France has responded to the Presidium's invitation and has confirmed that it wishes to be admitted to the EMU by October 2001. The president will inform France that the Presidium will sanction their admittance to the GA in October where they will be invited as a quest.
- Turkey wants to become a member again. We have sent them an application form.
- EMU has still not received the last amount of money from the EU and the Council of Europe on IMEE.
- The Presidium has received the program for the Symposium in Austria on Friday 27 April 2001. Referent Hans Muiderman from the Netherlands and Gerd Eicker have been invited. Austria will send the brochure within two weeks to all members (brochure and translators also in English. red). The regular meeting of the Presidium will take place on Saturday 28 April. Departure date Presidium will be on Sunday 29 April.
- Professional Qualifications Project: Gerd Eicker reported on his project with Arthur Gieles (Inspectie van het Onderwijs, The Netherlands) about the professional qualifications. Slovenia, Slovakia, Luxembourg, Ireland and Belgium Flanders still have not returned the questionnaire. The form from Austria was sent back because it was not completed. Gerd Eicker mentioned that the results of this project could be printed in a brochure. The total printer costs will probably be DM 5000 for 5000 examples. The president recommended that the working group acquire the missing questionnaires and prepare the final text before the next Presidium. It was stressed that EMU should find the money for printing. Wilhelm Dahl will try to find a sponsor in Norway. Timo Veijola suggested that a subscription letter could be sent to conservatories and academies. It was decided that the final decision for printing would be taken in the April meeting.
- The EMU has received a questionnaire from the Council of Europe regarding the matter of the EMU activities for the NGO in 1998/1999 and the attendance of NGO meetings.
- The president has been invited to give a speech to a congress of the American Guild of Community Art Schools New York in November.

Working Program and Budget 2001
The positive votes on the proposal Working Program and Budget 2001 from Austria, Denmark, Norway, Belgium Wallonie and Croatia were handed-out at the meeting. 
It was stated that in the future more member countries should be asked to give a reaction.

The working program and budget 2001 were approved. 

Website EMU in connection with a possible deal with Net4Music
The president has received from VdM information on the costs for hosting a website. This would be appr. 9000 DM.
As decided in the last Presidium meeting the president has met the president and vice-president of Net4Music and has invited them to make a proposal for co-operation that could be discussed in this Presidium meeting. This proposal has not yet been received.
Timo Veijola and Gerd Eicker informed the Presidium about the newly developed websites of the Finnish and German associations who could be interested in the EMU website. Timo Veijola will send the president some information about the Finnish website. 

The Presidium adopted the proposal that the president will ask an analyst to give advice as to what kind of information it would be advisable to put on the EMU website. The matter has to be discussed further in the next Presidium meeting.

Statistics
The former chairman of the Statistics working group, Ib Planch Larsen, is willing to continue his chairmanship. Mario Sperenzi remarked that Italy could not collect the information, which was needed, because Italy has another system. The president proposed that Ib Planch Larsen should send a draft version of the new enquiry for suggestions to Italy beforehand.
On the question as to whether there are any new statistical topics that should be published, it was remarked that the following topics should be added: general information about EMU (what we are doing, new developments); present activities between music schools and general schools; participating ages. The payments on pages 28, 29 and 30 could be skipped. It was stressed that there should be more referring to data from booklets of the past.

The secretary will inform Ib Planch Larsen about these suggestions and will ask him to contact the formal members of the working group: Klaus Jurgen Weber and Viktor Zadnik to ask for their participation in the development of the new statistics.

Lobbying with the European Union
Wilhelm Dahl and Jan van Muilekom have prepared a paper concern lobbying with the EU, which was sent to the Presidium in the first week of January. It describes what EMU would like to present; the targets; the aim and the strategy. 
Euro parliamentarian Marieke Sanders and Mrs Iivari (vice-president Committee on Culture) have already invited the EMU to talk about the proposed research-project and about help for a development center respectively.

European Manifesto
The EMU has received a suggestion from Pedro Sarmiento form Spain to ask highly respected professionals from European Music Life and general societal life to declare their support for the European Music Schools.
On the question as to whether this would be an interesting initiative, it was remarked that it could be interesting to ask people on a national and European level. Certain well-known people or artists could be invited to become 'ambassadors' who could be invited to our festivals.

It was decided that Timo Veijola would make a list. The matter has to be discussed further in the next Presidium meeting.

Exchange of teachers
Two videos on best practices made by VdM were shown during the meeting. Nuria Sempere had prepared an enquiry, which was sent to the members asking them what interesting experience they had to offer and which they would like to find abroad. The responses might help the Presidium to secure financial support from the European Union. 
On the question as to whether bringing people over borders is more effective than making videos on best practices, it was remarked that it could be interesting to find out about the exchange experiences in other sectors. Gerd Eicker mentioned that two years ago in Germany a music school academy was founded on European level. Perhaps it would be interesting to contact them to organise central activities. It was also suggested that there could be some kind of special labour market, for music teachers who are interested in working in another country. 
The president concluded that there are two lines: centralising exchange activities and bringing schools together in direct contact. This could be achieved through the use of the Internet.

It was decided that Nuria Sempere would try to find out about the exchange experiences in other sectors.
She will do so by contacting the European Union and will then also pay attention to projects concerning labour market activities.
The secretary will send the enquiry results to Gerd Eicker. He will contact the academy in Germany to determine their interest in working together. The matter has to be discussed further in the next Presidium meeting.

Continuing with IMEE and how
The working program shows two ways of proceeding. Firstly, continuing the IMEE project by making intercultural music materials and secondly continuing the project by bringing together the material and experiences of the four sessions so far and offering it as a program to interested member associations. Regarding the first possibility the Presidium has asked the German publication firm Schott to give their advice on different kinds of market products and their prices. The Presidium has not yet received their promised reaction. The project leaders Josef Frommelt and Klaus Jurgen Weber suggested that the Presidium make a proposal for both projects during the coming year. The Presidium and the GA could make the final decision before the EU application deadline on 1 March 2002.
It was stressed that in any new project EMU has to pay 35 % of the total cost, which would amount to Euro 548.000 for 3 years. Is such an expensive project with so few participating countries a safe thing to do? Its true that the IMEE project is the only project of EMU that is known world-wide and is mentioned on the UNESCO and IMC lists.