G.Valet Nov.29,1996
Dear colleagues,
Jim very correctly mentions the relative inefficiency of the "Council of Affiliated and Federated Societies" which since the ISACXVIII meeting in Rimini in May 1996 is known under the name "Council of Associated Societies". ISAC promotes this activity in a global sense because the council addresses in principle all cytometric societies and UNO may serve as an analogy.
A federation or union of European national societies with the goals defined in: http://www.biochem.mpg.de/valet/efcsrat1.html has a clear orientation corresponding to the visible integration of the different European countries into the EU.
Without claiming that the EU is perfectly organized, it is clear that Europe even in science has been very much reshaped over the last few years. More and more funds are administrated by Brussels and even the national scientific organizations in the various countries like CNRS, DFG, MRC, Max-Planck-Society etc. are presently being gradually reshaped. The EU in science is therefore no vision but a fast coming reality which has to be addressed efficiently by discipline oriented scientific organisations like the cytometric national societies in order to suffice to the organizational needs in Europe.
I believe therefore that the efforts for the foundation of a European federation or union of cytometric societies should not be measured with or be related too closely to the certainly important efforts of ISAC to achieve global coordination in cytometry.
Best regards
G.Valet