An interview with the CLGE President Jean-Yves Pirlot

Council of European Geodetic S This is the first contribution from the CLGE for GeoInformatics. As an introduction to the readers ofGeoInformatics, CLGE President Jean-Yves Pirlot explains in detail what the organization is all about,such as its members and main activities.

GeoInformatics: What’s the aimof the Council of EuropeanGeodetic Surveyors?Jean-Yves Pirlot: In a one-liner, CLGE is theleading surveyors association in Europe!

GI: … moreover?Pirlot: CLGE is the Council of EuropeanGeodetic Surveyors. The acronym stemsfrom the French name Comité de Liaison desGéomètres Européens. In a broad sense, itrepresents the interests of the EuropeanSurveyor on the whole continent. This meansthat our Council promotes the profession inthe European Union as well as in the sur-rounding Council of Europe countries.Surveying includes Cadastral Surveying

which provides security to land and prop-erty title and thus underlies the economicfoundation of developed societies.Moreover, Geospatial Information is nowubiquitous in our lives and the surveyorplays a fundamental role in this field. Bothactivities are strongly related because awell-managed cadaster is an ideal funda-ment for national Geo Data Infrastructures.

Our tasks in property delimitation andGeoInformation management are stronglyrelated because the cadaster is an idealfundament for Geo Data Infrastructures.

The individual surveyors are the final andmost important beneficiaries of CLGE’s activ-

ities. However, the Council also pursuesmore general aims, such as the sustainabledevelopment of European society and thepublic and individual interests of EuropeanCitizens.It is important to note that we are represent-ing the profession as a whole. This meansthat we have delegates from the private, thepublic and the academic sectors. For thetime being, we are introducing a represen-tation of the youngsters as well.

GI: When and why was CLGEfounded?Pirlot: About 50 years ago, it becameclear that the European countries, unitedwithin the worldwide organization FIG,

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The CLGE Executive Board, from left to right: Pierre Bibollet (FR, Vice President), Leive Bjarte Mjøs (NO, Vice President), Dieter Seitz (DE, Treasurer), Rudolf Kolbe (AT, Vice President), Jean-Yves Pirlot (BE, President), Michelle Camilleri (MT, Secretary General).

Not on the picture Danko Markovinovic (HR, Vice President for GI).

By the editors

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needed a representational body to interactwith the then young European institutions.Official history reports a first meeting in1972, during the FIG congress held inWiesbaden, Germany. However, oldermembers of our association have mentionedprior meetings, as early as 1962. We hopethat this issue will be solved before our nextEuropean Conference, in Hanover onOctober 11th, 2012, since our 50thanniversary will of course deserve specialattention.

GI: Which countries are memberof CLGE?Pirlot: CLGE is still growing. As shown onthe map (figure 1), we are represented in35 countries. Amongst them we have the 27EU member states as well as 8 Council ofEurope countries. In each country we askour member organizations to create aNational Liaison Group. This group is rep-resented by two delegates in our GeneralAssembly, sharing one single vote. Thisapproach promotes national cooperation.

GI: How is it possible to becomea member of CLGE and how areyou recruiting new members?Pirlot: Actually, the National Liaison Groups(NLG) are not yet completely built in all our

member countries. This process is still ongo-ing. It means that candidate associations canalways contact existing members of a givenNLG and start negotiations to join it. CLGEnormally does not interfere in these discus-sions unless asked to do so by both parties.Not so long ago, the French Association forTopography started talks with our historicmember OGE (Ordre des Géomètres-Experts

français). I am confident that they will jointhe French NLG soon. Others could follow.

By requiring the constitution of NationalLiaison Groups, we foster the local cooper-ation amongst surveying associations. Andit works!

We are not really recruiting actively. All theCouncil of Europe members are welcome. Itsuffices that the candidate associations rep-resent the majority of the profession withintheir country and engage themselves to fol-low the principles of CLGE. Once acceptedthey have to build a National Liaison Group,together with the sister organizations in theircountry.

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7Latest News? Visit www.geoinformatics.com January/February 2012

Surveyors Newsletter

CLGE is represented in 35 countries. Amongst them are the 27 EU member

states as well as 8 Council of Europe countries.

European Surveyor, regardless where you are on March 5th, 2012, please celebrate your profession! March 5th, 2012, 500 years Mercator, the First Day of the European Surveyor

and GeoInformation.

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GI: What are your main activities?As we have limited means, we can onlyinvest in important activities. However, inthis article it is not possible to list them all.We will seize the opportunity given by ourcooperation with your magazine to describeour activities in more detail in the coming15 issues. However, we can of course syn-thesize our engagement by announcing ourmain goals.In a few words CLGE wants to:• take part in the legislative process gov-erning the exercise of the SurveyingProfession at the European and nationallevels;

• build a professional image of theEuropean Surveyor, recognized bynational governments as well as the EU;

• motivate young surveyors to becomeactive within their national associationsand hence CLGE (and urge young peo-ple to join our profession, of course);

• make sure that the CLGE members aresatisfied with our performance.

Therefore, we absolutely need to raise ourprofile and to appear on the radar of theEuropean politicians and the broader public.

CLGE has to raise its profile if we want theprofession to appear on the radar of thepoliticians and the broader public!

And here we have to highlight one singleaction that’s planned for March 5th, 2012;yes, the first Day of the European Surveyor.Our General Assembly has asked us toorganize this event on the very day onwhich our famous predecessor Mercatorwas born, 500 years ago, in what’s nowcalled Belgium.Together with some National Mapping andCadastral Agencies our CLGE delegatesand their organizations will arrange specialevents all over Europe, to honour this day.Moreover, CLGE will organize a specific cel-ebration in Brussels, inviting delegationsfrom every European country. If you areSurveyor and interested in joining the event,do not hesitate to contact us onGeoInformatics@clge.eu (please follow thenews on www.clge.eu for an updated pro-gramme). A few places are available forGeoInformatics readers.In the upcoming issues of this magazine, wewill present several other initiatives in moredetail. We will, for instance, explain ourinvolvement in the modernizationof the European Directive on theMutual Recog nition of Pro -fessional Quali fications, adver-tise our next European Con -

ference to be held during INTERGEO 2012in Hanover, together with our EuropeanStudents Meeting and the first CLGEStudents Contest. We will also give moredetails on the Dynamic Professional Know -ledge Base we are planning to build.

GI: What is the differencebetween CLGE and other international associations, for instance FIG?Jyp: We see CLGE as a part of FIG. Thereis no competition at all. On the contrary,we are working hand in hand in a verycomplementary way. Whilst FIG concen-trates on the work of high level profession-al and technical commissions, CLGE ismore active in the field of European pro-fessional politics. This is an absolute must,since the EU is really shaping the way inwhich we will perform our duties tomor-row.As a matter of fact, a lot of our delegatesare active in CLGE and FIG as well. As westill have increasing participation rates atour General Assemblies and Conferences,we understand that CLGE proposes a sig-nificant added value for our member asso-ciations.

FIG and CLGE are working hand in hand ina very complementary way. The relevanceof CLGE as a regional partner within the FIGcould and should grow in the coming years.

During our Tallinn General Assembly inSeptember 2011, we started some discus-sions about the relevance of CLGE withinFIG. I feel that our involvement as a region-al partner could and should grow in thecoming years.On the European level there is another muchsmaller organization called EGoS (EuropeanGroup of Surveyors). We are preparing amemorandum of understanding to make surethat we work in the same direction. For thetime being this already happens but in aninformal way.Last but not least I would like to mention animportant sister organisation Euro Geo -graphics. This international non-profit asso-ciation unites the National Mapping andCadastral Agencies of the EuropeanContinent. Needless to say it employs a lotof surveyors and thus is our natural ally inmany circumstances. We have co-writtentwo major studies about professional

requirements and the impact of the Euro pean regulations, available onwww.clge.eu. Both our associations arebased in the House of the EuropeanSurveyor and GeoInformation, in Brussels.This helps!The 3rd International and

Professional Training Course forYoung SurveyorsUnder the Auspices of CLGE, the 3rdInternational and Professional TrainingCourse for Young Surveyors (< 35 years)was held in Athens between 3rd and 14thof October, 2011. The training course wasa well-prepared event, organized and spon-sored by the Consiglio NazionaleGeometri e Geometri Laureati (theNational Association of Italian Surveyors)and Geoweb (the company which pro-vides all information about the Cadaster toItalian surveyors), in collaboration withHARSE (the Hellenic Association of Ruraland Surveying Engineers). All participants,young surveyors, lecturers and local orga-nizers expressed their thanks and apprecia-tion to Fausto Savolid, President of CNG eGL and Piero Panunzi, President of Geowebfor this unique initiative. They also expresseda wish to see this become a regularly orga-nized event.In one of the next issues of GeoInformaticswe will come back to the initiative and con-centrate on its future.

Read the full opening speech of the CLGE president on www.clge.eu (google “Pirlot Athens”

on the site search engine).

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8January/February 2012

In May 2011, Ph.D. Danko Markovinović was appointed CLGE VicePresident for Geodesy and GeoInformation. In the next issue ofGeoInformatics he will take questions about CLGE’s policy in this

specific field.

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