UPDATE December 21, 2021:
If there were any doubts that the current board doesn’t give a damn about conflicts of interest while proposing a Code of Conduct that actually includes a section on the matter, then these doubts have just dissipated… The Board member that has been discussed in the article below and in the original post as having a blatant conflict of interest, participated and voted positively on the APEEE Budget for the current financial year of 2021/2022, which means he effectively voted to have his APEEE revenues increased.
Rejoice O people, for conflict of interest is nearly over in the APEEE… But mind the nearly!
Thanks to the persistence of a Parent in the Portuguese linguistic section of our school, who challenged the APEEE Board over a blatant potential conflict of interest, and to a post on these Diaries, I’m happy to inform you that a small fraction of the APEEE’s moral worth that I think has been lost, has recently been restored.
On 24 June 2021, the APEEE Woluwe president informed the Portuguese Primary and Nursery Class Representatives that:
The Board member in question has agreed to step down from the role of coordinating the After-school activity Working Group, since concerns were raised about a potential conflict of interest.
The official announcement will come when the minutes of the meeting will be published. But for now it’s time for celebration… Or is it?
In my original post on this matter I had called for the member’s outright resignation as a board member, as opposed to just leaving his position as coordinator of the said working group and the working group altogether. I did so for two reasons:
- As a board member and a member of the After-school activities Working Group, he will still be able to take part in and steer discussions regarding the APEEE’s extra-curricular activities as well as vote on files related to this branch of the APEEE’s ‘business’. This will ultimately still allow him to influence any decisions that could be in his favour as an employee of the Association. As I highlighted in my original post, I do not claim that the member took or intends to take advantage of his position. But just the mere perception of conflict of interest is enough to cast doubt and must be resolved.
- No matter how honorable the reasons might have seemed to be, the member in question took up the post of coordinator of a working group where he has personal vested interests in, without any consideration for the problematic implications of that action. If he did not find it problematic and it still took him and the APEEE board 75 days to table this matter and address it – if only partially – then it makes me not trust his moral standing and I would prefer to see him out for good…
The only thing that seems to be clear from the APEEE’s President aforementioned message is that the member facing the perceived conflict of interest will remain as a Board member and even possibly as a member of the After-school activities Working Group. Therefore, I hereby renew my call for his outright resignation from the APEEE Board.
The APEEE has a financial turnover of over six million euro, which is really not pocket change to be toying around with. However, when the people in charge need to be told that something so obviously wrong is indeed so obviously wrong, I fear the worse for the APEEE…
So, to the back seat moaners: “No dear, we are not yet nearly there.” Actually, by my standards, we are not even close, and if the Board wished to have the big fat red counter gone from this site it should better start wishing for something easier to get. I dunno, something like:
- the end of world hunger,
- peace on earth or,
- my favourite, get the UK back in the EU… 😁
But there will be a small change to the counter’s text though. This:
…and the APEEE is still mute on the matter!
just became this:
…and the perceived conflict of interest is still present!
I know this may sound strange to some, but, semantics, like principles, do matter… 😉
Fabrício Santos is a parent at the Brussels European School 2 in Woluwe.
As an engaged parent he is often involved in actions that aim at improving and increasing the transparency and accountability of the school’s parents association.