During the last Council Meeting of International Handball Federation (IHF) in China (Dec 2009) the compensation for President Hassan Moustafa was increased from 30.000 CHF to 500.000 CHF per year (according to DER SPIEGEL 4/10). According to the motions which shall be presented to the IHF Congress in Rome 23/24.4.2010 the influence of Hassan Moustafa shall be increased dramatically.

So the President in the future shall become the ‘Head of Administration’,  ‘control the financial transactions’ and ‘is entitled to take decision in-between Executive Committee meetings’. Further more: ‘The President of the Executive Committee is the Chairman of the IHF Marketing AG’.

The European Handball Federation (EHF) informed their member nations accordingly on 10.3.2010. According to EHF the motions are not a proposal of the IHF Council, as claimed by IHF. Further more, the motions are not a ‘direct result of the work performed by the “working group” appointed by the President of the IHF’.

If the motions are not proposed by the IHF Council and not a result of the appointed Working Group, one has to raise the question who proposed/proposes the mentioned motions.

EHF finds the structural reform ‘the most worrying’. lt would be ‘one person, the President, simultaneously holding several responsibilities: President, President of IHF Marketing, Head of Administration, Treasurer or Financial Controller.’

Summarizing the situation, the President and the Vice-President of EHF state that ‘such an approach can only be interpreted as a move towards more opacity when we need more transparency and more despotism when we want more democracy’. GB