In 2013 FEMA started on a long journey to reinvent itself. Motorcycling in Europe, and everything connected to it, is changing with time and as Europe’s leading motorcyclists’ organization we must not and will not stay behind.

In the process of change tough decisions have had to be made. We have moved to a smaller but more modern office in Brussels and we have parted with some members of staff. Hard, for the staff as well, but it had to be done.

Now, at the start of a new year, we have reached the end of the beginning and will focus wholly on the future of motorcycling.

FEMA is led by hard working board members who have earned their stripes in motorcycling affairs, assisted by our new secretary general, who started last February. All the national organizations that make up FEMA are also strongly committed to our European work and together we will keep defending motorcyclists’ interests.

In 2016 we will make the FEMA team even stronger; we are currently in the process of employing a communications officer. Defending riders’ rights is not one-way traffic, we need and want to be in constant contact with riders and riders’ organizations not just to explain what we are doing, but also to hear and learn from you, the rider.

In the new year we will also be actively looking for and talking to national riders’ organizations all over Europe, inviting them to join FEMA. The European Parliament’s Transport Committee finally recognized that motorcycling has a place in transport policy but that’s not a guarantee of our future; we need to grow bigger and stronger to build on that recognition and face the threats to motorcycling that will inevitably arise in the near future.

More than ever before FEMA will stand up to promote, protect and preserve motorcycling. We will promote riders’ interests and defend riders’ rights throughout Europe and globally. But we will need you to get involved.

After all, we motorcyclists are the experts in motorcycling matters, and we will be taken seriously in all motorcycling issues. We will set the agenda where necessary and work with anyone willing to talk with us, not just about us.

Only if all of us join in and pledge to defend our rights and our freedom to ride how we want, where we want, can we ensure a great motorcycling future.

I wish you and those close to you the best 2016 possible, with the best motorcycle rides you can imagine, knowing that FEMA and all its member organizations are defending your right to ride in freedom.

Anna Zee,
President.