{"id":2817,"date":"2026-06-07T09:44:41","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T07:44:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/evs-eu.org\/?p=2817"},"modified":"2026-06-07T09:44:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T07:44:42","slug":"steve-heylen-elected-new-president-of-evs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/evs-eu.org\/en\/steve-heylen-elected-new-president-of-evs\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Heylen Elected New President of EVS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A new president was elected during the General Assembly of the European Association of Civil Status Services (EVS), held on May 26, 2026, in Ostend, Belgium. Long-standing President Simon Rijsdijk stepped down due to age, concluding many years of dedicated service at the helm of the association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EVS members elected the incumbent Vice President, Steve Heylen of Belgium, as his successor. With this election, the association is deliberately prioritizing continuity and experience, as Heylen has been actively involved in the Board\u2019s work for several years and has played a key role in shaping the development of the EVS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Renzo Calvigioni of Italy was elected as the new Vice President. The Board also includes Kristi Kail (Estonia) as Vice President and Gerhard Bangert (Germany) as Secretary General.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his inaugural address, Steve Heylen thanked the members for the trust placed in him and emphasized the importance of strong European cooperation in the field of civil status services. Despite its modest size, the EVS faces significant challenges. The goal is to further expand cooperation among professionals, institutions, and countries, and to strengthen professional exchange across Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heylen outlined clear priorities for the coming years. These include, in particular, recruiting new members for the EVS and further developing the association\u2019s congresses as central platforms for networking, knowledge transfer, and international exchange. At the same time, the aim is to make these events future-proof and even more accessible to member countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another key focus of his term will be the expansion of the European network. Plans include intensifying relations with additional European states and fostering closer cooperation with international partners, particularly the CIEC and the European Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new president also attaches great importance to the issues of human rights and a citizen-oriented approach. These topics were already central to the congress in Ostend and are set to play an important role in the EVS\u2019s future work. Heylen views this as a significant contribution to the further harmonization of civil status and family law in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the election of its new executive board, the EVS looks confidently toward the years ahead, continuing its mission as a European platform for cooperation, exchange, and professional development in the field of civil status registration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From left: Secretary General Gerhard Bangert, Vice President Krist Kail (Estonia), President Steve Heylen (Belgium), and Vice President Renzo Calvigioni (Italy).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new president was elected during the General Assembly of the European Association of Civil Status Services (EVS), held on May 26, 2026, in Ostend, Belgium. Long-standing President Simon Rijsdijk stepped down due to age, concluding many years of dedicated service at the helm of the association. EVS members elected the incumbent Vice President, Steve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allgemein-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/evs-eu.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/evs-eu.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/evs-eu.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evs-eu.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evs-eu.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2817"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/evs-eu.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2820,"href":"https:\/\/evs-eu.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2817\/revisions\/2820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/evs-eu.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evs-eu.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evs-eu.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}