Home Boycott/Action VattenfallWatch Vattenfall AB Sweden Horno Jänschwalde Sorbs/Wends News Background Archive Warning Photo Gallery Guestbook Contact		- Berlin, November 28, 2001 - Seventeen counter-motions have been filed with the BEWAG Company in Berlin in connection with Point 2 (use of profit available for dividend), Point 3 (approval of the acts of the managing Board) and Point 3 (approval of the acts of the Supervisory Board) of the Agenda of the Shareholders' General Meeting.Half of these counter-motions relate to Vattenfall's strip-mining activities in the Lausitz region of eastern Germany, the resultant decimation of the Sorb people's traditional Sorb settlement area and thus their culture and language, as well as the compulsory resettlement and destruction of t he listed Sorb village of Horno: - Counter-motion to Point 2 of the Agenda: Use of profit available for dividend - Shareholder Michael Gromm proposes: "The Shareholders' General Meeting resolves that one per cent of profit available for dividend be paid to the "Stiftung für das sorbische Volk" [Foundation for the Sorb People] to support essential measures for the preservation of Sorb culture." - Grounds: "(…) Through the purchase of brown coal and electricity derived from brown coal, BEWAG contributes considerably to the further destruction of the Sorb traditional settlement area. BEWAG is therefore morally bound to make a contribution to ensuring that the ongoing endeavours of the Sorb people to preserve their culture and language are successful." - Counter-motion to Point 3 of the Agenda: Approval of the acts of the Managing Board - Shareholder Robert Dietrich proposes: "The acts of the Managing Board are only approved under the following conditions: Every Board Member swears to commits him- or herself to bring all social and moral influence to bear, in order to prevent the senseless destruction of the listed Sorb village of Horno in the Lausitz, which is due to be carried out within the context of irresponsible brown-coal strip-mining." - Shareholder Michael Gromm proposes: "The acts of the Managing Board are not approved". - Grounds: "On October 5, 2001, five of the seven political parties in the Swedish Parliament introduced a motion for a resolution into Parliament, according to which the state-owned Vattenfall AB is directed ... "to fulfil its own ethical principles by saving the listed Sorb village of Horno and preventing the compulsory resettlement of its inhabitants. The Shareholders' General Meeting welcomes the initiative of the Swedish political parties, which highlights the hypocrisy of BEWAG's major shareholder, who applies double standards in and outside Sweden. The purchase of brown coal and electricity derived from brown coal is to be halted so long as the compulsory resettlement and destruction of Horno has not been renounced." - 1 2 3 >