About EFN
History
The European Federation of Nurses Associations (EFN), former Standing Committee of Nurses of the EU (PCN), was established in 1971, to represent the nursing profession and its interests to the European Institutions, based on the nursing education and free movement Directives being drafted by the European Commission then, and is the independent voice of the nursing profession, representing more than one million nurses at European Level.
PCN/EFN Presidents from the establishment in 1971:
1971 - 1975 Marie-Paul Florin, France
1975 - 1979 Astrid Levert, Netherlands
1979 - 1983 Inge Andersen, Denmark
1983 - 1991 Sheila Quinn, UK
1991 - 1995 Kirsten Stallknecht, Denmark
1995 - 2001 Christine Hancock, UK
2001 - 2005 Ria von Bönninghausen tot Herinkhave-Visser
Netherlands
2005 - 2007 Annette Kennedy, Ireland
2007 - Grete Christensen, Denmark
EFN members are drawn from the National Nurses Associations from the twenty-five EU Member States (+ Croatia, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland), which are in membership with the International Council of Nurses (ICN) and the Council of Europe, and its Associated members are three mandated representatives of the European Nursing Specialist and Generic Organisations. The International Council of Nurses (ICN), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the European Nursing Students Association (ENSA) are also holding observer status within EFN General Assembly.
EFN members meet twice a year for two days General Assembly, where important issues are discussed and decisions taken. EFN Executive Committee also meets twice a year. Furthermore, some working groups are regularly constituted to allow a more detailed work on issues discussed by the General Assembly, the Executive Committee and/or linked to EU level discussions.
The official working languages of EFN are French and English.
