Christophe Quirynen

Member Association past two years:  Switzerland + Belgium 

What new revenue streams will you develop to reduce dependency on membership fees, and what financial risks will you actively avoid?

The EUPP budget is a clear first, but this also includes self generated funds. This means that we can and should continue to generate funds through events, merchandise and trainings. The honest answer is that diversification headroom is limited by regulation; the bigger lever is making EU funding more predictable through stronger electoral performance in the 2029 campaign. Financial risks to actively avoid are i) EU funding concentration risk — 

ii) Prohibited or non-compliant donations, iii) Indirect funding violations — activities organized solely for member party benefit without genuine joint European character

What is your approach to communicating financial constraints during a crucial campaign moment?

Financial constraints during a campaign are a communication challenge, not just a treasury problem. My approach has three principles rooted in financial storytelling:

1. Radical transparency, controlled timing. Volunteer energy and donor confidence both collapse when bad news arrives late or piecemeal. I would communicate constraints early — to the Board first, then to national chapters — with a clear picture of what is available, what is not, and the decision timeline. No surprises.

2. Frame around choices, not shortfalls. The message is never "we have no money." It is "here are three things we can fund fully, and here is what we must defer — here is the reasoning." That preserves agency and trust, and it turns a financial constraint into a strategic prioritisation exercise that leadership owns collectively.

3. Protect campaign-critical expenditure explicitly. In a crisis moment, I would identify non-negotiables — candidate visibility, legal compliance costs, deadline-driven spending — and ring-fence those in a contingency allocation before communicating any cuts. Chapters need to know what is protected before they hear what is not.

What does financial transparency towards members mean to you in concrete terms? Describe 2–3 recurring reporting products or processes you would implement.

1. We are currently working on implementing a live dashboard whereby all our members can see our financial report published online on a website, creating direct and radical transparency. The dashboard includes our main KPI's, as well as clear visibility on the financials per month, per Year-to-date and an automatic reforecast for the full year. 

2. Annual Financial Health Dashboard, published alongside the statutory accounts but designed for members, not auditors. Visualises multi-year trends: revenue mix, EU funding dependency ratio, membership fee collection rates by chapter, reserve levels relative to a target policy. This gives members a longitudinal view that the accounts alone do not provide, and creates accountability for year-on-year improvement.

3. Pre-Congress Financial Briefing: A structured session at or before each General Assembly — before voting on budgets or fee levels — where the Treasurer walks through the financial position, key assumptions, and trade-offs in the proposed budget. Members vote on numbers they understand, not numbers they are handed. This also surfaces questions early, reducing post-hoc disputes.