Francesc Massip opened the meeting with a reference to the date (7/7/2007), which suggested to him the climax of perfection, reuniting three times the number 7, related to the idea of completeness (7 days of the week, 7 ages of the world and of man, 7 days of the creation, 7 musical notes, 7 virtues and vices, 7 planets of the precopernican universe, etc.)

He recalled that since 1986, when Jean Claude Aubailly invited him to participate in the SITM Colloquium in Perpignan, he exercised his committment to the association as National Representative, General Secretary, Director of the Colloquium in Girona (1992), member of the Organizing Committee of the Colloquium in Elx (2004) and most recently as President. He described his experience of these past years as a constant source of inspiration and satisfaction, full of intellectual and personal discoveries, for which he expressed his heartfelt gratitude.

At the same time, he expressed his desire for a stronger communication and cooperation between the organs of SITM with the aim to improve its functioning. In this regard, he remembered that shortly after having been elected President, he had to apologize for the misunderstanding that had occurred with reference to the publication of the Proceedings from the Elx Colloquium. The Director of the Colloquium, Josep Lluìs Sirera, claiming that he had not been informed that a selection of papers presented at Elx would be published in EMD, had decided on a unilateral basis to cancel the promised publication. This was an arbitrary decision against which the President expressed his protest.

With regard to the XIIth Colloquium, Francesc Massip underlined that it had been extraordinarily well organized and developed. He expressed special thanks to the following:

• Estelle Doudet of the Institut de Recherches Historiques du Septentrion de l'Université de Lille 3, as general coordinator of the Colloquium and responsable for the lodging.
• Darwin Smith, Director du Groupe d'Étude sur le théâtre médiéval du CNRS, visible conductor of the sessions and infatigable animator
• Robert L.A. Clark, Kansas State University
• Véronique Dominguez, Université de Nantes and Marie Bouhaïk-Gironès, Université d'Amsterdam, responsible for registration and administration
• Gabriella Parussa, Université de Tours, responsible for the programme
• Georges Vandalle, Université de Lille
• Isabelle Ragnard, director of the marvellous concert at the Palais Rihour
• the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Lille, for the reception at the the chapel of Philippe Le Bon
• the City of Arras, for the reception at the Town Hall
• the Médiathèque d'Arras

The President then thanked Alan Hindley for compiling and editing selected articles from the SITM Colloquium in Elx in EMD (2004, vol. 8; 2005, vol. 9) and Jelle Koopmans for taking over as General Editor and for the publication of a further selection of papers from Elx in EMD (2006, vol. 10). He expressed his hope that Jelle Koopmans continue his leadership as General Editor.

Francesc Massip congratulated SITM for having accomplished the aim expressed at Elx to incorporate new members from Eastern European countries and he underlined the importance of the association to open itself, thus allowing a steady renewal. He then directed a special thank to Jesse Hurlbut for maintaining the SITM website.

He then thanked Lenke Kovács for her efficient work as SITM Secretary, especially for updating the membership lists. The President congratulated the Secretary for her administrative and economic supervision, including the collection of membership dues, a question which he suggested should be discussed later by the Assembly.

Finally, he recalled that simultaneous translation, which had only been offered during the two SITM colloquia held in the Catalan Countries (Girona and Elx), is the sole way to render feasible the plurilingual nature of Europe. He admitted that gathering funds to cover the high costs was not an easy task but he expressed his desire that future SITM sessions should be held with simultaneous translation.

With regard to the approval of the Minutes of the Business Meeting from Elx, Max Harris suggested a vote whether to accept votes by delegation (proxy votes) and whether to require a majority vote.

In the discussion prior to the vote, Max Harris expressed himself against the acceptance of proxy votes, alleging that everybody who wanted to vote should stay for the Business Meeting. Bob Clark remarked that assistance is not always possible. He proposed that proxy votes (expressed in a written form) should be accepted from members who paid their dues and who registered for the conference. The Assembly decided to allow proxy votes under the proposed conditions and to require a simple majority for votes. Everybody agreed that these decisions should be included in the Statutes.

Lenke Kovács told that her first task when taking over as SITM Secretary was to update the different national membership lists, something which was quite time consuming but at the same time very necessary. In February 2006, she sent the first Newsletter as a paper copy and/or in an electronic form to c. 350 former members and was also made available by Jesse Hurlbut on the SITM website. The second Newsletter was issued in March, this time mainly as an e-mail attachment. Paper copies were sent to those members who had asked for it previously and the electronic version was also made available on the website. The Secretary thanked Jesse Hurlbut for keeping the website updated and she thanked all the national representatives (especially from the USA, France, Canada, Great Britain, Poland, Italy and Japan) for having collected the dues and for the good contact during the last three years.

At present, SITM has 113 paid up members in the following countries: Austria (1), Belgium (1), Canada (7), France (23), Germany (5), Great Britain (7), Hungary (1), Israel (1), Italy (7), Japan (5), Mexico (1), Netherlands (2), Poland (7), Portugal (1), South Africa (1), Spain (21), Switzerland (2) and USA (20). With regard to the membership dues, the Secretary suggested to find a more efficient way to collect them. Moreover, registration for the conference should not be made possible until the fees are paid.

Between 2004 and 2007, SITM's fortune has gone up from approximately 2000 € to 5000 €. This growth will enable SITM to considerably increase the sum of money spent on bursaries: Groningen 2001, c. 1100 €; Elx 2004, c. 2100 €; Lille 2007, c. 3300 €. Lenke Kovács informed that SITM has received eleven bursary requests from young or unaffiliated scholars. As some of the funds from the national representatives have not yet been transferred, bursaries will probably not be paid until October.

Jelle Koopmans told that Alan Hindley produced two EMD volumes as chief editor (vol. 8, 2004 and vol. 9, 2005) and that he himself was responsible for the most recent issue (vol. 10, 2006). He remembered that there had been some problems with the publication of the Elx papers, as acceptance of articles also in Spanish is not a standing strategy. He announced that EMD will stick to bilingual volumes in English and French. He further told that EMD, as a peer-reviewed journal, for strategical reasons will not use the editorial board for peer-reviewing and he suggested that, given the scope and broadness of the journal, a Review Editor should be appointed for EMD. Jelle Koopmans informed that the contact with Brepols enables SITM to publish a selection of papers from the Lille Conference in two volumes with 15 paper each, plus reviews. Moreover, thanks to the initiative of Véronique Dominguez and some other colleagues, a volume with 12 to 15 papers on the Renaissance of Medieval Drama will be published by Brepols and Édition du Septentrion. Those who wish to have their papers published have to make clear if they want to have it included in the first or in the second volume of EMD. Articles for the first volume (scheduled for 1 December 2007) have to be submitted by 1 September 2007. Articles for the second volume (scheduled for October 2008) have to be submitted by 1 May 2008.

With regard to the papers on the website, Darwin Smith explained that under French copyright, authors remain the intellectual owners of the site. Papers may continue on the site, even if the same articles are published, something which, as Jelle Koopmans added, EMD is aware of. Darwin Smith told that those who wish to have a revised version of their article on the website may send it by 1 October 2007.

Cora Dietl invited SITM to hold the 13th Colloquium in Giessen (Germany) and her invitation supported by a highly illustrative powerpoint presentation was unanimously accepted by the General Assembly. As simultaneous translation during the Colloquium will most probably not be feasible for reasons of budget, Cora Dietl announced as a possible solution to offer written translation of the papers.

The topics for the Colloquium will be chosen among those agreed upon by the General Assembly:

• Database
• Manuscripts and Archives
• Travelling Players
• Relationship between Plays and Traders
• Humanist Plays
• Fools and Fastnacht
• Theatre in German and Germany
• Printing of the Drama
• Influence of Germanity in the Theatre of the Hispanic World
• Devils and Diablerie