"Even those federations who say that they do not wish to be members of the ETU any longer are welcome," Koenig-Zenz, the ETU general secretary, said on behalf of the ETU Executive.
France, Spain, Great Britain, Italy, Switzerland, Greece, Monaco and Denmark announced on Thursday that they are to try to establish a breakaway organisation called the Triathlon Council for Europe.
"What are they trying to achieve?" Koenig-Zenz said. "They say that they want to affiliate to the International Triathlon Union and that the ETU is not affiliated to the ITU: that is simply because only national federations can affiliate to the ITU. Under the ITU constitution, there is no way even for this 'Council' to affiliate.
"And they say that they are concerned about staging events in Europe that earn ITU ranking points. They are right to be concerned - because it is the ITU which determines which events qualify for ranking points. They need to ask the ITU why it refuses to recognise so many quality events in Europe.
"The new 'Council' say they are working for the good of all of Europe's
athletes. Of course they are - as are all the members of the ETU. But are they sure that they are not being used by other interests? And have their actions had a full discussion by their own national executives, and received their proper approval?
"The ETU is a properly registered, democratic organisation which prides itself on following the rules of its constitution to the letter. The ETU is made up of 39 countries in total. All the nations forming this new 'Council' were present at the ETU Congress in Stein, the Netherlands, in July, yet they did not voice any complaints of this nature then, they did not seek to nominate alternative candidates. So why must they meet in secret now to form their own little group??
The European Triathlon Union (ETU) has announced it is to hold an extraordinary congress immediately to discuss the threatened split from the organisation by eight member nations.
