Looking back to the future: the road to United European Gastroenterology Federation (UEGF) and the First United European Gastroenterology Week (UEGW), Athens 1992

In the beginning it was the idea. Ideas are mighty seeds, which can bring abundant crops, but they may also perish in oblivion, as if they were never born. For noble ideas to bear fruit and become trees with roots and branches over time there are three fundamental forces interacting in synchrony and evolution. First force and the prima facie factor is the vision. Second, is a critical mass of dedicated people who share the vision. The critical mass is not necessarily a quantitative dimension. Rather it is crucial l’ esprit de corps and dedication to move forward. Third, is the time factor, when conditions are ripe to break new ground. The idea of a European Forum of Gastroenterology and implementation of this ambitious undertaking rightfully belongs to the late Professor Aldo Torsoli (1924-2002). He was a patrician and a man of vision, as aptly described by his close Italian colleagues Massimo Crespi and Alberto Montori. Indeed, he was the first who had the idea of creating a Federation of European Gastroenterology, an umbrella organization bringing together the major GI and related Societies and Associations in Europe and the organization of a European Gastroenterology Forum. The idea was hatched during the International Congress of Gastroenterology and European Congress of Digestive Endoscopy in Rome in 1988. Torsoli was the President of the 13th International Congress of Gastroenterology, organized by the Italian Society of Gastroenterology. The mandate to organize the Congress was given by the ASNEMGE (Association des Societes Nationales Europeennes et Mediterraneennes de Gastroenterologie), the oldest Gastroenterology Association in Europe founded in 1947. The World Organization of Gastroenterology was founded later in 1954. The forerunner of ASNEMGE and OMGE was the Societe Internationale de Gastroenterologie (SIGE), which was founded by another visionary man, the Belgian surgeon and radiologist Georges Brohee (1887-1957), who was the prime mover in organizing the first International Congress of Gastroenterology in Brussels in 1935. After the war, Brohee took again the initiative to activate SIGE, but a consensus at a global scale was not reached. Instead, a European and Mediterranean Forum in Gastroenterology took shape by the formation of ASNEMGE, a federation of European and Mediterranean National Societies / Associations of Gastroenterology. The first International Congress of Gastroenterology by ASNEMGE was organized in Lausanne in 1948 and thereafter it was held initially biennially and later quadrennially with the joint organization at a later stage with the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE). During the 13th International Congress in Rome, in accordance with the ASNEMGE Statutes, as in previous Congresses, the General Assembly voted on the candidate National Societies and venues to organize the next International Congress of Gastroenterology in September 1992. September or October were the usual months that the Congress was organized. The Hellenic Society of Gastroenterology submitted a bid to the secretariat of ASNEMGE to organize the 14th International Congress in Athens in 1992. Secretary General was Ludo Standaert from Antwerp, an eminent personality in European Gastroenterology, who had served ASNEMGE with distinction and leadership for 20 years. Bids from several National Societies were presented and the Hellenic Society was given the mandate to organize the 14th International Congress of Gastroenterology and the Congress of Digestive Endoscopy in Athens in 1992. However, the new idea of a European Forum was hovering in the wings. The International Congress in Rome in 1988 was destined to be the last of the regime ancien. A historical cycle was completed and a new era in European Gastroenterology was on the rise. Aldo Torsoli, the man with the vision was there. The critical mass of people was also there, leading European Correspondence to: Constantine Arvanitakis, MD, FACP, FRCP, FEBGH, BOX 60322, 57001 Thermi, Greece, Tel. / Fax: +3