The article below was published in the daily newspaper Le Dauphiné Libéré, France, on March 6, 1978.
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During the weekend, nineteen private French-speaking groups, i.e. some sixty people interested in the study of the U.F.O. phenomenon, met in Chambéry to compare their ideas, their own experiences, and to try to set up a coordinating body for French-speaking groups studying the phenomenon.
Following the suggestion of a Swiss group in Lausanne, a European coordination committee for ufological research could be created in the days or weeks to come.
At the end of these two days of confrontation, the delegates of French-speaking groups who came from the four corners of France and Switzerland, developed various projects relating in particular to research and the training of investigators.
On this last point, the groups present in Chambéry have agreed to set up a training program using audiovisual techniques intended to instil investigation methods in members of private groups.
"We are moving towards a community of ideas, explained one of the organizers of these days, while specifying that it was out of the question to form a federation of groups of investigators in order to avoid confining these within an administrative framework that is too rigid. A European committee, yes, but without a binding structure."
For Mr. Gouiran, head of the Languedoc group Veronica, the collaboration of private investigators with an official body, such as the G.E.P.A.N set up last year within the C.N.E.S. is limited to a transmission of basic data, but does not constitute, in any case, a permanent collaboration.
About the current presentation in France of the movie "Encounters of the third kind", the ufological groups, present in Chambéry, agreed to recognize that it constituted a good introduction to the knowledge of the phenomenon.
"Without wanting to proselytize, explained the group manager, Mr. David Duquesnoy from Valence, we are however considering inviting spectators to come and discuss the phenomenon with us."
For Mr. Gresloud, head of the Chambéry ufology group, the coordination of the means available to each group can only be beneficial, even if he recognizes that at present, ufologists have the impression of "trampling."
Jean-Louis RUCHON
