The 2019 Meeting of Presidents of the European Mathematical Society was held on March 23 - 24, 2019 in TU Berlin, following a kind invitation from the German Mathematical Society (DMV) and the International Association of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics (GAMM).

EMS Meetings of Presidents is an annual event, held for presidents of more than 100 national organizations and mathematical research institutions, in order to advance the networking and research in mathematics.

As part of the meeting, prof. Tomaž Pisanski, 8ECM Organising Committee Chair and prof. Klavdija Kutnar, dean UP FAMNIT and 8ECM Organising Committee Deputy-Chair, presented updates on the progress for the 8th European Congress of Mathematics, held July 5 – 11, 2020 in Portorož, Slovenia.

They also met with prof. Volker Mehrmann, EMS President, to discuss the upcoming activities for the 8ECM.

Prof. Mehrmann is a professor at the Institute of Mathematics at TU Berlin since 2000, his research is in the area of numerical mathematics, particularly numerical linear algebra and control theory. He assumed his duties as the EMS President in January this year and is appointed to the position of president for four years.

_{(Photo: Prof. Volker Mehrmann, EMS President, prof. Klavdija Kutnar, dean UP FAMNIT and 8ECM Organising Committee Deputy-Chair and prof. Tomaž Pisanski, 8ECM Organising Committee Chair)}