EFP Newsletter – September 2012. State of the Union, local meetings and much more!

European Federalist Party Newsletter: Join us for the second Federal Convention in Rome on November 3rd and 4th! Register now! Read on about the Commission calling out for a federation of nation-states, and much more!

In this Newsletter:

  1. Second European Federalist Convention in Rome on November 3rd and 4th. REGISTER NOW!
  2. Election of the European Board.
  3. Meeting of national coordinators in Brussels on August 19th.
  4. Newest local chapters: Greece, Portugal, US.
  5. Updates on the latest activities near you: Germany, Spain.
  6. Barroso’s State of the Union address: “We will need to move towards a federation of nation-states”.
  7. Shop ’till you drop.
  8. RENEW Your Membership/Donate! Help us to help Europe!

1) Second European Federalist Convention in Rome on November 3rd and 4th. REGISTER NOW!
       Have YOUR SAY on YOUR FUTURE! Join us in Rome on November 3rd – 4th to discuss about our future with high level speakers from all over Europe and officially open the 2014 European Parliament election campaign. In June 2014 the European Federalist Party will be running for election and will do so by presenting one single programme in all EU countries where we are established. Be part of this unprecedented experience! Join us and bring your friends and colleagues with you! Conference attendence is free for all. There will be a dinner with speakers for which EFP members benefit from a special price, so don’t miss out on this opportunity!

REGISTER NOW by visiting this page and stay updated with the latest details on the Convention through our dedicated facebook page. The Convention announcement can also be found here. For any specific scheduling questions please contact Enrico Cappelletti.

2) Election of the European Board

The new European board will also be elected at the Convention. Members who wish to present themselves as candidates to be elected for a post in the EFP European Board should do so by October 15th 2012. If interested, please send a short statement indicating your motivation, the time you believe you could commit to the party and a short biography to pietro.dematteis@federalistparty.eu. The subject header of your e-mail should be “EFP Federal Board Candidate”. These details will be collected and subsequently circulated to all members ahead of the election which will take place on November 4th.

3) Meeting of national coordinators in Brussels on August 19th


National coordinators from most of the existing chapters met in Brussels on August 19th to coordinate regional campaign strategies, promoting a unified Europe-wide platform, and to discuss collaboration with other pro-federalist organizations, especially in the run-up to the European Parliament elections in June 2014.

Participants included Enrico Cappelletti (Italy), Piter De Jong (Asia/Netherlands), Pietro De Matteis (Euro/Belgium), Yves Gernigon (Euro/France), Gerald-Christian Heintges (Germany), Luc Landrot (France), Merian Lelieveld (Netherlands), Marco Marazzi (Asia/Italy), Clément Petit (France), Nico Segers (Belgium), Harry Stamelos (Greece), and Protesilaos Stavrou. Bengt Beier (Austria), Maria Coelho (Portugal/US), and Tomás Bernardo Solana (Spain) joined in via teleconferencing.

A Parliamentary Elections Task Force was established to improve our pan-European political programme in anticipation of the 2014 elections, which are set to be the first genuinely European elections in history. Read more below about the Statutes of European political parties and about Barroso’s European Parliament intervention.

4) Newest local chapters: Greece, Portugal, US

a) Greece

The Greek chapter of the EFP was officially registered on July 4th. The chapter is led by Charalampos Stamelos. Membership is growing extremely fast in multiple regions, including Korinthia, Viotia, Eyvia, Thrace, Crete and Karditsa, and the chapter has also established a Youth section with presence in student unions across the country. If you or anyone you know would like to collaborate with our activities in Greece, please contact Charalampos. You can also find more information about our work in Greece here.

b) Portugal

The Portuguese chapter has just launched its petition for official registration as a political party with the Portuguese Constitutional Court, with the aim of being able to participate in the European Parliament elections of 2014. Please spread the word out to all of your Portuguese contacts!

c) United States

The US section of the EFP was created on August 29th. The section’s main goal is to gather pro-federalist Europeans in the United States to raise global efforts in favor of this urgent solution to the crisis. In particular, it aims at supporting EFP activities via financial sponsorship, membership participation, and the organization of conferences bringing together academic, business and political perspectives on the path towards implementation of a federal union in Europe. The section’s first meeting in the U.S. will be organized this fall, so stay tuned. If you or other pro-federalist Europeans you know are temporarily or permanently in the U.S. or the Americas, please get in touch with Maria Coelho and we will make sure to keep you in the loop!

5) Updates on the latest activities near you: Germany, Spain

a) GermanyThe upcoming German EFP chapter meeting will be held on October 27th in Limburg an der Lahn, where we will prepare the formal registration of the party as an association, then to be followed by the official incorporation of the EFP as a German political party. A new coordinator for the German chapter will also be elected at the upcoming meeting. As always, you can find the most updated information on our German activities and national discussions on our dedicated German facebook page.

b) Spain

The Spanish chapter has a new coordinator – Tomás Bernardo Solana. If you wish to participate in national EFP activities you can reach him here.

6) Barroso’s State of the Union address: “We will need to move towards a federation of nation-states”

In a refreshing speech the European Commission President José Manuel Barroso explicitly called for the creation of a “federation of nation-states” at the 2012 State of the Union address to the European Parliament on September 12th. He also announced a blueprint for the autumn on deepening the economic and monetary union proposing a single supervisory entity for the Eurozone, as the first move towards creating a banking union which shall be followed by the creation of a real fiscal union. The President also pointed out that  “we must use the 2014 election to mobilise all pro-European forces” and that the next European Commission President shall be the leader of the winning political party at the European Elections.

On this occasion we applaud President Barroso’s stance as we believe that a Federation among EU Member States can be the first step towards a fuller form of European Federation, especially if it is accompanied by more citizens’ participation and by an enhanced role for the European Parliament in the election of the European Commission President.

Watch the highlights of the speech here. You can also find the full text of the address in all EU official languages here.

European Political Party Statute

In the same speech the President announced the Commission adopted a proposal for a reinforced statute for European political parties, which should present their own candidates for the presently unelected post of European Commission President. Unfortunately, we feel that the proposal does not go far enough in truly Europeanising and democratising European Parliament elections. In particular, the proposal states that only those parties with a standing representation in national legislatures (i.e. a national Member of Parliament or equivalent) in at least a quarter of member-states can be given legal recognition as a European political party. Clearly, this presumes that political parties can only be European parties if they are national political parties first, which unfairly restricts the emergence of truly European political parties.

Furthermore, the proposal does not explicitly state the practical benefits of acquiring recognition as a European political party – we will particularly advocate for the inclusion of a clause stating that such a status would ensure the ability to present candidates for European Parliament elections in all 27 member states without need for separate registrations in each state. The reformed statute will be instrumental to allow the EFP to present its own candidates all over the EU ahead of the European Parliament elections, and carry out a truly EU-wide campaign on the basis of one political programme.

You can find the full text of the draft proposal here.

7) Shop ’till you drop

The online shop of the EFP boasts several cool products with our logo – shirts, cups, campaign material, and even a teddy bear. Show off your European spirit! You can order them directly online! And the best: for each product you buy, a part of the proceedings goes to the EFP and SUPPORTS OUR WORK!!

8) RENEW Your Membership & DONATE! Help us to help Europe!

Especially during tough economic times, your financial support is fundamental. We therefore invite you to consider showing your support for the federalist cause by becoming a Full Member of the European Federalist Party, by renewing your membership and by donating. Please remember that our organization continues to be fully run by volunteers. To bring forward this continental-scale project we need financial as well as human resources.

Payment can be made by bank transfer, by credit card or by Paypal. Please follow this link to make your payment.

If you wish to have a more active role in the EFP through national or local sections, please write an e-mail to Pietro De Matteis, EFP co-President (e-mail: pietro.dematteis@federalistparty.eu).