EFP Newsletter: March 2014 – Get ready to vote!

Coming to an election booth near you…

The European Federalist Party will present candidates for the European Parliament elections on May 22nd-25th in Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Italy and Portugal. In states where we do not have a direct candidate, you can still show your support for the federalist cause by voting for those officially supported by the EFP (such as in Germany).You can access a map of our current candidates here. Feel free to contact any potential representative near you included in this list! Please note though that this list is not final and will undergo constant update before the elections.

If you can, please help us succeed in our electoral campaigns throughout Europe by donating through this link. As Harry Stamelos, president of the Greek chapter of the EFP stated: “to unite Europe, we must first join our forces”.

At your doorstep

Austria

In cooperation with the liberal and federalist movement NEOS, we will present Bengt Beier as an independent candidate for the European elections in Salzburg.

Belgium

Our Belgian chapter is running under a joint list with Stand Up for the United States of Europe. 3 EFP candidates currently stand on the list: Pietro De Matteis

?, Roberto Mongiovi and Mathias Maertens. Watch a video interview of the head of our joint list, Sophie Heine, on TV5 Monde.

Pietro De Matteis, EFP co-president, and Sophie also made appearances on “Radio X”, “Radio BXFM” and “Ligue des Optimistes” to talk about the European elections. You can download their intervention as a podcast here. ?You can also follow Pietro’s campaign here.

Our campaign in Belgium alone has drawn close to 10000 signatures in Wallonia! The launching event is scheduled for April 2nd, and everyone is welcome! If you’d like to learn how you can participate and help us in the elections in Belgium, please get in touch with our national coordinator Roberto Mongiovi!

France
On February 2nd and 3rd, the French chapter of the EFP announced in Strasbourg that it will present candidates both to the municipal elections on March 23rd and to the European Parliament elections in May, across all regional constituencies. For more information, please see the press release here.

Our South-East list is particularly thriving. Learn more about our regional activities there and get involved through our regional Facebook page, twitter or contact one of our candidates directly!

ItalyThe Italian chapter of the European Federalist Party has joined a list composed of 13 political parties, movements and organizations for the upcoming European Parliament elections entitled “Scelta Europea“. The alliance aims at providing a positive alternative to citizens who have been largely absent from previous elections in Italy due to their disillusionment with the existing political forces. Watch a video of Guy Verhofstadt on occasion of his visit to Rome for the press conference marking the launch of the list, entitled “La mia Europa”.

For more details and day-to-day updates on our local activities in Italy, please check our Italian Facebook page.

Germany

Our German chapter is supporting Stimme für Europa (SfE) in the coming elections. The EFP is also running a campaign entitled “Europe, mon amour: say yes to Europe, because Europe is our future.” Counterbalancing the growing danger of right-wing populists, it aims at encouraging citizens to show their commitment to a common European goal with heart and passion, above party boundaries, outside of politics and independently of any institution and administration. A tolerant, modern and solidary Europe!

Greece

Upon the holding of its first extraordinary convention on February 15th in Xylokastro, our Greek chapter announced its participation in an election coalition with Drassi. The President of Drassi – Theodoros Skylakakis (MEP) – stated:

“Drassi welcomes the European Federalist Party in its team, materialising the provision of its statute for cooperation with organised forces, teams and movements. The struggle for more, but different from today’s, Europe constitutes a basic component of Drassi – in this sense, the organised participation of the European Federalists in our party is a positive and important development for us”.Read more about it here and our official press release here.

Portugal

The Portuguese section will be presenting candidates under a joint list with Paulo Casaca (PDA, former MEP) entitled “A Nossa Europa”. You can see the video of the presentation of our list this past week here.

As of January 7th, José Almeida was elected as new coordinator for the chapter. We have also started a new series of “Café Europa” open fora to discuss the development of a federal state and European issues at large. The first session was held in Lisbon on February 20th, and the second in Porto on March 10th. There will be another meeting in Coimbra on March 27th.

In other campaigns

On February 19th, the campaign “Europeans for Fair Roaming” initiated by Bengt Beier, one of the co-founders of the EFP and our candidate for the upcoming elections in Austria, won the European Public Affairs Award as “Best campaign of the year”.

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).