European Free Alliance

European Free Alliance Alliance libre européenne
President	François Alfonsi (PNC)
Secretary-General	Jordi Solé (ERC)
Treasurer	Lorena Lopez de Lacalle (EA)
Founded	9 July 1981
Headquarters	Boomkwekerijstraat 1, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Think tank	Centre Maurits Coppieters
Ideology	Regionalism[1] Separatism/Autonomism Progressivism (majority)
European Parliament group	Greens/EFA (7 MEPs) ECR (N-VA, 4 MEPs) GUE/NGL (EH Bildu, 1 MEP)
Colours	Purple
European Parliament	12 / 751
European Council	0 / 27
Website
www.e-f-a.org
Politics of European Union Political parties Elections

The European Free Alliance (EFA) is a European political party.

It consists of various regionalist^[2][3] political parties in Europe advocating either full political independence and sovereignty, or some form of devolution or self-governance for their country or region.^[4] The alliance has generally limited its membership to progressive parties,^[5] therefore only a minority among European regionalist parties are members of the EFA.

Since 1999 the EFA and the European Green Party (EGP) have joined forces within The Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) group in the European Parliament, albeit some EFA members have joined other groups from time to time.

The EFA's youth wing is the European Free Alliance Youth (EFAY), founded in 2000.

History

Since the 1979 election, regionalists have been represented in the European Parliament. Four regionalist parties obtained seats in that election: the Scottish National Party (SNP), the Flemish People's Union (VU), the Brussels-based Democratic Front of Francophones (FDF) and the South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP). The SNP, although being predominantly social-democratic, joined the European Progressive Democrats, a conservative group led by the French Gaullist Rally for the Republic. The VU and the FDF joined the heterogeneous Technical Group of Independents, while the SVP joined the European People's Party.^[6]

In 1981 six parties (VU, the Frisian National Party, Independent Fianna Fáil, the Party of German-speaking Belgians, the Party for the Organization of a Free Brittany and the Alsace-Lorraine National Association), plus three observers (the Union of the Corsican People, the Occitan Party and the Democratic Convergence of Catalonia, CDC), joined forces to form the European Free Alliance.^[7][8] Regionalist MEPs continued, however, to sit in different groups in the European Parliament: the SNP in the Gaullist-dominated European Democratic Alliance; the VU, the Sardinian Action Party (PSd'Az) and Basque Solidarity (EA) in the Rainbow Group, together with Green parties; the SVP in the European People's Party group; the CDC with the Liberal Democrats; and Batasuna among Non-Inscrits.^[9]

Only after the 1989 European Parliament election did EFA members form a united group, called Rainbow like its green predecessor. It consisted of three Italian MEPs (two for Lega Lombarda and one for the PSd'Az), two Spanish MEPs (one each for the PNV and the Andalusian Party, PA), one Belgian MEP (for VU), one French MEP (Union of the Corsican People, UPC), one British MEP (SNP) and one independent MEP from Ireland. They were joined by 4 MEPs from the Danish left-wing Eurosceptic People's Movement against the EU, while the other regionalist parties, including the SVP, Batasuna and the Convergence and Union of Catalonia (CiU) declined to join.^[10]

In the 1994 European Parliament election the regionalists lost many seats. Moreover, the EFA had suspended its major affiliate, Lega Nord, for having joined forces in government with the post-fascist National Alliance. Also, the PNV chose to switch to the European People's Party (EPP). The three remaining EFA MEPs (representing the SNP, the VU and the Canarian Coalition) formed a group with the French Énergie Radicale list and the Italian Pannella List: the European Radical Alliance.^[11]

Following the 1999 European Parliament election, in which EFA parties did quite well, EFA elected MEPs formed a joint group with the European Green Party, under the name The Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA). In the event the EFA supplied ten members: two each from the Scottish SNP, the Welsh Plaid Cymru, and the Flemish VU, and one each from the Basque PNV and EA, the Andalusian PA and the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG).^[12]

In the 2004 European Parliament election, the EFA, which had formally become a European political party,^[13] was reduced to four MEPs: two from the SNP (Ian Hudghton and Alyn Smith), one from Plaid Cymru (Jill Evans) and one from the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC; Bernat Joan i Marí, replaced at the mid-term by MEP Mikel Irujo of the Basque EA). They were joined by two associate members: Tatjana Ždanoka of For Human Rights in United Latvia (PCTVL) and László Tőkés, an independent MEP and former member of the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UMDR). Co-operation between the EFA and the Greens continued.

Following the 2008 revision of the EU Regulation that governs European political parties allowing the creation of European foundations affiliated to European political parties, the EFA established its official foundation/think tank, the Centre Maurits Coppieters (CMC), in September 2007.^[14]

In the 2009 European Parliament election, six MEPs were returned for the EFA: two from the SNP (Ian Hudghton and Alyn Smith), one from Plaid Cymru (Jill Evans), one from the Party of the Corsican Nation (PNC; François Alfonsi), one from the ERC (Oriol Junqueras i Vies), and Tatjana Ždanoka, an individual member of the EFA from Latvia. After the election, the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) also joined the EFA. The EFA subgroup thus counted seven MEPs.^[15]

In the 2014 European Parliament election, EFA-affiliated parties returned twelve seats to the Parliament: four for the N-VA, two for the SNP, two for L'Esquerra pel Dret a Decidir (an electoral list primarily composed of the ERC), one for Los Pueblos Deciden (an electoral list maily comprising EH Bildu, a Basque coalition including EA), one for Primavera Europea (an electoral list comprising the Valencian Nationalist Bloc, BNV, and the Aragonese Union, ChA), one from Plaid Cymru, and one from the Latvian Russian Union (LKS). Due to ideological divergences with the Flemish Greens,^[16] the N-VA defected to the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group^[17][18] and the EH Bildu MEP joined the European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) group: the EFA representation within the Greens/EFA group was thus of seven MEPs.^[19]

Ideology

In the Brussels declaration of 2000 the EFA codified its political principles. The EFA stands for "a Europe of Free Peoples based on the principle of subsidiarity, which believe in solidarity with each other and the peoples of the world."^[20] The EFA sees itself as an alliance of stateless peoples, which are striving towards independence, autonomy, recognition or wanting a proper voice in Europe. It supports European integration on basis of the subsidiarity-principle. It believes also that Europe should move away from further centralisation and works towards the formation of a "Europe of regions". It believes that regions should have more power in Europe, for instance participating in the Council of the European Union, when matters within their competence are discussed. It also wants to protect the linguistic and cultural diversity within the EU.

The EFA broadly stands on the left-wing of the political spectrum. The Brussels declaration emphasises the protection of human rights, sustainable development and social justice. In 2007 the EFA congress in Bilbao added several progressive principles to the declaration, including a commitment to fight against racism, antisemitism, discrimination, xenophobia and islamophobia, and a commitment to get full citizenship for immigrants, including voting rights.

EFA members are generally progressive, although there are some notable exceptions as the conservative New Flemish Alliance, Bavaria Party, Schleswig Party and Future of Åland, the Christian-democratic Slovene Union, the centre-right Liga Veneta Repubblica and the far-right^{[21][22][23][24]} South Tyrolean Freedom.

Organisation

The main organs of the EFA organisation are the General Assembly, the Bureau and the Secretariat.

General Assembly

In the General Assembly, the supreme council of the EFA, every member party has one vote.

Bureau and Secretariat

The Bureau takes care of daily affairs. It is chaired by François Alfonsi (Party of the Corsican Nation), president of the EFA, while Jordi Solé (Republican Left of Catalonia) is secretary-general and Lorena Lopez de Lacalle (Basque Solidarity) treasurer and vice-president. The Bureau is completed by other nine vice-presidents: Gustave Alirol (Occitan Party), Olrik Bouma (Frisian National Party), Fabrizio Comencini (Liga Veneta Repubblica), Eric Defoort (New Flemish Alliance), Jill Evans (Plaid Cymru), Ian Hudghton (Scottish National Party), Davyth Hicks (Mebyon Kernow), Axel Jonsson (Future of Åland) and Ana Miranda (Galician Nationalist Bloc).^[25]

Member parties

This is a list of EFA member parties.^[26]

Full members

Before becoming a member party, an organization needs to have been an observer of the EFA for at least one year. Only one member party per region is allowed. If a second party from a region wants to join the EFA, the first party needs to agree, at which point these two parties will then form a common delegation with one vote. The EFA also recognises friends of the EFA, a special status for regionalist parties outside of the European Union.^[20]

Current state(s)	Party	Seeking to represent	Joined (Observer/Member)	MEPs
Austria	Unity List	ethnic Slovenes	2005/2006	0
Belgium	New Flemish Alliance	Flanders	2010	4[27]
Bulgaria	United Macedonian Organization Ilinden–Pirin	ethnic Macedonians	2006/2007	0
Czech Republic	Moravané	Moravia	2006	0
Croatia	List for Rijeka	Rijeka	2009/2010	0
Denmark	Schleswig Party	ethnic Germans in North Schleswig	2011	0
Finland	Future of Åland	Åland	2005/2006	0
France	Savoy Region Movement	Savoie	1991	0
France	Occitan Party	Occitania	1982	0
France	Party of the Corsican Nation	Corsica	1981	0
France	Breton Democratic Union	Brittany	1987	0
France	Our Land	Alsace	1991	0
France	Catalan Unity	Northern Catalonia, Catalan Countries	1991	0
Germany	Bavaria Party	Bavaria	2007/2008	0
Germany	The Friesen	East Frisia	2008/2009	0
Germany	Lusatian Alliance	Sorbs, Lusatia	2009/2013	0
Germany	South Schleswig Voters' Association	ethnic Danes, North Frisia	2009/2010	0
Greece	Rainbow	ethnic Macedonians	1999/2000	0
Italy	South Tyrolean Freedom	South Tyrol	2009	0
Italy	Liga Veneta Repubblica	Veneto	1999/2000	0
Italy	Sardinian Action Party	Sardinia	1984	0
Italy	Slovene Union	ethnic Slovenes	1991	0
Italy	Autonomy Liberty Participation Ecology	Aosta Valley	2007/2011	0
Netherlands	Frisian National Party	Friesland	1981	0
Poland	Silesian Autonomy Movement	Upper Silesia	2002/2003	0
Romania	Hungarian People's Party of Transylvania	ethnic Hungarians	2015/2016	0
Slovakia	Hungarian Christian Democratic Association	ethnic Hungarians	2008/2009	0
Spain /  France	Aralar Party	Basque Country	2012/2013	0
Spain /  France	Basque Solidarity	Basque Country	1986	1[27]
Spain /  France	Republican Left of Catalonia	Catalonia, Catalan Countries	1989	2[27]
Spain	Aragonese Union	Aragon	2003/2004	0
Spain	Socialist Party of Majorca	Balearic Islands, Catalan Countries	2000/2008	0
Spain	Galician Nationalist Bloc	Galicia	1994/2000	0
Spain	Valencian Nationalist Bloc	Valencia, Catalan Countries	2012/2013	1[27]
United Kingdom	Mebyon Kernow	Cornwall	2003	0
United Kingdom	Plaid Cymru	Wales	1983	1[27]
United Kingdom	Scottish National Party	Scotland	1989	2
United Kingdom	Yorkshire First[28]	Yorkshire	2015/2016	0

Observer members

Current state(s)	Party	Seeking to represent	Joined (as observer)	MEPs
Italy	The Other South	Sicily	2014	0
Italy	Pro Lombardy Independence	Lombardy	2015	0
Latvia	Latvian Russian Union	ethnic Russians, Latgalians	2010	1[27]
Poland	Kashubian Unity (KJ)[29]	Kashubia	2016	0
Spain	New Canaries	Canary Islands	2013	0
Greece	Party of Friendship, Equality and Peace	ethnic Turks in Western Thrace	2015	0

Associate members

Current state(s)	Party	Seeking to represent	Joined (as associate)	MEPs
Azerbaijan	Democratic Party of Artsakh[30][31]	Nagorno-Karabakh	2015	0
Serbia	League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina (LSV)[29]	Vojvodina	2016	0

Former members

Current state(s)	Party	Seeking to represent	Joined (Observer/Member)	Notes
Belgium	People's Union	Flanders	1981	Split into the New-Flemish Alliance and SPIRIT
Belgium	Social Liberal Party	Flanders	2001	Ceased activity in 2009
Belgium	Walloon Popular Rally	Wallonia	1982	Ceased activity as party in 2011
Belgium	Party of German-speaking Belgians	German Community	1981	Merged into ProDG in 2008
Belgium	Pro German-speaking Community	German Community	2009/2011
France	Alsace-Lorraine National Association	Alsace,  Lorraine	1981
France	Union of the Corsican People	Corsica	1981	Merged into the PNC in 2002
France	Party for the Organization of a Free Brittany	Brittany	1981	Ceased activity in 2000
France	Savoyan League	Savoie	1999/2000	Ceased activity in 2012
Hungary	Renewed Roma Union Party of Hungary	Romani people	2009	Ceased activity in 2012
Ireland	Independent Fianna Fáil	Ireland	1981	Ceased activity in 2006
Italy	Lega Lombarda	Lombardy	1989/1990	Joined Lega Nord in 1991
Italy	Liga Veneta	Veneto	1989/1990	Joined Lega Nord in 1991
Italy	Lega Nord	Padania	1991	Suspended in 1994, left in 1996 and joined ELDR
Italy	Emilian Free Alliance	Emilia	1999/2000	Ceased activity in 2010
Italy	Movement for the Independence of Sicily	Sicily	2009
Italy	Valdostan Union	Aosta Valley		Expelled in 2007 after lack of activity in EFA structures
Lithuania	Lithuanian Polish People's Party	ethnic Poles	2003/2004	Ceased activity in 2010
Italy	Union for South Tyrol	South Tyrol		Expelled in 2008 for opposition to the Bilbao declaration
Romania	Transilvania–Banat League	Transylvania, Banat		Ceased activity
Slovakia	Hungarian Federalist Party	ethnic Hungarians		Banned in 2005[32]
Spain	Democratic Convergence of Catalonia	Catalonia	1981	Joined the LDR Group in 1987
Spain	Canarian Coalition	Canary Islands	1994	Left in 1999 and joined the ELDR Group
Spain /  France	Basque Nationalist Party	Basque Country	1999	Left in 2004 and joined the EDP
Spain	Andalusian Party	Andalusia	1999	dissolved in 2015

See also

• List of regional and minority parties in Europe
• List of active separatist movements in Europe

References

1. Wolfram Nordsieck. "Parties and Elections in Europe". Parties-and-elections.eu. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
2. Marion Demossier (15 August 2007). The European Puzzle: The Political Structuring of Cultural Identities at a Time of Transition. Berghahn Books. pp. 152–. ISBN 978-0-85745-863-6.
3. Elizabeth Bomberg; John Peterson; Richard Corbett (2012). The European Union: How Does it Work?. Oxford University Press. pp. 155–. ISBN 978-0-19-957080-5.
4. "What's EFA and history". Retrieved 26 August 2015.
5. Gupta, Devashree (April 2008). "Nationalism across borders: transnational nationalist advocacy in the European Union". Comparative European Politics (Palgrave Macmillan) 6 (1): 61–80. doi:10.1057/palgrave.cep.6110127.
6. Wolfram Nordsieck. "Parties and Elections in Europe". Parties-and-elections.eu. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
7. http://www.e-f-a.org/fileadmin/user_upload/documents/3.4.4.3_EFA-THE-INTERNATIONALISM.pdf
8. Andrew C. Gould; Anthony M. Messina (17 February 2014). Europe's Contending Identities: Supranationalism, Ethnoregionalism, Religion, and New Nationalism. Cambridge University Press. pp. 132–. ISBN 978-1-107-03633-8.
9. Wolfram Nordsieck. "Parties and Elections in Europe". Parties-and-elections.eu. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
10. Wolfram Nordsieck. "Parties and Elections in Europe". Parties-and-elections.eu. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
11. Wolfram Nordsieck. "Parties and Elections in Europe". Parties-and-elections.eu. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
12. Wolfram Nordsieck. "Parties and Elections in Europe". Parties-and-elections.eu. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
13. Wolfram Nordsieck. "Parties and Elections in Europe". Parties-and-elections.eu. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
14. "Centre Maurits Coppieters (CMC) - Ideas for Europe". Ideasforeurope.eu. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
15. Wolfram Nordsieck. "Parties and Elections in Europe". Parties-and-elections.eu. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
16. "Will Flemish separatists save the Tories in Europe?". EurActiv - EU News & policy debates, across languages. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
17. Van Overtveldt, Johan (2014-06-18). "N-VA kiest voor ECR-fractie in Europees Parlement" [N-VA chooses ECR Group in the European Parliament]. standaard.be (in Dutch). Retrieved 2014-06-18.
18. "N-VA joins ECR group in European Parliament". Retrieved 26 August 2015.
19. "Up-to-date list of the MEPs for the new legislative period". Retrieved 26 August 2015.
20. "European Free Alliance". E-f-a.org. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
21. "I separati dell’Alto Adige - Corriere della Sera". Corriere.it. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
22. "Digos e carabinieri nella sede del partito - Alto Adige dal 2004.it » Ricerca". Ricerca.gelocal.it. 14 October 2010. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
23. "Frattini denuncia il "diario" della Klotz - Cronaca - Alto Adige". Altoadige.gelocal.it. 24 July 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
24. "La Stampa - Nel diario scolastico sudtirolesei terroristi si scoprono eroi". Lastampa.it. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
25. "Members of the Bureau". European Free ALliance. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
26. "Member Parties". http://www.e-f-a.org/whos-who/member-parties/. European Free Alliance. Retrieved 17 May 2015. External link in |website= (help)
27. "EFA member parties perform well in the European elections #EP2014". Retrieved 26 August 2015.
28. http://www.yorkshirefirst.org.uk/about/opinion/
29. http://www.e-f-a.org/services/news-single-view/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=971&cHash=be037d7536b7dfc93e5ba210e9481b2c. Missing or empty |title= (help)
30. "Member Parties". http://www.e-f-a.org/whos-who/member-parties/. European Free Alliance. Retrieved 26 Aug 2015. External link in |website= (help)
31. "Democratic Party of Artsakh is the Associated Member of the European Free Alliance". http://www.dpa.am/wp/?p=2062/. Democratic Party of Artsakh. Retrieved 26 Aug 2015. External link in |website= (help)
32. "EFA PARTY IN SLOVAK REPUBLIC BANNED". Retrieved 26 August 2015.

External links

• EFA official website
• The Greens/EFA official website
• EFA in the European Parliament
• European Free Alliance Youth
• Declaration of Brussels of 9 November 2000
• Toward a Europe of diversity – Manifesto for the 2004 EP election
• Vision for a People's Europe – Manifesto for the 2009 EP election
• It's time for self-determination for all the peoples of Europe – Manifesto for the 2014 EP election
• Eric Defoort (editor), The European Free Alliance: The voice of nations and peoples of Europe. 30 years EFA, 2011
• Tudi Kernalegenn, The internationalism of the EFA, European Free Alliance, 2011
• Peter Lynch, Organising for a Europe of the Regions: The European Free Alliance-DPPE and Political Representation in the European Union, 2007