European Free Alliance

European Free Alliance
Party leader	Lorena Lopez de Lacalle ( EA )
Secretary General	Jordi Solé ( ERC )
Treasurer	Anke Spoorendonk ( SSW )
founding	1981
Place of foundation	Brussels
Headquarters	Boomkwekerijstraat 1, 1000 Brussels , Belgium
Youth organization	European Free Alliance Youth
Affiliate foundation	Coppieters Foundation
Alignment	Regionalism Separatism Minority Policy
Colours)	purple
Government grants	777,490 euros (2016, provisional)
MEPs	9/705
EP Group	Greens / EFA (5) EKR (3) GUE / NGL ( 1 )
Website	www.efa.org

The European Free Alliance ( EFA ) is a European political party that comprises national, regional and autonomous parties of the European Union . Today 47 European regional parties are members of the EFA. The party chairman is Lorena Lopez de Lacalle from Eusko Alkartasuna and the chairman of the EFA group in the European Parliament has been Oriol Junqueras from the Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya since January 7, 2020 .

The members run for the European elections . The EFA is currently represented by 9 MEPs in the European Parliament. The EFA has officially formed a parliamentary group since 1999 under the name The Greens / European Free Alliance . The EFA provides the group's first vice-chairman, who is currently Oriol Junqueras. In contrast to this, individual, mostly Spanish, EFA members join the left-wing GUE / NGL and the members of the Flemish N-VA have belonged to the national conservative ECR since 2014 .

In the Committee of the Regions , EFA members belong to the European Alliance Group .

history

Members of the EFA in the European Parliament
at the beginning of the legislature

year	MPs	fraction
1979	1/410	CDI
1984	3/434	RBW
1989	8/518	RBW
1994	3/567	ERA
1999	7/626	G / EFA
2004	5/732	G / EFA
2009	7/736	G / EFA
2014	11/751	G / EFA, EKR
2019	12/751	G / EFA, EKR

The EFA was founded in 1981 in Brussels as an association for the cooperation of political parties that differ from traditional politics and focus on comprehensive regionalism and decentralization. In 1994 the EFA was constituted as a federation of parties in accordance with the provisions of Article 138 A of the Treaties of the European Union. At a congress on March 25 and 26, 2004 in Barcelona , the EFA was founded as a political party in accordance with the new EU regulations (EC 2004/2003; decision of the Council and the European Parliament of November 4, 2003). On October 13, 2004, the European Free Alliance was officially recognized as a political party at European level.

On March 11, 2006, the EFA celebrated its 25th anniversary at a plenary meeting in Brussels.

Member parties

The EFA has (as of November 16, 2019) 47 member parties:

country	Political party	Region or minority	MEP	National MPs
Azerbaijan	Artsakh Democratic Party	Artsakh	Not in the EU	7/33
Belgium	Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie	Flanders	3/12	25/150
Bulgaria	OMO Ilinden PIRIN	Slavic Macedonians	-	-
Denmark	Schleswig party	Germans in North Schleswig	-	-
Germany	Bavaria Party	Bavaria	-	-
	South Schleswig Association of Voters	Danes and North Frisians in southern Schleswig	-	-
	Lusatian Alliance	Lausitz and Sorbs in Saxony and Brandenburg	-	-
Finland	Åland's Framtid	Åland	-	-
France	Unvaniezh Demokratel Breizh	Bretons in Brittany	-	1/577
	Unitat Catalana	Catalonia - Northern Catalonia ( Languedoc-Roussillon )	-	-
	Partit Occitan	Occitania	-	-
	Femu a Corsica	Corsica	-	-
	Inseme per a Corsica	Corsica	-	-
	Partitu di a Nazione Corsa	Corsica	-	-
	Mouvement Région Savoie	Savoy	-	-
	Our country	Alsace	-	-
Greece	Comma Isotitas, Irinis ke Filias	Western Thrace Turks	-	-
	ESA-Vinozhito	Slavic Macedonians	-	-
Italy	South Tyrolean freedom	South-Tirol	-	-
	Autonomy Liberté Participation Ecology	Aosta Valley	-	-
	Liga Veneta Repubblica	Veneto	-	-
	Patrie Furlane	Friuli	-	-
	Slovenska skupnost	Slovenes in Friuli Venezia Giulia	-	-
	Pro Lombardia Indipendenza	Lombardy	-	-
	L'Altro Sud	Southern Italy	-	-
Croatia	Lista per Fiume - Lista za Rijeku	Fiume / Rijeka	-	-
Latvia	Latvijas Krievu savienība	Russians	1/8	-
Netherlands	Fryske Nasjonale Partij	Fryslân	-	-
Austria	Enotna Lista	Carinthian Slovenes	-	-
Poland	Kaszëbskô Jednota	Kashubians	-	-
	Ruch Autonomii Śląska	Silesia	-	-
Romania	Erdélyi Magyar Néppárt	Hungary	-	-
Serbia	Liga socijaldemokrata Vojvodine	Vojvodina	Not in the EU	4/250
Slovakia	Magyar Kereszténydemokrata Szövetség (MKDSZ-MKDA)	Hungary	-	-
Slovenia	Oljka - stranka slovenske Istre	Istria	-	-
Spain	Eusko Alkartasuna	Basque Country and Navarre	-	-
	Bloque Nacionalista Galego	Galicia	-	1/350
	Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya	Catalonia	2/59	13/350
	PSM Entesa Nacionalista	Balearic Islands	-	-
	Nueva Canarias	Canary Islands	-	1/350
	Bloc Nacionalista Valencià	Valencia	-	1/350
Czech Republic	Moravské zemské hnutí	Moravia	-	-
United Kingdom	Scottish National Party	Scotland	Not in the EU	35/650
	Plaid Cymru	Wales		4/650
	Mebyon Kernow - The Party for Cornwall	Cornwall		-
	Yorkshire Party	Yorkshire		-

• Green: Members of The Greens / European Free Alliance (3)
• Blue: Members of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (3)

Suspended member

country	Political party	Region or minority	MEP	National MPs
Italy	Partito Sardo d'Azione	Sardinia	-	-

Individual members

country	MEP name	Political party
Germany	Klaus Buchner	Ecological Democratic Party
France	François Alfonsi	Régions et peuples solidaires
Spain	Pernando Barrena *	EH Bildu

^* Ana Miranda Paz from Bloque Nacionalista Galego has a joint mandate with Pernando Barrena from EH Bildu

• Green: Members of The Greens / European Free Alliance (2)
• Red: Member of the Confederal Group of the European United Left / Nordic Green Left (1)

former members

country	Political party	Region or minority	comment
Germany	The Frisians	Frisians in East Frisia	no longer a member in 2019
Belgium	Party of German-speaking Belgians	German speaking community	Disbanded in 2009, most of the members joined the ProDG, which is de facto the successor organization
	ProDG	German speaking community	-
	Volksunie	Flanders	2001 activities ended
	Sociaal-Liberale Partij	Flanders	2009 activities ended
Lithuania	Polska Partita Ludowa	Poland	-
Hungary	Megújult Magyarországi Roma Összefogás Párt	Roma
France	Ligue Savoisienne	Savoy	-
Italy	Lega Nord	Padania	Suspended in 1994, resigned in 1996
	Alleanza Libera Emiliana - Libertà Emiliana	Emilia-Romagna
	Union Valdôtaine	Aosta Valley	Excluded in 2007 (due to long-term non-participation in the EFA structures)
	Union for South Tyrol	South-Tirol	Excluded in 2008 (due to her opposition to the 2007 Bilbao Declaration)
	Movimento per l'Indipendenza della Sicilia	Sicily	-
Romania	Erdély-Bánság League	Transylvania and Banat	-
Slovakia	Magyar Federalista Párt	Hungary	Activities ended
	Strana zivnostnikov Slovenska SzS	Prešov and Košice
Spain	Eusko Alderdi Jeltzalea-Partido Nacionalista Vasco	Basque Country	Resigned in 2004, now a member of the EDP
	Chunta Aragonesista	Aragon	no longer a member in 2018
	Partido Andalucista	Andalusia	Disbanded in 2015
	Aralar	Basque Country and Navarre	Disbanded in 2017

aims

On November 9, 2000, the EFA published a programmatic Brussels declaration in which the “stateless nations” of Europe set out the principles of their regionalism. Accordingly, the EFA is an advocate of a European Union of free peoples who show solidarity with one another, based on the principle of subsidiarity . It acts in the sense:

• the defense of human and international rights,
• environmental protection and sustainable development,
• building a just society with political solidarity that promotes progress, social cohesion and equal opportunities,
• a reorientation of the European Union which is too influenced by its economic concepts and which tends too much towards a policy of liberalization, competition and centralism ,
• non-violence in pursuing political goals,
• the abolition of nuclear energy and the development of alternative energies,
• ensuring the participation of the regions with constitutional authority in the meetings of the Council of Ministers when they deal with matters that fall within the competence of the regions in order to improve the recognition of historical nations and regions,
• the direct access of historical nations and regions to the European Court of Justice ,
• the democratic reforms of the European institutions and a strengthening of the Committee of the Regions and
• the defense and protection of linguistic and cultural differences in the European Union.

In 2007 the principles of the EFA were expanded in the Bilbao Declaration . This contains:

• Fight against racism , anti-Semitism , discrimination , xenophobia and Islamophobia and
• improved naturalization options for migrants and the right to vote for migrants.

See also

• Europe of the Regions

Web links

• Official website of the EFA
• Organizing for a Europe of the Regions: The European Free Alliance-DPPE and Political Representation in the European Union
• The EFA Presidium

Individual evidence

1. ↑ contact address , at European Free Alliance
2. ^ Oriol Junqueras elected President of the EFA Group in the European Parliament. In: efa.org. January 7, 2020, accessed on February 7, 2020 . 
3. ↑ http://www.efa.org/news/news/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=761
4. ↑ ^{a b} Member parties of the European Free Alliance
5. ↑ Unitat Catalana ( Memento of the original from January 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ ^{a b} http://www.nationalia.info/en/news/2126
7. ↑ ALPE (Autonomy - Liberté - Participation - Ecology)
8. ^ Liga Veneta Repubblica
9. ↑ Mebyon Kernow - The Party for Cornwall
10. ^ EFA parties win 12 seats at European Parliament elections. In: efa.org. May 27, 2019, accessed June 2, 2019 .