UEF NEWS

Serbian Federalists joined Union of European Federalists

UEF Serbia was admitted as a full member of the Union of European Federalists. The Federal Committee unanimously welcomed the new section at the session held on 30-31 October 2010 in Brussels. UEF Serbia was a candidate section for UEF membership since October 2009.
Andrew Duff, MEP, UEF President, said: “European federalists warmly welcome Serbian colleagues to our family of political activists. In Serbia and across the Western Balkans the European federal message needs to be heard with clarity and passion. This step brings Serbia closer to its rightful membership of a strong and effective European Union – delivering progress and security within a lively democratic framework, which transcends the old nation states of Europe’s unhappy past.”

NEWS FROM SECTIONS

Call for the United States of Europe*: UEF Belgium joins the call launched by UEF France

Presented at the UEF-Belgium General Assembly, 25 September 2010
The Treaty of Lisbon, which came into force on 1 December 2009, increased the powers of the European Parliament in many respects. The rule of unanimity was largely suspended, to simplify the business of government, but it was maintained in certain sensitive areas, including finance, budgets, and future institutional change, which will make it difficult to agree and implement common strategies for dealing with the crisis. So, in spite of the improvements brought by Lisbon, Europe is still stuck with complicated decision-making procedures which will not allow it to deal effectively with the challenges of the modern world. * United States of Europe is a campaign launched by UEF France on June 12, 2010 in Toulouse, with an aim to promote institutional improvements and changes as well as federal solutions to current thematic issues such as economic governance, EU finances, European Parliament election and European Security and Defence Policy.

PAST EVENTS

Presentation of the volume “Restarting from Altiero Spinelli”

On October 26 in Rome, Sergio Pistone, Honorary member of the UEF Executive Bureau and Vice-President of CIME (European Movement Italy), presented the volume "Ricominciare da Altiero Spinelli" (Restarting from Altiero Spinelli), published by Giuffrè and the Center for Studies on Federalism, in presence of
•    Pier Virgilio Dastoli (former assistant of Altiero Spinelli at the EP and Vice-President of CIME)
•    Sandro Gozi (MP, coordinator of the Federalist Intergroup at the Italian Chamber of Deputies, and member of the board of the Spinelli Group), and
•    Guy Verhofstadt (MEP and cofounder of the Spinelli Group)
The event was also an occasion to discuss the opportunities for cooperation between the federalists and the Spinelli Group.

National seminar on European and World federation

On 16th -17th of October, the Ufficio del Dibattito of MFE (UEF Italy) has organized in Naples its yearly meeting to discuss the perspectives of the struggle to achieve a European and World federation.

This year, the meeting in Naples was divided into three sessions:

1) “Europe and the World”, introduced by Antonio Mosconi and Luca Lionello (chaired by MFE President Lucio Levi)
2) “The World and Europe”, introduced by Domenico Moro, Giulia Rossolillo and Giulia Spiaggi (chaired by National MFE Secretary Giorgio Anselmi)
3) “The transition towards the European and World federation”, introduced by JEF Italy President Chiara Cipolletta, UEF Executive Bureau Member Francesco Ferrero and National Coordinator for the MFE-Ufficio del Dibattito Franco Spoltore (chaired by Eliana Capretti, MFE-Campania Regional Secretary).

Nearly fifty federalists coming from Piemonte, Lombardia, Veneto, Lazio, Puglia and Campania and regional and national political leaders attended the meeting. You can consult the written contributions (mainly in Italian) and pictures on Ufficio del Dibattito’s website (http://www.francospoltore.net/newsletter/UD_10/) .

The Ufficio del Dibattito is a National body, expressly established by the Statutes in 1987, by which the Italian federalist local sections try to keep alive the internal debate and deal with all those cultural and political issues that can be of a certain interest in relation to the federalist struggle at the different levels. In 2009 the National seminar was held in Palermo on “The future of politics and economy in the era of globalization”.

UEF Serbia: “Test your local government!”

On 19th of October UEF Serbia took part in the celebration of European Local Democracy Week (ELDW) in city if Belgrade. UEF Serbia activists promoted the idea of citizen participation in local government and informed citizens about their current projects.

At the event UEF Serbia carried out a mini-survey for all visitors - "Test your local government." The aim of the survey was to show if people are really familiar with the work and functioning of their local government. The results are published on UEF Serbia’s website (link to the website www.uef.rs).

The “European Local Democracy Week” (ELDW) is an annual European event with simultaneous national and local events organized by participating local authorities in all Council of Europe Member States. The purpose of this celebration is to foster the knowledge about local democracy and promotion of the idea of democratic participation at a local level.

FUTURE EVENTS

EUD Congress

On 20th – 21st November Europa-Union Deutschland (UEF Germany) is holding its Federal Congress in Erfurt, Germany. Prominent guest speakers, represenatives of politics and culture will join the congress. It is expected to welcome EU Commissioner Günther Oettinger, the German-Iranian writer Navid Kermani and Thuringian Prime Minister Christine Lieberknecht.
The event will gather 150 delegates European, Federal and state level.

International Winter School on Federalism and Governance

The Institute for Studies on Federalism and Regionalism of the European Academy Bozen/Bolzano (EURAC), the Faculty of Law and the School of Political Science and Sociology of the University of Innsbruck are organizing the International Winter School on Federalism and Governance.
After the success of the first edition earlier this year, the second edition of the international Winter School will focus on Cross-border Cooperation. The first week, 31 January to 4 February 2011, will be held in Innsbruck (Tyrol, Austria) and the second week, 7 to 11 February 2011, will be in Bolzano/Bozen (South Tyrol, Italy).
The Winter School is intended for all those interested in cross-border cooperation – doctoral, post- and undergraduate students; academics, officials, politicians, journalists, members of NGOs and interested citizens.
The Winter School provides in-depth analysis and practical knowledge of CBC in Europe.
Leading experts in the field, both academics and practitioners, illustrate the rationale, history and legal instruments as well as societal, political and economic implications of CBC.

For further information please visit www.eurac.edu/winterschool