Dear Friends,

New UEF premises opening reception feels far in the past already and we finally feel settled down. A new chapter was turned also within the European Parliament, where politicians dedicated to building a federal Europe, launched a new initiative – The Spinelli Group. In few weeks UEF Federal Committee will meet again to take important decisions on diverse policy issues. Secretariat is tirelessly working to organize the gathering and welcome federalists from member organisations in the heart of European Union. A lot has been done since the last FC meeting, but much more is ahead.  That is why we look forward to gathering active and motivated European federalists, to shape the framework of future activities. Find out about the FC and lot more in the update below.

Sincerely yours,
Christian Wenning
UEF Secretary General

On 2nd of September, UEF held a first reception in its new premises at Square de Meeûs 25 in Brussels. UEF President Andrew Duff and Secretary-General Christian Wenning welcomed Members of the European Parliament, Administrators of Commission and Council, Representatives from Industry, NGOs and Boards of UEF Sections abroad. As a special guest, Professor Dr. Martin Selmayr, Head of Cabinet of Viviane Reding, Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship.
Christian Wenning welcomed the audience stating: "With the new location a new chapter for UEF begins, a chapter of communication with citizens and bringing the federalists in the institutions and business together." 

Union of European Federalists in Serbia, in cooperation with Konrad Adenauer Foundation and Center for European Studies in Brussels, has started implementing a research project ”Sustainability of the Process of Association and Accession of Serbia and the Western Balkans to the European Union: Research on the Possible Scenarios of Accession“.
The aim of the project is to identify major challenges for pro-European development of Western Balkans countries, focusing on the assessment of the potential obstacles to the full European integration of the region, so as to develop possible scenarios of either full integration of all Western Balkans countries into the EU, or defining possible alternative forms of relations between the bloc and some of the Western Balkans countries.
The result of the research will be the creation and publication of the policy study in November 2010. The policy study will be presented at the regional conference, which will take place in Belgrade in December 2010.
The most important part of the research will include series of meetings and interviews that a research team will conduct with individuals, whose daily work is closely related with the process of the European integration. Interviews will take place in Brussels, Banja Luka, Podgorica, Pristina, Sarajevo, Skopje, Tirana, Zagreb and Belgrade. The main intention of the researchers is to obtain information, which will lead them to better understanding of this complex process in the region of the Western Balkans, as well as to learn and get better insight in the policy solutions related to the European integration process that so dynamically affect the public life of the target countries.
Persons to be interviewed are chosen among political parties’ senior members, members of the parliament, political analysts, public administration officials, NGOs, think-tanks dealing with the EU enlargement issues, journalists, university researchers, science institutes, etc. All interviews will be informal, meaning that no part of the interview will be quoted in the final publication, but will be used exclusively for the analytical purposes of writing a policy study.

On 15th of September a new pro-European initiative was founded in the European Parliament (EP) in Brussels. The Spinelli Group aims to relaunch federalism within the European Union and create of citizens, NGOs, academics and politicians, who support idea of a federal and united Europe. Named after Altiero Spinelli, founder of the Union of European Federalists (UEF) and a founding father of the European integration, the group is founded by Guy Verhofstadt, head of the liberal Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group in the EP and honorary president of the Union of European Federalists (UEF) in Belgium, The Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) group co-chair Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Sylvie Goulard (ALDE) and current EP Vice President Isabelle Durant (Greens/EFA), with the support of the Union of European Federalists.

On 25th of September UEF Belgium held its annual Congress in Overijse. As special guests congress members welcomed former Minister and former member of the Court of Justice of the EU Melchior Wathelet, UEF Vice-president Philipp Agathonos, UEF Secretary-General Christian Wenning and JEF President Philippe Adriaennsens.  Domenico Rossetti di Valdabergo presented the activity report, pointing out the huge amount of activities the section has been able to participate in. The political debate was introduced by Michele Ciavarini Azzi, who focused on the three major political events that consolidated UEF Belgium political strategy in 2010: the involvement of Guy Verhofstadt as President of honour; the organisation of the "Midis Fédéralistes"; and the TV debate on economic and financial crisis, that saw a strong and visible involvement of activists. Philippe Agathonos gave an overview of the strategy of UEF and stressed the intention to focus on a European federal budget and on enhanced cooperation concerning defense. Christian Wenning mentioned the importance of local sections, the improvement of the federalists' visibility in the media and the new initiative of the Spinelli Group in the EP. Melchior Wathelet closed the political debate with a brilliant speech on the need of taking responsibilities on the future of Europe at all levels. Finally, the Congress welcomed Françoise Jurion de Waha as new member of the board. All the other members have been re-elected in the board. Paolo Clarotti, Dieter Hammer, Salvatore Rossetti and Jean-Jacques Schul have been confirmed as UEF Belgium political advisors.

On 8th of October UEF Group Europe organised a public debate with Richard Corbett in Brussels. Mr. Corbett is former MEP, member of the private office of Mr. Van Rompuy (President of the European Council) and Councillor for Institutional Affairs. Around 50 European staff from all institutions gathered to participate in the debate. On the operation of the new institutional architecture, Richard Corbett admitted that it was far too early to conclude. He was however confident that the incremental changes brought about by the Lisbon treaty would yield significant, binding results that had little to do with intergovernmental processes.
In the warm debate that followed, he remarked that the Commission should cooperate actively with the EEAS (not an institution) and remain a key actor in the inter-institutional architecture. He contradicted the view that the president of the European Council represented the Member States and looked to a future firmly grounded on the Community method, even under the existing treaties.
http://www.federaleurope.org/uef/news/alain-lamassoure-a-case-for-an-optimistic-federalism/

On 17-23 October 2010 JEF-Europe and JEF-Malta are organising an international seminar “The ultimate solution for a better life: (im)migration?” held in Tarxien, a small village in the south east of Malta.The international seminar aims to raise awareness among youngsters about the different (positive and negative) aspects and types of migration in Europe – inside EU and to the EU from neighbouring and third countries. The seminar will shed light on various aspects of this modern phenomenon. Therefore the main theme will cover the following topics: circumstances underlying migration, legal vs. illegal migration, consequences and problems of immigration faced by the host country and immigrants, how to successfully address and revert the trend of illegal immigration, the importance of integration of immigrants in the society of the host country, (illegal) migration and human rights, and discussion on policies/declarations /resolutions on migration issues by European Union, the Council of Europe, the United Nations and individual European countries. Please have a look  here for more information and write as soon as possible to the European Secretariat for all details of how to subscribe!

The Young European Federalists (JEF) have released the new issue of their bi-weekly Newsletter JEF-INFO. To find the full version of the newsletter at the homepage of JEF Europe, click here.