25-531: The European Free Alliance Youth ( EFAy ) is the youth wing of the European Free Alliance European political party . EFAy is a European-wide youth organisation comprised with members who belong to political organisations that safeguard and promote the cultural, linguistic and national diversity of Europe in a progressive way. Its political principles are the right for self-determination, the recognition of minorities and ethnic groups,
50-610: A European political party is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . European Free Alliance The European Free Alliance ( EFA ) is a European political party that consists of various regionalist , separatist and minority political parties in Europe. Member parties advocate either for full political independence and sovereignty , or some form of devolution or self-governance for their country or region. The party has generally limited its membership to centre-left and left-wing parties; therefore, only
75-839: A fraction of European regionalist parties are members of the EFA. Since 1999, the EFA and the European Green Party (EGP) have joined forces within Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) group in the European Parliament , although some EFA members have joined other groups from time to time, for example the New Flemish Alliance which sits with the European Conservatives and Reformists Group . The EFA's youth wing
100-407: A member party, an organisation 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
125-834: Is chaired by Lorena Lopez de Lacalle ( Basque Solidarity ), president of the EFA, while Jordi Solé ( Republican Left of Catalonia ) is secretary-general and Anke Spoorendonk ( South Schleswig Voters' Association ) vice-president and treasurer. The Bureau is completed by other twelve vice-presidents: Peggy Eriksson ( Future of Åland ), Jill Evans ( Plaid Cymru ), Fernando Fuente Cortina ( More—Commitment ), David Grosclaude ( Occitan Party ), Wouter Patho ( New Flemish Alliance ), Frank de Boer ( Frisian National Party ), Patrik Peroša (The Olive Tree – Slovene Istria Party), Livia Ceccaldi-Volpei (Femu à Corsica), Zsolt Szilágyi ( Hungarian Alliance of Transylvania ), Ana Miranda ( Galician Nationalist Bloc ), Roberto Visentin ( Pact for Autonomy ) and Lorena López Sánchez ( New Canaries ). Before becoming
150-574: Is the European Free Alliance Youth (EFAY), founded in 2000. As of 2024, two European regions are led by EFA politicians: Flanders with Jan Jambon of the New Flemish Alliance and Corsica with Gilles Simeoni of Femu a Corsica . Regionalists have long been represented in the European Parliament . In the 1979 election four regionalist parties obtained seats: the Scottish National Party (SNP),
175-582: 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 (UPC), one British MEP (SNP) and one independent MEP from Ireland. They were joined by 4 MEPs from
200-663: 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 ), and Tatjana Ždanoka, an individual member of the EFA from Latvia. After the election, the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) also joined
225-781: The Democratic Alliance 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 Coppieters Foundation (CF), in September 2007. In
250-810: The European Green Party , under the name 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). In the 2004 European Parliament election , the EFA, which had formally become a European political party ,
275-965: The European People's Party group . 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 , UPC, the Occitan Party and the Democratic Convergence of Catalonia , CDC), joined forces to form
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#1732771974366300-730: The National Liberation Front of Corsica (FLNC). In the 1982 regional elections in Corsica, the UPC won 10.61% of the votes and seven seats, but two years later it won just 5.21% and three seats. In the 1989 European election , the UPC obtained one Member of the European Parliament , Max Simeoni, running as part of the Green list headed by Antoine Waechter . The UPC was led notably by François Alfonsi , currently
325-871: 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 , the N-VA defected to the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR) and the EH Bildu MEP joined the European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) group. Thus, EFA had seven members in
350-646: 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. 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,
375-625: The EFA. The EFA subgroup thus counted seven MEPs. 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 " The Left for the Right to Decide " (an electoral list primarily composed of the ERC), one for " The Peoples Decide " (an electoral list mainly comprising EH Bildu , a Basque coalition including EA), one for " European Spring " (an electoral list comprising
400-945: The European Free Alliance. Regionalist MEPs continued, however, to sit in different groups also after the 1984 election : 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 Herri Batasuna among Non-Inscrits . Only after
425-623: The European Union. The following is the list of EFA members and former members. Union of the Corsican People The Union of the Corsican People ( Corsican : Unione di u Populu Corsu , UPC ) was a political party in Corsica , France , founded by Max Simeoni on July 4, 1977, which represented the branch of Corsican nationalism favouring self-government. The UPC condemned all violence, notably that of
450-883: 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 Rally for the Republic . The VU and the FDF joined the heterogeneous Technical Group of Independents , while the SVP joined
475-742: The Greens/EFA group and four within ECR. In the 2019 European Parliament election the EFA gained a fourth seat in the United Kingdom, due to the SNP gaining a third seat to add to Plaid's one. However, the EFA suffered the loss of these seats in January 2020 due to Brexit , which meant SNP and PC MEPs had to leave. In the Brussels declaration of 2000, the EFA codified its political principles. The EFA stands for "a Europe of Free Peoples based on
500-681: 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 . Following the 1999 European Parliament election , in which EFA parties did quite well, EFA elected MEPs formed a joint group with
525-728: The conservative New Flemish Alliance , Bavaria Party , Democratic Party of Artsakh , Schleswig Party and Future of Åland , the Christian-democratic Slovene Union and the far right South Tyrolean Freedom . The main organs of the EFA organisation are the General Assembly, the Bureau and the Secretariat. In the General Assembly, the supreme council of the EFA, every member party has one vote. The Bureau takes care of daily affairs. It
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#1732771974366550-511: 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. EFA members are generally progressive , although there are some notable exceptions as
575-422: The principle of subsidiarity , which believe in solidarity with each other and the peoples of the world." The EFA sees itself as an alliance of stateless peoples, striving towards recognition, autonomy, independence 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
600-544: The protection of linguistic diversity inside the EU and in the European institutions, the preservation of the multicultural identity of Europe, an inclusive approach with migration issues, the decentralisation and subsidiarity of the politics to a regional and local level, and the condemnation of any type of discrimination, neither by sex, gender or birthplace. It draws together 33 youth organisations from different regions/nations in 15 European states This article about
625-608: 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
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