e-fa
e-bulletin from the European Free Alliance Parliamentary Group
The European Free Alliance (EFA) Group in the European Parliament includes MEPs from Scotland, Wales, Catalonia and Latvia, who advance the cause of Europe's stateless nations, regions and disadvantaged minorities. EFA MEPs are members of the Greens/European Free Alliance Group in the European Parliament.
The EFA MEPs are Ian Hudghton and Alyn Smith from the Scottish National Party, Bernat Joan from Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, Jill Evans from Plaid Cymru-The Party of Wales and Tatjana Zdanoka from PCTVL - Latvia. Ian is president of the group.
   
Recent highlights:
Basque Peace Process Support Group
The cross party Basque Peace Process Support Group met again in the European Parliament at the end of March, ahead of a large demonstration in Bilbao backing the peace process that some members also attended. They indicated that they would now like to broaden the political representation of the Group and extend its membership. Following the recent ETA cease fire the Group is calling for European assistance for the peace process, including a monitoring role. Bernat Joan said he hoped the European Parliament could "help build bridges in support of peace." » READ MORE EN, EN, CAT, ES
EU budget deal gets mixed response
The EU budget deal for 2007-13 approved last week got a mixed response from EFA MEPs. It represents an increase of 4billion Euros in total on the original December package, which was rejected as inadequate by MEPs. SNP MEP Alyn Smith said that Scotland still stands to lose half of its European funding under the deal but that it does increase a number of budget lines that Scotland can access including lifelong learning, culture, health and territorial co-operation. Alyn said: "The deal is a bit better than it was, Scotland does a bit better thanks to the European parliament but it remains a pretty poor package for us given the UK government insistence on cuts across the board to projects which have been used so effectively in Scotland for years." » READ MORE EN
Commemorating victims of dictatorship
MEPs in Strasbourg debated proposals to allocate funds for the commemoration of victims of dictatorships in Europe as part of the "Citizens for Europe 2007-13" programme. The proposals deal specifically with victims of Nazism and Stalinism but Catalan MEP Bernat Joan urged that the programme should commemorate the victims of "all European dictatorships, including that of Franco, which was closely related, in its origins, to Nazism and Italian fascism". Speaking in the debate, he added: "nobody would understand how the Commission could discriminate between victims of atrocities committed by one or another form of authoritarian or totalitarian regime, since all of them without exception deserve to have their suffering remembered and their memory kept alive". » READ MORE EN, ES, CAT
Chernobyl +20 Visit
Plaid Cymru-The Party of Wales MEP Jill Evans is to visit Chernobyl - site of the world's worst nuclear accident - and will attend events to mark the twentieth anniversary of the disaster, including a visit to the reactor itself. Jill will go to Ukraine as part of a delegation of MEPs from the Green/EFA Group. Even twenty years on, the effects of the disaster continue to be felt in Ukraine and wider afield including in Wales where restrictions apply to some three hundred farms. Rates of childhood cancer in Ukraine rose sharply following the Chernobyl disaster and many children continue to travel abroad for treatment and respite care and many continue to visit Wales.
For more information about the European Free Alliance parliamentary group contact
José Luis Linazasoro - jllinazasoro@europarl.eu.int
Steven Cornelius
EFA Press & Communications Officer / Attaché de presse & communications ALE
Green / EFA Group in the European Parliament
T: +32 (0)2 2841665 (BXL) / +33 (0)3 88172936 (STR)
Mobile / Portable: +32 (0)473 560967
F: +32 (0)2 2841771 (BXL) / +33 (0)3 88179048 (STR)
The European Free Alliance (EFA) Group in the European Parliament includes MEPs from Scotland, Wales, Catalonia and Latvia, who advance the cause of Europe's stateless nations, regions and disadvantaged minorities.
   
More news
10.04.06 Eurotribune introduces a campaign in favour of Catalan-Galician-Basque in the European Parliament As you already know, the Spanish Government presented several months ago a linguistic memorandum asking the European institutions to accept the other Spanish official languages in the written documents of the institutions, the advisory bodies and the European Ombudsman. » READ MORE EN, ES, CAT, EUS, GAL
 07.04.06 EFA denounces the Austrian government’s failure to acknowledge minority rights.
For more then 50 years, the Austrian government has denied the Slovene community minority rights guaranteed by the State Treaty of Vienna. Decisions made by the Constitutional Court concerning this discriminatory situation have consistently been ignored by the Austrian authorities.
» READ MORE EN
04.04.06 Scots MEP goes head to head in "GALAXY WAR"
SNP Member of the European Parliament Alyn Smith has today gone head to head against politicians from another planet in "Galaxy Europe", an online poll organised by the Young European Federalist Movement.
» READ MORE EN
 22.03.06 Macedonian Minority in Greece: FIGHTING AGAINST THE TIDE
EFA-Rainbow was pleased and honored to welcome in Florina/Lerin on the 16th of March the EFA Youth Coordinator Ms Eva Bidania Ibargutxi. During her 3-day visit, the Basque minority & human rights activist met with members of EFA Rainbow Political Secretariat and Youth, EFA-EPP Political Advisor on minority issues in the Balkans Dr. Georgios Nakratzas and the President of the Greek Member State Committee of the EBLUL Mr. Athanassios Parissis.
» READ MORE EN
Edited by Andreas Dahlén
All pictures are gathered from "Base photo du Parlament Européen"
This communication is financed with support of the European Parliament. The European Parliament is not responsible for the use that could be made of the content of this communication. The author of the publication is the only responsible
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