European federalist
 |
|
| Formation | September 1946 |
|---|---|
| Type | Advocacy group |
| Purpose | Advocate Federalism |
| Headquarters | Brussels, Belgium |
|
Region served
|
European Union |
|
President
|
Elmar Brok |
| Website | www |
The Union of European Federalists (UEF) is a European non-governmental organisation, campaigning for a Federal Europe. It consists of 20 constituent organisations and it has been active at the European, national and local levels since 1946.
The foundation of the UEF goes back to the meeting of 78 representatives of federalist movements from 16 European countries in September 1946 in Hertenstein, near Zürich in Switzerland. These groups held the common belief that only a European Federation based on the idea of unity in diversity could prevent a repetition of the suffering and destruction of the two world wars, so they adopted a declaration-programme which was based on this idea. Federalists believed that only a common effort of European citizens working towards this goal could create a peaceful and democratic Europe guaranteeing freedom and the protection of human rights.
At a second meeting in Luxembourg these groups agreed on establishing a permanent European secretariat in Paris and another one in New York City for global federalists. But it was in Paris, on 15 and 16 December 1946 that UEF was officially brought into life, its function being to co-ordinate and intensify the activities of the different movements and to organise them into a federal structure.
After getting a legal status UEF campaigned for the European Federal Pact. It consisted of an attempt to transform the Advisory Assembly of the Council of Europe into the Constituent Assembly of the European Federation. The fundamental tool was a petition, signed by thousands of citizens across Europe and a large number of eminent people in political, intellectual and scientific life, which asked the Advisory Assembly to draw up a text for a federal pact, and recommend its ratification to the member states of the Council of Europe. UEF also campaigned for the ratification of the European Defence Community and for the establishment of a political community.
After rejection of the EDC project the federalists became increasingly divided as to the strategy to be followed by the U.E.F. between those who, following Altiero Spinelli (1907–1986), favoured the constitutional approach, and those who preferred a step-by-step approach. The former could not be satisfied with a mere common market; the latter fully supported it. This conflict led to a split of the UEF in July 1956 and its division into two organisations: the "Mouvement Fédéraliste Européen" (M.F.E.), formed from militants of the former constitutional persuasion, and the "Action Européenne Fédéraliste" (A.E.F.) bringing together those of the latter.
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Wikipedia