Dear friends,

These hours the European Council is meeting for another try to solve the sovereign debt crisis. It is just another meeting one could claim, but one thing is different: For the first time Croatia is sitting at the table.

More good news and maybe interesting readings you will find in the below Update. Have fun reading and let us know what your section is doing for the next edition! Sincerely yours,
Christian Wenning
UEF Secretary General

On 11 January 2011, an organization aiming to unite people of different professions and different political parties who share a common goal of seeing Lithuania in a strong and united Europe was announced in Lithuania’s parliament, the Seimas. The Founder of the movement is UEF Lithuania. Read the full article...

MFE is holding a series of meetings with international and local representatives of trade unions to connect the project of a federal Europe to the need of a European growth plan to face the ongoing European economic crisis.

Among other initiatives, on 13 December 2011 Franco Spoltore, Secretary General of MFE, participated in a panel discussion with representatives of the Italian, German, French and Spanish trade unions in Milano, organised by the Italian trade unions. The meeting highlighted the need for trade unions to develop a Europe-wide vision on growth and employment and the role of Europe to promote it. Read the full article...

On January 20, in Barcelona, MEP Andrew DUFF spoke to a conference co-organised by the Union of the European Federalists and the Spinelli Group on the current state of EU affairs. The position of the UK within the Union, the on-going negotiations of the new budget treaty, the future of the Eurozone and of the EU overall — all these subjects were covered and then debated with an audience of experts gathered at the seat of the European institutions in Barcelona. Read the full article...

On January 14, the UEF section in Italy - MFE and Young European Federalists in Italy - GFE, gathered in Rome pro-European and federalist representatives in the national parliament, the European Parliament, as well as in the political parties, social forces and NGO's, in a "Convention on the role of Italy to promote a European federation".

The theme of the Convention – empowered by the message sent by the Italian President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, to the MFE President, Lucio Levi – was the need of a federal perspective for the European Union as a solution for the economic, financial and social crisis which is threatening Italy. The event had an impressive media coverage: some of the most important Italian news papers and news broadcast, such as Corriere della Sera, Repubblica, La Stampa, il Sole 24 ore, Unità, Tg1, La7 and Rainews24 mentioned the event. Besides, the message by the Giorgio Napolitano to Lucio Levi entitled “Urgente per l'Europa mettere in campo la più forte volontà comune sulla via dell'unità politica e dell'effettiva unione economica” was published in an official note on quirinale.it –  the website of the Italian Presidency of the Republic.

The international seminar “Encouraging Active European Citizenship in the post-Lisbon EU” held in Sofia from 11 to 18 December brought together federalists from Bulgaria, Austria, Greece and Slovenia to discuss the new opportunities for active involvement of the citizens in the European project. The event was opened by the UEF Vice President Philipp Agathonos. The participants received a greeting address from Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov as well. The working part started with a lecture of the Polish Ambassador Leshek Henzel who made an assessment of the Polish EU Presidency.

2 UEF Vice Presidents thrilled the audience as speakers. Philipp Agathonos made a critical analyses of the EU CFSP after Lisbon and MEP Andrey Kovatchev spoke about the increased role of the EP and its electoral reform. Read the full article...