The topic of the yearly seminar was “the more I see you - the added value of minorities” referring to a competence analysis commissioned by the Schleswig-Holstein State parliament.

The competence analysis should serve as an instrument for the development of the multilingual region and also convince other regions to investigate the added value of multilingualism. YEN and Junge Spitzen also brought attention by issuing a resolution calling for a European study on the added value of minorities. EFAy welcomes this initiative and like to state that it is of importance for every European citizen to understand the “added value of minorities”. Minorities provide Europe with unique competences concerning multilingualism, culture and democratic participation. Issuing such a study could be perceived as an acknowledgement of the added value of minorities in states across Europe.

Later, during the seminar all delegates were involved in a simulation, in which they had to portray different fictional minorities, which came to a climax in an enacted hearing in the European Parliament.

The EFAy was invited to hold a presentation on youth politics in the European Union. Vice-president Andreas Dahlén held the presentation on Saturday 10th during the general assembly of YEN.

The EFAy is grateful for the opportunity to take part in this years YEN seminar and look forward to further co-operation with the youth organisation.

The whole speech as presented during the YEN general assembly can be found here.

Link:

http://www.gravenstein2008.dk/

The EFAy have written to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso to ask the Commission to undertake an investigation into the safely and human right implications of using the controversial Mosquito ‘anti youth’ device.

The Mosquito device emits an uncomfortable high frequency sound that only youths can hear and is designed to disperse young people away from public areas where they are deemed to be causing a nuisance. Although the device has been pioneered and already used widely in the UK, there have been reports that the Mosquito is now also being used on mainland Europe. A court in Brittany recently banned the use of the device in one instance and said that is was causing discomfort to the public in the village. However, to date, the European Commission and other European state Governments have refused to ban the device.

The Young Scots for Independence called for a ban of the device last year and this year the Scottish Nationalist Party adopted their position after their Spring Conference. Bethan Jenkins (Plaid Cymru Welsh Assembly Member and former youth leader of Cymru X), has also suggested that Plaid is not in favour of the device.

The full text of the EFAy letter can be found here.

A new Bureau of Gazte Abertzaleak (GA) was elected this weekend (10th to 11th May 2008), at the organisation’s Annual General Assembly, including a new President.

The Assembly in Bilbo/Bilbao elected Alain Zamorano Barrenetxea as its new Secretary General, who took over from Harkaitz Millan. Zamorano promised to lead a new reinvigoragted Gazte and expressed his committment to the organisation and its activisits. A group of nine representatives were elected to the Gazte Bureau, including Lander de Bilbao − former EFAy President − who will be responsible for international relations.

Gazte have played an influencial role in the EFAy in the past, with one of its previous members being the first President of the EFAy in 2000. EFAy President, Rhisiart Tal−e−bot, attended the Assembly on behalf of the EFAy. In his address he reminded delegates that Gazte have traditionally played a leading role in the EFAy and that it was important for the work of both organisations that this strong link continues.

Gazte Abertzaleak

Jeunes l'Union Démocratique Bretonne (UDB youth) activist and EFAy Bureau member, Gael Briand, took part in the first French Parliamentary debate yesterday about the ‘regional’ languages spoken within the French state, via a live webcam link.

Gael Briand was invited by an employee of the LCB Assemblée Nationale TV channel to take part in the debate and contacted Gael after viewing his blog site, which he said was interesting. In addition to speaking about the situation of the Breton language, Gael also spoke about the important role of the European Free Alliance and ‘open nationalism’ in a Europe of the peoples.

Gael’s review of his intervention in the debate can be found on his blog by following the link below:

Gael’s LCP blog review

LCB Assemblée Nationale

It was offially announced at the EFAy General Assembly that the EFAy Coordinator, Eva Bidania, would be finishing her contract with the EFAy at the end of April 2008.

Eva will however be staying in contact with the EFAy − and even working in the same office − after she was offered the job of policy advisor with the EFA where she will be taking over from Jordi Perales.

Eva started working as the EFAy Coordinator after the 2005 EFAy General Assembly in Rennes, Brittany where she was formally voted into the position. However after working three years for the EFAy, she said that she was now looking for a new challenge. Rhisiart Tal−e−bot, President of the EFAy, said:

“We will certianly be sorry to see Eva leave the EFAy. Over the past three years she has proved herself invaluable to the smoothe functioning of the organisation and a pillar of strength to Bureau Members.

We wish her good luck in her new job and look forward to working alongside her in her new role.”

The EFAy are now waiting to hear if they will receive funding from the European Commission for a new Coordinator position.

The Bureau of the EFAy has written to the South West Regional Assembly (SWRA) in England to comment on a draft strategy document that has been produced by its regional cultural consortium.

The document ‘A better Place to Be’ aims to provide a background to a new cultural infastucture strategy for the South West of England and is the latest publication in a series of documents that have focused on culture. ‘A Better Place to Be’seeks to make decisions about the culture of Cornwall by placing the country firmly within the artifical cultural confines of the South West of England, which was created by the Westminster Government in 1999. Culture South West (CSW) is the name given to the SWRA’s cultural consortium that plans to take the project forward.

The issue of the draft strategy was raised and discussed at the EFAy’s Bureau Meeting on 10th April 2008 in Palma de Mallorca, Mallorca, where Bureau members were informed about the proposed document by EFAy President Rhisiart Tal−e−bot. The full text of the EFAy letter sent to CSW can be found below:

30/04/08

Dear Culture South West

Consultation of regional cultural strategy: A Better Place to Be

At the last Bureau meeting of the European Free Alliance Youth (EFAy) in Palma de Mallorca, Mallorca on April 9th 2008, members discussed the draft Culture South West document ‘A Better Place to Be’.

The document was brought to the attention of the EFAy by Kernow X, one of our members in Cornwall. The EFAy is a European political youth organisation and campaigns on a broad range of issues, with particular attention to language, culture, identity, social justice and the environment.

After considerable debate, the EFAy Bureau concluded that ‘A Better Place to Be’ did not adequately respect the territorial integrity of Cornwall or its culture and language. The following points were raised by members in relation to the document:

1. That the draft should be thoroughly revised to include a section given over entirely to Cornwall − if Cornwall should be included in this document at all.
2. The EFAy would prefer to see a separate culture document for Cornwall.
3. The Cornish language is not given the promoinence in the document that it deserves. Cornish is after all the only national minority language within the boundaries of your south west region and as you will be aware should be protected and promoted under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
4. The EFAy is concerned that the information included in the document relating to Cornwall was compiled in an amateur way, by persons will little knowledge or understanding of Cornish culture and/or identity. We would therefore recommend that Culture South West contact the Institute of Cornish Studies.
5. The special constitutional position of Cornwall as a Duchy is not referenced at all in the document and neither is Cornwall’s particular legal and cultural rights in relation to this status.
6. Cornish youth culture needs to be given prominence in the final document.

We hope that our suggestions are useful in producing a more reliable document that takes into consideration the unique culture of Cornwall. The EFAy believe that it is important for matters relating to Cornish culture should be discussed and decided upon at a Cornish regional level and not taken out of context and amalgamated into other significantly more prominent cultures such England.

Yours sincerely

EFAy Bureau
European Free Alliance Youth (EFAy)

Macedonian and Turkish minorities unrecognised and ignored in Greece

On Thursday 17April 2008 an international panel discussion was held in the European Parliament on the Ignored Minorities of Greece: Western Thrace Turks and Macedonians. The conference was very well attended and received much publicity in the press in the days leading up to the event.

The conference was chaired by Hans Heinrich Hansen, the President of the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN). After opening speeches from Nelly Maes, the President of the European Free Alliance - European Political Party, Halit Habipoglou, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) and Petros Kazias, a member of the Central Council of EFA-Rainbow the following presentations were made:

Kinga Gál, MEP, the Vice Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Human Rights spoke about the protection of minorities in Europe.

Asst. Prof. Dr. Halim Cavusoglu made a speech on the Western Thrace Turkish Minority and the Victims of Article 19 of the Greek Citizenship Code.

Petros Kazias of the European Free Alliance – Rainbow made a presentation on the ethnic Macedonian minority of Greece.

A statement from Lazslo Tökes MEP was read out in which he offered to mediate between representatives of the two minority groups and the Greek government.

Next, Panayote Dimitras of the Greek Helsinki Monitor spoke on the tolerance of intolerance of minorities in Greece.

The final presentation was made by Boriss Cilevičs who spoke on Council of Europe standards and minorities in Greece.

The presentations were followed by a interesting discussion in which a range of views were expressed. EFA-Rainbow regrets that some present wanted to manipulate the event for their own political purposes.

The EFA-Rainbow was pleased that the event was attended by a number of MEPs and also by a representative of the Permanent Representation of Greece to the European Union. In this connection, EFA-Rainbow again call upon the Greek governemnt to begin a dialogue between representatives of the Macedonian and Turkish minorities to discuss all unresolved issues.

The closing remarks of the conference were made by Mikel Irujo Amezaga MEP of the Greens/EFA Group. The EFA-Rainbow would like to thank Mr Amezaga and his staff for all their hard work in organising the conference.

The Press Office
EFA – Rainbow

The attached poster came from Joves d'Esquerra Nacionalista (JEN) and was used to celebrate and advertise the holding of the EFAy General Assembly in Palma de Mallorca in April 2008.

The slogan ‘Hello EFAy, Goodbye Spain’ was adapted from the slogan of the original poster ‘Hello Europe, Goodbye Spain’, which was used for the 2004 European elections by the Coalition GALEUSCA, of which Jen took part. The original idea however came from another group again.

The poster was designed by professional designers, some of whom are also members of JEN.

Thanks to Lucy Collyer of JEN for providing us with it – I am sure it will inspire some of our other members!

The Youth of Breton's Democratic Union is proud to present you with their new logo. Something you have already seen? Normal. It's a mix between the BDU's logo and the EFA Youth's (EFAy), of which we are a member. Ermines have been put in place of the Stars of the logo to emphasize breton culture as a component of cultural diversity in Europa.

Un arouez nevez evit tud yaouank an UDB

Laouen eo re yaouank an UDB da ginnig deoc'h o arouez nevez...gwelet c'hoazh en tu bennaket, a soñj deoc'h ? Normal eo : ur meskaj deus arouez an UDB hag arouez re yaouank an ALE (EFA youth), kar ezel eo an UDB d'al luskad-mañ. An erminiged 'neunt kemeret plas stered an ALE evit diskwel eo sevenadur hor bro ul lodenn a-bouez deus Europa, pinvik-mor a-drugarez d'ar sevenadurioù liesseurt a gaver enni.

Un nouveau logo pour les Jeunes de l'UDB

Les Jeunes de l'Union démocratique bretonne sont heureux de vous présenter leur nouveau logo. Une impression de déjà vu ? Normal, il est une fusion du logo de l'UDB avec celui des jeunes de l'Alliance libre européenne (EFA youth) dont sont membres les jeunes de l'UDB.

Les étoiles du logo de l'EFAy remplacées par des hermines pour mettre en exergue l’identité bretonne comme composante de la diversité culturelle en Europe.

Gwendal Rioual

Responsable des Jeunes de l’UDB

Gael Briand

Membre du Bureau de l’ALE jeunes

At the 8th General Assembly of the EFAy on 12th April 2008 in Palma de Mallorca, the following resolutions were passed:

• Resolution on Palestine and Israel

• Resolution on the situation in Tibet

• Resolution on Kosova

• Resolution on Carinthian Slovenians

• Resolution on European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages

• Resolution on GMO Free Areas

• Resolution on new Focus for EFAy

The first four resolutions passed were joint resolutions with the EFA.

The EFAy will now begin the process of following up these resolutions and would like to urge its members and supporters to do the same. Resolution follow ups will be posted under each link as they occur.

Could all those organisations who do act on the motions, please inform the EFAy Coordinator (coordinator@efay.eu) and EFAy President (rhisiart.talebot@efay.eu).