A pro democracy and independence rally took place in Iruna/Pamplona yesterday (02/12/07) following the arrest of 46 people, many from left wing political and social youth organisations.

The arrests followed a Spanish High Court decision to issue the arrest warrants for members of Basque groups Ekin, Orain, Xaki and Fundación Joxemi Zumalabe, who are suspected of having links with the Basque terrorist organisation ETA. The people have been arrested and convicted by the judges, although the verdicts will not be read out until after December 10 th. It is believed that some of those who have had arrest warrants issued against them have not been arrested yet or named for fear that they will leave the state of Spain.

Those defendants, who believe they will be arrested soon, urged Basque citizens to rally in Bilbao today (03/12/07), in a protest which saw thousands of demonstrators taking to the streets in the city centre, under the slogan "For the rights of the Basque Country. Freedom for all the political options."

The EFAy have always maintained that for peace in the Basque Country to come about, all parties should be included in the discussion. Banning groups and arresting their members can only bring about a feeling of mistrust in the democratic process.

At the Scottish Nationalist Party's (SNP) 73rd annual conference at the Macdonald Aviemore Highland Resort, between Friday 26th to Sunday 28th October, the Young Scots for Independence (YSI) resolution was unanimously supported by SNP delegates.

The resolution read:
"Conference re-affirms the party's long standing support for reducing the voting age to 16 years old, an age where a young adult can get married, form a civil partnership, have children, pay tax, join the armed forces and much more but cannot vote.

Conference calls on the Westminster Parliament to remove this reserved power from the Scotland Act to allow the Scottish Government full control over voting rights in Scottish local government elections."

The motion follows a ruling by the Austrian state Governments' Council of Ministers earlier this year to lower the voting age to 16 years – a decision that was supported by the EFAy. Speaking at the time, EFAy Bureau Member and representative of Junge Sudtiroler Freiheit (from Sud Tirol), Reinhild Campidell commented:

"It is only fair to give young people the right to vote. At 16, they are old enough to take responsibility for their home and future, if that decision is given to them. Young people must be given the opportunity to tackle politics earlier and in doing so politics will become more interesting and more concerned with youth issues.

Lowering the voting age guarantees that an interest in the youth and young people will be strengthened."

Click here to see the video from YSI National Organiser David Linden, who presented the resolution at Conference

Click in the following link to access the European News Flash News (EFAY Newsletter): Newsletter 10

The President of the EFAy, Rhisiart Tal-e-bot, was invited to speak at an annual event organised by EFAy members Joves d'Esquerra Nacionalista ( www.jen.cat ) on Saturday 17th November 2007.

The Escola Tardor Jaume Serra event is organised by JEN every Autumn and guests are invited to speak on different topics. This year Rhisiart was invited to speak about "A Europe of the Free Peoples" and the position of the EFAy.

Other topics that were discussed included group psychology, ecological agriculture and the situation of the Catalan culture and language, with experts from these fields invited along to speak. The two day event was also an opportunity for members of JEN to come together socially for a fun and educational experience. Each year the school is held in a different venue and this year it was held near Caretara de Santa Maria, to the north of Palma de Mallorca.

Speaking at the event, Rhisiart said:
"The EFAy is important, because it gives young people a channel in which to express themselves politically... The EFAy, as a political community of young Europeans, aims to represent the interests of those who believe that the 'march of a nation' towards greater autonomy, self government or even independence should not have its boundaries. EFAy members represent the future of Europe and one day I hope that we will look back and not only feel proud of what has been achieved, but that we were also part of it".

Following a racist and xenophobic attack on a young Ecuadorian woman on the underground in Barcelona on October 7 th, where the perpetrator was released without bail, a series of protests took place throughout the state of Spain this weekend, with the clear message 'Everyone Against Racism'.

The case received world wide media attention, because the whole incident was recorded on closed circuit television showing a man verbally and physically abusing a woman. Particularly disturbing was the sight of another man in the carriage, while the attack was taking place, doing nothing to help the victim.

The event was so well publicised via the internet that the Foreign Minister of Ecuador, Maria Fernanda Espinosa, made a complaint to the Prime Minister of Spain, Zapatero, who later condemned the assault.

Protests took place throughout the state of Spain, including in Iruña/Pamplona where the President of the EFAy, Rhisiart Tal-e-bot, attended the demonstration to show his support.

In a statement to EFAy Bureau Members Rhisiart Tal-e-bot said:

"The EFAy condemns this despicable racist assault on a member of the public and racism and xenophobia per se. I hope the apparent agreement made between the Ecuadorian and Spanish Governments to deal harshly with future racist or xenophobic attacks will be strictly adhered to. However, this incident highlights the need for tougher legislation against racism."

Independence for the Basque Country was the slogan being shouted by thousands of people in Iruna/Pamplona today as Spain celebrated Dia de la Hispanidad/Hispanity Day (known as well as "Columbus Day")and Armed Forces Day.

In the Basque Country and Catalunya today, a public holiday throughout the whole of the state of Spain, is widely regarded as an Spanish ultra nationalist festival and many basques do not regard it as a holiday at all. Rhisiart Tal-e-bot, President of the EFAy, witnessed the demonstration in Iruna/Pamplona:

"There was occasionally a tense atmosphere, as many of the protesters booed the police who marched alongside the crowd, but on the whole people were in good spirits. There were people of all ages among the protesters. Nevertheless the police were out in droves and carried guns at the ready".

The protest, organized by the Eusko Abertzale Ekintza - Acción Nacionalista Vasca (EAE-ANV) (Basque Nationalist Action) political party called for the independence of the Basque Country and the release of leading members of the illegal Batasuna party who were arrested last week. Protests were also held in Donostia/San Sebastian.

The EFAy has received a response from the European Energy Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, to their letter on the banning of incandescent light bulbs throughout Europe.

Last July the EFAy wrote to the Commissioner asking him to support the agreement made by the EU in March this year for a blanket ban on incandescent bulbs throughout the bloc. The EFAy also raised the point that the suggested 2015 deadline for a ban was too far away and that a shorter deadline was needed if Carbon Dioxide emissions were to be substantially reduced.

Commissioner Andris Piebalgs stated that "consultants carrying out the preparatory study on domestic lighting have just started their work, which can be followed up on their website www.eup4light.net." The Commissioner also highlighted that the study will examine the "entire life cycle of lamps through all their significant environmental aspects", including, as the EFAy were happy to hear, the "mercury content at the end of life".

The full text of Commissioner Piebalgs letter can be found below:
Dear Mr Tal-e-bot

Member of the European Commission

From Monday to Wednesday the yearly event organised by R&PS and coorganised by EFA and EFAY took place in Carmaux, an occitan region of an extraordinary exultant nature.

Around 130 persons participated in the event. EFA and EFAY had their turn on Tuesday morning. In a room full of people, Nelly Maes, EFA's president; Jordi Perales, EFA's political advisor; Mikel Irujo, EFA's MEP; and Michael Schulz, EFAY's Bureau member, took the floor.

They all explained EFA's policy regarding different issues:
1.- The role of the intermediate structures in the EU: regional governments, CoR, etc.
2.- How are the interests of these intermediate structures represented at the European scale.
3.- EU's internal enlargement and the speciphic EFA position on it.
4.- Michael, EFAYs representative in the Summer University, pointed out the importance of the autonomy for the regions, the right of the people to decide their future themselves, as well as the huge relevance of the european integration in a Europe that respects all the citizens and gives solutions to their needs according to their individual and collective rights.

A very interesting debate begun after their intervention with questions and absolutely pertinent comments on the issues explained before. The good environment among the participants facilitated the easy feed back of information and knowledge.

A group of around 15 youngsters from different political parties (UDB and Póc) were there too, and this event helped us all to strengthen the relationship between these organisations and EFAY.

After lunch a visit to the incredible beautiful cities of Cordes sur Ciel and Albi was organised and we finised the day with a delicious occitan dinner in the middle of the woods.

Congratulations R&PS!!
Carmaux, 27-29th August.

07/19/07
The EFAy has written to Europe’s Energy Commissioner to urge him to endorse the agreement made by EU Governments in March this year to impose a blanket ban on incandescent bulbs throughout the bloc and to draw up proposals to phase them out of use at the earliest opportunity.

In addition, the EFAy call on the Commission to impose a shorter time frame for the ban than the one proposed by European Lamp Companies Federation (ELC) in an attempt to reduce carbon dioxide emissions further. The use of energy saving light bulbs, as opposed to the inefficient incandescent type, could substantially reduce emissions when it is considered that lighting accounts for a vast proportion of the EU energy consumption.

However, the energy efficient light bulbs already widely in use, are not devoid of their own environmental drawbacks either. One of the components used in the bulbs is mercury and the future safe disposal of them has raised concerns in the Commission. However, the EFAy believe that at this stage the general use of the more ecological bulbs far outweighs the environmental cost of using the incandescent ones.

The full text of the letter sent to the Energy Commission is set out below:

Dear Commissioner Andris Piebalgs

Ban on incandescent light bulbs

The European Free Alliance Youth (EFAy) welcomes the recent moves by the European Parliament to advocate an EU wide ban on the use of the incandescent light bulb and its replacement with energy efficient alternatives.

We now call on the European Commission to endorse the agreement made by EU Governments in March this year to impose a blanket ban on incandescent bulbs throughout the bloc and to draw up proposals to phase them out of use at the earliest opportunity. Rather than the 2015 deadline that the European Lamp Companies Federation (ELC) proposes, we believe that a shorter time frame is possible and necessary, if Carbon Dioxide emissions are to be reduced substantially.

As you will be aware Australia plan to switch to energy efficient light bulbs by 2010 and will be followed by Canada soon after. The EU also needs to impose tough legislation on the use of incandescents, considering the huge percentage of all electricity consumption that lighting accounts for in the EU. Therefore we believe that a ban on the use of incandescent light bulbs by 2010 is not unrealistic, if the Commission acts quickly enough and promotes the use of more eco-friendly bulbs through an effective marketing campaign.

Through our own organisations, we are aware that young people are enthusiastic about the idea of promoting energy efficiency, if quality of life can be maintained and the environment stands to be protected for the future. Using more energy efficient bulbs would have very little impact on the daily lives of the peoples of the EU, but would have a huge energy and environmental saving in the long term.

We would be very interested to hear your own views on this matter and look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely

EFAy Bureau

07/17/07
A common question in the Alandish secession debate has been if an independent Aland would be able to sustain a Scandinavian welfare model. The question is also present in the ongoing debate on the transfer of taxationkompetence to local government. In the framework for autonomy the latter question has been endorsed by all political parties in Åland.

Last week, Alands Framtid issued a report on the budget of an independent Aland. The report is based upon a precautionary approach, as it aims to create a debate based upon facts and figures. It aims to serve as a platform for further discussion concerning Finnish dependency.

The presented report doesn't include budget optimizing functions that are available in independent states, but it does show that independence would certainly have a beneficiary impact on the local economy. Today, the division of competence has created a lack of transparency A transfer of tax competence would, according to the authors, ultimately provide new possibilities concerning core mechanisms of the local economy. However this will also incur new responsibilities for the elected officials. A separate Alandsish economy would be a significant tool to consolidate and develop important functions such as environment, structure and social welfare. It would ensure stability in economic growth in accordance with the Scandinavian model.

Finally the report shows that the final cost of independence would be 53 million Euros. However the total amount of revenues would increase from the current 293 million Euros to 333 million Euros. For further information please read:

http://www.alandsframtid.nu/images/stories/dokument/statsbudget_aland_2007.pdf
(only available in Swedish)

Andreas Dahlén