Groep fan Auwerk ("Group of

Aurich Aurich (; East Frisian Low Saxon: ''Auerk'', West Frisian: ''Auwerk'', stq, Aurk) is a town in the East Frisian region of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Aurich and is the second largest City in East Frisia, both i ...

") is a political activism organization that advocates for an independent Frisian state (Frisia). The group is active in politics and promotes a stronger Frisian identity.

History

Groep fan Auwerk was founded in 2003 and organized its platform. In 2005 they made an application for the Frisian nationality to be recognized to the provincial house of parliament in

Leeuwarden Leeuwarden (; fy, Ljouwert, longname=yes /; Stadsfries dialects, Town Frisian: ''Liwwadden''; Leeuwarder dialect: ''Leewarden'') is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in Fri ...

and ultimately the Frisian nationality was accepted by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

. After that they made a "FRL" (Friesland) license plate sticker to replace the official "NL" (Netherlands). On 23 September 2006, Groep fan Auwerk presented a proposal for an Inter-Frisian flag, intended to represent all Frisian regions, but was rejected by the

Interfrisian Council The Interfrisian Council is a geopolitical organization that represents the common interests of the Frisians. The organization consists of three regional councils or "sections": North Frisia, East Frisia and West Frisia. Every three years, the ...

in June 2007. However, the Council adopted the idea of a common flag. The flag of the Groep fan Auwerk previously advised, particularly in East Frisia under criticism because it had been prepared by the group in secret and then propagated massively. In September 2008, Groep fan Auwerk replaced a number of traffic signs with Frisian-language versions. On 25 September 2009, Groep fan Auwerk, in cooperation with (Free Frisian Foundation) removed the Dutch versions in Wymbritseradiel. The municipality had already decided that the signs should be in Frisian but the activists did not feel that had effected the change quickly enough.

References

{{reflist Politics of Friesland Organizations established in 2003

History

See also

References