The Union of European Federalists (UEF) is a European non-governmental organisation, campaigning for a

Federal Europe The United States of Europe (USE), the European State, the European Federation and Federal Europe, is the hypothetical scenario of the European integration leading to formation of a sovereign superstate (similar to the United States of Americ ...

. It consists of 20 constituent organisations and it has been active at the European, national and local levels since 1946.

History

The foundation of the UEF goes back to the Hertenstein Conference of 78 representatives of federalist movements from 16

European countries The list below includes all entities falling even partially under any of the various common definitions of Europe, geographical or political. Fifty generally recognised sovereign states, Kosovo with limited, but substantial, international reco ...

in September 1946 in Hertenstein, near

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

in Switzerland. These groups held the common belief that only a

European Federation The United States of Europe (USE), the European State, the European Federation and Federal Europe, is the hypothetical scenario of the European integration leading to formation of a sovereign superstate (similar to the United States of Amer ...

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 Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

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 The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in 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 The Treaty establishing the European Defence Community, also known as the Treaty of Paris, is an unratified treaty signed on 27 May 1952 by the Inner Six, six 'inner' countries of European integration: the Benelux countries, France, Italy, and We ...

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 Altiero Spinelli (31 August 1907 – 23 May 1986) was an Italian politician, political theorist and European federalist, referred to as one of the founding fathers of the European Union. A communist and militant anti-fascist in his youth, he spe ...

(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 European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

; 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. But once the

customs union A customs union is generally defined as a type of trade bloc which is composed of a free trade area with a common external tariff.GATTArticle 24 s. 8 (a) Customs unions are established through trade pacts where the participant countries set up ...

had been established, bringing with it the prospect of developing into an

economic An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

and

monetary union A currency union (also known as monetary union) is an intergovernmental agreement that involves two or more states sharing the same currency. These states may not necessarily have any further integration (such as an economic and monetary union, ...

, the two federalist organisations came to agree on the desirability of coming together to relaunch their political activities, built around the campaign for direct elections to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

. This strategic idea, propounded by the Italian federalists, quickly became the joint platform of all the federalist organisations that met in April 1973, thus recreating UEF. Activities of UEF included public demonstrations attracting thousands of participants. For example, the demonstration in conjunction with the

European Council The European Council (informally EUCO) is a collegiate body that defines the overall political direction and priorities of the European Union. It is composed of the heads of state or government of the EU member states, the President of the E ...

in Rome in December 1975, where it was decided that the European election would be held even without the participation of the United Kingdom and

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

(although in the end, they did take part), a demonstration with 5,000 participants in Strasbourg on 17 July 1979 in front of the seat of the

, to coincide with its first session after its election in June the demonstration coinciding with the

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau (; ) is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the ''arrondissement ...

on 25 June 1984 and the spectacular demonstration in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

– its 100,000 participants make it the biggest popular demonstration in the history of the federalist struggle – in conjunction with the European Council of 28 and 29 June 1985, where the majority decided to call an

Intergovernmental Conference {{Politics of the European Union In the politics of the European Union, an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) is the formal procedure for negotiating amendments to the EU's founding treaties. Under the treaties, an IGC is called into being by the ...

to review to Community treaties. The fall of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

, the end of the

cold war The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

and the ratification of the

Maastricht Treaty The Treaty on European Union, commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty, is the foundation treaty of the European Union (EU). Concluded in 1992 between the then-twelve member states of the European Communities, it announced "a new stage in the ...

led to the UEF campaign for European Democracy which included the desire to eliminate

border controls Border control refers to measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it a ...

between the countries of 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 des ...

, parallelism between widening and deepening, strengthening of the roles of the

and the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

, extension of

majority voting Majority rule is a principle that means the decision-making power belongs to the group that has the most members. In politics, majority rule requires the deciding vote to have majority, that is, more than half the votes. It is the binary deci ...

and the removal of governmental monopoly over the constituent function. An important part of the history of UEF was the Campaign for the Federal

European Constitution The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE; commonly referred to as the European Constitution or as the Constitutional Treaty) was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European U ...

in Nice in which 10,000 people, including hundreds of local administrators, participated.

Presidents

;Presidents of the Executive Board *

Hendrik Brugmans Hendrik Brugmans (13 December 1906 in Amsterdam – 12 March 1997 in Bruges) also known as Hendrik Bupatis was the son of historian Hajo Brugmans and Maria Keizer. He studied history of French literature at the Universiteit van Amsterdam and the ...

1947–1949 *

Henry Frenay Henri Frenay Sandoval (1905–1988) was a French military officer and French Resistance member. He was born in Lyon, France, on 11 November 1905, into a Catholic family with a military tradition. He studied the Germanic languages at the Universit ...

1950–1952 *

1955–1956 *

Grigore Gafencu Grigore Gafencu (; January 30, 1892 – January 30, 1957) was a Romanian politician, diplomat and journalist. Political career Gafencu was born in Bârlad. He studied law and received his Ph.D. in law from the University of Bucharest. During W ...

1956 * Alexandre Marc 1957 * Raymond Rifflet 1959–1964 * Mario Albertini 1966 ;Presidents (until 1966 of the "Presidents of the Central Committee") * Henri Genet 1947 *

1948–1949 * Hendrik Brugmans 1950 *

Eugen Kogon Eugen Kogon (2 February 1903 – 24 December 1987) was a historian and Nazi concentration camp survivor. A well-known Christian opponent of the Nazi Party, he was arrested more than once and spent six years at Buchenwald concentration camp. Kogon ...

1950–1952 * Henry Frenay 1955 * Grigore Gafencu 1956 *

Enzo Giacchero Enzo is an Italian given name derivative of the German name Heinz. It can be used also as the short form for Lorenzo, Vincenzo, Innocenzo, or Fiorenzo. It is most common in the Romance-speaking world, particularly in Italy and Latin America but ...

1957 * Enzo Giacchero 1959–1962 * Etienne Hirsch 1964–1972 * Etienne Hirsch – J.H.C Molenaar 1972 * Mario Albertini 1975–1982 * John Pinder 1984–1987 * Francesco Rossolillo 1989–1994 *

Jo Leinen Jo, jo, JO, or J.O. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Jo'' (film), a 1972 French comedy * ''Jo'' (TV series), a French TV series *"Jo", a song by Goldfrapp from ''Tales of Us'' *"Jo", a song by Mr. Oizo from ''Lambs Anger'' * Jo a fictio ...

1997–2004 *

Mercedes Bresso Mercedes Bresso (born 12 July 1944) is an Italian politician (Democratic Party) who served as Member of the European Parliament from 2014 until 2019. Early life and career Bresso was born in Sanremo, Province of Imperia, Liguria. In 1969, she re ...

2006–2008 *

Andrew Duff Andrew Nicholas Duff, OBE (born 25 December 1950) is a British politician who presided over the Union of European Federalists (UEF) from 2008 to 2013. A member of the Liberal Democrats, he served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for ...

2008-2013 *

Elmar Brok Elmar Peter Brok (born 14 May 1946) is a German politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1980 until 2019, who is best known for his role as chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs. He is a mem ...

2013-2018 *

Sandro Gozi Sandro Gozi () (born 25 March 1968 in Sogliano al Rubicone) is an Italian politician formerly of the Democratic Party who has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2020. He was a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies from 2006 to 201 ...

Since 2018

Secretaries General

* Raymond Silva 1947–1948 * Albert Lohest 1949–1950 *

Guglielmo Usellini Guglielmo () is the Italian form of the masculine name William. It may refer to: People with the given name Guglielmo: * Guglielmo I Gonzaga (1538–1587), Duke of Mantua and Montferrat * Guglielmo Achille Cavellini (1914–1990), influential I ...

1950–1957 * André Delmas 1959–1962 *

Orio Giarini Orio may refer to: People Notable people with this name include: Surname * Baltasar de Echave Orio (late 16th century – mid-17th century), Basque Spanish painter * Shane Orio (born 1980), Belizean football player Given name * Orio Mastropiero ( ...

1962–1967 * Ludo Dierickx 1969 * Caterina Chizzola 1972–1989 * Gérard Vissels 1992–1994 * Bruno Boissière 1997–2004 * Friedhelm Frischenschlager 2005–2006 * Joan Marc Simon 2007–2010 * Christian Wenning 2010–2014 * Paolo Vacca since 2014

Organization

UEF consists of constituent organisations that are autonomous centres of UEF activities, reaching the EU citizens and spreading the UEF message to them by organising various activities in their countries. Constituent organisations are free to take up any activities within the general political framework of UEF at the European level.

Congress

The Congress is the 'general assembly' of UEF. It meets every two years; it consists of delegates of the UEF constituent organisations. It determines the policy of UEF, elects the UEF president, modifies provisions of the Statutes and elects half of the Federal Committee members.

Federal Committee

The FC consists of members of whom 50% are elected directly by the UEF Congress and 50% by the constituent organisations. The members are elected to serve until the next UEF Congress. The FC determines the UEF political direction and activities between the Congresses. It organises the Congress, approves the annual budget and final account balances, draws up the rules of procedure of UEF, and elects the UEF Bureau and Treasurer.

Bureau

Elected by the Federal Committee for a period of two years, the Bureau carries out the decisions of and is accountable to the Federal Committee.

Conference of Representatives

It is convened upon the request of the UEF Bureau or at least two constituent organisations. The Conference gathers the representatives of the constituent organisations and of UEF supranational (namely, the President, Secretary-General and Treasurer). It presents its proposals to the Federal Committee and has an advisory and co-ordinating role. The Conference also determines the membership fee.

President

The UEF president is elected by the UEF Congress by absolute majority vote. He is also the President of the Federal Committee and of the UEF Bureau. Currently the UEF president is the Italian

Treasurer

Elected by the Federal Committee on the nomination of the Bureau, They are responsible for the management of the funds. They are accountable to the Federal Committee. The current UEF Treasurer is David Martinez Garcia.

Secretary-General

The UEF Secretary-General is responsible for running the UEF secretariat and carrying out the decisions delegated to them by the organs of UEF. They participate in the meetings of the organs of UEF without the right to vote. They are appointed by the Federal Committee on recommendation of the Bureau. Currently the UEF Secretary-General is Paolo Vacca.

Arbitration Board

Consists of seven members elected by the Congress. It ensures the application of the Statutes and serves as an arbiter in case of disputes within the organisation.

Member organisations

Europäische Föderalistische Bewegung Österreich
UEF Austria)
U.E.F. België / U.E.F. Belgique
(UEF Belgium)
U.E.F. Balgarija
UEF Bulgaria)
Unie evropských federalistů v České republice
(U.E.F. Czech Republic) *

European Federalist Movement of Cyprus European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

(UEF Cyprus) *

Europa-Union Deutschland Europa-Union Deutschland e.V. (EUD) is the German section of the Union of European Federalists (UEF). It is a non-partisan, interdenominational and independent non-governmental organization advocating federal Europe. EUD's youth organization, Ju ...

(UEF Germany)
Eurooppafederalistit
(U.E.F. Finland) *European Federalist Movement Greece (UEF Greece)
Union des fédéralistes européens
(U.E.F. France)
Európai Föderalisták Uniója
(UEF Hungary) * Movimento Federalista Europeo (UEF Italy) *Europos federalistai Lietuvoje (UEF Lithuania)
UEF Luxembourg
*UEF Crna Gora (UEF Montenegro)
UEF Portugal
UEF Portugal) *UEF Romania
Únia európskych federalistov
(UEF Slovakia)
Unión de Europeístas y Federalistas de España
(UEF Spain) * Unija evropskih federalista (UEF Serbia)
Europafederalisterna
(UEF Sweden)
Mouvement européen SuisseEuropäische Bewegung SchweizMovimento europeo Svizzera
(UEF Switzerland) *

Federal Union A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a political union, union of partially Federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central #Federal governments, federal gover ...

(UEF United Kingdom)
UEF Europe Groupe

Mission

The mission of the UEF is the following: *To raise the awareness of the public about European issues, the UEF is organising public debates, seminars, info stands, campaign and street actions on key European issues and developments. *To exercise pressure on the like-minded politicians by lobbying actions, establishing Platforms (aiming to spread the understanding of federalism) and initiating debates in the European and national parliaments. *To spread the ideas through a strong communication via press releases, the UEF website and newsletter and other policy statements to the widest European public and actors. *To cooperate with others non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and especially of the European Civil Society like the

Young European Federalists Young European Federalists (french: Jeunes Européens Fédéralistes, JEF) is a political youth organisation. Active in most European countries, it seeks to promote European integration through the strengthening and democratisation of the Euro ...

(JEF) and the

European Movement The European Movement International is a lobbying association that coordinates the efforts of associations and national councils with the goal of promoting European integration, and disseminating information about it. History The origins of the ...

and finally to put pressure on politicians by organising public manifestations.

External links

*
UEF Belgique

Archives
of the Union of European Federalists at th
Historical Archives of EU
in Florence
Movimento Federalista Europeo

Europa-Union Deutschland

The Federalist Debate

The Federalist·Le Fédéraliste·Il Federalista
{{Authority control Eurofederalism Organizations related to the European Union Organisations based in Brussels Political theories World federalist movement member organizations