Europe–Democracy–Esperanto (EDE, E–D–E, or E° D° E°;

Esperanto Esperanto (, ) is the world's most widely spoken Constructed language, constructed international auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 to be 'the International Language' (), it is intended to be a universal second language for ...

: ''Eŭropo–Demokratio–Esperanto'') is a pro-

European political alliance regularly participating in

European elections Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Until 2019, 751 ...

. The party's main platform is the introduction of Esperanto as the official language of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

(EU) in order to make international communication more efficient and fair in economical and philosophical terms, based on the conclusions of a report by

François Grin François Grin (born 14 September 1959) is a Swiss people, Swiss economist. One of his research fields is the economics of language. Grin studied economics at the University of Geneva, where he obtained a doctorate summa cum laude in 1989. He the ...

. As Europe–Démocratie–Espéranto, the party first took part in an election in the

2004 European Parliament election The 2004 European Parliament election was held between 10 and 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. The European Parliamental parties could not be voted for, but elect ...

, in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Its German branch, Europa–Demokratie–Esperanto, failed to gather the 4000 signatures necessary to participate in the elections in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The list's main goal is the promotion of Esperanto in the EU. In the medium term, it wants Esperanto taught in schools Europe-wide, and in the long term, it wants the EU to adopt Esperanto as its

official language An official language is defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as, "the language or one of the languages that is accepted by a country's government, is taught in schools, used in the courts of law, etc." Depending on the decree, establishmen ...

. In order to make this goal a reality, the EDE is striving to have list candidates in each country in the EU for the

2009 European Parliament election The 2009 European Parliament election was held in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Member of the European Parliament, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent s ...

. Until now the organisation has only had branch offices in France and Germany.

Debate within Esperanto movement

While most Esperanto institutions such as Universala Esperanto-Asocio are by statute and in practice politically neutral, some discussion about the neutrality of EDE Politika agado por Esperanto
/ref> has arisen. Specifically, there is concern over what other policies might through EDE be linked with Esperanto other than the advancement of Esperanto itself. German Esperanto writer Ulrich Matthias argues that in gaining broad support in Germany at least, EDE would be best served to identify with centrist positions advancing

humanism Humanism is a philosophy, philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and Agency (philosophy), agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The me ...

peace Peace is a state of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence, and everything that discusses achieving human welfare through justice and peaceful conditions. In a societal sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (suc ...

and

environmentalism Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecolog ...

, as well as opposing "U.S. hegemony" and

linguistic imperialism Linguistic imperialism or language imperialism is occasionally defined as "the transfer of a dominant language to other people". Such language "transfer" (or rather unilateral imposition) comes about because of imperialism. The transfer is cons ...

in the correct fashion. Because Esperanto is considered by many Esperanto speakers to be a worldwide movement, some fear that advancing the cause of Esperanto within the EU could cast the language as a European issue and hamper the progress of the language outside of Europe.

Elections

2004 European Parliament election

The party did not set out to have a referendum on languages — instead, the EDE tries to set up Esperanto as an alternative to the twenty different official languages of the European Union, which leads enormous expenses. The 2004 parliamentary election broke records for the number of parties participating, and the EDE became something of a

poster child A poster child (sometimes poster boy or poster girl) is, according to the original meaning of the term, a child afflicted by some disease or deformity whose picture is used on posters or other media as part of a campaign to raise money or enlis ...

for protest parties, being picked out by national papers as an example of the ridiculous. It was described by '' Les Échos'' as one of several "crazy, anti-this or pro-that parties" running in the election. However, because it was on the ballot in the vast majority of districts, it was one of the dozen parties selected by ''Les Échos'' to have its party platform published. The EDE had lists in seven of France's eight electoral regions and received around 0.15% of the vote in the European Election on 13 June 2004.

2009 European Parliament election

2014 European Parliament election

In 2014, EDE received 33,609 votes in France, or 0.18% of the votes.

2019 European Parliament election

In 2019, EDE received 18,587 votes in France, or 0.08% of the votes.

2024 European Parliament election

In 2024, EDE received 10,634 votes in France, or 0.04% of the votes.

Platform

The party aims to promote "true European international democracy." The four principles laid out on the party's website include: * The first criterion for democracy is the right to express oneself. * Democracy guarantees and distributes means for peaceful and constructive debates. * Democracy also guarantees respect for minorities. * Respect for human rights.

Notes

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Europe - Democracy - Esperanto Political parties established in 2003 European political alliances Esperanto organizations Language policy of the European Union