|F.A.E.F. (Federal Alliance of European Federalists)

Friday, September 21st, in Milan, the conference ‘Democracy and federalism – federate the federalists’ took place in the room of the Council of the Città Metropolitana di Milano in Palazzo Isimbardi. The conference has been co-organised by Città Metropolitana and F.A.E.F, Federal Alliance of European Federalists. 

The Milan institutions were represented by the Vice-major Arianna Censi of Milan, the Director General of the Città Metropolitana Antonio Sebastiano Purcaro and Carmine Pacente, Member of the municipal Council and Head of the European Affairs Commission. An important part of the main European movements and organisations joined the conference: Movimento Federalista Europeo, Gioventù federalista Europea, Giovani Democratici, +Europa, Futuredem, Diem25, Comitato Ventotene. They discussed the urgent need of a more united, strong and sympathetic Europe and of a mutual cooperation between all pro-European and federalist movements, considering the seriousness of the crisis in the EU and the threat for dis-integration of the continental unity.

The conference had the privilege to count on two of the main experts of federalism: Leo Klinkers from Netherlands, co-author of the European Federalist Papers and member of the promoting committee of F.A.E.F. and professor Andrea Bosco, University of Florence.

On behalf of F.A.E.F. were also the speeches of Peter Hovens, from the Netherlands, Michel Caillouët and Catherine Guibourg from France and Lorenzo Sparviero from Milan, co-founder of F.A.E.F. and, together with the Council member Pacente, creator of the event. 

Directly from Rome, Roberto Sommella, journalist and writer, founder of La Nuova Europa and expert of economics and European affairs, was involved via videoconference.

F.A.E.F. is an organisation born in Milan in 2018 in occasion of the signature of the common declaration of the movements in favour of the creation of a Federal Europe, that has the objective to act as a real federation of all the movements, parties, associations and organisations that think that Europa must become more united and concrete, finally becoming a federation. 

The members of the promoting committee of F.A.E.F. had remembered that a federation is not a super-state but, on the contrary – just refer to the federation of the United States of America – a political union of different states that remain sovereign and that only confer to the central federal state the powers that are related to the care of the common interests that every single state cannot take care individually, for instance: currency and economic development policies, environmental policies, security, crime and international terrorism prevention policies, common defence, migration and external borders control. 

In order to transform into reality the European federalism, F.A.E.F. proposes, through a federation of the pro-European and federalist movements and organisations, the promotion of a federal constitution built through a bottom-up process, involving the citizens, who must receive adequate information and explanation about the federal project and the need to overcome the actual wasteful intergovernmental system. The citizens must be the actors of this process and must have the final decision on it. 

On Italian TV: http://www.brianzanews.it/2018/09/faef-la-nuova-europa-nasce-a-palazzo-isimbardi/

F.A.E.F. Promoting Committee – Michel Caillouët, Catherine Guibourg, Lorenzo Sparviero, Leo Klinkers, Mauro Casarotto, Peter Hovens.