Ideology
In the Brussels Declaration of 2000 the EFA codified its political principles. The EFA stands for "a Europe of Free Peoples based on the principle of subsidiarity, which believe in solidarity with each other and the peoples of the world."
The EFA sees itself as an alliance of stateless peoples, which are striving towards independence, autonomy, recognition or that want a proper voice in Europe. It supports European integration on basis of the subsidiarity-principle. It believes however that Europe should move away from further centralisation. It works towards the formation of a Europe of Regions. It believes that regions should have more power in Europe, for instance participate in the Council of the European Union, when matters within their competence are discussed. It also wants to protect the linguistic and cultural diversity within the European Union.
The EFA stands on the left of the political spectrum, and in the Brussels declaration it emphasises the protection of human rights, sustainable development and social justice. In 2007 the EFA congress in Bilbao added several progressive principles to the declaration: including a commitment to fight against racism, antisemitism, discrimination, xenophobia and islamophobia and a commitment to get full citizenship for migrants, including voting rights.
EFA members are generally progressive, although there are some notable exceptions such as conservative New Flemish Alliance, Bavaria Party and Future of Åland, Christian-democratic ProDG and Slovene Union, centre-right Liga Veneta Repubblica, and far-right South Tyrolean Freedom.
Read more about this topic: European Free Alliance
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