- Press releases - Twelve of the representatives who were elected at the FUEN Assembly of Delegates in Brixen in June had a meeting in the European Parliament in Brussels on 25 September 2013.
The complete FUEN Presidium, except for Martha Stocker who is running an election campaign in South Tyrol at the moment, came to Brussels. Also the European Dialogue Forum, which is coordinating cooperation between FUEN and the European Parliament, was also complete, except for one of its members.
The core topic of the discussion was the rejection of our European citizens’ initiative by the European Commission. “Our spirit is unbroken. We are overwhelmed with the solidarity and support that we receive from everywhere. That feels good and confirms our conviction that we must and will continue”, said FUEN President Hans Hansen Heinrich once the meeting was over.
During the meeting the FUEN Presidium prepared a “Joint Declaration”, which lays down a way to proceed in relation to our rejected European citizens’ initiative. The declaration was adopted on the following day – on 26 September 2013 – during the “open discussion” of FUEN in the European Parliament.
At their first meeting, the European Dialogue Forum agreed on their main areas of work and they elected Jens A. Christiansen as their speaker. They want to reinforce the dialogue with the European Parliament and taking the European citizens’ initiative as a starting point, they want to engage with all the Members of Parliament – not only with the Intergroup. The upcoming elections of the European Parliament and the networks with the national parliaments should be used actively, in order to strengthen the influence of the minorities.
Members of the FUEN Presidium:
Hans Heinrich Hansen, Dieter Paul Küssner, Loránt Vincze, Olga Martens, Halit Habipoglu, Bernhard Ziesch, Martha Stocker
Members of the European Dialogue Forum:
Jens A. Christiansen, Hans Heinrich Hansen, Bernard Gaida, Herbert Heuss, David Statnik, Nanti Olip, Gabriela Novak-Karall, Koloman Brenner