EUROPE: SNP QUERY OVER COMMISSION ATTITUDE TO EFAy

An open letter has been sent to European Commission President Mr. José Manuel Durao Barroso, by Scottish Nationalist Party MEP, Ian Hudghton, outlining what he sees to be as «an unacceptable attack [by the Commission] on our democratic political views».

The letter was sent following the discovery of comments made by a European Commission grant evaluator on a funding application from the youth group of the European Free Alliance (EFA). The EFA youth group (EFAy) is politically linked to the EFA European Parliamentary group of which Mr Hudghton is President. The hand written comments made on the application, which was subsequently rejected, argued:

«In one sense the proposal can be viewed in two ways. First, that an opportunity to bring together young people who have a range of minority languages, cultures and special positions is very much what the Youth in Action program is all about. On the other hand, there is a danger that such a focus, and particularly on the base of »regionalism« and »national identity« can potentially lead to major problems, and a potential threat to an overall European Ideal.»

The discovery of the comments on 29th April was made by a representative from the EFAy and the EFA political party during a meeting with the European Commission to assess why the application was rejected. The discovery was immediately reported to the EFA parliamentary group and on 6th May a parliamentary question was raised in Strasbourg on the matter.

Mr Hudghton, who jointly signed the letter with Basque MEP Mikel Irujo Amezaga, who is a Member of the Committee on Culture and Education at the European Parliament, threatened to take the issue to the European Court of Justice, if President Barroso did not intervene in the matter. The comments will be an embarrassment for the European Commission, which is supposed to maintain impartiality on funding applications, especially so close to the European elections.

The comments however, clearly highlight the the political prejudices that some employees of this ruling body of the European Union has towards nationalist and regionalist groups, who are able to freely draw on their judgements in the course of their work. This of course cannot be allowed, if the image and functioning of the European Union is to remain in line with its motto, «United in Diversity».

The full text of the letter is set out below.

«Mr. José Manuel Durao Barroso, President of the European Commission, Thursday, 7th of May 2009

Mr. President,

I am writing to you with reference to the external evaluation carried out by the Executive Agency for Youth in Action program 4.1 – 2009 related to DG Culture and Education; main source of financing for administrative and operational costs of European Youth NGO's.

EFAy, the youth wing of the European Free Alliance European Political Party since 2004, applied for funding in 2009 to this program, as it has done since 2006 and had received; first in 2006 just a small sum and then in 2007 and 2008 the full amount. This year, 2009, an EP election year, EFA youth has been excluded from funding completely. After discussions with the Executive Agency it has become obvious that the evaluation system carried out by new External Experts has many subjective aspects.

From our point of view, EFAy has found grounds of serious political discrimination that go against all European values of democracy and, specially, against the article 13 of ECT. The evaluator's report reads:

….In one sense the proposal can be viewed in two ways. First, that an opportunity to bring together young people who have a range of minority languages, cultures and special positions is very much what the Youth in Action program is all about. On the other hand, there is a danger that such a focus, and particularly on the base of »regionalism« and »national identity« can potentially lead to major problems, and a potential threat to an overall European Ideal.…

This is an unacceptable attack on our democratic political views that will not be taken lightly. EFA MEP's are studying this case more closely and will, if needed, take it to the European Court of Justice in order to guarantee a just and fair treatment. We count on your intervention so as not to have to take this grave situation even further.

With respect,

Ian Hudghton, President of the EFA Group in the European Parliament on behalf of EFA

Mikel Irujo Amezaga Member of the Committee on Culture and education of the EP, EFA MEP»

Links:

EFA (voir le site) EFAy (voir le site) European Commission (voir le site)

(Article compiled for Celtic News by Rhisiart Tal-e-bot)

J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League

20/05/09