Europe – Democracy – Esperanto

Europe - Democracy - Esperanto (Brief description: EDE ), in Esperanto EUROPOLAR - Demokratio - Esperanto is a European political movement, which advocates using the constructed language Esperanto for improving understanding and strengthening of democracy in Europe. The French EDE National Association participated in the 2004 European elections, the German association made with the status of "other political association " at the 2009 European election in part.

Substantive Profile

EDE is committed to understanding, peace and justice. People should treat each other with respect on all sides and come in a free, equal and open dialogue. To promote this dialogue across borders, Esperanto should be distributed as a neutral and easy -to-learn lingua franca. EDE designation refers to the fact that Esperanto is already being used by people all over the world actively for international communication. One would like to " work for small purposeful steps that contribute to the popularization of Esperanto, so it then spread because of the ever increasing practical value by itself on." In the long term Esperanto to become the first foreign language. The native languages ​​, national, regional and minority languages ​​are in no way a repressed but be strengthened and preserved.

EDE supports the process of European integration and advocated the European Union. Emphasizes the German EDE National Association, that the Treaty of Lisbon " in the right direction " has, at various points, however, further discussion is needed. For this purpose, it also presents the idea of ​​debate, that EU citizens decide by referendum whether to accept the contract. The French EDE - state association is the Lisbon Treaty rather critical and calls for a chosen specifically for this purpose by the People's Assembly to draft a new EU Constitution, the EU citizens to vote via referenda on the.

For topics not directly related to the languages ​​or European policy, EDE is expressed more cautious. Both in Germany and in France EDE emphasizes the importance of ecology and sustainability. The German EDE - country association takes a position on issues such as economic, financial, labor, social and health policy; these however are deliberately kept general. Generally EDE emphasizes that one feels the humanistic ideas of the author of the language Esperanto, Zamenhof obligation and is based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights of the Catalan NGO CIEMEN.

Structure

EDE was founded initially on 21 October 2003 in Strasbourg as an umbrella organization at European level ( EDE Federation). That same year, a national association in France was established with its headquarters in Paris to life, which is organized there as a political party. There are also some regional EDE associations in France.

The establishment of the German national association " Europe - Democracy - Esperanto eV" took place on 1 February 2004 in Emden. On 5 July 2008, the Association was re-established in Wiesbaden to participate as " other political association " at the 2009 European election. Wiesbaden was doing also the seat of the association. Participation in parliamentary or state elections has not yet been scheduled, so that recognition as a party within the meaning of the Political Parties Act is not yet necessary.

In a total of 19 EU countries EDE has contact addresses. In addition to France and Germany have so far organized groups of EDE supporters in Hungary and Poland.

After the European elections in 2009 some German EDE members initiated the establishment of the One World Party on September 5, 2010 in Wiesbaden. The Chairman of the German EDE National Association from 2008 to 2010, Manuel Cebulla, stepped over to the party of reason, where he temporarily served as chairman of the National Federation of North Rhine -Westphalia in 2012.

Criticism

In connection with the approval of EDE 2009 European elections in Germany EDE was occasionally referred to in the press as " quite bizarre electoral association " or mentioned in one breath with the pogo party.

However, even within the Esperanto movement EDE is not without controversy. So argued the later chairman of the World Esperanto Youth Tejo, Gregor Hinker, in 2004, in the association's journal of the German Esperanto Youth for not supporting EDE, since Esperanto " not as the foundation of a political party " own and the diversity of political opinions show in the Esperanto movement, " how absurd the idea of ​​a political party is Esperanto ."

Electoral success

2004

The French EDE National Association participated in the 2004 European election and received 0.15 % of votes. The absolute number of votes was 25,259.

Since the German EDE - state association founded especially shortly before the 2004 European elections, he did not succeed, timely file the necessary 4,000 signatures of support from the Federal Returning Officer. This was achieved only in the European elections of 2009.

2009

Leading candidate for the European elections in Germany in 2009 was Reinhard Selten, Nobel Laureate in Economics 1994. During the election, the EDE reached 11,722 votes (0.045 %). Numerically the most votes were there in Baden- Württemberg with 2,175 counted in a state, in percentage the best performers has EDE with 0.15 % in Mecklenburg- Vorpommern. In France, the EDE received 28,944 votes (0.17 %).