European Free Alliance (EFA)

The European Free Alliance (EFA) is a European political coalition that consists of various regionalist political parties in Europe. Members parties advocate either for full political independence and sovereignty, or some form of devolution or self-governance for their country or region. The alliance has generally limited its membership to progressive parties, therefore, only a fraction of European regionalist parties are members of the EFA.

Since 1999 the EFA and the European Green Party (EGP) have joined forces within Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) group in the European Parliament, albeit some EFA members have joined other groups from time to time.

The EFA's youth wing is the European Free Alliance Youth (EFAY), founded in 2000.

Organisation

The main organs of the EFA organisation are the General Assembly, the Bureau and the Secretariat.

General Assembly

In the General Assembly, the supreme council of the EFA, every member party has one vote.

Bureau and Secretariat

The Bureau takes care of daily affairs. It is chaired by François Alfonsi (Party of the Corsican Nation), president of the EFA, while Jordi Solé (Republican Left of Catalonia) is secretary-general and Lorena Lopez de Lacalle (Basque Solidarity) treasurer and first vice-president. The Bureau is completed by other nine vice-presidents: Olrik Bouma (Frisian National Party), Chantal Certan (ALPE), Jill Evans (Plaid Cymru), Anders Eriksson (sv) (Future of Åland), David Grosclaude (Partit Occitan), Flemming Meyer (SSW Landesverband), Ana Miranda (Galician Nationalist Bloc), Wouter Patho (New Flemish Alliance) and Natalia Pinkowska (Silesian Autonomy Movement).

Member parties

This is a list of EFA member parties.

Full members

Before becoming a member party, an organization needs to have been an observer of the EFA for at least one year. Only one member party per region is allowed. If a second party from a region wants to join the EFA, the first party needs to agree, at which point these two parties will then form a common delegation with one vote. The EFA also recognises friends of the EFA, a special status for regionalist parties outside of the European Union.

Current state(s)	Party	Seeking to represent	Joined (Observer/Member)	MEPs
Austria	Unity List	ethnic Slovenes	2005/2006	0
Belgium	New Flemish Alliance	Flanders	2010	4
Bulgaria	United Macedonian Organization Ilinden–Pirin	ethnic Macedonians	2006/2007	0
Czech Republic	Moravané	Moravia	2006	0
Croatia	List for Rijeka	Rijeka	2009/2010	0
Denmark	Schleswig Party	ethnic Germans in North Schleswig	2011	0
Finland	Future of Åland	Åland	2005/2006	0
France	Savoy Region Movement	Savoie	1991	0
France	Occitan Party	Occitania	1982	0
France	Party of the Corsican Nation	Corsica	1981	0
France	Breton Democratic Union	Brittany	1987	0
France	Our Land	Alsace	1991	0
France	Catalan Unity	Northern Catalonia, Catalan Countries	1991	0
Germany	Bavaria Party	Bavaria	2007/2008	0
Germany	The Friesen	East Frisia	2008/2009	0
Germany	Lusatian Alliance	Sorbs, Lusatia	2009/2013	0
Germany	South Schleswig Voters' Association	ethnic Danes,  North Frisia	2009/2010	0
Greece	Rainbow	ethnic Macedonians	1999/2000	0
Italy	South Tyrolean Freedom	South Tyrol	2009	0
Italy	Liga Veneta Repubblica	Veneto	1999/2000	0
Italy	Sardinian Action Party	Sardinia	1984	0
Italy	Slovene Union	ethnic Slovenes	1991	0
Italy	Autonomy Liberty Participation Ecology	Aosta Valley	2007/2011	0
Netherlands	Frisian National Party	Friesland	1981	0
Poland	Silesian Autonomy Movement	Upper Silesia	2002/2003	0
Romania	Hungarian People's Party of Transylvania	ethnic Hungarians	2015/2016	0
Slovakia	Hungarian Christian Democratic Association	ethnic Hungarians	2008/2009	0
Spain /  France	Aralar Party	Basque Country	2012/2013	0
Spain /  France	Basque Solidarity	Basque Country	1986	1
Spain /  France	Republican Left of Catalonia	Catalonia, Catalan Countries	1989	2
Spain	Aragonese Union	Aragon	2003/2004	0
Spain	Socialist Party of Majorca	Balearic Islands, Catalan Countries	2000/2008	0
Spain	Galician Nationalist Bloc	Galicia	1994/2000	0
Spain	Valencian Nationalist Bloc	Valencia, Catalan Countries	2012/2013	1
United Kingdom	Mebyon Kernow	Cornwall	2003	0
United Kingdom	Plaid Cymru	Wales	1983	1
United Kingdom	Scottish National Party	Scotland	1989	2
United Kingdom	Yorkshire Party	Yorkshire	2015/2016	0

Observer members

Current state(s)	Party	Seeking to represent	Joined (as observer)	MEPs
Italy	The Other South	Sicily	2014	0
Italy	Pro Lombardy Independence	Lombardy	2015	0
Latvia	Latvian Russian Union	ethnic Russians,  Latgalians	2010	1
Poland	Kashubian Unity	Kashubia	2016	0
Spain	New Canaries	Canary Islands	2013	0
Greece	Party of Friendship, Equality and Peace	ethnic Turks in  Western Thrace	2015	0

Associate members

Current state(s)	Party	Seeking to represent	Joined (as associate)	MEPs
Azerbaijan	Democratic Party of Artsakh	Nagorno-Karabakh	2015	0
Serbia	League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina	Vojvodina	2016	0

Former members

Current state(s)	Party	Seeking to represent	Joined (Observer/Member)	Notes
Belgium	People's Union	Flanders	1981	Split into the New Flemish Alliance and SPIRIT
Belgium	Social Liberal Party	Flanders	2001	Ceased activity in 2009
Belgium	Walloon Popular Rally	Wallonia	1982	Ceased activity as party in 2011
Belgium	Party of German-speaking Belgians	German Community	1981	Merged into ProDG in 2008
Belgium	Pro German-speaking Community	German Community	2009/2011
France	Alsace-Lorraine National Association	Alsace,  Lorraine	1981
France	Union of the Corsican People	Corsica	1981	Merged into the PNC in 2002
France	Party for the Organization of a Free Brittany	Brittany	1981	Ceased activity in 2000
France	Savoyan League	Savoie	1999/2000	Ceased activity in 2012
Hungary	Renewed Roma Union Party of Hungary	Romani people	2009	Ceased activity in 2012
Ireland	Independent Fianna Fáil	Ireland	1981	Ceased activity in 2006
Italy	Lega Lombarda	Lombardy	1989/1990	Joined Lega Nord in 1991
Italy	Liga Veneta	Veneto	1989/1990	Joined Lega Nord in 1991
Italy	Lega Nord	Padania	1991	Suspended in 1994, left in 1996 and joined ELDR
Italy	Emilian Free Alliance	Emilia	1999/2000	Ceased activity in 2010
Italy	Movement for the Independence of Sicily	Sicily	2009
Italy	Valdostan Union	Aosta Valley		Expelled in 2007 after lack of activity in EFA structures
Lithuania	Lithuanian Polish People's Party	ethnic Poles	2003/2004	Ceased activity in 2010
Italy	Union for South Tyrol	South Tyrol		Expelled in 2008 for opposition to the Bilbao declaration
Romania	Transilvania–Banat League	Transylvania, Banat		Ceased activity
Slovakia	Hungarian Federalist Party	ethnic Hungarians		Banned in 2005
Spain	Democratic Convergence of Catalonia	Catalonia	1981	Joined the LDR Group in 1987
Spain	Canarian Coalition	Canary Islands	1994	Left in 1999 and joined the ELDR Group
Spain /  France	Basque Nationalist Party	Basque Country	1999	Left in 2004 and joined the EDP
Spain	Andalusian Party	Andalusia	1999	dissolved in 2015

What is the Micro Gotha

The Almanach de Gotha was a directory of Europe's royalty and higher nobility, also including the major governmental, military and diplomatic corps, as well as statistical data by country.

But Micro Gotha is another thing, but more or less with the same objective. Micro Gotha is an innicaitive of some micronationalists, which aim is to record all leaders and personalities from existing micronations. Micro Gotha does not make any statement. It’s role is only to record an existing micronation as it is. If someone rules a micronation and wants to appear in the Micro Gotha he should ask for that and demonstrate that this person is the ruler of a micronation. Mironations should have some characteristics for being considered as such, for Micro Gotha.

The main objective is to brand micronations and its leaders, giving to them some kind of prestige and legitimacy. It began being a project with very few repercution, but it has gained popularity in the micronationalist communities.

The Sandy Island

Sandy Island, in the Coral Sea between Australia and New Caledonia, became famous when a University of Sydney plate-tectonics surveying ship headed to the island to investigate discrepancies in their charts and found out there was nothing there but open sea. They had seen the island on Google Maps and Google Earth—shown as being in the territorial waters of New Caledonia and, thus, of the French Republic—but it has also appeared in numerous atlases and other sources. Nor is this a mere location error. Sandy Island doesn’t exist and has never existed. Its posited existence and position were traced first to a 1908 map and then to one by the legendary British explorer Capt. James Cook from 1774. The island’s non-existence was not very loudly suspected, if at all, but was unconfirmed for centuries.

Now, a German man calling himself King Marduk I has laid claim, on behalf of the State Kingdom of Marduk, to Sandy Island, which he claims does indeed exist and which he names after himself, i.e. King Marduk Island. The self-styled king, who is named for a Babylonian god (or possibly for the eponymous alleged tenth planet of our solar system “discovered” by the crackpot archaeo-astronomer Zechariah Sitchin), several years ago tried to claim the Principality of Sealand, the disused World War II derrick off the coast of Essex, England, which is one of the modern world’s best known and most successful “micronations.”

King Marduk

Marduk declared thhe following on his website: “H. M. KING MARDUK I DECLARE THAT THE SINCE DECADES OF STATE FREE ISLAND TERRITORY UNDER THE NAME CALLED ‘SANDY ICELAND’ [sic] THE PACIFIC LOCATED—ALWAYS NO STATE EITHER COUNTRY COURSE LISTENING BETWEEN AUSTRALIA AND EAST OF WHICH LOCATED COLONIAL COUNTRY NEW CALEDONIA—THE SANDY ISLAND LOCATED—THOSE LEGAL UNVERWERFLICH NO PHANTOM’S ISLAND—BUT ACTUALLY EXIST IN POSITION [WGS84] 19°13'6.43"S, 159°55'23:42"E – 19.218451°, 159.923172 ° [UTM] 57K 597040 7874744 INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED LOCATED—FROM A STATE SURVIVE FREE TERRITORY IS—WHERE THIS ISLAND SINCE 1922 ON CARD DOCUMENTED—RECENTLY THE UNITED NATIONS IN 2002 TO YOUR DECREE CONFIRMED THIS ISLAND.”

Other territories Marduk claims for his kingdom (called, in some reference, New Germania) include: much of the eastern Alps, including the Austria’s Vorarlberg state, the Italian region of South Tyrol, Liechtenstein, and parts of Switzerland and Bavaria around, and including, Lake Constance (Bodensee); various localities in the Swiss cantons of Schaffhausen and the cities of Basel and Bern; the entire former Kingdom of Württemberg; the Dogger Bank, the German island of Heligoland, and the artificial island Langlütjen, all in the North Sea; Hamburg and, by extension, the Baltic Sea; the island of Rockall, between Scotland and Iceland (and itself once the location of a publicity-stunt micronation called Waveland); Vatican City; the micronation of Seborga, on the border between Italy and France; parts of Ticino, in southern Switzerland; Jerusalem; and—why aim low, right?—all of outer space.

Little is known about King Marduk himself, but a Swiss journalist who reported recently on Marduk’s royal territorial claims on the town of Büsingen, Schaffhausen, quoted the kingdom’s secretary of state, one Thomas Vogel, as saying—with a kind of wild inconsistency—that his monarch “shuns publicity and does not want to be recognized. He lives in Tübingen in a stately residence, not a castle. He has a huge royal fleet with twelve cars for state visits such as Jaguars and Mercedes. Apart from a Rolex, he has not a lot of wealth. The king is wise as a professor and lives rather modestly.” The reporter, Hermann-Luc Hardmeier, who interviewed the bling-laden “Vogel” in Büsingen after his arrival in a limousine, seemed sure that “Vogel” was merely “Marduk” in disguise, but photographs of the monarch do not much resemble the man Hardmeier interviewed.

Going back to Sandy Island—the French government has not yet responded to Marduk’s claims on its territory, but then again Paris has also reacted not at all to the fact that an island which it thought it owned now does not exist and what the implications are for its maritime boundaries. Nor have their been responses from the separatist movement in New Caledonia or from an unrecognized nation which claims waters (which the world grants to Australia) just to the west of “Sandy Island”: the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands. Theoretically, this could get ugly.

The Cartagena independence petition

The history books tell that, in 1873, Cartagena asked to be included in the United States of America. The city, established as a canton, had been out of Spain for several months and was seeking international recognition. The Americans did not respond to the request, the siege of the Spanish troops ended with the canton and the Cartagena port returned to Spanish hands after 185 days out of them. But how did you get to that situation? On July 12 of that year, a red flag (symbol of revolution) was hoisted over the castle of San Julián. This is how the canton of Cartagena was born, a threat of independent status. Six months later, Spain stifled this sovereign project with special cruelty.

But to arrive at the origin of Cartagena's "independence", it is necessary to go back to February of 1873, when the First Republic was proclaimed and the elections were called, which the federal republicans won. The elected government then established that the State should be divided into 17 sovereign regions (15 in the metropolis, plus the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico) with "complete autonomy to obtain a Constitution and its own organs of Government." All promises.

Flag of the Cartagena Canton

Finally, the good intentions of the first Republican government did not materialize, a situation of stagnation that provoked nervousness in some territories and led to dozens of revolts throughout the State. Among these, the only one that triumphed and that lasted in time beyond a few days or weeks was the one that occurred in Cartagena.

No religious education or death penalty

The entire city is proclaimed cantonalist on July 12. The Army and its fleet, too. Sailors and officers who do not want to join the revolution go freely. It is the second joy in a few months: first, the Republic; then, cantonalism.

Once the victory is achieved, it is time to organize. The Sovereign Board takes power and initiates reforms. Religious education is prohibited and collectivisations begin. The goods are confiscated to the Church and those acquired by inheritance and with origin of grace and real donation, such as bonds, mayorazgos or chaplaincies, among others. Divorce is decreed and the death penalty is repealed. In the 19th century, the right to work was recognized, the eight-hour day was established and an educational plan of its own was even designed.

In addition, the new cantonal government decides to mint its own currency. The silver that is needed is extracted from the mines of Mazarrón and from seized objects. The new coins did not bear any figure, only two inscriptions: on the one hand "Cartagena besieged by the centralists, September 1873", and on the other side "Cantonal Revolution, five pesetas". This was the hard cantonal born of self-management.

The end of the state

But, from the beginning, the canton suffers the siege of the Spanish troops. The State does not look favorably on losing one of its most important ports and hostilities begin, which are increased after the assumption of the presidency of the Council of Ministers, General Francisco Serrano. And, after 185 days, with a Spanish Republic already under the command of General Serrano and without federal republicans in high places, the law of the strongest is imposed.

The siege will end up destroying Cartagena's sovereign desires. The city was besieged by land and sea. The bombings followed each other, reaching more than 1,000 shells a day over the urban area. On January 12, 1874, the definitive capitulation took place after thousands of deaths, more than 300 buildings totally destroyed and 1,500 with great destruction; only 27 were unscathed throughout the city. The Canton of Cartagena had come to an end.

It will not be until a century later when the cantonalists will return to power. Between 1987 and 1991, they govern in the City council with ten councilmen and more than 22,000 votes, under the acronym of the Cantonal Party. But the power lasted very little and, at present, they lack municipal representation. In the 2011 elections, only 367 people voted for him.

Of the Canton of Cartagena and nobody remembers, neither in the USA, that never answered the request of the Spanish city.

Now thanks to the development of the new technologies and thanks to Internet, we can discover a lot of historical events that took place in the past. The Cartagena's independence history can be a chapter more for some micronationalists and libertarians. I am sure that most people who follow micronations like Sealand, Pontinha, Seborga, Tavolara, ..., they don't know about the existence of Cartagena as an independent state. One of the reasons can be that in Spain ther are not a lot of followers of libertarianism and micronationalism.

Antonio Gálvez Arce

Antonio Gálvez Arce, (Torreagüera, Murcia, June 29, 1819 - December 28, 1898), or Antonete, as his contemporaries called him, was a Spanish farmer, revolutionary and deputy, one of the highest figures of federal republicanism of the last third of the nineteenth century.

Despite its apparent strength in the Court and on the street, republicanism was a minority among Spaniards. In addition, it was internally divided between the moderate federalists - who wanted to build the federation from above, from the state - and those who, like Antonete, wanted a "Federal" from below - that the autonomous States would create the later federation -.

The weakness of the republic caused enormous political instability. Four presidents succeeded each other in the short span of one year: Estanislao Figueras, Francisco Pi and Margall, Nicolás Salmerón and Emilio Castelar. In addition, the federal system could not be put into practice because the executive power was absorbed by the complications entailed by the Third Carlist War and the riots in Cuba and other colonies. Seeing the exalted federals that the proclamation of the federal Constitution was extended indefinitely, and with it their demands, decided to become cantons.

THE FIRST SPANISH MICRONATION?

Manuel Cárceles Sabater proclaimed the Canton of Cartagena on July 12, 1873, which would later join Antonete after proclaiming the canton in Murcia on the 14th. These constituted the so-called Canton Murciano, ready to extend the federal uprising throughout the region. After the events of Cartagena, where Antonete managed to get the crew to join the cause, several provincial capitals and other smaller towns were constituted in the canton, such as Valencia, Malaga or Motril. The republican government managed to suppress the insurrection in all Spain except in the Region of Murcia, where the rebels had greater implantation. The Murciano Canton was reduced to the Canton of Cartagena in August of 1873, when the centralist troops of Arsenio Martinez-Campos put down the cantonal nuclei of the rest of the Region of Murcia. Cartagena withstood the siege until January 1874 thanks to the defenses of the city and the support of the seamen.

In January 1874 the government bombing of Cartagena was increasingly intense. The city was practically undone and the food shortage became unbearable. On January 11 began the surrender of the Canton of Cartagena: the forces that besieged the city entered and the Cantonal Revolution was terminated. Gálvez was again sentenced to death and had to face a new exile in Oran. However, he returned to his home one year later to fight against the cholera epidemic that was ravaging the region.

Northern Kosovo

Today my article is not about a nation which proclaimed the independence, todays article is about a region of a self-proclaimed independent country. Everyone knows about Kosovo and about the political issue that surrounds that country. Well, Kosovo seceded from Serbia, but now North Kosovo wants to secede from Kosovo.

North Kosovo is a region in the northern part of Kosovo, composed of four municipalities with ethnic Kosovo Serbs majority: North Mitrovica, Leposavić, Zvečan and Zubin Potok.

Prior to the 2013 Brussels Agreement, the region functioned independently from the institutions in Kosovo, as they refused to acknowledge and recognize the independence of Kosovo, declared in 2008. The Government of Kosovo opposed any kind of parallel government for Serbs in this region.

However, the parallel structures were all abolished by the Brussels Agreement, signed between the governments of Kosovo and Serbia. Both governments agreed upon creating a Community of Serb Municipalities. The association was expected to be officially formed in 2016. According to the agreement, its assembly will have no legislative authority and the judicial authorities will be integrated and operate within the Kosovo legal framework.

POLITICS

Since 1999, the Serb-inhabited north of Kosovo had been governed as de facto independent from the Albanian-dominated government in Pristina. It used Serbian national symbols and participated in Serbian national elections, which are boycotted in the rest of Kosovo; and in turn, it boycotted Kosovo's elections. The municipalities of Leposavić, Zvečan and Zubin Potok are run by local Serbs, while the Mitrovica municipality had rival Serb and Albanian governments until a compromise was agreed in November 2002, whereby the city has one mayor. Serbs were active participants in the Kosovo Elections of 2013.

The region united into a community, the Union of Serbian Districts and District Units of Kosovo and Metohija established in February 2008 by Serbian delegates meeting in Mitrovica, which has since served as North Kosovo's capital.[citation needed] The Union's President is Dragan Velić. This union is not recognised by the Republic of Kosovo, or by UNMIK.[17] And was abolished in 2013 as a result of the Brussels Agreement.

There is also a central governing body, the Serbian National Council for Kosovo and Metohija (SNV). The President of the SNV in North Kosovo is Dr. Milan Ivanović, while the head of its Executive Council is Rada Trajković. Local politics are dominated by the Serbian List for Kosovo. The Serbian List is led by Oliver Ivanović, an engineer from Mitrovica.

North Kosovo is by far the largest of the Serb-dominated areas within Kosovo, and unlike the others, directly borders Central Serbia. This had facilitated its ability to govern itself almost completely independently of the Kosovo institutions in a de facto state of partition; the authorities in turn chose to observe Belgrade's direct rule which they believe to be the legal authority over Kosovo as a whole. However, despite the region being contiguous with Central Serbia, its location within Kosovo and the subsequent conditions of the Kumanovo Treaty in 1999 mean that UNMIK officials have freedom of movement in North Kosovo whereby they assume supervisory status whilst no institution (e.g. police) is in place to enforce Serbian central directives which apply to the rest of Serbia. Before the 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence, it had been speculated that Kosovo might be partitioned with North Kosovo remaining part of Serbia. The complexity of the region has been on the agenda of the 2011 Pristina-Belgrade Talks. In November 2012, Prime Minister of Kosovo Hashim Thaçi stated that autonomy for Northern Kosovo will never be granted, and the region will always remain a part of the Republic of Kosovo.

RULE OF LAW

Law enforcement and green border checkpoints are carried out by KFOR, EULEX and Kosovo Police. According to an International Crisis Group report, covert agents of Serbian police also operate in the area. North Mitrovica in particular continues to remain a hot spot for organized crime.

SPORT

Due to Serbian refusal of Kosovo institutions, Serbs in this part of Kosovo act independently in sport. For example, the Football First League of North Kosovo is primarily formed of Serbian clubs from four of North Kosovo's municipalities.

NOTABLE PEOPLE

- MILAN BISEVAC

Milan Biševac (Serbian Cyrillic: Милан Бишевац; born 31 August 1983) is a Serbian footballer who plays as centre-back for French Ligue 1 club Metz. In international competition, he has represented the Serbia national team.

- MILOS KRASIC

Miloš Krasić (Serbian Cyrillic: Милош Красић; born 1 November 1984) is a football player who plays for Lechia Gdańsk as a winger. He represented the Serbia national team at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and at one point in his career, he was named by FourFourTwo as one of the 100 best players in the world.

- NIKOLA LAZETIC

Nikola Lazetić (Serbian Cyrillic: Никола Лазетић; born 9 February 1978) is a retired Serbian football midfielder.

Honours

Club

Fenerbahçe

Süper Lig (1): 2000–01

Red Star Belgrade

Serbian Cup (1): 2009–10

Individual

Serbian SuperLiga Team of the Season (1): 2009–10 (with Red Star)

- STEVAN STOJANOVIC

Stevan Stojanović (Serbian Cyrillic: Cтeвaн Cтojaнoвић; born 29 October 1964) is a retired Serbian football goalkeeper best known for captaining Red Star Belgrade side which won the 1991 European Cup Final.

International career

He was called up several times for Yugoslavia national football team, but was not chosen for a competitive A team game. He played for Under 21 and Olympic teams.

Honours

- Red Star Belgrade

- Yugoslav First League: 1987–88, 1989–90, 1990–91

- Yugoslav Cup: 1989–90

- European Cup: 1990–91

- Royal Antwerp

- Belgian Cup: 1991–92

- NEVENA BOZOVIC

Nevena Božović is a Serbian singer. She represented Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö with the song "Ljubav je svuda", together with Mirna Radulović and Sara Jovanović. She is the first ever singer to enter both Junior Eurovision Song Contest, and the Eurovision Song Contest as a main artist.

- ANDELKA TOMASEVIC

Anđelka Tomašević (Serbian Cyrillic: Aнђeлка Томашевић; born 6 July 1993) is a Serbian model and beauty pageant titleholder. She represented Serbia in Miss Earth 2013 pageant in Muntinlupa City, Metro Manila, Philippines and also she represented her country at the Miss Universe 2014 pageant but Unplaced.