"European Spring": the name (& first meeting) of DIEM25's transnational list for Euro '19 elections
Rasmus Nordqvist at DIEM25's European Spring meet, in Lisbon this week
While Brexit grinds its way to a conclusion, there's still every reason to stay in touch with those progressive forces for reform, pushing for change within the boundaries (and membership) of the European Union.
One of them has a connection to A/UK and our sister organisation Alternativet in Denmark - and that's DIEM25's proposal for a transnational, multi-party "list" (group of candidates on the ballot), aiming at the 2019 elections. One of the prominent members on the list is Rasmus Nordqvist, MP and spokesman on foreign affairs for Alternativet.
At their first formal meeting earlier this week, the list named themselves "European Spring". It's worth reading their opening position from the launch last month:
Our programme shall be founded on two pillars: A pan-European Green New Deal to address the crisis of private and public debt, under-investment and inequality and poverty through a socio-economic, ecological, feminist framework, and a Constitutional Assembly process to furnish our Union with a truly democratic constitution.
This commonly-agreed programme’s ultimate aim is to effectively oppose and disobey the Brussels’ status quo and failed policies, which are tearing the EU apart, and to constructivelyrebuild a democratic Europeanist project, namely: our transnational list, spitzenkandidat, and policy programme.
“The collective conviction that the solutions to our regions’ and countries’ crises must be European is what brought us to Naples today,” said DiEM25’s co-founder Yanis Varoufakis, who also stressed, “we have come together to forge the alliance that will bring about these European solutions, and now we make an open call to progressive Europeanists to join us”.
Present at this landmark initiative were a line-up of progressive political actors, intellectuals and grassroots activists from every corner of Europe, including France’s former presidential candidate Benoît Hamon and his new party Génération-s, Mayor of Naples Luigi de Magistris, representatives from young left-wing Polish political party Razem, Denmark’s The Alternative, Portugal’s LIVRE, and many more.
Rasmus has been involved with DIEM25 from its Berlin launch 3 years ago in 2016. His speech at DIEMs opening conference is well worth watching, as an overall statement of how Alternative values and practices fit with the idea of Europe: