European Free Alliance election video

This is a video by the EFA, the European Free Alliance, for the upcoming elections to the European Parliament.

     

As this is an EU election, it's perhaps good to remind ourselves of the big picture issues to do with the nature of what the EU is, and the relationship of our countries to it. For me, the big picture is whether we want Wales to be an independent sovereign state with our own place at the table of the EU.

It is about whether countries like Wales, Scotland, Catalunya, Euskadi and Galicia are able to speak for ourselves, or whether we have no voice at all because the United Kingdom and Spain make decisions for us. This issue is now coming to a head with referendums in Scotland and Catalunya this year, and this will certainly be followed by feverish activity in the EU about exactly how to accommodate new members through internal enlargement.

This next few years will therefore be absolutely crucial in determining the shape of the EU. And although the EU Parliament probably won't have as much of a role to play as the governments of member states through the Council of Ministers, it is the only democratic institution in the EU where our voice and the voices of other stateless nations can currently be heard ... because the governments of the UK and Spain will be trying to hold on to a model that suits them rather than move on to a model where all the nations of Europe have an equal voice.