The Spinelli Group is an initiative founded with a view to reinvigorate the endeavour for federalisation of the European Union (EU), by creating a network of citizens, think tanks, NGOs, academics, writers and politicians who support the idea of a federal and united Europe. Among other goals, the Group aims to "find a federal majority [among members of the European Parliament] on important subjects." Founded on 15 September 2010 in the European Parliament (EP) in Brussels, the group is named after Altiero Spinelli (1907–1986), founder of the Union of European Federalists (UEF) and a founding father of the European integration.

The logo of the Spinelli Group in the European Parliament

The group was founded by Guy Verhofstadt, former head of the liberal Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group in the Parliament and honorary president of the Union of European Federalists (UEF) in Belgium, former co-chair of the Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) group Daniel Cohn-Bendit, French MEP Sylvie Goulard (ALDE) and former EP Vice President Isabelle Durant (Greens/EFA), with the support of the Union of European Federalists.

Federalists' movements

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The Spinelli Group is not the first initiative launched in the European Parliament, gathering together followers of European federalism ideas. On 9 July 1980, the Crocodile Club a group of MEPs was founded by Altiero Spinelli himself. For more than 60 years, the Union of European Federalists (UEF) and its youth organisation Young European Federalists (JEF), with a "belief that only a European Federation, based on the idea of unity in diversity, could overcome the division of the European continent",[1] have been actively working to promote the idea of European federalism. MEP Andrew Duff and president of UEF has welcomed the launching of the Spinelli Group saying, that "existing federalist forces and organisations, such as the UEF and the Intergroup, welcome this new initiative".[2]

Manifesto

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With a manifesto online,[3] recalling the Ventotene Manifesto written by Altiero Spinelli, Group activists call members of the European Parliament and Europe's citizens to sign it and add their names to the list of those fighting against nationalism and intergovernmentalism. By supporting the aims and principles laid out in the manifesto, Spinelli group followers try to speed up the process of European integration and promote a federal Europe.

Members

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The Spinelli Group is organised in three sections.

  • The Steering Group gathers the 33 founding members and newcomers—politicians and thinkers dedicated to building a federal Europe.
  • The MEP Spinelli Group gathers 108 MEPs who signed the manifesto. They look for strategies and majorities in the European Parliament to push the pro-European, federal, and post-national agenda.
  • The Spinelli Network Group is made of every citizen who signed the manifesto of the Spinelli Group. As of 8 May 2017, they are 7,327. They participate in debates and fora.

This pro-European initiative is supported by prominent political leaders such as former Commission President Jacques Delors, former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, former competition commissioner Mario Monti and MEP Andrew Duff, President of the Union of European Federalists (UEF), and other well known public bodies. It is also enthusiastically supported by such European Union promoters as former European Parliament President Pat Cox and current Parliament Vice-President Isabelle Durant (Greens/EFA; Belgium).[4]

The 35 members of the Steering Group in 2010 were:[4]

After the 2024 European Parliament election the Spinelli Group has 81 members of which 79 are MEPs. [6]

All Members
Name Party Affiliation
Sandro Gozi Renew Europe
Guy Verhofstadt(Former MEP Renew Europe
Domènec Ruiz Devesa(Former MEP) S&D
Petras Auštrevičius Renew Europe
Raquel Garcia Hermida-Van Der Walle Renew Europe
Ľubica Karvašová Renew Europe
Reinier van Lanschot Greens/EFA
Benedetta Scuderi Greens/EFA
Daniel Freund Greens/EFA
Anna Strolenberg Greens/EFA
Gabriele Bischoff S&D
Brando Benifei S&D
Vivien Costanzo S&D
Klara Dobrev S&D
Markus Ferber EPP
Lukas Mandl EPP
Nikolas Farantouris The Left
Ignacio Sánchez Amor S&D
Rasmus Andresen Greens/EFA
Marc Angel S&D
Laura Ballarin Cereza S&D
Damian Boeselager Greens/EFA
Delara Burkhardt S&D
Pascal Canfin Renew Europe
Benoît Cassart Renew Europe
Olivier Chastel Renew Europe
Estelle Ceulemans S&D
Salvatore De Meo EPP
Laurence Farreng Renew Europe
Jonás Fernández S&D
Lina Gálvez Muñoz S&D
Raphaël Glucksmann S&D
Nicolás González Casares S&D
Giorgio Gori S&D
Markéta Gregorová Greens/EFA
Christophe Grudler Renew Europe
Cristina Guarda Greens/EFA
Elisabetta Gualmini S&D
Bernard Guetta Renew Europe
María Rosa Estaràs EPP
Radan Kanev EPP
Manolis Kefalogiannis EPP
Moritz Körner Renew Europe
Andrey Kovatchev EPP
Andrius Kubilius EPP
Murielle Laurent S&D
Camilla Laureti S&D
Javier López S&D
Juan Fernando López Aguilar S&D
César Luena S&D
Cristina Maestre S&D
Pierfrancesco Maran S&D
Eva Maydell EPP
Carolina Morace The Left
Javier Moreno Sánchez S&D
Alessandra Moretti S&D
Jan-Christoph Oetjen Renew Europe
Leoluca Orlando Greens/EFA
Nikos Papandreou S&D
Thomas Pellerin-Carlin S&D
Pina Picierno S&D
Sabrina Repp S&D
Thijs Reuten S&D
René Repasi S&D
Matteo Ricci S&D
Nela Riehl Greens/EFA
Cecilia Strada S&D
Sven Simon EPP
Marco Tarquinio S&D
Carla Tavares S&D
Kai Tegethoff Greens/EFA
Irene Tinagli S&D
Jana Toom Renew Europe
Flavio Tosi EPP
Pasquale Tridico The Left
Dimitris Tsiodras EPP
Marie-Pierre Vedrenne Renew Europe
Nicola Zingaretti S&D

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Union of European Federalists: About UEF". Union of European Federalists. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
  2. ^ "Federalist Campaign grows - new Spinelli initiative" (Press release). Union of European Federalists. 15 September 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
  3. ^ "Manifesto". Spinelli Group. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
  4. ^ a b "Who we are". Spinelli Group. Archived from the original on 21 September 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
  5. ^ "MEPs to set up anti-intergovernmentalism group". euobserver.com.
  6. ^ "Board Members". Spinelli Group. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
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