FUEN: elections 2025 and future plans

‘FUEN has been developed professionally in recent years,’ said Daniel Alfreider when asked, “and continuity is needed to be able to continue this process and not be set back.” This is an enormous challenge. He said that in the last eight years, FUEN has become a recognised organisation with access to the EU, the Council of Europe and the United Nations (UN). It might be worth considering extending the term of office of the President by one legislative period for this reason, said Alfreider, also in order to find a suitable candidate.

There is a risk that FUEN will fall back into habits of the past, said Loránt Vincze when asked. He is probably referring to times when the journey and the destination sometimes seemed more important than the actual work. He has no ambitions for a fourth mandate, said Vincze, but would not rule it out if the delegates asked him to.

There were rumours in Husum that there are indeed FUEN delegates in the German-Danish border region who are considering a candidacy for the presidency. Daniel Alfreider will indeed step down as Vice President. ‘I will miss the work in FUEN and the contact with the many diverse ethnic groups and communities,’ said Alfreider. But he is already very busy without the work in FUEN. The other Vice Presidents are in their first term of office.

The Council of Slovenian Organisations in Italy (SSO), the Slovenian Cultural and Economic Union (SKGZ) and the Friulanian Philological Society (SSF) had thrown their hats in the ring for Friuli-Venezia Giulia, with the involvement of the German-speaking comunities of Kanaltal/Val Canale, Tischlbong/Timau, Zahre/Sauris and Plodn/Sappada. The opening ceremony is to take place in Trst/Trieste, in Piazza dell' Unitá d'Italia, where Mussolini once proclaimed his racial laws. As a counterpoint, the Europeada 2028 should celebrate the diversity of the ethnic groups and their peaceful coexistence. This announcement was met with spontaneous applause. Rest days for the players would already be planned in the group phase and a grouping of the game locations and corresponding accommodation in four zones, in order to keep the distances to be covered as short as possible. The culture day should take place in Videm/Udin/Weiden/Udine. The final matches would be held in Gorica/Gurize/Görz/Gorizia, in the stadium named after the Italian 1982 World Cup winning coach Enzo Bearzot (1927-2010), who was a member of the Friulian community. The closing ceremony would also take place in the historic city on the Isonzo.

The second candidate, the Association of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSz), offered to hold the tournament in the spa town of Tusnadfürdö/Bad Tuschnad/Băile Tuşnad in Szeklerland in north-eastern Transylvania. All the teams would be accommodated in an Europeada village. The venues would be within a reasonable distance, some with first division stadiums. Professional commentators are to bring the football matches to the whole world via live streaming.

The delegates chose the Slovenian-Friulian bid as the winner with 132 votes, while the Hungarians in Romania received 49 votes.

Before the decision was taken, the presidium's proposal to postpone the vote for a year had caused some excitement. President Loránt Vincze justified this proposal by saying that consideration should first be given to new framework conditions to keep the ever-increasing professionalisation of sport and fixation on success in check. Delegates, however, expressed their concern that the postponement could rob the organisers of a year that they urgently need. Many delegates also suspected that the real reason for the proposed postponement was that the Hungarian governing body feared losing out.

Note: This article gives the views of the author and does not represent the position of the European Association of Daily Newspapers in Minority and Regional Languages (MIDAS) or Eurac Research.