FUEN: elections 2025 and future plans
Hatto Schmidt reports from the FUEN Congress 2024 in Hüsem/Husum. This article covers the election of the Presidium, the 2025 Congress, and the planning for the Europeada 2028.
FUEN elections 2025: There is unrest behind the scenes
According to the FUEN statutes, the term of office for members of the presidium is limited to three terms. This means that President Loránt Vincze and Vice Presidents Daniel Alfreider (Südtiroler Volkspartei) and Gösta Toft (secretary of the Schleswigsche Partei, the political organisation of the German minority in Denmark) should actually have reached the end of their term of office next year. However, the whispers in the corridors at the FUEN Congress in Husum suggest that there could be surprises.
‘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.
FUEN Congress 2025 in South Tyrol
The next congress of the Federalist Union of European Nationalities will take place in South Tyrol. The delegates of the FUEN Congress in Husum voted unanimously in favour of the motion of the South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP). Harald Stauder, the parliamentary party leader of the SVP in the provincial parliament, said it was a great pleasure and honour to be able to host the congress. He gave a brief introduction to South Tyrol and its history and pointed out the special situation in South Tyrol with the coexistence of the Italian language group, the German-speaking minority and the Ladin people. FUEN Vice-President Daniel Alfreider said that they were already looking for a suitable location between Bozen/Bolzano and Meran/Merano. It is always an honour for South Tyrol to do something for national minorities in the heart of Europe. ‘Minorities are not an issue in Europe, there is not even a discussion about these issues,’ said Alfreider, when asked. Yet there are important questions such as the refugee issue and increasing border controls, which have a direct impact on many minorities. He hopes that interesting discussions on European issues will take place during the congress.
Europeada 2028 in Trieste, Udine and Gorizia
The venue for the next European Football Championship of National Minorities (Europeada) was also decided at the FUEN Congress in Husum. The debate was quite heated. The candidates were Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Italy) and Transylvania (Romania).
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.
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