How long will the petition campaign continue?
The signatures have now reached over 966,000. We are very pleased about this. It clearly shows that – although the large-scale plans for a sponsored campaign were not realised – we will nevertheless attain our collective goal, even if this will now of course take longer. It is therefore important to highlight that the petition campaign is continuing, and to communicate this message through all our networks. We would be very pleased if you can support us in doing this. You will find many suggestions in the new newsletter for ongoing work.

Can I sign the petition if I’m not an EU citizen?
The votes we receive from non-EU countries give the initiative more weight from outside, and are therefore helpful. It strengthens the initiative if in Brussels we can show that the European alliance is also supported further afield. When listing votes we will show these separately. Everyone can sign once. Of course the participants must be of age.

Why are 1 million signatures being collected?
1 million signatures is a sum that bears political weight in European institutions if these votes come from several member states. It originated in article I-47 of the 2004 Constitution for Europe www.europa.eu, which did not come into effect. Without waiting for the verification, several non-government organizations have already made use of this concept of 1 million, in order to put pressure on Brussels institutions and gain attention for their concerns (www.citizens-initiative.eu). Some of these have already achieved 1 million signatures. The Lisbon Treaty, which was signed in a celebratory gathering of EU national and government leaders at their summit meeting on 13 December 2007 (www.consilium.europa.eu), now includes a clause to this effect in the EU constitution. Consolidated version of the treaty on European Union:

What can I do to support this campaign?
For the campaign to succeed it is important to find committed people in individual European countries to publicise the initiative in their locality, thus collecting further signatures. It would also be very good if a small ELIANT Europe group could be formed, so that various tasks can be allocated and ideas arising from people’s personal experience can be jointly realised. This equally important work can be done in an honorary capacity. Anyone who is interested in giving active local support to this campaign is warmly invited to contact us at info@eliant.eu . We will get back in touch straight away.

Why does every vote count for the ELIANT campaign?
This petition is a joint campaign by 10 associations and organisations, working as umbrella organisations at EU level to represent anthroposophical initiatives such as Waldorf education, curative education, anthroposophic medicine, Demeter In-ternational and others. The experiences of these organisations led them to initiate the impetus for this new federation, with the aim of jointly representing their common concerns so as to achieve greater effectiveness and pool resources.

What are we trying to achieve?
The Alliance’s aims and mode of work are enshrined in a Charter (www.eliant.eu). We are now collecting signatures from all those who know and value anthroposophic services and products. So far we have collected over 966,000 signatures. To go on we are asking everyone who shares our concerns to support us. See also: 7 ways to give immediate support to the ELIANT campaign here

What am I voting for?
The message runs as follows: We are working to ensure that cultural diversity in Europe is preserved. Initiatives of applied anthroposophy belong to this diversity. We are turning to all who value the quality of life embodied in these initiatives and wish to preserve them for the future. Taking these initiatives as an example, we can work to preserve our freedom of choice and thus ensure the enrichment of our society. In various fields the devel-opment of such initiatives is already at risk: for example, through compulsory vitamin supplementation of infant foods or the withholding of permits for anthro-posophic medicines.

Three important reasons why people decide to sign:

• I support commitment to greater quality of life and scope for each and every person’s individual development.
• I want to help maintain the framework conditions needed to preserve the diversity of anthroposophical initiatives.
• Everyone should be able to access the kind of medical treatment and care that accords with his way of life.

Tell us YOUR reasons! With your agreement we will publish further examples on the internet.

Ideas and suggestions for further work

• Examples of the successes of the signature campaign

We have received many signature lists from people who distributed them to bookshops, doctors’ practices, healthfood shops, pharmacies, organic food stores etc., or who placed them in company offices. Individuals working on their own often first establish contact and then collect the completed lists.
The campaign meets with a warm reception in the context of events or some-one’s own professional and social milieu if it is presented with a few personal words of introduction.