1 Million Signatures – why?

The goal of 1 million signatures seems very ambitious. The 200 000 collected signatures are at this point quite respectable! Why then one million? The answer is: This number has a special significance in the political context in the EU. It originated in article I-47 of the 2004 Constitution for Europe (http://europa.eu.int/futurum), which did not come into effect. According to these regulations 1 million Union citizens from a considerable number of member states can demand action from the EU commission. This means in plain language: 1 million people in several EU countries, who have the same concern, must be taken seriously in Europe.

Such an initiative coming from 1 million people would be part of the citizens` participation in the decision making processes of the EU. Hand in hand with this needs to go an open, transparent, and regular dialogue of the European institutions with the representative organizations and with the civil society as well as hearings with the persons concerned.

At their summit meeting in June 2007, the EU’s governmental heads and heads of state decided to carry over substantial parts of the constitution into a revised contract to be developed, by a conference of governments, into a final form by the end of the year. The articles to be adopted also expressly include the one relating to the citizens’ initiative of one million signatures (www.eu2007.de/en/, conclusions by the executive). Thus this article enshrined in the new, revised constitution, is expected to come into force in 2009.

In recent years, participatory democracy in Brussels has already developed in a practical way. This magic number of 1 million will be codified in the revised constitution. 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).

The ELIANT alliance is following this path. The signatures support the alliance in general at this point, rather than any particular individual demand. When, in the end, a sufficiently large number of signatures are submitted to Brussels institutions, we can later refer to this in relation to individual issues.

This is what is essential now: The more signatures the alliance ELIANT can collect from Member states of the EU and from third countries, the stronger the alliance and its carrier organizations will carry political weight in Brussels in the future. At the same time the alliance will become a sought after partner in collaboration with other non governmental organisations that pursue similar goals.

Dr. Jürgen Erdmenger

Open letter to all friends and supporters of the Charter

Dear friends and supporters of the European Alliance for Initiatives of Applied Anthroposophy,

This petition campaign is not a specific, isolated project as such but solely directed to gaining more support and publicity to promote the political effectiveness of lobbying work which core members of the Alliance have been pursuing in Brussels for years. Until now the associations of anthroposophic medicines producers, curative educators, Waldorf teachers, patient organisations, consumers of biodynamic produce, doctors, and Demeter International have each undertaken their own profession-specific lobbying in Brussels. Now all these Europe-wide associations have amalgamated to form the said Alliance so that they can collaborate on pursuing their political aims. Despite the high quality of work done so far, and its good scientific bases, it has previously suffered from the fact that ‘anthroposophic activities’ are too little known and – each on its own – are too small and therefore too politically insignificant. That is why we are now attempting to contact all who have an interest in the fruits of anthroposophic cultural initiatives: from Wala cosmetics through Demeter infant foods to Waldorf kindergartens, anthroposophic medicines and anthroposophic books and periodicals. We ask that you add your signature to help ensure that businesses of this kind have a chance to develop in Europe. We need to secure the legislative foundations necessary for initiatives of applied anthroposophy to thrive not only in individual countries such as Switzerland or Holland, but also elsewhere in Europe. In countries such as Germany, for instance, the developmental potential for anthroposophic medicine and its remedies has diminished since 2004 due to the increasing impact of European legislation. By improving legal conditions in Europe we can give fields such as this a better opportunity to develop again.

Since petitions only have political credibility in Europe when they pass the 1 million signature mark, every vote counts, and everyone who helps gather more signatures is really helping. The Charter is currently being translated into all European languages. Signature numbers are being tallied according to country, so that we can show the extent to which the products of anthroposophic work are meeting with acknowledgement in different geographical areas.

We also hope that the many signatures we gather will, retrospectively, raise our profile as potential collaborative partner for other large European associations with related goals.

And last but not least this petition campaign will of course draw many people’s attention to the development potential and needs of anthroposophic initiatives, thus also fulfilling a publicity role.

With warm thanks for your interest and help. On behalf of the first signatories

Michaela Glöcker, MD.