The European Free Alliance sets out its key demands ahead of elections

These include protecting the rights of minorities and the right of a state to self-determination.

Transcript

00:00 In the run-up to EU elections, the European Free Alliance have some key demands.

00:07 Among them, to implement a European Commissioner to protect minority rights,

00:11 and for the EU to recognise the right to self-determination.

00:16 The party, which defends the rights of stateless nations,

00:19 presented its manifesto in Brussels on Friday.

00:23 One of its candidates for President of the European Commission,

00:26 Mélis Rosberg, who represents the Danish minority in Germany,

00:30 hopes to increase protection for minorities.

00:33 I see the national minorities as one of the basic things of the European Union.

00:42 They are the diversity in the European Union,

00:45 and of course some of them, basically all of them,

00:48 need protections and measures how to develop their rights.

00:53 The other main candidate or spits and candidate is the former Catalan MEP Raúl Romeva,

00:58 sentenced to 12 years in prison for his participation in the Catalan referendum in 2017.

01:05 Although he has been pardoned, he is politically disqualified until 2030.

01:09 His candidacy is therefore symbolic.

01:12 It is basically a way to send the message that the European Union has important deficits

01:17 in terms of representativeness, not only in terms of nation,

01:21 but also in terms of languages, minorities, and options.

01:25 The party has 10 MEPs,

01:27 most of them sitting in the European Parliament in coalition with the Greens.

01:32 Three members of the Flemish Nationalist Party are in coalition with the far-right group ECR.

01:39 [Applause]

01:43 [WHOOSH]