On the 92th anniversary of the Memorandum of Valencia: a visionary appeal for a Federal Europe

The Memorandum of Valencia for Europe was a text written by the Ateneo Mercantil de Valencia in 1931 and sent to the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs as a contribution to the study committee for the European Union promoted by the League of Nations, predecessor of the United Nations.

That the Memorandum of Valencia  stated in 1931 that if a "sincere European economic and political cooperation" was not established, Europe would return to war, since the Treaty of Versailles had not solved "the difficult problem of the European minorities".

More links:

Video, Manifiesto Europa del Ateneo Mercantil de 1931

Article, La vigencia del proyecto federal europeo en el 92 aniversario del Memorando de València

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Resolution adopted by Federal Committee in Brussels on 12 February 2023.

The UEF Federal Committee:

  • Having regard to the UEF Federal Committee resolution “for a Common European History Manual” adopted on 12 October, 2008,
  • Having regard to the UEF Federal Committee resolution on Cultural identity adopted on 28-29 March, 2011,
  • Having regard to the UEF Federal Committee resolution on the European dimension of education and culture on 24 April, 2018;
  • Having regard to the Memorandum on the organization of a regime of European federal Union of 15 Septembre 1930 proposed by Aristide Briand to the League of Nations;
  • Having regard to the Ventotene Manifesto of 1941;
  • Having regard to the Schuman Declaration of 1950;
  • Having regard to the solemn declaration on European Union adopted in Stuttgart on the 19th June 1983;
  • Having regard to the report on the implementation of citizenship education actions adopted by the European Parliament on 6 April 2022;
  • Having regard to the Proposal of a Manifesto for a Federal Europe: Sovereign, Social and Ecological adopted by the Spinelli Group on 29 August, 2022;

The UEF Federal Committee notes that:

  • The Memorandum of Valencia for Europe was a text written by the Ateneo Mercantil de Valencia in 1931 and sent to the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs as a contribution to the study committee for the European Union promoted by the League of Nations, predecessor of the United Nations;
  • In the wake of the Memorandum on the organization of a regime of European federal Union of 15 Septembre 1930;
  • That the Memorandum of Valencia already stated in 1931 that if a "sincere European economic and political cooperation" was not established, Europe would return to war, since the Treaty of Versailles had not solved "the difficult problem of the European minorities".
  • That the Memorandum of Valencia also affirmed that, "opposition to either of the two tendencies towards European cooperation in the economic and political fields would make us jointly responsible for the fatal armed conflicts",
  • That this document presents a clearer and determined vision affirming that the "unifying tendency" of Europe at this time cannot be sustained on an "economic cooperation" based on "weak diplomatic threads", instead of "the unshakable pillars of a positive European law", advocating in practice for a federal union.
  • That the said document calls for the establishment of a "general European political organization", which "in the legal field (…) tends in a certain way and in a short time to be the legislator, the executor, and the guardian and guarantor of the relations which in Europe already transcend the political powers of its various States".
  • The Memorandum of Valencia constitutes an enlightening document towards a Federal Union;

and encourages national sections:

  • to search for similars texts and initiatives to show the development of the federalist ideas between the two World Wars.
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