The Union of European Federalists “works for the creation of a European Federation, endowed with supranational institutions with limited but real sovereign powers, consisting of: a Federal Government,  a Parliament elected by direct universal suffrage, a Federal Senate representing Member States and possibly the Regions, a Court of Justice,” (art. 2 of the Statutes of UEF)

This new institution is a political creation of a constitutional nature, which can only come into being by the will of the governments of the European states and with the consent of the European citizens.

The European Union, as we know, it is an international organisation with supranational powers and competences, but it is not yet a sovereign power (it has no power over citizens and cannot act with policies like a normal State) and fully democratic (many EU powers are managed by national governments – as the Council of the EU and European Council - and not by democratically legitimised bodies).

The Union of European Federalists was founded in Paris on December 15 and 16, 1946.

It was founded shortly after World War II with the belief that only a European Federation, based on the idea of unity in diversity, could overcome the division of the European continent that had caused the suffering and destruction of the two World Wars.

While Europe was still in the middle of a brutal war, groups emerged in various countries - particularly in Italy, France, Germany and Belgium – calling for European political unity.

They were united in the rejection of nationalism and in the belief that the only way to peace, democracy and a better future was for European states to unite in a European federation.  Soon after the war they came together to form our organization.

UEF was officially brought into life with its function being to co-ordinate and intensify the activities of the different movements and to organize them into a federal structure. Since then UEF has been active at the European, national and local levels for the past 75 years.

UEF has been the first to campaign for a Europe without national borders, the direct elections of the European Parliament, the European currency, a European Constitution. Its demands have preceded their future achievements often by decades.

The UEF's political campaigns and activities are aimed at multiple actors:

• citizens (both as individuals and in its organized forms: NGOs, trade unions, political parties etc...),
• governments and parliaments of European states, and the European institutions (the institutional bodies that anticipate the future life of the European federation).