To the Secretary General
and the board of EFAH
10, rue de la Sciences
B-1000 Brussels

Stockholm, 27th September 2005

 

Dear friends,

KLYS board has received and read your letter of the 19th September 2005 and thoroughly discussed it at our last executive meeting. As you know KLYS is an umbrella organization representing eighteen unions and associations for Swedish artistic and literary professionals. Our task is to coordinate activities and actions in matters of mutual interest such as authors rights, social security schemes and freedom of expression for artists. KLYS has not the mandate to represent its members in general political matters. Therefore the issue of being ‘for’ or ‘against’ a new EU constitution does not lie within the KLYS activities. In our view saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the constitution is a choice that each individual artist has to make him or herself.

When reading the statement of the board of EFAH, published in June in the aftermath of the French and Dutch referenda, we understand that the board of EFAH takes political position when describing the referenda as a setback of the advance of the European integration. You also express your sadness in saying that the results might be due not only to the Treaty itself, but to the conduit for other resentments or for entrenched anti-European positions.

Since KLYS has no mandate to voice any opinions for or against the results of the referenda, we cannot be associated with such judgement as expressed by the board of EFAH. And since you, after our first reaction, persist on your position referring to the consensus of the majority of the EFAH member organizations, the board of KLYS has come to the conclusion that KLYS has better to withdraw its membership from EFAH.

This decision has been reached in consensus within the board of KLYS. This does not mean that KLYS intends to isolate itself from European cultural cooperation, on the contrary. But as an independent non-political Swedish cultural NGO, with the task to improve the economic and social conditions for artists, we prefer to act outside various EU lobby groups who are aiming at strengthening the European Union for political reasons.

The main reason for KLYS to join EFAH in 1999 was to get access to more information
on different cultural initiatives in Europe, within and outside the EU institutions, not to take positions in the ambition to integrate the European project. We deplore that we have to take this drastic step, but we would fail in our mission if we did not do so.

With our best regards,
On behalf of the board of KLYS,

Peter Curman
Chairman