Introduction

In a particularly difficult time for federalists and their battles, we are aiming through this Conference to create a new "meeting place": not just a place for debate but also a sort of continually updated newspaper. A "bridge" where ideas, information, proposals and initiatives would be notified, gathered together and discussed. A place, we hope, in which proposals and political action would be developed.

By "federalism we mean both the processes of supranational integration and those of infranational integration, founded on the devolution of responsibilities (not only for administration) from the state to the regions, the provinces, and the territories of which it is formed.

In this light, we will follow a number of areas with particular attention:

- the activities and the prospects for the democratic reform of the UN;

- the activities and the development of the various supranational institutions: the Organization for African Unity, the Organization of American States, the Andean Pact, the Council of Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the West African Union, the Latin American Parliament, the Nafta-Alena Agreement,...;

- the activities and the prospects of the processes of infranational federalization or regionalization already in progress or about to be implemented;

- the activities of the European Union and its reform processes (with particular reference to the intergovernmental Conference of 1996);

- federalist proposals and projects (past and present) to solve crisis situations (project for Balkanic Federation, project for Danubian Federation, project for Middle Eastern Federation...);

- the instrument of federalism for the defence and promotion of the rights of man and of minorities, with particular attention to transnational minorities (gypsies, touareg,...);

- the question of linguistic democracy and the promotion of a language for international communication.

More than a "café du commerce" where everyone comes to express their own opinions, this Conference, together with other Agora sectors (especially "News from Europe", "European Parliament Archive", and - soon - "Federalism Archive"), is intended to be a working instrument and a stimulus for those who are interested in studying the subject of federalism and reinforcing the various federalist initiatives around the world by developing new proposals.

Together with comments and views, we would also like to invite "readers" to become the "eyes and the ears" of the "Federalism Conference" wherever they live and work, to support the Conference by sending in news and information on federalism from their own country or from other countries, both from a theoretical point of view (reviews, articles,...) and from a practical point of view (concrete political initiatives, statements by politicians,...).