Statement on Gefira, AAFB - 10/09/2017
In November 2015, during an Extraordinary General Meeting, the AAFB (Association des Amis de Franck Biancheri) unanimously excluded two of its members, namely Bart Kruitwagen and Taco Dankers, further to their attempt to take unilateral control of the Franck Biancheri Network as they : directly attacked the most involved people in the project management; denied the legitimacy of the internal decision-making process; violently criticised the objectives, strategy and projects of the organisation; and seriously interfered with the Franck Biancheri Network's financing system.
More recently, they used Franck Biancheri's name, but also the financial resources derived from his work, an operational structure Franck created in 1987 (GEFIRA Foundation), as well as Newropeans, the label of a political party he launched in 2005, in order to launch a populist campaign against the NGOs that help migrants in the Mediterranean, in straight line with the theses and actions of the European identitarian far right-wing.
This new attack on Franck Biancheri's intellectual heritage is nothing more than a confirmation of our fears that Kruitwagen and Dankers hijacking could serve far right political purposes. This also determines us to get together and defend Franck's image, now dragged through the mud.
During his thirty-year-long European battle, many have crossed Franck Biancheri's path and can claim having been one of his "road companions". Yet the Association of Franck Biancheri's Friends (AAFB) is the only legitimate body to define what actually belongs to Franck's intellectual heritage and what does not.
We, as Franck Biancheri's heirs and friends
organised in a structure composed of his daughter, his parents, his wife and his most faithful collaborators, constantly referring to Franck's edited texts and formerly taken actions, gathered in the FB Documentation Centre, acting in conscience and in transparency, in order to give access to the immense progressive and humanistic work of EU democratisation pursued for 30 years by Franck Biancheri, until his death in October 2012 are legitimate to assert that the ideas and actions taken by Kruitwagen and Dankers are the opposite of all the principles defended by Franck Biancheri, of which they constitute the most abject treason.
Therefore, we will continue and strengthen the actions we have been carrying out since 2015 and we demand that Kruitwagen and Dankers proceed to the:
Therefore, we will continue and strengthen the actions we have been carrying out since 2015 and we demand that Kruitwagen and Dankers proceed to the:
- Withdrawal of any reference to Franck Biancheri's name on GEFIRA Foundation's website, a structure admittedly created by Franck in 1987, but currently diverted from its object.
- Removal of any reference and any article edited by Franck Biancheri on Newropeans-Magazine.org and Newropeans websites, captured and diverted from their object.
- Handing over to Franck Biancheri's legitimate heirs of the tools created by him, but captured and diverted from their object (Gefira, Newropeans, Newropeans-Magazine).
The "Christian, Greek and Roman Europe", advocated by Kruitwagen and Dankers, WILL NOT BE MADE IN THE NAME OF FRANCK BIANCHERI!
We invite all of Franck Biancheri's former road companions to contact us and express their indignation as well as to confirm the intellectual deviation that Kruitwagen and Dankers stamped on the memory of this great character of the contemporary European history, Franck Biancheri.
We also invite all journalists to make the most of their interest in Kruitwagen and Dankers' identity campaign and discover the numerous articles, projects and organisations created by Franck Biancheri in the past 30 years, as the latter anticipated the dangers of extremism in an undemocratic Europe.
Supporting documentation:
- AAFB - Minutes General Assembly meeting 21-11-2015 (pdf)
- AAFB - Minutes Board meeting 22-11-2015 (pdf)
- Letter from Carla Biancheri to Kruitwagen, 18/11/2015 (pdf)
- Letter from Carla Biancheri to protect her father’s memory, 13/12/2016 (pdf)
- AEGEE-Europe statement on Gefira, 21/08/2017 (link)
- Moral Charter of the Friends of Franck Biancheri Association (link)
- IDE en 20 questions, 1989 (FB Doc)
- The letter Mrs Biancheri, the mother of Franck, AAFB honorary member, wrote to Bart Kruitwagen (28/12/2018)
- Les Anciens Aegee, a message by Pepe Compagni (30/01/2018) -pdf
Franck Biancheri Fundamentals:
- Sur qui vont tomber les briques du mur de Berlin - IDE, 1989 (FB Doc)
- Europe in 2009, could end up in the hands of the post modern great grand sons of Hitler, Franco, Mussolini and Petain, Europe 2020, November 1998 (FB Doc)
- Élections européennes 2004 : la naissance du national-européisme, Europe2020, 30-01-2004 (FB Doc)
- Immigration,Civilisations,Intégration européenne…, une seule question compte: Voulons-nous ou non que les enfants d’immigrés deviennent de vrais européens? Octobre 2001 (FB Doc)
« L’avenir (interne et externe) de l’Europe dépend largement des réponses qu’elle donnera à la question de l’immigration... En tant que petit-fils d’italiens immigrés en France, je peux simplement dire qu ’à mon avis la seule réponse porteuse d’avenir positif et constructif pour l’Europe est « oui, nous voulons que les enfants d’immigrés deviennent européens »
not in his name
The image of Franck Biancheri has been used to circulate ideas opposed to his own. We have gathered in this section the elements that can be consulted in defense of his image and his work.
Franck Biancheri fonds hosted by the fjme
The Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe, in Lausanne, hostes since 2019 the archives of Franck Biancheri tracing all his associative and professional activity from 1984 to 2012.
EURO-CITIZENS 2020 DIRECTORY
The directory lists members of the first "Generation Europe" who crossed the path of Franck Biancheri in his research, education and activism activities. Their common history is a page of the European construction by the citizens.