MERA25

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MERA25 (Greek: Μέτωπο Ευρωπαϊκής Ρεαλιστικής Ανυπακοής,German: Europäische realistische Ungehorsamfront) is a German political party. It is part of the pan-European movement, Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25). This political party was founded first as Democracy in Europe (German: Demokratie in Europa) on 28 November 2020,^[6] and then was renamed to MERA25 on 13 November 2021, in reference to the Greek party with the same name.^[7]

History

European Parliamentary elections

Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 was founded on 9 February 2016, at the Volksbühne, Berlin. In an internal Europe-wide online vote, Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 decided to establish another political association in Germany for the 2019 European elections. It was founded on 2 June 2018, in Frankfurt am Main under the name Democracy in Europe – DiEM25. Laura Müller and Jasper Finkeldey were elected as the two chairpersons at the General Assembly of Democracy in Europe – DiEM25 on 24 November 2018. The top candidate for the European elections in Germany was former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, with Daniela Platsch running as the second top candidate.^[8] The party was supported by Democracy in Motion and Mut.^[9][10] In the election, the party won 130,072 votes in Germany. and this corresponded to a vote share of 0.3 percent, but was not enough for any of the 96 German mandates for the European Parliament.^[11]

Party formation

On 28 November 2020, the association was founded as a party under the name Democracy in Europe.^[12] On 13 November 2021, the party was re-established and took the name of the Greek electoral wing MέΡA25. MERA25 ran for the first time in a state parliamentary election on 14 May 2023 for the election to the Bremen parliament. The campaign was financed exclusively by individual donations and focused on the topic of housing.^[13][14] The party accounted for 0.6% of all valid second votes.^[15]

Positions

For MERA25, social policies and radical democracy are the focus of its political orientation. The key points of the party program lists as follows:^[16][17]

• Social security
  with guaranteed pension, housing and health care
• Workers' rights, such as a job guarantee, a 4-day week, a universal basic income and increased salaries in social and service jobs
• the Green New Deal for climate neutrality by 2030 for investments in the economy, energy, construction and agricultural sectors and the labor market
• Peace policy against increased military spending.
• Justice for marginalised groups, private individuals towards the state and business, as well as states in the
  Global South. Migration should be decriminalised and Frontex
  should be abolished and replaced by search and rescue missions
• The democratisation of the European Union, which the part currently believes as an institution with oligarchic features, whose policies evade the democratic control of its citizens.

References