Time for the monarchies of Europe to retire

The Alliance of European Republican Movements (AERM) united in Copenhagen for their annual general assembly, which coincided with the 40th anniversary of the Danish Queen Magrethe II. AERM main aim is to abolish monarchy in all European countries and establish true democratic republics. AERM represents at least 16 million republicans from European countries that are still under the weight of monarchy.

As many Danes were cheering on the street as Queen Margrethe passed by in her golden chariot, the Alliance of European Republican Movements met in the centre of Copenhagen to plan how to best make sure that she and her royal colleagues would loose their privileged positions.

“Most Europeans define themselves as democrats. Therefore it is absolutely unreasonable that we still have heads of state in Europe that are born into privileges and power which is the case in Denmark, Belgium, UK, Sweden, Norway, and The Netherlands. Since AERM was founded in 2010 we have worked across borders to end this outdated and undemocratic practice, which is a clear breach of human rights,” says spokesperson for the Danish movement, Arvid Aagaard.

In Sweden 32 % of the population is republican, in Denmark 16 %, and in United Kingdom 18%. So, just in these countries alone, the number of declared republicans adds up to around 15 million. The six member organizations of AERM together have 14 000 paying members and more than 32 000 active followers and supporters on Facebook. The large support for republicanism taken into consideration, republican movements call for more a more critical public debate.

“There is very little critical debate about monarchy in most of the AERM member countries. Even though monarchies are dependent on public funds and have a lot of informal power, they are not scrutinized in the same transparent way as other institutions. We need a free debate as well as accountability for the use of taxpayer’s money“, says Graham Smith, spokesperson from UK.

For further information on AERM and its member organizations, please visit: www.aerm.org

For further comments on the AERM meeting in Copenhagen:
Arvid Aagaard: Mobile: +45 29863638 Email: arvidaagaard@gmail.com