Dear Friends of ELIANT,

As the year draws to a close, we would like to express our heartfelt thanks for your loyal support! For 15 years, it has been you who have made our advocacy for preserving freedom of choice and for the fundamental democratic rights of civil society possible. A new working year now lies ahead, bringing with it further challenges. We are therefore all the more hopeful that your Christmas donation will help give us the tailwind we need to meet them! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

But we would also like to report on the highlights of our work in 2025 and our plans for the coming year. Outstanding events in 2025 included the high-profile conference in Brussels marking the centenary of Rudolf Steiner’s death and the All Africa Anthroposophic Training (AAAT) in Namibia, where 120 participants from 17 countries were able to learn the basics of biodynamic agriculture, trauma therapy and education, supportive education and social therapy, as well as Waldorf education. It showed us the great interest in learning about and practising the cultural initiatives of applied anthroposophy.

Another highlight for us was that in November 2025, the European Parliament adopted the recommendation to allow access to social media only from the age of 16!

However, it is not good news that on the night of 4 December, the EU Commission decided that – despite all the awareness-raising and campaigning work carried out by our Alliance member Biodynamic Federation Demeter International – no effective protective mechanisms should be put in place any longer for the new genetic engineering techniques and that the patenting of plant characteristics will be deliberately accepted. This will lead to a massive concentration of market power in the hands of a few corporations and threatens decades of ecological breeding work. In future, it will no longer be necessary to label end products for which the new genetic engineering techniques such as CRISPR-Cas have been used. This means that another important freedom of choice will be lost. ELIANT plans to write to all MEPs about this before the vote in Parliament. This is expected to take place in February or March 2026. We will keep you informed.

In the medical field, our Alliance member, the International Federation of Anthroposophic Medical Associations (IVAA), has played a leading role in the 300-member integrative medicine initiative of the Traditional, Complementary, and Integrative Healthcare (TCIH) Coalition. The aim of TCIH is to support member states in developing strategies and programmes so that the maximum level of health and wellbeing can be achieved for people in accordance with their respective circumstances and realities.

Our plans for 2026: We will continue our work in the various fields. An initiative has been formed in Ghana to prepare for the next Africa Conference. We also want to step up our efforts to increase the number of our newsletter subscribers to one million. Why is this important? ELIANT was founded when it became clear that the legal conditions for unimpeded work in the fields of applied anthroposophy were not stable across the EU and in individual countries. In other words, if a new legislative decree were to be introduced that restricted the activities and effectiveness of one of these fields of work, the only thing that could help would be a citizens’ initiative, which in the EU requires 1 million signatures from at least 7 EU countries. In order to be able to collect these quickly and successfully, we need broad support from civil society. We are extremely grateful that we have been able to recruit activists in three countries who are willing to help us achieve this, and also hope that we may continue to count on your financial support in the new year.

With all good wishes for a blessed Christmas and warm regards – also on behalf of all Alliance members
Yours
Michaela Glöckler

A very warm thank you for your Christmas donation!