11/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Free Alliance (EFA) has declared in a press statement that it totally disagrees with the, "caricature of regionalisation in the next election of MEPs proposed by the French government…with the regrouping of 22 administrative regions in 8 large electoral regions lacking any identity or personality". Miquel Mayol, a Catalan MEP declared that the quasi-single state circumscription was something to be regretted and that the proposals would only encourage abstentionism and disinterest on the part of citizens in Europe. His colleague, Nelly Maes (Belgium) believes that the proposals to introduce a 10% electoral limit for registered voters instead of the 10% of votes cast would see the French government "delivering a fatal blow to political pluralism". According to regionalist EFA MEPs at the European Parliament (together with the Greens), the "French Jacobin authorities" have used the pretext of obtaining stable majorities to once again try and harm "political diversity".