alde party liberal bulletin - 01 2013

Breaking down barriersKarel De Gucht Liberalising trade is one of the best tools to deliver growth

Flo Clucas on Gender equality: ‘Don’t shut up - name it and change it’

Dossier: Youth Unemployment

Croatia joins the EUInterview with Vesna Pusić and Ivan Jakovčić

FIRST ISSUE 2013

Liberal Bulletin - FIRST ISSUE - 2013

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Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 3

Interview with Vesna Pusić and Ivan Jakovčić Croatia is ready to join the Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 4

President’s Column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 6

Liberalism, trade and growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 7

Liberal summit in Amsterdam: Leaders outline Reform agenda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 8

Liberal Parties in Central and Eastern Europe: Weakness and Potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 11

ALDE Party launches Gender Equality Network ’Don’t shut up and put up – name it and change it!’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 12

The Civic List has much to offer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 14

Interview with Dick Roche’Smaller member states are better concensus builders’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 15

Dossier: Youth unemployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 17 - 19

Youth unemployment at record levelsEuropean Liberal Youth launches campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 17

Join our Youth Entrepreneurshipidea challenge on Facebook! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 18

Interview with Pauline KastermansA young person’s view on youthunemployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 19

Selecting candidates for European electionsHow could ALDE parties innovate? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 20

A liberal drink with Justina Vitkauskaite MEP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 21

Liberal movers and shakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 22

Contents

The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Party is the party for liberal demo-crat values in Europe.

Together with our liberal member parties across the European continent we are translating the principle of freedom into politics, economics and all other areas of our societies. The ALDE Party provides an increasingly vital link between citizens and the EU institutions and is con-tinuously growing in size and significance.

The ALDE Party consists of more than 50 member parties from across Europe.

Liberal Democrats created their European political family in 1976 in advance of the first direct elections to the European Parliament and in 1993 established themselves as a true transna-tional political party.

Liberal Bulletin is a publication of the ALDE Party. It is published three times a year.

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party, aisbl

Rue Montoyerstraat 31, 1000 Brussels

Tel. +32 2 237 01 40 – Fax +32 2 231 19 07

Editors: Daniel Tanahatoe, Enrico Portelli and Andrew Burgess, ALDE Party

Publisher: Didrik de Schaetzen, ALDE Party

Layout and printing: Trinome.be

With the support of the European Parliament

Calendar

/ 8 May 2013 - Maastricht, Netherlands ELF, Celebrating Europe

/ 10-11 May 2013 - Pula, Croatia ALDE Party Council

/ 28 May 2013 - Dublin, Irland Fianna Fail and LYMEC: Jobs for Youth conference

/ 27 June 2013 - Brussels, Belgium ALDE Party: Prime Ministers meeting ahead of the European Council

/ 1 July 2013 - Croatia Accessions as the EU 28th member state

/ 13 November 2013 - Bucharest, Romania LYMEC: Congress on “European identity”

/ 28-30 November 2013 - London, United Kingdom ALDE Party Congress


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EditorialLiberals have always strived to break down barriers. Following the

devastation of the Second World War, Liberals were among the vanguard of those who believed that through the establishment

of a European Economic Community a peaceful, united and prosperous Europe could be achieved.

Since then, the European Union has served us well. A big economic boom in the 1960’s, the first enlargement in the 1970’s, the adoption of the Single European Act in the 1980’s resulting in a more integrated Internal Market, the fall of the Berlin Wall leading to the end of the Cold War in the early 1990’s and the establishment of the Schengen zone, by now the world’s biggest area which allows people to travel without having their passports checked at the borders. With the expansion of the EU in 2004, the European continent was (nearly) reunited.

Now, times are more challenging. In this edition of the Liberal Bulletin, Liberals will argue that bold new initiatives and comprehensive reforms are needed.

The European Commissioner for Trade, Belgian Liberal Karel De Gucht, makes the case for a Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and the United States of America, tackling the remaining regulatory barriers to trade and investment between these partners, which could result in a growth boost of 0.5% to the EU economy, between €70 and €120 billion a year.

Earlier this year, the ALDE Party Gender Equality Network was established to break down barriers that prevent full participation of women in economic, social and political life. A full report can be found in this edition.

In a joint interview with Ivan Jakovčić, host of the ALDE Party Council in Pula on 10- 11 May, Vesna Pusić, the Foreign Minister of Croatia, argues that Croatian accession on 1 July of this year is an “accession with a task”. It is not a geopolitical or economically based enlargement, but a message from the EU member states that it is time to take the responsibility for the region of South East Europe, surrounded by member states but is still not consolidated and stable.

We hope you like the content and design of the new Liberal Bulletin. We’re quite excited and look forward to hearing your feedback!

Jacob Moroza-Rasmussen Secretary General of the ALDE Party


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Interview with Vesna Pusić and Ivan Jakovčić Croatia is ready to join the Union

What will EU membership mean to Croatia in general and Istria in particular?

Vesna Pusić: After almost 10 years of accession negotiations, Croatia is joining the European Union on 1 July 2013. First and foremost the most important benefit is safety and stability of our state, its institutions and its legal system. The predictability of laws, norms and regula-tions is the long-term benefit for our citizens. The second benefit is the accession to the sin-gle market, as it will open new opportunities for our companies and positively affects the investment climate in Croatia, due to reliability of a state as a member of the European Union. The third biggest benefit is freedom of move-ment for our citizens, especially our young ones, students, workers, travellers. Open bor-ders are also a symbolic message that Croatia

has joined a community of values and com-monly shared norms.

Ivan Jakovčić: For Croatia and its citizens it means belonging to and taking part in a Eu-ropean circle of history, heritage, and working together for the future. The European Union can bring peace and prosperity to Croatia and other states in the Balkans and countries that wish to become members, like Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosovo.

With its accession to the European Union, Croatia is entering a new era and the oppor-tunities and prospects that will open up to us need to be seized in the best way possible. These include the prospects of the single mar-ket, of free movement of people and goods, of unity, cooperation and prosperity not only as regards the economy but also in terms of

education, science, culture and all other fields of life.

While it is important for each Croatian to be a European citizen, on a regional level, for Istria and the Region of Istria, becoming a member of the European Union is even more important. My wish is for the European Union to bring us better business opportunities and better pos-sibilities of development for our fishermen and for our farmers.

What benefits will Croatia bring to the EU?

Vesna Pusić: Croatian accession is an “ac-cession with a task”. It is not a geopolitical or economically based enlargement, but a mes-sage from the EU member states that it is time to take the responsibility for the region of South East Europe, which lays surrounded

Croatia stands ready to provide political and technical support

to its neighbours on their path to the European Union.“

”Croatia applied for EU membership in 2003 and on 9 December 2011 leaders from the EU and Croatia signed the accession treaty. Subject to its ratification by all EU members, the country will become the 28th EU member country on 1 July 2013. On the date of publication, the parliaments of Denmark and Germany still had to approve the country’s accession. To discuss Croatia’s accession, Liberal Bulletin interviewed Dr Vesna Pusić, Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, leader of the Croatian People’s Party – Liberal Democrats (HNS) as well as the leader of the ALDE Party Council’s host party IDS, Ivan Jakovčić, governor of the region of Istria.


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by member states, but is still not consolidated and stable. Croatia stands ready to take full re-sponsibility for its neighbourhood and provide political and technical support to its neigh-bours on their path to the European Union. By sharing the EU reforms’ know-how with the countries in the region, Croatia will perform an important EU task. But the functioning of our neighbourhood is also the matter of our own functioning, as its stability affects our country’s stability. Therefore, we see it as our contribu-tion, but also our necessity. Croatia’s experi-ence in post conflict state building could also prove valuable for the countries of the south-ern Mediterranean and as such might be an important contribution to the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy.

Ivan Jakovčić: Croatia will bring the European Union new strength and new people, along with its own identity which I believe will enrich our common European identity as well. Croatia is nearly at the heart of Europe, representing a sort of bridge uniting the East to the West, the North to the South. Moreover, every Croatian region will bring its own cultural heritage and history, its specificities and products, but also new and innovative ideas and technologies as well as political objectives, such as regionalism and the concept of a Europe of regions.

As Minister for Foreign Affairs you have worked a lot towards accession, how pleased are you the day has finally arrived?

Vesna Pusić: I have worked on this accession from the very beginning in various capacities. It is in a way also my personal political project and a unique experience to be able to finalise such an important task for your country. My party, HNS, and I personally have advocated Croatian membership in the EU as a core Croatian na-tional interest since the 1990s and managed to gather all political forces to join this project and lead it in a spirit of political consensus through the negotiations, referendum, ratification in member states, to the final day of the accession. For that reason, July 1st will have a special im-portance in my career, but also my life. However, we are aware that the real work is ahead of us. Leading Croatia as an EU member state is a new challenge and I am ready for it.

What is the current situation for liberal poli-tics in Croatia?

Vesna Pusić: Two Croatian liberal parties, HNS and IDS, are members of the governing coalition which enables us to implement our policies after almost 10 years of being in op-position. The work in the government is always challenging, but it also creates a wider field for political work and promotion of our ideas and policies. Our key tasks in medium term are to finalise Croatian accession to the European

Union and boost the economic growth. HNS has to strengthen its position and its liberal val-ues and policies. We have to repeat our good result and win the support of liberal voters in the next elections and ensure that their po-litical option remains strongly represented in Croatian politics.

Ivan Jakovčić: The liberal option in Croatia cer-tainly needs to be strengthened. The polarisa-tion of the political scene into just two political blocks – the demo-christians and the social-democrats is extremely limiting. The Istrian Democratic Assembly, the regional Istrian par-ty I am at the head of, has done much to bring the liberal option closer to the citizens and it represents the most stable political power on the Istrian peninsula. I believe that in Croatia there is still much room for liberals on the po-litical scene, and this is increasingly recognised for example by the young and by people with higher levels of education.

How has being part of a wider European lib-eral family helped your party?

Vesna Pusić: HNS has been a member of our European liberal family for 13 years and this experience, exchange and contacts have helped in a number of ways, from networking and support in our internal and foreign politi-cal work, to policy making and party building trough training and exchange of experience. The biggest value of this family is its people,

the friends that you make in all parts of Europe, who strengthen you with their support and advice. HNS has grown as a party through the projects, training and exchange with our lib-eral partners. As for me personally, the experi-ence of being a Vice President of the European Liberal Democrats has made a big influence on my political career.

Ivan Jakovčić: For the Istrian Democratic As-sembly (IDS-DDI) being part of the European liberals - ALDE party means a lot, especially during the process of European integration. I believe that our cooperation within the Eu-ropean Parliament as well will mean prosper-ity for Croatian citizens, but I also believe that through our work and political creativity we will undoubtedly contribute to the work of ALDE as well.

What should delegates take from their visit to Pula, Croatia for the ALDE Party Council?

Ivan Jakovčić: Distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Pula and Istria, welcome to Croatia! Please take back with you the newly made acquaintances and friendships, new impressions and experiences from a coun-try now part of the united European family. Take back the flavours and the scents of Istria, meet the people and get to know our objectives, programmes and projects. Thank you for being here and please come and visit us again!


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President’s ColumnI am not a great fan of ‘Year of ...’, but as an active citizen let me

report that 2013 is the European Year of Citizens. This marks the 20th anniversary of the EU citizenship introduced by the Maastricht

Treaty in 1993 which gives us the right of free movement, the right to vote and stand for election in local or European elections in whichever EU country we live in, to consular protection from any EU member state in any country outside the EU and to legal protection by the European Court of Justice.

Amsterdam SummitAt the end of February, I co-hosted in Amsterdam with the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte a summit of leading Liberal Democrats: the deputy prime ministers of Germany, the UK, Belgium and Croatia together with leading EU Commissioners, our leader in the European Parliament and the President of the European Investment Bank, who announced he will raise lending by 40% (an additional €60 billion) over the next two years to stimulate Europe’s economy. We discussed the economic and financial crisis, relations with China and preparation for the European elections next year and produced a joint statement outlining a Reform Agenda. European Liberals also repeated our calls for a single seat for the European Parliament – sadly we received another big blow in our efforts when the European Court of Justice ruled that MEPs cannot decide to meet fewer than 12 weeks a year in Strasbourg.

Launch of ALDE Party Gender Equality Network In March I launched the new ALDE Party Gender Equality Network, which I hope under the leadership of Flo Clucas will become a driving force in the promotion of gender equality policies across Europe. As Robert Burns observed nearly 300 years ago: ‘When Europe’s eye is fixed on mighty things / The fate of empires and the fall of kings / When quacks of state must each produce his plan / And even children lisp The Rights of Man / Amidst this mighty fuss, just let me mention / The Rights of Woman merit some attention.’ The Network will

campaign strongly for gender equality to ensure full participation as equal partners in economic, social and political life. I wish them well.

David Cameron’s EU speechWe also finally heard David Cameron’s long-awaited speech on the Conservatives’ view of the UK’s future in Europe. My biggest concern about Cameron’s speech is that promising a referendum creates uncertainty about Britain’s future in the Union which will deter the foreign investors on whom so many jobs depend. Lewis Carroll’s question of ‘Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you join the dance?’ is still valid, over a century later. In the same week, I made my own big speech about the UK and Europe before a large audience in Paris.

A single EU patent at lastSome good news: after more than 15 years of argument between the member states about a 1997 proposal from the EU Commission, a patenting system under which a single EU patent, which must be registered in English, French and German, will be valid across 25 EU member states. (Italy and Spain excluded themselves out of pique that their languages were not included). This will reduce the costs for business of protecting ideas from some €36,000 to just €5,000. Liberals also welcomed the announcement that talks will shortly begin on a comprehensive trade agreement between the European Union and the United States of America. Free trade is at the heart of the market economy and at the heart of what liberal parties stand for.

The European budgetThe budget deal struck between the member states on the 2014-2020 budget for the EU remains under discussion. The ALDE Group in the Parliament met and agreed not to contest the total amount foreseen but to insist on gearing spending more towards growth, providing for greater flexibility to move money between budget headings and holding a mid-term review so that the next Parliament is not bound by our priorities. The matter is currently in Committee. Final agreement is likely in May or June. My guess is that Parliament will approve the agreement, but only after extracting concessions to allow for easier transfers between budget lines, a budget review in two or three years and a commitment to allocate certain (possibly new) tax revenues to the EU budget.

A common candidateI welcomed the recommendation from the European Commission that political parties should nominate a candidate for Commission President in the next European elections to be held in May 2014 and that they should display their European political party affiliation. I look forward to our further discussions on this at the ALDE Party Council meeting in Pula, Croatia.

Sir Graham Watson MEP President of the ALDE Party


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We still need to use all the tools at our disposal to deliver

growth and liberalising trade is one of the most effective.“

”Liberalism, trade and growth

Since Adam Smith wrote the Wealth of Na-tions, liberals have been pointing to the economic benefits of free trade. Today we

need those benefits more than ever. Despite the impressive progress that the European Un-ion has made to overcome the economic crisis, we still need to use all the tools at our disposal to deliver growth. And liberalising trade is one of the most effective.

Trade theory has advanced since the 18th Century but the reason trade works still comes back to supply and demand.

Trade boosts demand for European products by improving our firms’ access to markets around the world. Already 30 million Euro-pean jobs depend on sales of our goods and services on foreign markets. This figure has grown by 10 million since 1995 and is set to grow further given that we expect 90% of the world’s growth to come from outside Europe after 2015.

Trade helps the supply side of the economy in two ways. First by lowering costs – two thirds of Europe’s imports are of components and raw materials and 13% of the value of Eu-rope’s exports is made up of imported goods and services. Access to international produc-ers improves European producers’ ability to compete.

Second, by improving productivity. Allowing more imports and investment into our market raises the competitive pressure on our compa-nies, forcing them to become more efficient. It

also brings in new thinking, contributing to in-novation. We know from past experience that a 0.6% increase in the openness of European economies is associated with a 1% increase in productivity.

The best way of taking advantage of these forces is through the World Trade Organisation because it delivers transparent international rules and liberalises trade with all of our part-ners at the same time.

But free trade agreements are also a valid channel, one that the EU sees as increasingly promising. We now have a comprehensive pro-gramme of free trade agreement negotiations that will eventually cover two thirds of our total trade, if we succeed in concluding them.

One of the main determinants of our overall success will be the negotiation we are launch-ing with the United States. The scale of our economic relationship – €2 billion a day in trade, approaching €5 trillion in total mutual investment stocks, 15 million jobs – means that the impact will be huge, which is why there is such a broad political consensus about delivering a deal.

The challenge we face is making sure that deal is effective. After decades of trade liberalisa-tion since the Second World War, both of our economies are relatively open so we will need to go into new areas if we want to deliver real progress. That means not only tackling the low tariffs that remain but also the many barriers that exist behind the customs border.

Chief among these are the regulatory barriers to trade and investment estimated to be as ef-fective as tariffs of between 10 and 20%. How-ever, tackling these will not be easy. Our goal is to find ways to remove their protectionist effects while leaving the protection they pro-vide against environmental, health, safety and economic risks firmly intact.

Some may be sceptical about our chances – pointing to the controversies on regulatory issues that have raged across the Atlantic in the past. But in fact these disagreements are more an example of the narcissism of small differences than any fundamental divergence. Comparing the level of protection that both systems offer to their citizens with the level offered in many other countries around the world makes this abundantly clear.

This makes me optimistic that with sufficient creativity, pragmatism and determination we can bring this process to a successful conclu-sion. Let us stay focused on the big picture – a growth boost of 0.5% to the EU economy, between €70 and €120 billion a year. Who could pass up such an opportunity? Certainly no liberal.

Karel De Gucht European Commissioner for Trade


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Liberal summit in Amsterdam: Leaders outline Reform agenda

Since our London meeting in January 2012, we have seen a renewed capacity and willingness, at the EU and national

levels, to address the challenges that we face and make reforms. For now, the very worst of the Eurozone crisis seems to have passed due to: decisive action by the ECB, passage of the new Economic Governance package, agree-ment on the first stage of a Banking Union, and on- going structural reform across the Eurozone to cut debt and deficits and boost

competitiveness. We have also seen major EU-wide reforms that will have a lasting beneficial effect on our Union: moves by the Commission to lift burdens on small businesses from exist-ing and new regulations and agreement in the European Council to an EU budget, now await-ing the consent of the Parliament.

However, there is no room for complacency. The twin crises of sovereign debt and bank capitalisation remain a challenge to the econ-

omy and to the stability and unity of the EU. Building growth, lowering unemployment and raising competitiveness remain urgent pri-orities, as does rebalancing and refocusing our Union on the key strategic priorities facing us all. Therefore, we call on all European leaders in all institutions to use the period before the European Parliament elections and the forma-tion of the next College of Commissioners to expand and accelerate the EU-wide reform agenda underway, and to lay out a clear and compelling statement of EU-wide reform pri-orities for the new Parliament and Commission in 2014 and for the European Council that will deliver a better, stronger and more prosperous EU. In particular:

A Liberal European Reform AgendaEuropean Reform to Resolve the Eurozone Crisis. To avoid any backsliding, and to restore the EU member state economies to long-term

At the invitation of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and ALDE Party President Sir Graham Watson MEP, European Liberal Democrat leaders in government and European Commissioners convened in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on Monday 25 February and issued the following statement:


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stability and health, the following priority ac-tions are needed:

• Economic Governance: The Commission and member states must ensure full implementa-tion of new Economic Governance rules.

• Banking Union: The Commission should move swiftly to bring forward further propos-als for the Banking Union, and these dossiers should be prioritised through the legislative process by Council and Parliament.

• Unity & Integrity: Throughout, leaders and institutions must avoid erecting rigid EU di-vides, keeping doors open to non-Eurozone members and preserving single market and EU decision-making integrity.

European Reform to Boost Jobs, Growth & Competitiveness. To deliver a boost to jobs, growth and Europe’s global competitiveness, the following actions are needed:

• Structural Reforms: EU member states must redouble their efforts to implement the long overdue structural reforms, i.e. making labour market more flexible, reforming pension systems, opening up regulated sectors for competition and providing for more women in the workforce through tax incentives and childcare services.

• Single Market: Accelerate recent progress in deepening and widening the single market,

especially in the services, energy and digital sectors, through the Single Market Acts and by strengthening Single Market governance. Particular attention has to be paid to unlock-ing the potential of the digital single market and fostering start-ups in Europe. European leaders must also lay out a clear action plan before the European Elections that can un-derpin an ambitious 2nd Single Market Pro-gramme under the next Commission, with the overall goal of fully completing the EU single market by 2020.

• Trade: Build on recent progress by giving the Commission an ambitious mandate to nego-tiate a far-reaching EU-US Trade deal with the goal of securing a transatlantic single market to the maximum extent possible, and for all actors to help deliver an agreement under this Commission. In addition, all relevant par-ties should redouble their efforts to complete EU-Canada, EU-India and EU- Japan negotia-tions under this Commission.

• Smarter Regulation: Full and swift implemen-tation of the new Smarter Regulation Strat-egy, lifting regulatory burdens on small busi-nesses and enacting the Regulatory Fitness Communication. EU leaders and institutions should also set out clear priorities to further this smarter regulation agenda under the next Commission.

European Reform to Rebalance & Refocus EU Action. With a view to improving, modernis-ing and strengthening our Union as well as to increase democratic legitimacy of the EU gov-ernance level, the following actions should be taken:

• Institutional Reform & Coordination: EU lead-ers and institutions should explore and set out priorities for EU-wide institutional re-forms, including reviewing the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of existing agencies and institutions, options to move to a single seat for the European Parliament and the Coun-cil of Ministers in Brussels, preserving and strengthening the role of national parlia-ments in EU affairs and reforms to restructure the Commission around clusters.

• Better Budgeting: EU leaders and institutions should explore avenues for reinforcing EU budgetary control and cost-effective spend-ing, such as establishing an independent Eu-ropean Office for Budget Responsibility, and providing for budgetary flexibility and con-sidering the issue of own resources.

• Smart Investment: EU leaders and institutions should explore avenues for unlocking EU-lev-el infrastructure investment and private sec-tor and IFI leveraging, in particular through the EIB.

Building growth, lowering unemployment and

raising competitiveness remain urgent priorities

“”


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• Modernise Europe: EU leaders and institu-tions should set out proposals ahead of the next Commission to aid domestic structural reforms, boost competitiveness and tackle youth joblessness. This should include great-er flexibility for member states over detailed rules, and targeted EU action to boost skills, apprenticeships, training and higher educa-tion opportunities.

• Modernise EU Foreign, Security and Defence Policy: In line with December 2012 European Council conclusions, the High Representa-tive should bring forward proposals to boost Europe’s international voice, and enhance value-for-money, capabilities and deployabil-ity of CSDP at the very latest by September 2013, and member states should be ready to take swift, ambitious and practical action and put them into effect in pursuit of these objec-tives.

• Subsidiarity: EU leaders and institutions should explore plans where reforms to de-volve powers across the EU would be ben-eficial for all. EU leaders should set out clear

priorities for a targeted EU-wide devolution agenda under the next Commission, to be accompanied by mutual oversight and com-mon monitoring by Council and Parliament on the basis of regular reports by the Com-mission.

• Defending European values: EU leaders and institutions should set out an ambitious agenda to safeguard the respect for human rights and the rule of law in the Union, includ-ing the establishment of a mechanism in the Commission to monitor member states’ com-pliance with the values set out in the Treaty and the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Looking towards the European Elections in 2014. European Liberal Leaders recognise that the economic crisis has increased political disaf-fection and disillusion in Europe. However, the reforms needed to tackle our collective chal-lenges will require bold collective EU action and a strong reformist European Liberal family. Today, Liberal parties are in Government in 11 EU member states, 8 European Commissioners

are from liberal parties, and the European Liber-al Democrats win the vast majority of the votes in the European Parliament, more than any other Group. We are collectively determined to pull together to ensure that liberalism remains a strong, influential and reforming force across Europe both now and well into the future. With a view to stimulating debate and to influencing the next European Commis-sion’s programme, European Liberal Par-ties in Government commit to bringing forward proposals for an EU-wide reform agenda setting out the priorities that must be pursued from 2014 onwards, ahead of the appointment of the new Commission. European Liberal Leaders will next meet at the ALDE Party Congress in London on 29-30 No-vember, hosted by the Liberal Democrats of the United Kingdom.

The following took part in the meeting: Mark Rutte, Sir Graham Watson, Nick Clegg, Dr. Philipp Rösler, Dr. Vesna Pusić, Alexander De Croo, Guy Verhofstadt, Dr. Werner Hoyer, Neelie Kroes, Olli Rehn, Karel De Gucht, Martin Lidegaard, Lena Ek, Taavi Rõivas, Birgitta Ohlsson, Crin Antonescu, Artur Mas i Gavarró, Ivan Jakovčić, Tamara Venrooy, Frans Weekers, Hans van Baalen.


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Liberal Parties in Central and Eastern Europe: Weakness and Potential

Following the fall of the Soviet Union, Cen-tral and Eastern Europe seemed like fer-tile soil for liberal ideas of freedom and

human rights. Many years of direct or indirect oppression from Moscow was no longer on the cards, and Europe was back on track for a process of re-unification and prosperity. Para-phrasing Professor Adam Przeworski: open-ness and liberty, rather than scaremongering and barbed wire, was to be the only game in town, or so we hoped.

Some twenty years later, we must sadly con-clude that those hopes have only partially been fulfilled. Yes – many CEE countries have made remarkable progress from their starting point in the early 1990’s and, as a result, joined the European Union. But organised liberalism has only really been successful in a handful of countries over the longer term, leaving many present-day countries without a properly func-tioning liberal party active in the respective parliaments and governments, which instead increasingly seem to feature forces with popu-list and/or nationalist agendas.

While openness and liberty undoubtedly has become more prominent in Central and East-ern Europe since the fall of the Iron Curtain; it still seems a far cry from being the only game in town.

Worried and curious about this situation, and eager to assist in pushing the liberal agenda back to the fore, the ALDE Party decided in 2011 to embark on a comprehensive two-year research project, in the hope of finding some of the underlying reasons for this situation.

Steered by the Dean of the Social and Political Sciences Faculty of Université Libre de Brux-elles, Dr. Jean-Michel De Waele, the project involved professors and researchers from lead-ing universities or research institutes in five countries in the concerned region (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovakia) and solicits their views on the prevailing situ-ation for liberals in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as consults their thoughts on what could be done to further improve matters.

Through desk research, focus groups and in-depth interviews with both citizens and liberal politicians, the final report entitled ”The Liberal Parties in Central and Eastern Europe: Weakness and Potential” was published in April 2013, and is available on the ALDE Party’s website, www.aldeparty.eu/publications. The report, based on two separate reports per country, attempts to answer the following questions:

– What is the current potential for liberal par-ties in the region?

– What are the main reasons for the failure of some liberal parties to reach their full poten-tial?

– What could liberal parties in the region im-prove?

– Are there similarities between the countries in the region?

– What do the insiders say?

As we approach next year’s elections to the European Parliament, it is obviously in the in-terest of both the ALDE Party and its members to improve the situation as much as possible, to get a better representation from across Eu-rope.

If you find this research interesting, and would like to share any feedback or as regards its contents, or for that matter would like to suggest concrete follow-up, your thoughts are warmly welcome! Please then do get in touch with this project’s coordinator, Politi-cal Adviser Joakim Frantz of the ALDE Party by mailing [email protected] or calling +32 2 551 01 61.

Joakim Frantz Political Adviser ALDE Party


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ALDE Party launches Gender Equality Network ’Don’t shut up and put up – name it and change it!’

The ALDE Party Gender Equality Network will campaign for gender equality and the promo-tion of women’s rights. The goal is to ensure the full participation of women in economic, social and political life. It supports the participation of women in the public sphere of the European Union and campaigns for the implementation of gender equality policies within ALDE mem-ber parties and on the European level.

In her introductory remarks Flo Clucas OBE, Pres-ident of the ALDE Party Gender Equality Network, recalled the sacrifice of British suffragettes, such as Emily Wilding Davison who was trampled to death by a horse when she protested at the Ep-som Derby. “While women today in Europe make up 67% of graduates and 27% of entrepreneurs, they are paid on average 17,6% less than their male colleagues, are denied educational oppor-tunities and exploited,” she said. “It is high time

that we remind ourselves that women and men deserve social, economic, financial and educa-tional equality – not only on paper.”

Virginija Langbakk, Director of the European Institute for Gender Equality agreed. “It is not about equal rights – on paper men and wom-en are equal – it’s about the “soft issues” and here it is especially important to involve men,” she said during her keynote speech. What prevents women from entering top level posi-tions, Ellen Madeker, Chairwoman of the Brus-sels-based group of the German liberal party (FDP), asserts, is a lack of female role models. “Role models are very important because they have considerable influence in shaping career paths. They can boost our self-confidence. At university, I had mostly male professors, so far only male bosses and at work I’ve made the ex-perience that the more high-ranking delega-

tions from anywhere in the world are, the more exclusively male they are – and the older the members, the more likely it is to be mistaken for the secretary,” she recalls.

Isabella Lenarduzzi had been working as a so-cial entrepreneur in Belgium for a while when she realised she was the only woman owning her own event company and decided to mo-tivate women to take the risk of becoming an entrepreneur. In 2006 she founded JUMP with the goal to “empowering women, advancing the economy” – in bold white letters on bright pink. She was inspired by the “pink loan” initia-tive of Italian banks, which was meant to be an incubator for female entrepreneurism. “Pink is a statement. I don’t want to be or act like a man. The key to success for a woman is to re-main herself. It is a myth that femininity has no place in leadership,” she insists.

“The first President of the European Parliament was a woman – and a liberal at that, but unfortunately, there is only one other woman among her successors. Half of Europe’s population are women, but politics don’t reflect that: the majority of MEPs, MPs are men, which just comes to show that we have a long way to go yet in achieving gender equality. The role of ALDE Party’s Gender Equality Network is just that: to attract more women to become active members of liberal parties across Europe,” said ALDE Party President Sir Graham Watson MEP launching the ALDE Party Gender Equality Network in Brussels.


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Addressing the panel, moderator and EU Cor-respondent Sylvia Schreiber, recalled an ad-vertisement from the 50s featuring a woman smoking a cigarette. The text of the advert read ’You’ve come a long way, baby‘. “In the 50s only 20% of women worked outside the home – and for a large part in so-called “female oc-cupations” and they earned 59 cents for every dollar that their male colleagues did as com-pared to 70 cents for every dollar in 2000. So you could say that progress has been made,” she said. The progress in the 60s and 70s was steep, but has become a flat curve since the 90s; the debate about gender equality has been silenced until it has become a “non-issue”, Olle Schmidt MEP lamented. Showing pictures of the ECB executive board, governing council and general council, he pointed out “there you have the EU body with currently the greatest influence. Thirty men and not a single woman. When I raised the question at the ECB, I was told ‘you only have one question, do you really want to waste it on this?’ ” Schmidt recalled his fight for his right to paternity leave back in the day and wants to see more female speakers at conferences across Brussels, especially where they are underrepresented. “The discussion we are having today in the EU is one that we were having in Sweden in the 70s.”

Former Mayor Marion Lesmere told how at Brussels City Council there is a non-written agreement that the coalition party with the least votes has to supply the “female quota”. This practice contradicts the purpose for

which gender quotas are being designed, and challenges what benefit a pan-European gen-der quota will bring.

For what has been common practice among successful men – taking a young protégée under their wing – women have been hesi-tant to support other women, hesitant to be cast as ’the feminist‘. Concluding the debate, ALDE Party Gender Equality Network President Flo Clucas said: “We need to keep in mind the wise words, Madeline Albright once famously said: there is a special place in hell for wom-en who don’t help each other, which is why one of ALDE Party Gender Equality Network’s

main objectives is to launch a mentoring pro-gramme that will connect young professional women with a mentor who has experience and connections in her field.”

More information about the ALDE Party Gen-der Equality Network can be found here: www.aldeparty.eu/gender-equality-network

The launch event was held in cooperation with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Free-dom (FNF) at the Cercle de Lorraine in Brussels.

It is high time that we remind ourselves that women and men deserve social, economic, financial and educational

equality – not only on paperALDE Party Gender Equality Network President Flo Clucas OBE

“”


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The Civic List has much to offer

The Civic List was established a year and half ago, just weeks before the Slovenian prelimi-nary elections 2011, by a group of individuals who shared common beliefs and felt a strong responsibility to engage in Slovenian political life. With its electoral programme the party positioned itself in the centre of the political spectrum while building on values of classical liberalism. Until then these views had not been very prominent in Slovenian mainstream poli-tics. Nevertheless, the party’s alternative and somewhat progressive ideas were welcomed by the Slovenian citizens. The party success-fully entered into the Slovenian National As-sembly and afterwards joined the centre-right Janša Government.

After the publication of a report of the Slov-enian Commission for the Prevention of Cor-ruption in early 2013 pointing to some seri-ous irregularities committed by the Prime Minister, the Civic List consistently defended a zero-tolerance approach to corruption. The circumstances eventually led to the fall of the government.

This happened in a very critical time for the country. Slovenia’s debt was increasing, threats of downgrading the country’s credit rating were growing, a drop of the country’s GDP was projected and the productivity and employ-ment rates were worsening. This all required

quick reactions and responsible decisions. For the Civic List this meant the party entered into the centre-left government (under the steer of a new centre-left leader Alenka Bratušek) to ensure that the party’s key projects aiming at the country’s recovery continue.

As such, the main priorities of the new gov-ernment remain the consolidation of public finances, a rehabilitation and stabilisation of the banking system, privatisation, an in-crease of the country’s competitiveness and an improvement of the overall business en-vironment. These measures are leading the country towards recovery and regaining the confidence of the markets.

Restore the confidence of Slovenian citizens in politics is of equal importance. In this respect a particular responsibility and great opportu-nity has been given to the Civic List as today the party has ministers in government run-ning three key ministries: the Ministry for In-terior and Public Administration, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Spatial Planning. Reinforced prosecution of organised crime and corruption, reform of the judiciary system, revitalisation of the pub-lic service and the implementation of key sus-tainable infrastructure projects are high on our agenda. By implementing these measures we continue to fully engage in a democratic dia-

logue and remain committed to responsible decision-making.

In times of crisis it is necessary not to over-emphasise each others’ differences, but to build on common values and find solutions together. This applies to national politics, but also to our great liberal family. Especially now we have much to offer. Everyday we are learn-ing from our partners abroad and we should all keep reflecting on each other’s work, our great achievements, but also mistakes. The coming period with the European elections ahead will offer many excellent opportunities to do that and we should not miss them. Let’s stay en-gaged in building a better future together.

Dr Gregor Virant Minister of the Interior and Public

Administration of Slovenia

In times of crisis it is necessary to build on common values and

find solutions together“ ”


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Ireland currently holds the presidency of the European Council. How successful do you think Ireland will be in moving forward the EU agenda at this important time?

The slogan for Ireland’s Presidency 2013 “Sta-bility, Jobs and Growth” - is an interlinked set of aspirations that few would question. Past Irish presidencies have been generally regarded as successful. I recall when we cracked the im-passe on the discussions on the constitutional treaty during the 2004 presidency a colleague was talking about “the luck of the Irish”. The re-ality is that you make your own “good luck”.

Smaller member states, probably because they are smaller, tend to be less delusional about their centrality in European affairs and tend as a consequence to be better consensus build-ers. Ireland has tended to punch well above her weight in terms of presidency programs and delivery so I wish the current Irish presi-dency every good fortune not least because of the critical position in which the European Union currently finds itself.

The Presidency of the Council of the EU rotates among Member States every six months. In the first half of 2013, Ireland holds the Presidency for the seventh time and will guide the work among the Member States. In this interview, ALDE Party Vice President and Ireland’s former Minister of State for European Affairs (2007-2011) Dick Roche argues that smaller Member States are better consensus builders, as they tend to be less delusional about their central role in EU decision-making.

Interview with Dick Roche ’Smaller member states are better concensus builders’


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The speech will hang like a sword of Damocles over discussions on all big-ticket issues during this

and the next eight or ten Presidencies. The Union is now in uncharted waters with no

clear idea of a destination

“”A priority for European liberals and the Euro-

pean Union is to create growth and employ-ment.

Securing economic stability and ensuring that it leads to jobs and growth is a very ambitious theme – if a little hyperbolic. The economic trough in which Europe has been languish-ing for far too long has imposed untold misery on many European citizens. The high level of unemployment amongst young people in the European Union, one of the richest markets in the world, is a reprehensible monument to the failure of political leadership.

The EU Council has been less than inspirational over the crisis and all too frequently the big de-cisions have been long fingered – or worse still made elsewhere. Given that Ireland has been seen ‘to be taking the medicine’ it is a pity that the Presidency didn’t take the opportunity to more publically pose some questioning of the wisdom of sticking rigidly to policies put in place in the immediate aftershock of the bank-ing crisis.

The Irish Presidency programme acknowl-edges fundamental weaknesses in the union’s monetary architecture. I welcome that frank-ness but feel that the Presidency might have spoken more robustly on what needs to be done. Future stability, the Presidency argues, needs to be “anchored in a manner which en-dures”: we all agree! It goes on to state: “the EU economy simply cannot grow meaningfully unless investors and consumers have confi-dence in the Union’s banking system and the regulatory architecture underpinning it.” The frank recognition that the Union’s existing ar-rangements are not anchored in the manner that they should be is welcome: to solve a

problem you must first acknowledge that you have a problem.

What do you think should be done?

There is one elephant in the room that is be-ing overlooked: the question of the fitness for purpose of the ECB as currently constituted. It would be unfair not to acknowledge that the ECB has achieved a lot in the short time since its creation - but it is capable of more. The near collapse of large parts of Europe’s banking sys-tem revealed that the ECB had been woefully lax and had tolerated a regulatory system that is not fit for purpose. The ECB was in the best position to monitor the massive flows of credit from central to the peripheral economies: it failed to take effective action. Yet the idea of a root and branch overhaul in the ECB is some-thing of a taboo subject.

It could and I feel should have been brought more to the fore by the Irish Presidency: it is an issue on which Ireland could introduce some useful insights. The manner in which the ECB was established, the narrow focus that was set for the bank and the fact that it lacks the full range of instruments typically available to cen-tral banks are all issues that need to be openly discussed.

It needs to be acknowledged that architects of the Eurozone failed when they created a European Central Bank that was just ‘half ’ a central bank, not allowed to operate as the lender of last resort to Member States, could not engage in ‘quantitative easing’ and had to invent a system for taking up bonds that oper-ated as a god-send for massive hedge funds and speculators and it has been over focused on inflation.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron recently delivered his long-awaiting speech on Eu-rope. What is your opinion on the speech? What impact do you think this has/will have on other EU members?

The speech will hang like a sword of Damocles over discussions on all big-ticket issues dur-ing this and the next eight or ten Presidencies. The Union is now in uncharted waters with no clear idea of a destination. Mr Cameron has in effect unilaterally committed his fellow EU Council colleagues to a course of action that few if any welcome without any specific ad-vance warning, without any discussion as to how the process is to be actuated and without any idea as to the precise issues on which he feels a renegotiation should focus. That he has done this at a time when other pressing issues must be attended to is odd to put it mildly. This is not the best way to create sympathy for his cause. Even if Mr Cameron can charm his col-leagues it is hard to envisage quite what type of arrangement he can get.

Could the UK end up with an arrangement with the EU like Norway?

An arrangement similar to Norway’s is a pos-sibility: that would give the UK access to the single market but it comes at a very consider-able cost. Norway signs up for EU legislation without having a say in its enactment and makes a handsome contribution to the Union’s finances. It is hard to see such an arrangement seducing British voters.


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Youth unemployment at record levels

Youth unemployment is at crisis level across a number of EU Member States and the rates of youth unemployment are more than double the standard rate in many EU Member States. Across the EU youth unemployment has reached 22% on average and are as high as 50% in some Member States. The unemployment crisis in Europe has hit young people hardest. European Liberal Youth together with the ALDE Party have launched a campaign and dedicated website at www.jobsforyouth.eu to gather and debate new ideas on how we can address the situation.

Dossier: Youth unemployment

The true rate of unemployment is currently being masked by emigration and large numbers of young people are entering or staying in educa-tion. The European Commission as part of the Europe 2020 Strategy for Growth has called on all Member States to draw up a national plan to combat youth joblessness. In January 2012, the President of the Euro-pean Commission, José Manuel Barroso, called for specific policies to be put in place by EU Member States to tackle youth unemployment along with providing increased supports for small and medium-sized businesses.

The ALDE Party adopted a resolution to address the issue at its 2012 Congress in Dublin. The European Liberal Youth organisation LYMEC has taken up the gauntlet to transmit our message to decision makers at national level, calling for immediate action. The ALDE Party has launched an idea challenge on Facebook to collect concrete ideas how we can promote entrepreneurship among young people. At the same time, sev-eral events will be organised across Europe to address the issue.


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Join our Youth Entrepreneurship idea challenge on Facebook!

Europe is lagging behind when it comes to entrepreneurship. Only 22% of Europeans had first-hand experience in starting a business while 38% of Americans had it (Eurobarometer, 2009).

Europeans don’t think highly of entrepreneurs either. 49% of Europe-ans think that entrepreneurs exploit other people’s work, while only 26% feel that way.

However, entrepreneurs worldwide have an enormous impact on the economy and society. The majority of new jobs are created by start-ups and 45% of Europeans actually would like to be their own boss if they could.

How do we make Europeans, especially the youth, more likely to pursue entrepreneurship? Join our idea challenge on Facebook and get your voice heard! www.aldeparty.eu/challenge

“We should glorify our entrepreneurs. We need more Angry Birds, Spotify, Skype and the likes in Europe. Europeans need to be creative and fear-less”

Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission, Commissioner for the Digital Agenda

“Europe’s citizens owe a debt of gratitude to the many entrepreneurs that have showed the vision and the courage, the guts and the grit to keep the parts of our industry competitive in times of ep-ochal change and to keep people in jobs.”

Sir Graham Watson MEP, President of the ALDE Party

“We need to support entrepreneurs and self start-ers in developing new businesses and social en-terprises, which are vital to our global competive-ness. Youth entrepreneurship is something that I’d like to see more of.”

Phil Bennion MEP (Liberal Democrat, UK)

“It’s all hands on deck to ensure that every young person in the EU is being offered a job or an ap-prenticeship or equivalent after a maximum of four months of inactivity. Member States should make the Youth Guarantee legally enforceable in order to effectively fight youth unemployment.”

Nadja Hirsch MEP (FDP, Germany)

What do we promise? By joining the campaign you can have influence on Europe’s policies on entrepreneurship.

* The top contributor will be invited to join ALDE Party’s Congress in London.

* Your ideas will influence the ALDE party manifesto. They will influence the politics in various national parties as well as ALDE representatives in EU parliament.

* Finally, as a token of thanks for your time, we are offering the top 10 participants a €25 voucher to purchase one of the many books ALDE party promotes as part of its ‘liberal collection’



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Join our Youth Entrepreneurship idea challenge on Facebook!

My name is Pauline Kastermans. I am currently 22 years old and just finished my bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts &

Sciences at Amsterdam University College. As I am currently a part of JD’s national board as International Officer, I have not yet found the time to start looking for a job.

What does the employment situation look like in the Netherlands? Do you have any personal experience from your life or friends that have experienced unemployment themselves?

Currently, the official youth unemployment numbers for the Netherlands is 15%, while in 2011 this was 9.8%. Last year 108,000 young people were unemployed on average in com-parison to 83,000 in 2011. The ‘normal’ unem-ployment was 7.5% in January 2013.

Within JD I know some instances where gradu-ates faced or are still facing difficulty finding a job or traineeship. Also, I know some people that have decided to stay in education longer to prolong their entry into the labour market. However, this seems to differ a lot between cases, as there are also some instances where-by people have found job(s) within a reason-able period of time.

What is the position of your party and/or youth organisation?

As our current government recently called for reforms, D66 has responded with some demands, namely to double the investments

made for youth from €50 million to €100 mil-lion. Also D66 calls for the unions and employ-ers, who currently have about €500 million to spend on (re)education, to target their budget more on the youth among the (un)employed to prevent a Dutch “lost generation” as much as possible.

JD would like to add to this that we call for more investments into innovation to encour-age the foundation of SMEs and thereby en-courage young entrepreneurs. Thereby the link between education, research and business should be minimised and small initiatives en-couraged. As concrete policy examples, one could think of “regulation free zones”, so that young entrepreneurs are not bound to strict labour market laws and regulations. Also we call for the labour market to be made more flexible so that it will be easier for employers to hire and fire people.

What is your opinion on the resolution adopted at the ALDE Party Congress in Dub-lin 2012? Could it be used in your county? What improvements could be made?

The resolution on youth unemployment as adopted generally falls in line with our policies and demands. Within the Netherlands the fo-cus should especially be on the link between education and the labour market, as this is the biggest challenge. Emigration is not an issue in our country, as it is in countries such as Spain or Greece. Also it would be beneficial if the Eu-ropean Union would invest more in innovation

policy and shift their focus especially towards SMEs and young entrepreneurs, as we already suggested on a national level.

What could be done in your country to im-prove the employment situation for young persons in Europe?

As mentioned before, the current govern-ment has promised to invest €50 million extra in youth unemployment of which 50% will be mainly spent on the lower-educational levels to encourage further education. Also, an am-bassador for youth unemployment was intro-duced on April 2nd. We believe that the mon-ey invested in youth unemployment should be increased and policies on making the labour market more flexible should be implemented sooner rather than later.

What could be done by LYMEC and the ALDE Party to improve the employment situation for young persons in Europe?

LYMEC and the ALDE Party are making a great start with raising awareness on the issue of youth unemployment with this active cam-paign involving lots of member organisations. Moreover, they should continue their political work on the issue within the European political framework by lobbying for youth-friendly poli-cies and flexibilisation of the labour market.

Interview with Pauline Kastermans A young person’s view on youth unemployment



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The European Parliament is now on an equal footing with the EU Council (the representa-tives of the Governments of the EU Member States). Yet, the more the voices of the EU citizens are meant to be heard through their elected representatives in Brussels, the less the citizens are attracted to the EU, a result so bla-tantly evident in the growing levels of absten-tion seen during European elections.

In addressing this growing feeling of a “demo-cratic deficit”, as well as that “Brussels is far from home”, various ideas have been aired from an EU-wide campaign of the candidates for the top post of the European Commission, the EU’s ex-ecutive, to a truly “federal union”. Some novelty ideas have already come into play, such as the “European Citizens Initiative” allowing European citizens to team up across several EU member states and, if successful, to suggest directly - not through their representatives - a change in a policy and/or legislation (bottom-up).

In spite of these developments the core prob-lem is that in many nations the elections for the European Parliament are all about political parties presenting to the electorates a “take-it-

or-leave-it” list of candidates, which very often seems to be the result of internal compromises and “power games” that have little to do with the future of the EU (top-down).

Parties advocating in favour of both genuine competition and a stronger EU, such as those belonging to the family of ALDE, could rein-force the EU as well as themselves by opening the search of candidates among their mem-bers and the society as a whole, thus increas-ing the “feeling of ownership” of the develop-ments in the EU.

One possible format could be the following:

• An open invitation for written, two-page con-tributions on any EU policy of free choosing; State of play and concrete suggestions for re-forms/liberalisation (plus a CV).

• The shortlisting of the top-20 proposals through e-voting among party members.

• The presentation of all proposals and Q&A through an open congress with additional questions from the audience on many oth-er aspects of the EU (live broadcast, where possible).

• The drafting of the list in accordance with the final results.

Do you think this would work? How could ALDE parties innovate in other ways?

Olympios Raptis and Athena Drakou, Associate members, European citizens from

Greece, living and working in Belgium and the United Kingdom

What do you think of these ideas? Add your voice and views on the ALDE Party web forum for Associate members www.aldeparty.eu/forum

Associate members corner How could ALDE parties innovate?

With the launch of the Liberal Bulletin, the ALDE Party will provide in each edition a podium for Associate members to present their point of view on a topical European issue.


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A liberal drink with Justina Vitkauskaite MEP

What or who motivated you to enter politics?

It just happened! During the final years of my studies in the university I was offered an in-ternship in one of the political parties, in the press office. That party then won the elections and I was invited to join the office of the new Chairman of the Parliament of Lithuania. Later on a new party emerged (a year and a half ago both parties merged) and I was invited to join it. Being young and active myself I liked the young team and its creative spirit, energy and potential and also the charisma of the leader. There was something new about this party – its positive and stimulating approach towards young people and to those who cre-ate the wealth of the state, its desire for a bet-ter quality of life of our country. I wanted to be a part of this and I took an active role in the activities of national and EU youth organi-sations. I then joined the team of one of our MEPs, then the team of another one... Finally I become an MEP myself. In short I think it is a combination of my character, ambitions and life circumstances that has lead me to where I am now.

Do you remember your first-ever interna-tional event in which you participated?

I think it was in Brussels, perhaps in Prague. In any case it was related to the projects that the Lithuanian Business Entrepreneurs Confedera-tion was running together with other relative organisations from EU member and candidate countries. Our country was about to join the EU and such projects were part of the prepara-tory works in different levels and sectors - ex-change of good practice, social dialogue etc... At that time I was the head of the foreign and public affairs unit in the confederation and my main worry then, during those first interna-tional events, I remember was - whether my English is good enough... It became really good with practice and other skills as well, thanks to

those very same projects that empowered me to move across the EU.

Where do you stand on the political spec-trum?

The Labour Party (Darbo Partija), of which I am a member in my home country, is a cen-trist political party. Our national party is a member of Alliance of Liberals and Demo-crats for Europe and is a member of the same name political group in the European Parliament. The ALDE group is the 3rd largest political group in the European Parliament, holding the balance of power between the left and right.

Have you ever read the Communist Mani-festo?

Honestly - no, but my parents did. Perhaps I was that last generation whose experience of the Soviet regime (during which reading this document at a certain age was obligatory for all young persons) finished when I was about 11 years old.

What is your favourite quote?

It changes with all the new changes and expe-riences in my life. At the moment I like this one: “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans” John Lennon.

A cup filled half-way is… ?

A good opportunity to take a break and fill it again...

The best example of government waste is…

Moving between Brussels and Strasbourg...

How do you feel about freedom of speech in Europe?

Freedom of speech is a crucial element of de-mocracy. The problem is that some people misinterpret it as the means to vocally lobby against the democratic rights of others.

The most convincing evidence that brain-washing exists in Europe is the fact that some truly believe…

That the economic crisis is the EU’s fault in-stead of the fault of Member States. Or that the economic crisis was caused by the EU, not by the actions of individual Member States.

What should be the highest law in Europe?

“salus populi suprema lex est” (“the good of the people is the highest law”)

What are the greatest books of all time?

Those that makes us human. There are too many of them in the world to make a fair com-petition...

Three best things in life…

Life, happy life, fruitful life

What do you fear?

Funfair parks...

Do you remember the last time you danced?

I cannot remember the time I did not dance for longer than two weeks - I love dancing! I danced professionally for 10 years when being at school and since then it is part of my life and my being.

What is your favourite restaurant in Lithua-nia?

My mother’s kitchen!


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The treasurer of the ALDE Party, Roman Jakič, became Minister of Defence of Slovenia. He is serving in the government that is a coalition of Positive Slovenia, ALDE Party member Civic List (Državljanska Lista), the Social Democrats and the Democratic Party of Pensioners.

Liberal movers and shakers

Maggie De Block (Open Vld) Belgium’s state secretary for asylum and migration has become the most popular female politician in the Dutch speaking side of the country in recent opinion polls. De Block

says this could be the result of her steadfastness.

Maria Arnholm (Folkpartiet) is Sweden’s new Minister for Education and Gender Equality succeeding Nyamko Sabuni. Mrs Arnholm has a background in PR consultancy and extensive experience in the Liberal Party, playing a major role in the party’s success.

The Catalan government has appointed Roger Albinyana as new Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Catalonia, replacing

Senen Florensa. A former president of the European Liberal Youth (LYMEC) from 2004–2008, he has been an active member of the

European Liberal Democrats.

The ALDE Group in the European Parliament has a new account on Twitter, the social networking service. For regular news, live comments

and updates from our MEPs, follow @aldegroup.

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alde party liberal bulletin - 01 2013

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