ELDR Vice President Van der Laan and Commission Vice President Kallas and Finnish Europe Minister Thors

The Netherlands will have a snap general election on Wednesday June 9, following the collapse of Prime Minister Balkenende’s fourth government since 2002. Whereas changing governments on average every two years is generally not something I would applaud, the early demise of this Christian Democrat - Labour coalition (with protestant conservatives thrown in for the majority), is probably a blessing in disguise. This coalition has achieved very little in their three years in office. (more…)

Dr. Silvana Koch-Mehrin, first Deputy Leader of the ALDE group in the EP

We liberals believe that the current crisis can only be overcome by coordinated efforts on the international stage and by avoiding any kind of national protectionism.

From my German point of view I therefore advocate for a consistent EU-wide supervision of banks, which should be placed at the European Central Bank. Together with that, we need a clearly strengthened cooperation of the national bodies for financial supervision at a global scale. In the same line, the rules for banks on risk assessment, equity capitalisation and accounting need to be improved. (more…)

Sharon Bowles, Liberal Democrat MEP for the South East of England

At the ELDR Rally, I said the Liberal response to the crisis is Stay Liberal!

This is not the end of the Liberal market economy. The problem is we have had a so-called liberal market economy, but run by pretenders, calling themselves neo-liberals.

They thought it was easy to be Liberal - so they failed to understand a basic morality that is an essential part of liberalism - do no harm to others - and therefore they failed to integrate that morality into their version of the market economy. That is why the Tories and New Labour are both flummoxed. (more…)

Didier Reynders at the European Business Summit

Didier Reynders, as Belgian minister of Finance, you have been at the front line of the financial crisis. What do you believe is the most urgent issue that needs to be addressed now?

The financial crisis is not over yet. In the short run, the focus should be on restoring confidence and lending to both enterprises and individuals. Experience from previous crises indicates that one should act quickly to remove bad loans or distressed assets from banks’ balance sheets. Hiding the problems will only delay the recovery. (more…)