The refusal of the Russian courts to allow Vasily Alexanyan, former Vice president of Yukos oil Company and currently in prison awaiting his trial, access to medical treatment is a violation of human rights. These rights are not only guaranteed by the Russia constitution, but  are  also enshrined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights .The European Human Rights Court has ordered Russia to provide such care, but to no avail.Annemie Neyts, European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR) President stated: “We are deeply concerned about the treatment of Mr Alexanyan and urge the Russian authorities to allow him to receive immediate medical care”. Read more ...

 After the first round of the Serbian Elections (the 21st of January), Čedomir Jovanović, leader of Liberal Democrat Party, got a significant result under the slogan “Život je zakon!” (“Life Rules” or “Life is the law”), and he demonstrated to be a good player especially in the three main cities of the Serbia: Belgrade, Nis and Novi Sad. The second round of elections to the National Assembly will take place on 14 February. Leader of the Liberal Democrat Party in Serbia, 36 years old, pro-European, defendant of Nato engagement in the Balkans, and the most popular candidate in the neighbouring countries of the former Yugoslavia, Jovanović is supporting the independence on Kosovo and his opinion that Bosnian Serb ties with Belgrade should effectively be severed. Read more ...

 The European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) appointed Gérard Deprez (ALDE) as its new chairman on 22 January 2008 in Brussels. This appointment follows the resignation of Jean-Marie Cavada (ALDE, France), the head of the committee since 2005. Cavada will keep his mandate as an MEP. He explained his gesture by his commitment to the municipal election campaign in France in March. Deprez’s candidature received a large consensus within the committee and did not need to be voted on.  Read more ...

 On 24th January 2008, ELDR will organise a conference about Russia under the title “Russia: a part of Europe or apart from Europe”. The event will discuss a broad range of topics, namely an academic overview of Russia and EU–Russia relations; trade and business with Russia; civil society and political parties; and EU foreign policy with regard to Russia.The complete draft programme can be downloaded here. Read more ...

 On Friday 18 January the Taiwanese Minister of Health and his delegation met with ELDR President Annemie Neyts and ELDR Secretary General Federica Sabbati at the ELDR headquarters in Brussels. They discussed the consequences for global health of the absence of Taiwan in the Structures of the WHO (World Health Organisation). Read more ...

 ELDR Party joins the celebrations of the Dutch liberal party (VVD) 60th Anniversary and the National Executive Board for the new branch of VVD in London.The celebration will be held on January 26th in Hotel Krasnopolsky Amsterdam (the same location where the VVD was founded). Liberal successes in the Netherlands and Europe will be the central theme of the evening: Mark Rutte, its political leader, has just announced the establishment of a London branch. Read more ...

 ELDR congratulates Mr Istvan Sertö-Radics who will be the chair of the External Relations Commission in the Committee of Regions (Relex) from 6 February for a period of two years. Mayor of the Hungarian town of Uszka and Vice President of Relex, Mr Sertö-Radics said that his priorities will be to continue strengthening relations with representatives of local and regional authorities in candidate and pre-candidate countries, as well as in the European Neighbourhood area and in Russia; drawing the EU closer to Ukraine with enhanced political co-operation, and increased trade and investment will contribute to economic development and prosperity in Ukraine. “My work – he continued – will be more specifically focused on opportunities for solving common problems through increased cross–border and regional cooperation between the regional and local authorities of the EU and Ukraine”. Read more ...

 Danilo Türk, Slovenian Presidency and head of EU for the next 6 months will have to work towards one of the key challenges for 2008: gathering consensus about the Western Balkans question. ELDR Party supports the Slovenian Presidency commitment to taking the lead in setting the East Europe neighborhood situation.  “Our European presidency – said Jelko Kacin, Liberal Slovenian MEP and expert in the Balkans - has to move on the road to a more stable and prosperous neighborhood situation. We have to create the atmosphere to think about investments, business, to invest in the future, to have a future oriented to the aspirations about the people”. Read more ...

 The ELDR Party supports a rapid resolution of the 5th January Georgia elections, and a scrutiny of the results according to competitive democracy. ELDR calls for all the possible allegations of irregularity to be the subject of an enquiry.President Mikheil Saakashvili won the presidential election with a slim victory (52,1%, a much reduced majority than in 2004, when he received nearly 90% of the vote). The elections were scrutinized by national and international bodies and the OSCE declared itself “broadly satisfied” with the electoral process. The principle opposition, Levan Gachechiladze, the candidate representing 9 combined opposition parties, including ELDR member, the Republican Party, won 25% of the vote. Read more ...

 After the five-party negotiation came to agreement in the end of December to form a coalition government, Latvia’s parliament approved a new centre-right government with veteran leader Ivars Godmanis at its helm. The new government contains 15 of the 19 ministers that made up the previous government, which resigned amid a series of scandals earlier this month. Godmanis replaces the embattled Aigars Kalvitis, 41, who quit after his attempts to dismiss a top anti-corruption investigator prompted street protests. Godmanis was Latvia's first post-Soviet prime minister. He was interior minister in the previous coalition led by Kalvitis as well as Leader of Latvia’s Way, the liberal party that merged last year with the Latvia First Party. Read more ...

 The new Belgian government coalition includes Liberals and Christian-Democrats from both sides of the language border, as well as the French-speaking Socialists. It continues to be led by Guy Verhofstadt as ad interim Prime Minister. This government works on the basis of a limited work programme and is designed to tackle pressing issues such as the mounting energy and food prices as well as to reduce the international interest in the political crisis, which is believed to be detrimental to foreign investment. Read more ...

 ELDR wishes good luck to the Slovenian Presidency as it takes over the task of leading the EU for the next 6 months and as it works towards one of the key challenges for 2008: gathering consensus about the Western Balkans question. “Our European presidency – said Jelko Kacin, Liberal Slovenian MEP and expert in the Balkans - has to move on the road to a more stable and prosperous neighborhood situation. We have to create the atmosphere to think about investments, business, to invest in the future, to have a future oriented to the aspirations about the people”.  Read more ...