On Thursday 19th June 2008 more than 40 European Liberal Democrat leaders, ministers, and European commissioners, including 5 liberal prime ministers, gathered in Brussels for the ELDR Leaders and Ministers meeting. The subject of the future of the Lisbon Treaty was the main topic of conversation following last week’s Irish referendum result. The liberal prime ministers outlined their commitment to the Treaty and their desire to see the ratification process continue. See the video “We respect the outcome of the Irish referendum, but there is a huge disappointment felt by the European liberal family. We are committed to the Treaty and we invite those countries still to ratify the document to do so as soon as they can. We need to find a solution that is acceptable to Ireland and the Irish public before the end of the year” stated Annemie Neyts, ELDR party President “ Read more ...

 " I am deeply disappointed by the outcome of the Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty", says ELDR President Annemie Neyts. I will discuss this with the liberal Prime Ministers and Leaders this week just before the Spring Summit. On the latest count, 17 out of 27 member states have ratified the Treaty, and the process is underway in most of the others. I believe it is important that the ratification process be completed so that we all be able to clearly assess were the member states, including Ireland, stand."   Read more ...

Irish Referendum: for the first time three European parties together to support the “YES”       In accordance with her Constitution, Ireland will hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty on June 12th. We all await your decision with a certain degree of anxiety because much depends on it. If you adopt the treaty, the citizens of the European Union will have more rights in a more democratic Union, better equipped to confront today’s challenges. This is the reason why we, the Party of European Socialists, the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party and the European Green Party, take the liberty to put to you some of the reasons why we support the Lisbon Treaty. Among the objectives of the Union, defined in the new treaty, will be full employment, the fight against social exclusion, the promotion of justice and social protection, and of solidarity between generations. The Treaty talks about a Europe based on equality between men and women, and that works to achieve full employment through sustainable economic and social development. Read more ...

 The conservative VMRO-DPMNE of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski took a landslide victory at the early elections in Macedonia on 1 June. The united centre-left opposition, including ELDR members Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Liberal Party of Macedonia (LPM) got less then a quarter of the votes. Both leaders of LDP and LPM, Jovan Manasijevski and Stojan Andov, were successful in renewing their mandates. The new Macedonian parliament will have 5 liberal MPs: 4 from LDP and 1 from LPM. As a consequence of fraud and other irregularities in the violence-marred election, involving even one casualty, the results were nullified at 193 polling stations leading to a rerun next weekend. The poor organization of the elections provoked international condemnation at a time when Macedonia is trying to prove its credentials for European Union and NATO membership. Read more ...

 On Saturday 7th June ELDR was present at the annual open doors day of the European Parliament. Thousands of people, including 300 members of the VVD who travelled especially from the Netherlands, came to the parliament to learn more about the European political parties.At the ELDR stand people could participate in a “who’s who” quiz of European liberal politicians with a goody bag of ELDR materials going to those getting the answers right. Read more ...