ELDR prime ministers committed to ratifying Lisbon Treaty ELDR conference: 'Russia a part of Europe or Apart from Europe?' European Forum in Frankfurt Centre Party of Finland holds ‘Baltic Sea Conference’ VVD rally round political leader Mark Rutte ELDR is recruiting a Political AdvisorELDR prime ministers committed to ratifying Lisbon TreatyAt the invitation of ELDR President Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck, the five liberal prime ministers met for a working breakfast in the Brussels Egmont Palace. They discussed the status of Kosovo, the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty and the preparations for the next European elections.The prime ministers attending the breakfast meeting included Denmark’s Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Romania’s Calin Popescu Tariceanu, Finland’s Matti Vanhanen and Estonia’s Andrus Ansip. Also attending were Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas, Swedish Minister of European Affairs Cecilia Malmström and ALDE Group President Graham Watson.Referring to their conclusions from the meeting, ELDR President Neyts-Uyttebroeck said that “we welcomed the signing of the Lisbon Treaty yesterday and expressed the hope that the treaty would be ratified (by all member states), preferably in late 2008 but at least by early 2009”.Danish Prime Minister Anders-Fogh Rasmussen said that Denmark “has decided to ratify the Lisbon Treaty through the parliamentary process and not to put it to a referendum”. Asked if he would stand as EU President, he said that he had just been re-elected as Denmark’s prime minister and intended to lead the government and fulfil promises he had made in the election campaign.Asked if the reflection group on the EU proposed by France would mean the end of Turkey’s EU accession hopes, Finland’s Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said it would not and that “it depends on how Turkey fulfil the EU’s membership criteria”. Vanhanen added that it was important that the reflection group represented different sectors of society. ALDE Group President Graham Watson commented that the group “was not a necessary part of the institutional infrastructure” while Neyts-Uyttebroeck said that the Liberal Democrats had “reluctantly” agreed to it because “we understand that it is an important issue for one of the member states”.On the Kosovo status talks process, Neyts-Uyttebroeck said that “we as liberal leaders in the EU affirm that we are united, want to stay united and want to see it run its full course”.ELDR conference: 'Russia a part of Europe or Apart from Europe?'On 24th January 2008, ELDR will organise a conference about Russia entitled '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. Invited speakers include Grigory Yavlinksy, Leader, Yabloko Party, Russia; Astrid Thors, Minister for Immigration and European Affairs, Finland; Mikhail Kasyanov, Leader, People’s Democratic Union and former Prime Minister, Russia; Janusz Onyszkiewicz, MEP; and Howard Chase, Director, European Government Affairs, BP Europe. For further information and to register your attendance for this event, please contact Robert Plummer, email: rplummer@eldr.eu, tel: +32.2237.0147. The closing date for registering participation is Friday 18th January 2008. The complete draft programme can be downloaded here.Read moreEuropean Forum in FrankfurtFor the third time, the ‘Open European Forum South’ took place in the conference centre of Frankfurt Airport on October 20, 2007. During this ELDR event organised by Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, the focus was on the German Council presidency during the first half of 2007 and the intergovernmental conference in Lisbon. Lambsdorff welcomed that the compromise that was agreed on during the EU summit in Berlin in June finally took its second last hurdle. "Even though some important aspects of the draft constitution can not be found in the reform treaty, at least the EU will be more capable of acting again in the next years." Unanimity voting gradually gives way to majority voting. "Unfortunately", says Lambsdorff, "possibilities for member states to block decisions are not entirely eliminated. The blocking clause (Ioannina) that was proposed by Poland and ultimately incorporated into the treaty as binding provision casts a certain shadow on the treaty, but Europe won´t shipwreck because of that."Ratifications in the member states are not a given, but Lambsdorff is hopeful. Europe was now concentrating on Ireland, the only state that ratifies the reform treaty through popular vote, Lambsdorff stated. "It is now in the hands of the Irish if it really comes to the breakthrough everyone is hoping for. However, I am confident that the referendum will result in a 'yes' for the reform treaty, a 'yes' for Europe."Centre Party of Finland holds ‘Baltic Sea Conference’The Centre Party of Finland (Suomen Keskusta) held a ‘Baltic Sea Conference in Turku’, Finland from 7-8 December 2007. The conference was organised with the support of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party. The conference, which was entitled ‘Towards A Comprehensive Cooperation Agenda for Baltic Sea Region’, laid emphasis on the economic, social and environmental co-operation of the Baltic Sea States among centre and liberal parties in the context of the European Union. Parties present came from the Baltic states and included the Swedish People's Party (Finland), Venstre (Denmark) and Det Redikale Venstre (Denmark). In opening remarks, Keskusta Vice President Ms. Paula Lehtomäki pointed out that “improved environmental protection, maritime safety and utilization of the economic potential of the Baltic Sea require increased national-level measures and effective use of the EU's toolbox”. Alongside parliamentarians and foreign dignitaries, members of the farming community were represented, including Finnish Minister of the Environment, and Keskusta MP, Mr. Kimmo Tiilikainen. Kristiina Ojuland, ELDR Vice President and first Vice President of the Estonian Parliament spoke about economic aspects.VVD rally round political leader Mark RutteThe Dutch liberal party VVD rallied around its political leader Mark Rutte on 7 December at a party congress in Rotterdam. The autumn was quite tumultuous for the Dutch liberals after the popular former Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk first had to leave the VVD parliamentary group after a series of disagreements, which was followed by her resignation as member of the VVD. Verdonk now has her own political movement, ‘Proud of the Netherlands’. A few regional party chiefs tried to blame Rutte and the party leadership for not having done enough to keep her inside the party and tabled resolutions to immediately oust the national board.Rutte made clear that our enemy is not within the party: “Our biggest opponent sits in the (Christian Democrat) prime minister’s office.” The rank and file of the party turned up with 1,800 members, twice as many members as usual at a VVD Congress, and made it clear that they agree with Rutte and are fed up with the internal fighting. The potentially damaging resolutions were voted away, with up to 80% of the members present. Indirectly this was the biggest support Mark Rutte has ever received as a political leader at a VVD Party Congress. VVD party president Jan van Zanen and the national board informed the members that they will end their mandate before the end of their term in office to leave room for new leadership to inject new energy into the party. A new national board will be elected by the members in the spring. The mayor of Rotterdam and the leader of the ALDE Group in the Committee of the Regions made it clear to VVD members that he would be willing to do the job if he is asked.ELDR is recruiting a Political AdvisorThe Brussels-based Secretariat of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform (ELDR) Party is looking for a political advisor to work in a dynamic team of seven dedicated professionals. The team supports the activities of the party, organises its statutory meetings, manages its external communication and facilitates European policy development and networking amongst liberal parties. The ELDR Party brings together parties with common liberal, democrat and reform ideals from more than 30 European countries. Under the general supervision of the Secretary General, the political advisor will be in charge of 1. advising/giving political input to the ELDR; drafting policy papers; organising political missions, statutory events and thematic meetings;2. maintaining and develop contacts with member parties and prospective member parties;3. contributing to the work for the electoral manifesto for 2009 European Parliament electionsS/He will also carry out activities assigned by the decision-making bodies of the ELDR Party. Occasionally, s/he will represent the Secretary General.Read moreNext Events11/04/2008 : ELDR Council 11-12 April 2008, Tallinn, EstoniaOur annual Council meeting will take place from 11 to 12 April 2008 in Tallinn, Estonia. More information will follow on due course. ELDR Partyrue MONTOYERstraat 31 (7th floor)1000 Bruxelles BelgiumT +32 2 237 01 40F +32 2 231 19 07 info@eldr.orgwww.eldr.orgwith the support of the European parliamentClick here to unsubscribe

Belgian ELDR parties launch joint appeal Russian Duma elections fall short of OSCE, CoE standards Croatia elections: ELDR maintains strong presence PNL finish 3rd in Romania’s European Parliament elections Kosovo 10 December deadline looming ‘TV without Frontiers’ revision approved by EP MEPs debate European political party structuresBelgian ELDR parties launch joint appealThe Presidents of two ELDR member parties in Belgium, Didier Reynders (Mouvement Reformateur) and Bart Somers (Open Vld) said in a joint press release on 3 December that they agree on what should be done about the Belgian political crisis following the resignation of Yves Leterme (CD&V) as ‘formateur’. The ‘formateur’ is the person who is appointed by the king to form a government. Leterme’s resignation is the latest development in a country that has been unable to form a government since the 10 June elections.The two parties want a government to be formed as soon as possible to come up with solutions to the socio-economic problems that Belgium is facing. They are in favour of a reform of the state that would deliver a new balance between the country’s communities, the federal state and the federated bodies. They are calling on their Christian Democrat colleagues to reach a similar agreement with regard to a reform of the state.“The last months have shown that, within the MR and Open Vld, there is a common view on the need for and the premises of such a reform of state,” say Reynders and Somers. “We call on the Presidents of CdH and CD&V to rapidly find a common view on the guidelines, framework and methods of the necessary reform of the state.”On 3 December, the former prime minister Guy Verhofstadt (Open Vld) accepted King Albert II’s invitation for him to act as ‘informateur’, a kind of mediator to help the different parties agree on a way out of the current deadlock. Verhofstadt appeared to rule out any suggestion of a permanent return to government on the basis that his party lost the last elections. He said that the role was “of a very temporary and limited nature” at his request”.A key issue that he will have to tackle is how to launch talks on a major reform of the state. As things stand, it is likely that the work for this reform will be prepared by a ‘Convention’ bringing together both Francophone and Flemish-speaking MPs.MR/Open Vld statement (in French) below:Read moreRussian Duma elections fall short of OSCE, CoE standardsAn observation mission of parliamentarians from the Orgnisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe says that Russia’s Duma (parliamentary) elections on 2 December were not fair and failed to meet many OSCE and Council of Europe commitments and standards for democratic elections.In a joint statement the day after the poll, the two organisations said that “a broader participation of international observers would have been preferable and could have contributed to greater transparency”. “The pre-election campaign was marked by the authorities' clampdowns on opposition rallies and demonstrations. Voters were denied an open campaign, as United Russia chose not to participate in political debates, making it more difficult for voters to directly compare the platforms of the various political parties. There were persistent reports of harassment of opposition candidates, detentions, confiscation of election material, threats against voters and allegations of the potential misuse of absentee certificates,” said the statement. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party won over 60% of the vote, which is expected to translate into around 315 out of the 450 seats in the parliament. With 1.5% of the vote, ELDR member party Yabloko fell below the 7% threshold needed to win any seats in parliament.Yabloko party leader Grigory Yavlinsky said in a statement on 3 December: “This result means a gradual or fast transition to a totalitarian system in Russia, a system of one leader, one party, one ideology. The immediate consequence of this system will be corruption, lawlessness and violence.”Farid Babaev, a prominent political activist involved in human rights work and the first candidate on Yabloko's party list for the Russian State Duma elections in the southern Russian Republic of Dagestan, was killed in the run-up to the elections. He was shot and fatally wounded outside his flat in Dagestan's capital Makhachkala by unidentified people on 22 November. Relatives and human rights activists have cited Farid Babaev's outspoken political views as being a motivation for his murder, while the authorities reportedly deny the murder had any political motivation.OSCE/CoE press release below:Read moreCroatia elections: ELDR maintains strong presenceELDR member party the Croatia People's Party has once again emerged as the third biggest political party in Croatian politics following parliamentary elections on 25 November. According to early forecasts, they are set to win 7 MP seats. Croatia People’s Party leader Vesna Pusić was re-elected as an MP. The biggest two parties following the elections were the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), with 66 seats, and the Social Democrats (SDP), with 56 seats. The Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) won three seats and the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) won two seats, making up a total of 12 seats won by ELDR member parties in Croatia. To form a government, a party needs 77 out of a total of 153 seats, which means that one or all of the ELDR member parties may end up in government. In its talks, HSLS, along with its coalition partner HSS (the Croatian Peasant's Party), will insist on a coalition based on a programme that would have to meet the party’s pre-election programme goals. “We will first ask for a programme contract to be signed, and only after that a coalition agreement with one of the leading parties may be signed,” said HSLS's International Officer Goran Vojkovic.HSLS's first negotiations will take place with HDZ, the party that won a relative majority in the election. HSLS’s MPs are HSLS President Djurdja Adlesic and HSLS Vice-President Ivan Cehok.PNL finish 3rd in Romania’s European Parliament electionsFollowing Romania’s European Parliament elections on 25 November, ELDR member party the National Liberal Party (PNL) has won six MEP seats out of a total of 35. The PNL finished in third position, with around 13% of the vote, behind the Social Democratic Party (PSD) (around 21%) and the Democratic Party (PD) (around 29%).There is a growing focus on youth within the PNL, as can be seen from the age of elected MEPs such as Magor Imre Csibi (27), Cristian Busoi (29) and Ramona Nicole Mănescu, (35). Renate Weber, Daniel Dăianu and Adina Ioana Vălean were also elected.“The overall turnout was disappointingly low which suggests that Romania still needs to be convinced of the importance of decision-making at EU level,” said ALDE Group leader Graham Watson.The new MEPs will have to stand for re-election in June 2009, when EU-wide European Parliament elections take place.A referendum on the uninominal voting system (under which voters would in the future vote for candidates rather than for a party) to be introduced in Romania was held in parallel to the elections. Only one quarter of Romanians who are eligible to vote took part in the referendum. This led to the poll, which had been called by the head of the state, being declared null and void.“I suspect most people understood that it was not aimed at improving the governing of the country but was part of the on-going political battle which (President) Basescu is playing in Romania,” said Watson.Kosovo 10 December deadline loomingNo major breakthrough has emerged from the last round of talks between Serbia and Kosovo from 26 to 28 November in Austria. Barring any further meetings, troika negotiators (EU, US, Russia) will now submit their report on the status of Kosovo to the UN on 10 December.“After 10 December, if talks between Kosovo and Serbia fail, we will have to coordinate the situation very carefully with the EU, USA, NATO and UN Security Council,” said Gjergj Dedaj, the chairman of the Liberal Party of Kosova. “If Kosovo were to declare its independence, this would, in our view, have to include guarantees for the respect of and protection of human and ethnic rights of all ethnic communities, including the Serbian minority in Kosovo.” During its Berlin Congress on 18-19 October, the ELDR passed a resolution in which it says that it “believes that if eight years after the war in Kosova, negotiations between the authorities of both countries Kosova and Serbia fail to produce agreement by the 10th December 2007, the Report of UN Special Envoy Marti Ahtisaari must be put into effect since further delay can only increase tensions and instability in Kosova and this part of Europe”. Back on 17 November, the Liberal Party of Kosova, an ELDR member party, was part of a coalition that produced a strong result in the national elections. The coalition is with Hashim Thaqi's Democratic Party of Kosova, Democratic Alternative, the Peoples Movement and the Social Democratic Party of Kosova, who together make up the joint Democratic Party (PDK) list. This PDK list together won 34% of the votes according to the preliminary results of the Central Elections Committee (CEC). The coalition has put forward Hashim Thaqi as the next Prime Minister of Kosova. The individual members of Kosovo’s new assembly will be clear on 4 December 2007. Thaqi will then start the talks regarding the new Kosovo government.ELDR Resolution on Kosovo below: Read more‘TV without Frontiers’ revision approved by EPThe European Parliament adopted a report on audiovisual media services within the EU on 29 November. By doing so, MEPs have endorsed a compromise between the Parliament and the Council on the revision of the ‘Television without Frontiers’ directive. The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) welcomed this development."With this parliamentary vote begins the countdown for Europe to become a truly common audiovisual area where the law that applies is no longer the law of the jungle or an area without law," stressed Ignasi Guardans (Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya, Spain), shadow ALDE rapporteur on the text. "The protection of consumers' rights, children and citizens on the whole is increasing and spreading to other fields created by new technologies. At the same time, Europe is equipped with one of the most modern audiovisual content legal frameworks in the world, which will better ensure funding for free television - operating in a market where competition is growing - whilst protecting fundamental values.""Member states now have the important responsibility of transposing this directive effectively, and above all, guaranteeing its strict application through the independent broadcasting authorities that will be created where they do not exist," said Guardans.MEPs debate European political party structuresThe Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) hosted a European Policy Institutes Network conference on the prospects for the politicisation of the EU in Brussels on 27 November. Academics as well as practitioners addressed the coherence of the European political parties after the EU’s enlargement in 2004 and issues such as whether the politicisation of the EU should be driven by issues or by member states.Robert Ladrech, senior lecturer at Keele University, spoke about how national political parties have adapted to the EU system before and after the EU enlargement in 2004. He said that, while European party federations had a lot of influence on the development of national parties’ programmes in the newer member states, this was not so much the case in the parties from older member states. “Party leaders overall tend to monopolise the flow of information from the EU sphere to the member state level. In most of the parties at national level there still is little visibility of symbols or substance from the party federations.”The socialist MEP Jo Leinen said that the new Lisbon Treaty contains strands of participatory democracy and representative democracy. The new treaty also potentially makes room for the politicisation of the European Commission as from 2014 only 2/3 of the member states will be represented in the European Commission.In addition, as from 2009, if the Lisbon Treaty has been ratified by all EU member states by then, the appointment of the President of the European Commission will take into account the results of the European Parliament elections. Following a Council proposal based on the results of those elections, this candidate “shall be elected by the European Parliament by a majority of its component members”, says the treaty.Some of those at the CEPS debate felt that this would lead to more hot debates in the European Parliament and more interest among EU citizens in the political process.Next Events04/12/2007 : LYMEC seminar and Executive Committee, Stockholm, SwedenLYMEC seminar and Executive Committee, Stockholm, SwedenFor more info: www.lymec.org14/12/2007 : ELDR Prime Ministers MeetingELDR Prime Ministers Meeting in Brussels.For more info, please contact the ELDR secretariat at +32 2 231 01 40 or by email at kputzeys@eldr.org 14/12/2007 : ELDR Party Bureau MeetingELDR Party Bureau Meeting in Brussels. For more info, please contact the ELDR secretariat at +32 2 231 01 40 or by email at kputzeys@eldr.org  ELDR Partyrue MONTOYERstraat 31 (7th floor)1000 Bruxelles BelgiumT +32 2 237 01 40F +32 2 231 19 07 info@eldr.orgwww.eldr.orgwith the support of the European parliamentClick here to unsubscribe