Swedish presidency

Tackling climate change is a priority for Sweden, who takes control of the rotating EU presidency on Wednesday, along with a number of health priorities with a particular focus on patient mobility in the form of the cross border health directive, e-health cooperation and tackling swine flu.
Sweden's liberal Europe Minister, Cecilia Malmström, stated that there are at least two other major issues to bring forward: economic and financial crisis solutions on a long term basis together with a commitment to sustainable economic growth and more efficient cooperation with EU states to carry on and revitalize the climate and energy package in Copenhagen. Maud Olofsson, Deputy prime Minister of Sweden and Leader of Centerpartiet, added that "My vision for Europe would be an eco-efficient economy”.

ALDE votes for its group leader today

ALDE group MEPs will gather at 3pm today in Brussels to formally nominate the leader of the group. The vote will be secret. Diana Wallis, Lib Dem MEP, and Guy Verhofstadt , Open VLD MEP, are the two official candidates running for the leadership.

Cox launches his « Saying YES to Ireland »

Pat Cox, European liberal and former president of the European Parliament, has temporarily stepped down from his role as president of the European Movement to help campaign for the successful adoption of the Lisbon Treaty in Ireland. ‘Ireland for Europe’, which is led by Cox, is a new non-party campaign strongly committed to promoting a ‘Yes’ vote in the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
“Together to give leadership on the Lisbon Treaty debate” is the motto of the new initiative.
“It’s hugely exciting to be leading a campaign like this, fresh off the back of the New Deal announced in Brussels” Pat Cox said. “This decision is too important to just sit back and leave it to others, too important to just leave it to politicians.”

The Italian Radicals’ Congress towards a “liberal revolution”

“We are here in Chianciano to begin our liberal revolution in Italy” said Emma Bonino, Senator, and one of the most prominent figures of the Radicali Italiani (ELDR member), on the stage of the Congress, which took place on 27th June. “Today we inaugurate a new “resistance” against the ultra power of the parties in Italy” she added. “Our country needs reforms in line with the presidential democracy model of the US”, Marco Pannella, leader of the party, concluded.
Amongst the several issues discussed during the convention were the reform of the justice system in Italy; the financial crisis and secularism as a key element for a democratic government.

Liberals ready for the EU negotiations

European liberal prime ministers and party leaders today gathered together for their traditional pre EU summit meeting in Brussels. They discussed the upcoming election of the President of the European Commission; the preparations for the Swedish presidency and their support for a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty in the company of Irish Prime Minister, Brian Cowen.

Chairing the lunch discussion and the summit with the party leaders, Annemie Neyts, ELDR Party President, said that “ELDR has already held talks with EPP President Wilfried Martens about providing stability in the Union’s institutions”. Believing that the future Commission President should have a dynamic and consistent programme, Neyts affirmed that liberals expect to fairly share the Commission’s portfolios. “With our good results in the last elections and with our attitudes we, as European Liberals, expect to hold one of the major jobs in the EU institutions and the role of the ELDR Party is to lead these negotiations”, she concluded.

Even if it is not possible to discuss who would fill the role of EU Foreign Minister because the Lisbon Treaty is not yet approved, Matti Vanhanen, Finnish Prime Minister, stated that “we can negotiate our position within the Commission and our priority now is having a Commission already working for the crucial upcoming Copenhagen Summit in December (the next climate conference).

Concerning the Lisbon treaty’s next steps, Brian Cowen called for the continued support and cooperation of all the member states. Adamant in pursuing the ratification of the text, Cowen mentioned the need for good preparation for the referendum campaign and he asked his liberal colleagues to support him on the full elimination of the negative comments that engulfed Ireland’s previous attempt to ratify the text. “There is no room for complacency in the second referendum, even though polls consistently show that Ireland is a very pro-European nation”.

Ahead of the upcoming Swedish EU presidency, Sweden’s Europe Minister, Cecilia Malmström stated that there are two major issues to bring forward: economic and financial crisis solutions on a long term basis together with a commitment for sustainable economic growth and more efficient cooperation with EU states to carry on and revitalize the climate and energy package in Copenhagen. Maud Olofsson, Deputy prime Minister of Sweden added that “My vision for Europe would be an eco-efficient economy.

Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Danish Prime Minister, stated “we need a strong Commission and we must find a way through the crisis, fight protectionism and remain true to the values of the Single Market.”

Graham Watson, outgoing ALDE leader, renewing his candidacy for the European Parliament, announced that on June 30 the bureau of the newly formed ALDE Group will meet for the first time and discuss the election of the next leader of the group.

European liberals don’t suffer from the crisis and keep intact their share
The ELDR party MEPs are set to strengthen their influence in the next European Parliament as they increase their MEPs relative to 2004 and to the EDP members, with whom they form the current ALDE Group. ELDR MEPs within the liberal group are expected to bring 75 out of the 84 total seats. ELDR still maintains more than 10% of influence in the EP Parliament.

A good reason to celebrate the victory
Contrary to the PES accusations and expectations, ELDR records a guinness presence of women into the new MEPs’ team. According to the last lists coming from our member parties, almost half of the new MEP will be women.

Kasyanov comments the ELDR results
M. Michael Kasyanov sent us his special encouragement and wishes: “ […] I would like to congratulate all our colleagues in the ELDR, who have confirmed their mandate or became members of European Parliament for the first time. I am confident that the new liberal parliamentary group, as before, will be resolutely upholding the values of freedom and democracy, and express the principled opinion on what is happening in the European Union and beyond. We expect that the newly formed European institutions will not turn a blind eye to violations of human rights and democratic standards, which are now routinely occurring in Russia.”

FDP celebrates its triumph in Germany
“Thank you dear voters for the fantastic result. FDP achieved a historic record result in European elections. We will work for Germany in Europe and make sure to get a common European financial services supervision, to maintain the growth and stability pact and a strong Euro, for less bureaucracy and more civil rights.” Free Democratic Party (FDP) MEP Silvana Koch-Mehrin said.

Special thanks
The ELDR party wants to share the success of the European liberals’ achievement with all its members and in particular with the liberal “e-ambassadors”, the many people active in different social networks, the party leaders and with all the young people eager to bring the European liberal philosophy ahead their personal expectations and ambitions.