Federica Sabbati will succeed Lex Corijn as ELDR Secretary General as of January 2007. She was appointed to this function during the ELDR Party Congress on 13th October, in Bucharest, Romania. “I believe in the concept of European democracy and in the emergence of a European public sphere. In partnership with the ELDR Leadership, our member parties and our elected representatives in the European Parliament and the Member States, I wish to make ELDR a true European political party with which people can identify and express their liberal values and beliefs, values, which are after all the foundations on which the European project is built” she said on the eve of taking her new position. Federica Sabbati will oversee the general daily management of ELDR. Her main objectives will be to: - strengthen the liberal, democrat and reform movement in the European Union and throughout Europe and seek a common position on all important matters affecting the European Union; - support and co-ordinate its members in the elections to the European Parliament;- develop close working relationships with and among its members, their national parliamentary groups, the parliamentary Group of the ELDR Party of the European Parliament, the Liberal, Democrat and Reform Group in other international fora and Liberal International.Federica Sabbati possesses a deep knowledge of the liberal democrat political family in Europe and the world, thanks to her previous function as Secretary General of Liberal International, the world federation of Liberal parties. Before joining Liberal International, she worked as assistant to the ELDR Secretary General from 1997 to 1999 and as Executive Director of the European Liberal Youth (LYMEC) in 1997. Federica holds a university degree in International Relations from the University of Trieste, Italy, and a Master’s Degree in Russian and Post-Soviet studies from the London School of Economics.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------For more information, please contact Robert Plummer (rplummer@eldr.org), 00 32 2 237 01 47. Read more ...

Meeting today for their bi-annual summit, the European Liberal Democrat Leaders welcomed Bulgaria and Romania’s accession to the EU and the Commissioner-designates Meglena Kuneva and Leonard Orban, and congratulated Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen for his successful Finnish Presidency of the EU. ELDR Party President Annemie Neyts stressed the strong convergence of views on the EU enlargement process among the ELDR Leaders, and notably Andrus Ansip, Prime Minister of Estonia, Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, Prime Minister of Romania, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark, Matti Vanhanen, Prime Minister of Finland, Guy Verhofstadt, Prime Minister of Belgium and Graham Watson, ALDE Group Leader, in those terms: “The European Liberal Democrats believe that all institutional arrangements should be salvaged from the Constitutional Treaty and that institutional reforms are necessary before the EU enlarges to any new Member State. However, we need to make our citizens understand that enlargement has been a success story both for the old and new Member States. Enlargement brings about democracy, stability, an extended market, more growth and jobs, and the capacity to solve common issues together”. Matti Vanhanen expressed his will to establish a new consensus on enlargement. “I am a strong supporter of the EU enlargement process. The goal remains the integration of Turkey in the EU”. Commenting on his six months at the helm of the EU, Matti Vanhanen said that he was very pleased with the adoption of the Services directive and REACH, two major pieces of legislation. Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he hopes that Croatia can serve as an example for the Balkans. “We need to include the Western Balkans in the EU to extend freedom, peace and prosperity, provided they fulfill the Copenhagen criteria,” he stated. On Turkey, the Danish Prime Minister congratulated Matti Vanhanen for sending the right signal: the negotiations are not completely suspended but it bears consequences not to fulfill the necessary criteria. “It is our European interest to keep Turkey on a reform path. But on the other hand, The Turks must understand that they have to adapt to the European legislation and not the other way round”. Roger Albinyana, President of LYMEC (European Liberal Youth), made a bold proposal to connect with the citizens and moving towards the EU Constitution. “The 2009 European elections will be an excellent framework to give the voice to MEPs so that they can draft a new constitution for Europe. Yes to a small treaty, yes to a constituent assembly drafting the new treaty!” he stated.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For more information, please contact Myriam Cornillet (mcornillet@eldr.org), 00 32 2 237 01 43 or 00 32 485 99 40 56.Note to the editor: The European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party, aisbl (ELDR Party) brings together 51 political parties with common liberal, democratic and reform ideals and is the forum for member parties to develop a co-ordinated policy. Read more ...