Graham Watson MEP

One week left to the ELDR Congress 2011. From Wednesday 23 to Friday 25 November hundreds of delegates will come to Palermo, Italy, upon the invitation of Italia dei Valori. On the agenda is the budget for the European Union. Also, ELDR member parties will elect a new leader: after 6 years leading the European Liberal Democrats, Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck will finish her mandate as President.

Former ALDE Group Leader Sir Graham Watson MEP is nominated by  the UK Liberal Democrats for ELDR President. So far, the ELDR received six nominations for the vacant positions of ELDR Vice President: Marc Guerrero i Tarrago (CDC, Catalonia), Lousewies van der Laan (D66, the Netherlands), Alexander Graf Lambsdorff MEP (FDP, Germany), Kristiina Ojuland MEP (Reform Party, Estonia), Leoluca Orlando MP (IDV, Italy) and Astrid Thors MP (SFP, Finland). Read more about the Bureau candidates on the Congress page.

German Liberals held an extraordinary party congress to intensely debate how to shape the future European financial architecture. During times where many European citizens feel uncertain about the future economic and political stability in Europe, FDP delegates spent a full day debate how to best resolve the European debt crisis.

Many speakers emphasized that Europe can only function if everybody adheres to the commonly agreed treaties and rules. Dutch Prime Minister and leader of ELDR member party VVD, Mark Rutte, fully supported such an approach in his key note speech to the 600 party delegates: “It is high time that all members of the Euro zone bring their national budgets in order. Liberals don’t run away when things become difficult. To the contrary, Liberals take their responsibility and together with a team, optimism and a lot of engagement overcome the difficulties”.

Ahead of parliamentary elections in Russia on 4 December the ALDE group in the European Parliament organised the conference "Helsinki 2.0: for democracy and rule of law in Russia" in Helsinki.

ELDR Vice President Markus Löning and German human rights commissioner commented that Europe needs to be more consistent on human rights matters and that its moral authority is dependent on standing up for human rights and the rule of law where these are under severe threat, such as is the case in Russia. Löning concluded that concrete action is required, "let's not be afraid to act in the way we speak".

On Monday 14 November, Finnish member party Suomen Keskusta (Center Party) arranged a high-level symposium on the future of Europe together with Irish member Fianna Fáil in the framework of ELDR’s Political & Information Activities.

The seminar entitled Quo Vadis, Europe? featured several high level speakers, including three former Finnish Prime Ministers (Anneli Jäätteenmäki, Matti Vanhanen and current Leader Mari Kiviniemi) as well as ELDR Party President Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck MEP, ELDR Vice President Dick Roche and Irish Senator Thomas Byrne.

Asked by Global Brief, a top-tier international affairs magazine, ELDR Vice President Lousewies van der Laan responded that for her, the European in 2030 will be:

“…living in a confident and assertive Europe. In 2030, Europeans will have a new sense of self-confidence. The recession of the second decade of the new millennium will have ingrained in them a new set of values. With incomes down, Europeans will be filling their days with pastimes other than consumption. Connecting with family and friends, and enjoying the arts, literature and nature will become channels through which to escape from previous decades’ stress-filled, unfulfilling lifestyles....”