The Young Leaders Meeting (YLM), which gathers every year the presidents of LYMEC’s member organisations, took place in Varna, Bulgaria, from 9 to 12 October, with the support of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation. The theme of this year’s YLM was “What future for Europe – with or without the Lisbon Treaty?”.
Young liberal leaders reiterated their support to the Lisbon Treaty and its swift ratification by the remaining Member States, expressing confidence that a pragmatical solution would be found to the Irish no. Going further, they put the Treaty into practice by simulating a European Council meeting on a new (fictional) Georgia crisis, whereby Russia would seek to include Georgia’s separatist Republics into its Federation provoking a new war with Georgia.
The resolution stemming out from this simulation stressed the territorial sovereignty of Georgia’s territory, called on Georgia and Russia to end all hostilities, disarm all irregular forces, and respect Geneva conventions, and proposed the start of peace talks under the helm of the EU on the future status of the separatist Republics.
Following the continuing plunge of stock markets on 10 October, young liberal leaders however interrupted their normal programme to formulate a common response to the financial crisis. They notably outlined that liberalism is not to blame for the current crisis, noting that free market needs good regulation to properly function, and that socialism is no alternative. It was also stressed that financial globalisation and the rapid contagion effects resulting from it underline the urgent need for further harmonisation of financial markets’ regulation not only at EU level but also at global level. Finally, young liberal leaders stressed the need for a common economic policy in the Eurozone as a response to the risk of economic depression.
Young liberal leaders also attended the 10th anniversary of YMRF, the youth of Bulgaria’s Mouvement for Rights and Freedom, in Shumen. Aloys Rigaut, President of LYMEC, delivered a speech in front of an enthusiastic crowd of more than 5,000 participants. YMRF is LYMEC’s largest member organisation and the event was broadcasted by all major Bulgarian media.
