ELDR Focus Year

Last week, 13-15 October, the LYMEC Bureau met with representatives of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), the liberal group in the European Parliament, exploring possibilities for stronger cooperation.

Apart from meeting several ALDE key contacts, discussing collaboration and visiting a group meeting, the leadership of LYMEC met with Andrew Duff MEP and the leader of the liberal group in the European Parliament Graham Watson MEP. The talks focused on a number of aspects, including among others the Lisbon Treaty, upcoming European Parliament elections and the future of European parties. Special focus was put on the need to personalise EP elections in order to give voters a true choice and to create a real European political layer instead of having 27 different EP elections. This includes putting forward common liberal candidates for top positions to make liberals more visible to the average voters.

Discussing these and other questions, the LYMEC Bureau also met with Annemie Neyts MEP, President of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR). The President of the European liberals and the board of its youth organisation exchanged views on a number of topics, including the electoral manifesto of ELDR, to be decided upon in the upcoming ELDR congress in Stockholm.
 
In addition to that, the LYMEC Bureau also held its fifth regular Bureau meeting in Brussels where it prepared the upcoming Executive Committee and Extraordinary Congress, discussed EP election campaigns which are being developed by online working groups, agreed on a new Facebook strategy and collected ideas for the programme of action for 2009.

Note: On the photo: Graham Watson MEP with the LYMEC Bureau