eldr news 7

October 2010 ELDR News n°7 | www.eldr.eu PAGE 1

The European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR Party) brings together 56 political parties with common liberal, democratic and reform ideals and is the forum for member parties to develop co-ordinated policies.

PAGE 2～ Stronger role for European

parties means a more

political ELDR

～ Tackling the future:

avoiding intergenerational

clashes

～ Broad toolbox needed to

protect children

PAGE 3～ Reforming Europe –

～ European Liberals engage

in direct dialogue with

young citizens

～ How to succeed as liberal

political party

～ Building a Liberal Europe

PAGE 4～ A direct European tax –

realistic proposal or utopia?

PAGE 5～ Liberals succeed in Swedish

elections

～ most politically engaged?

～ – a unique case?

PAGE 6 SPECIAL～ Guide for Dummies

Liberal highlights

PAGE 8～ A liberal drink with Dick

Roche

～ Reaching beyond Brussels :

bridging the local with the

European

～

～ ELDR meetings in 2010

have the pleasure of hosting the ELDR

« The Challenges of Demographic

Change » was chosen as the main

was proposed to us by our two host par

ties and we adopted it because we felt

that those challenges deserve more at

tention than they generally receive from

the other European political parties. The

European populations are ageing rapid

average than ever before. That is good

nability of our social security systems

which evolved in periods of much shor

ter life expectancy. Another important

demographic challenge is that posed by

the presence of large numbers of citi

zens who migrated to our countries over

the last half century. Both of these ma

jor demographic challenges occur in a

context of accelerating globalisation and

No wonder many citizens feel disorien

der many citizens feel let down by their

traditional political leaders and parties.

Such a political and societal environment

is a fertile ground for would be leaders

who pretend to better understand the

who do all of these things at the same

the momentum seems to be gathering

more force by the day.

Sceptics now form a sizeable segment

the phenomenon seemed limited to

and parties are emerging and growing

cracy in Europe.

Traditional political parties and opinion

leaders of all kinds seem to be at a loss

brand such parties as “populist” clear

ly does no good. Neither does it any

good to proclaim that those who vote

ill informed.

does it look like these waves of voter re

volt will soon cease and everything will

status pro ante.

on these and related issues.

The Helsinki Congress should be the star

ting point of this necessary and hope

fully salutary refoundation of European

liberalism.

travel to Helsinki to participate in this

new adventure.

～

7

continued p. 5

is “the challenges of demographic

change”. The discussions will focus on

how Europe will cope with issues such

as its ageing population and strengthe

ned global competition.

These issues are extremely topical in

Europe must choose to take the path

of active involvement and succeed in

the economic triathlon ahead.

three major targets: 1) stabilization

and 3) enhancing competitiveness and

promoting growth.

There is a strong interdependence

between the targets of this triathlon.

petitiveness and promoting sustai

facilitate balancing public expendi

tural changes necessary for econo

mic reform.

be able to stabilize our economy by

promoting growth and employment.

These targets will be achieved by faci

by raising tax rates moderately.

working life and to promote our em

lieve that the ELDR can take a leading

role as regards reforming European

working life.

For the purposes of promoting sustai

a national growth programme drawn

This programme will include public

sector actions for improving the ge

reby creating favourable conditions for

various economic actors. Another ma

jor element in the growth programme

will have to be the responsible mana

it will enhance our external credibili

ty and create a stable operating envi

the programme will address issues re

lated to our competitiveness.


ahead and lately introduced the concept

question of how to achieve a just burden

sharing between generations.

reformed in most member states in or

der to be able to continue functioning

with shrinking and ageing population

mean raising overall live working time

and in most member states raising the

effective pension age.

Another aspect is state debts: current

political leaders fund their presents to

the electorate largely by accumulating

higher and higher levels of state debt.

From an intergenerational point of view

European elections and the debate on

how to increase their European dimen

fuelled by the proposals of Andrew

constituency for the election of 25

European political parties.

reverse the trend of ever poorer turnout

in European and not only domestic af

the role of European political parties in

the European political sphere.

European liberal ideas on the public

and to get our ideas known outside

Brussels and outside the circles of our

most dedicated members.

change. There is a lot that our mem

bers can learn from other European

colleagues and ELDR can facilitate

the same time increasing its political

which a few parties used as their own

national manifesto for the European

elections in 2009).

even more our European network on a

novation to discuss the liberal pers

also call together key liberals in areas

a fundamental issue for liberals) and

in the past two years.

cate effectively and reach even larger

audiences than we have been able to

do so far. This requires having a sharp

also investing in a dialogue with natio

who are interested in liberal politics

but are not necessarily active in a po

nar for national and local journalists in

migration issues.

Such initiatives have several advan

tages: they reach new audiences for

tion of children and child pornogra

the proposal is blocking websites with

child pornographic content.

gued against blocking websites with

most adequate answer to those web

the perpetrators and to take down the

also believe that complementary mea

sures are needed.

will be the need to block access. The

process of notice and take down is

and child pornographic photos can be

found online for too long. Cooperation

with third countries to strengthen this

sue in contacts with Russia as well as

ty to protect the violated children here

and now. Blocking of websites can thus

be a useful complementary tool.

inadequate since skilled internet users

are able to bypass the blockings. But

skilled car thieves do not prevent us

from locking our cars. The method of

blocking websites is in fact already in

it is considered useful both by law en

censorship and freedom of expression.

He fears that there will be a misuse or

an extension of the blocking instrument

to other areas. This is a valid concern –

freedom of expression must be the core

friends fought actively for this right in

countries. But child pornography cannot

be described as subject to freedom of

expression. – it is not a human right to

watch children being abused. Let me

intention of extending the blocking of

websites to any other area than child

pornography. Several safeguards will

guarantee that. The proposal is about

blocking child pornography alone.

ting these crimes from happening in

sites with child pornographic content

could be one instrument to fight

the one and only solution and should

not replace or contradict other use

ful actions.

～

should only spend as much as they earn

though taxes and not create burdens for

citizen these days already inherits thou

sands and thousands of Euros of state

without being able to reject that debt.

phic change affects the democratic pro

cess: today there is a structural majori

this impinge upon our political system

reforms that are hard not only to the

young but also to pensioners even be

possible ten years down the road? How

do we keep the necessary freshness as

well as youthful idealism and boldness

day that parliaments do not represent

rather high average age level.

are witnessing constant attempts by po

liticians and private companies to reduce

individual rights and breach established

civil liberties. Add to that an utter lack

of knowledge about the new media on

out of a lack of knowledge and best in

tentions is the plan to block child porn

the European Commission basically asks

member states to look the other way.

China and instead crack down on the

ting their illegal content. This is the most

examples of the challenges ahead.

～

the ELDR and create a “multiplier ef

fect” at national level for our ideas.

date our role as link between the natio

nal and European level and allow us to

produce more political output to bring

out the liberal voice in a coherent and

strong message.

creased role of European parties is ac

will be a strong and cohesive ELDR that

will be able to make the most of the

that opportunity as soon as it arises.

～


And times are harsh in Europe. Rising

unemployment and increased auste

monthly bills is an achievement for

many Europeans. But what needs to

be done to bring Europe back on track?

European Commission puts forward

its formal proposal for the next pe

What is a FOCUS YEAR? It is a platform to discuss liberal priorities on a special issue. The topic of the 2010 “Focus Year” is the challenge on Demographic Change. This is a debate on the sustainability of Europe’s pension system and intergenerational justice; on the impact of Europe’s ageing population healthcare; on migration and immigration policies.

European Liberals successfully held a

young people in Brussels in August

2010.

was bringing together 40 students

from across Europe to the European

of an essay competition. The Liberal

Academy 2010 allowed participants to

intensely debate current political de

portance together with prominent

Verhofstadt.

«This is part of our efforts to deve

Secretary General Federica Sabbati.

Beyond the ELDR framework of national

European Liberals to discuss directly

with interested students on how they

envision the future of the European

the students therefore mutually bene

and their possible implications on the

The European Liberal Forum and the

experience and further intensify such

programmes in the future.

Drawing on the experience of many

ELDR offers its member parties the pos

sibility to get the best ideas and prac

tices from sister parties on a range of

practical issues. How? By helping your

party organise thematic workshops to

be held in your country.

Themes that you might find useful

include:

organization

to campaign at local level

political manifesto

and many other issues…at your

programme.

[email protected].

How did the Liberal family rise to

occupy so important a place on the

European political stage within the

space of so few years? How did Liberals

proposal to make Rocco Buttiglione the

European Commissioner for justice and

home affairs and the rejection of the

Treaty establishing a Constitution? And

how did Liberals use their new found

the European Commission and the

European Council? This month sees the

Building a Liberal Europe

the Liberal group in the European

ry of the Liberal group in the European

1979 to 2009. He describes how the libe

ral policies and personalities of the pe

and the increasing discipline and effecti

veness which have boosted our impact.

The book is partly a chronological ac

memoir of one of the leading Liberals of

readable and often gripping account of

how Liberal ideas were advanced by dif

experience of 35 years as a Liberal ac

tive in European affairs and 15 years as

to illustrate the unique contribution

which Liberals can claim to have made

to European integration.

Nor does the author hide some of

thin Liberal ranks. From the machia

Liberal Leader in Strasbourg to the fric

tion between Liberal leaders over the

～

Building a Liberal Europe

of the book are available from the pu

blisher and will be on sale at the ELDR

Congress in Helsinki.

“If you are not part of the solution,

you are part of the problem”.

«People are always blaming their cir-cumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people

who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the

circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them.»

riod 2014 to 2020 in April 2011 and

negotiations are expected to last un

til late 2013.

Looking at such amounts for almost an

priorities right.

cided to embark upon a new focus year

2011

the EU Budget!”

come and expenditures and to build a

common liberal consensus.

How and by whom do European -

nanced? What should be the Member States’ contributions and what resources should be directly generated by the EU? Does this mean that the EU needs to introduce a di-rect EU tax? Can the EU conti-nue to give varying discounts for some Member States’ contributions?But does the EU also need to re-vise its spending – or is it in fact more European funds that are needed to counter the crisis? And where does the EU have to set its spending priorities? Agriculture subsidies? The crea-tion of an EU army? Education? Research and innovation? To balance unequal economic de-velopments between the EU member states?

in the European Commission. Together

we can build a strong Europe for

tomorrow. book fanpage “European Liberal

FOCUS YEAR 2011


Sharon BowlesMEP and Chair of the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, Liberal Democrats (United Kingdom)

1. Levying taxes touches upon the fundamentals of state sovereign-ty. How do you assess this discus-sion on European taxes in view of the key democratic principle “no taxa-tion without representation”? Is the EU ready to levy taxes on its own?

view that this concept is partly accepted

were set by unanimity that would not

2. In a recent interview with the Financial Times Deutschland the European Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski floated the possibility of a European wide tax. Did he break a taboo by proposing this? Is your party in favour of a di-rect European tax?

that can be made for having a procedure

that is better than the current one.

cial levy of some kind for funding the

general taxation. The same may be true

most sensible tax to use would be VAT

which is already used as part of the ba

sis for contributions. A mach larger pro

portion of VAT could be permanently hy

done to see how that compares with

current contributions.

the current range of national exemptions

would need tightening to ensure a level

cycle wheels in the Netherlands or chil

litical and impossible to get conceded

– someone always has an election

somewhere – making achieving harmoni

not require harmonisation of the VAT rate

because it would be expressed in terms

of the national rate of VAT. However we

should also be looking at other ways of

extent that has had to be addressed in

the rescue funds for the Eurozone. There

is more work that could be done using the

-nancial resources or should the Union be funded by member state’s pay-ments? Do you think a reform of the current system of payments is necessary?

Reform to a system that is in some

way automatic would certainly make

4. EU member states are compelled -also by the EU institutions- to seve-rely cut their national budgets. What reforms does the EU budget need to undergo?

rather than following a template of pre

vious years.

Jürgen Ligi Estonian Minister of Finance Estonian Reform Party - Liberals

1. Levying taxes touches upon the fundamentals of state sovereignty. How do you assess this discussion on European taxes in view of the key democratic principle “no taxation without representation”? Is the EU ready to levy taxes on its own?

All the member states have chosen

to give up bulk of its sovereignty for

a common good already. Going fur

currently going through a process of

mic surveillance and increasing the

a current situation would be very dif

2. In a recent interview with the Financial Times Deutschland the European Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski floated the possibility of a European wide tax. Did he break a taboo by proposing this? Is your party in favour of a di-rect European tax?

rent job of the Commission. This is how

we see the proposal. Not as a battle or

a provocation.

The question is not about being in fa

be the added value and what policy

implications the potential changes

States. Nor would it be a consistent

petitiveness as it would inevitably en

tail the cognition of increasing the tax

rently imaginary – tax base should be

seen and analyzed in a comprehensive

way taking into account all the regula

tory measures and policy choices im

plemented for relevant sectors by the

we could not support debates on the

sis on the options of consumption and

contamination taxation.

-

nancial resources or should the Union be funded by member state’s pay-ments? Do you think a reform of the current system of payments is necessary?

Simplifying and optimizing the fun

reviewing the misalignments caused

season.


gy. Not only on paper.

Hans van BaalenMEP and Head of Delegation VVD (The Netherlands), President of Liberal International

1. Levying taxes touches upon the fundamentals of state sovereignty. How do you assess this discussion on European taxes in view of the key democratic principle “no taxation without representation”? Is the EU ready to levy taxes on its own?

Taxation is a core competence of the

2. In a recent interview with the Financial Times Deutschland the European Budget Commissioner

-sibility of a European wide tax. Did he break a taboo by proposing this? Is your party in favour of a direct European tax?

The VVD is against any form of European

taxation. This would restrain the citizens

of Europe in their freedom.

-nancial resources or should the Union be funded by member state’s pay-ments? Do you think a reform of the current system of payments is necessary?

States should be the sole income of the


propose to cut these. The Common

and should be reduced to lower levels.

“Reforming Europe – Refining the EU Budget”


alternatives were put against each

a possibility to vote for the preferred

government.

Early polls predicted a clear tilt to

ELDR member parties Centerpartiet

and Folkpartiet Liberalerna. Reality

Sweden under the mandate of the

Alliance managed to:

management of the crisis in the

sing to give immediate state bailout

ter instead sold to a Dutch consor

tium without having to be paid by

tax payers.

per breakthrough among the Swedish

Alliance gradually started to grow. All

the Alliance had managed to turn the

tide and secure more votes than the

ties Centerpartiet and Folkpartiet had

of the votes and thereby roughly main

taining their relative strength.

The Alliance is now likely to continue

their work from the past four years and

is why negotiations may drag on for

truly historic election with the Alliance

once and for all breaking the Social

This important shift should not be un

the extremist Swedish Democrats gai

never cooperate with the Swedish

ly quite a remarkable and welcome

tion would break the Social Democrat

rule in Sweden and continue its man

thereby indeed be of historical impor

tedly congratulate both Centerpartiet

and Folkpartiet for a magnificent

teamwork in coalition. Seeing liberal

forces write history is naturally highly

～

The fellow citizens of John Locke? The descendents of Immanuel Kant? The compatriots of the liberal Benedetto Croce? None of them and the answer could surprise you.

have submitted randomly a question

countries asking them if they over the

in a demonstration.

-monstrates that the most political-

ly active Europeans are Norwegians, Swedes and Finns

tom of the list. The study also revealed

that among the citizens of the former

Czechs are the most active politically.

Recent research suggests that tradi

vation as suggested by liberal parties

in Scandinavia.

Commenting following the turmoil in

in 2008 is not comparable with the

cases that we have now in European

breadth and depth of the crisis are of

heavily dependent on the banking sec

reign assets”.

Even though there are no direct si

milar cases because of the nature of

happened.

logue and understanding of this. The fo

cus is set on a forward looking approach

and tries to analyse what could have

been done differently. Through four ar

ticles covering different topics and ap

view on the crisis effects – from the mi

cro to the macro level.

served as a reminder of what liberals in

surveillance mechanisms need impro

candidate for E.

dation for the proposed growth pro

growth factors have weakened. The

size of our labour force will decline

along with the ageing of the popula

electrical engineering industry is fa

very vulnerable to the faster structural

change brought about by globalisation.

Although our employment situation has

not deteriorated to the extent that was

has increased above the preceding le

ly increasing structural unemployment

which would further add to the pro

blems related to public economy sus

tainability and social inclusion.

have will open up many opportunities

for us. Finland can develop into the

number one country within the green

will continue in the wake of the growth

of developing countries. Finland has a

highly educated and competent labour

ber of excellent businesses and plenty

infrastructure.

mentioned above apply to the whole

own innovations and our ability to ap

ply foreign innovations. Growth must

petence and creativity.

～

continued from p. 5

“… if we want education for all to improve, we mustn’t be tempted by the reassuring spin that the public sector can hope to match the incentives of the private sector for innovation and efficiency. The way forward for education is to bring in the incentives that push forward quality and innovation in all other areas of our lives. Children, especially disadvantaged children, deserve more than to be trapped in an industry forever sidelined.“

James Tooley in: “Should the Private Sector profit from education?” Educational Notes No. 31, London: Libertarian Alliance, 1999.


FIANNA FÁIL (Ireland)

as an example of how to overcome even the most intractable problems.

Paul SammonInternal Communications Officer

FOLKPARTIET (Sweden)

European affairs have been of top on the agenda and our policies have

successfully been implemented.

Cigdem GünesOffice of MEP Olle Schmidt

NMSP - NATIONAL MOVEMENT FOR STABILITY AND PROSPERITY (Bulgaria)

act deeply affected the destiny and the perspective of our country and

of Bulgarian people.

Ralitza KostovaNMSP International Officer

HNS - CROATIA PEOPLE’S PARTY- LIBERAL DEMOCRATS (Croatia)

HNS initiated and implemented the building of the “Highway A1” connec

wards membership.

Vedrana GujicLYMEC Bureau member

D66 - DEMOCRATEN 66 (Netherlands)

mination. These individual liberties have all been secured in the Netherlands

in the last decade through D66 advocacy.”

Maartje Jansen, International officer

ISTRIAN DEMOCRATIC ASSEMBLY (IDA)(Croatia)

mocratic values guaranteeing

prosperity and integration into

the European Community.

Du!ko Ki!beriHead of Department of public relations

PEACE

OVERCOME

PROCESS

INTEGRATION

EDUCATION

CONSENSUS

EU MEMBERSHIP

FDP – LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY (Germany)

The matrix of our overwhelming success in 2009 was the common message

state or public media were the guarantors of our success. German liberals

Helmut MetznerHead of Party Chairman’s Office

POSITIVENESSSUCCESSCOMMUNICATE

GAY MARRIAGE

DESTINYPROSPECTIVE

RIGHT TO ABORTION

SELF-DETERMINATION

DEMOCRATIC VALUES

CULTURAL PROSPERITY

We asked our member parties to highlight some of their achievements


LIBERAL PARTY OF MACEDONIA

Ivon VelichkovskiVice-President Liberal Party of Macedonia

YABLOKO (Russia)

rights of our citizens despite the resistance of the

Olga Radayeva YABLOKO’s International Officer

MOUVEMENT RÉFORMATEUR (Belgium)

a week later which meant that the

banking sector in Belgium avoided

bankruptcy and helped stabilize the

rest of Europe.

Francis BurstinInternational officer

RADICALI ITALIANI (Italy)

tire spectrum of human rights.

VENSTRE (Denmark)

proposals have already been adopted. The results are clear and very concrete: There will be more money for

Venstre MEPs

UNITED DEMOCRATS (Cyprus)

balance in favour for commitment

promise and the building of respect

for human rights in a multicultural

society.

Praxoula Antoniadou Kyriacou,President of United Democrats

FINANCIAL REFORMTACKLING CRISES

APOLOGY TO VICTIMS OF THE COMMUNIST REGIME

DECREASE PUBLIC ENERGY CONSUMPTION

INTELLIGENT TRANSPORT

INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

PEACE

SECURITY

FREE MOVEMENTPUBLIC AWARENESS

FIGHT AGAINST THE SYSTEMATIC ILLEGALITIES

UNIFICATION

Find here some selected examples!


Where do you stand on the political spectrum?

centre.

The best example of government waste is…

such as to answer the same questions

in writing in numerous forms to get en

modern technology and offer alterna

tive solutions – not doing so is frankly

a waste of time and money.

cessive bureaucracy is to complete all

The best example of high-quality government…

tions. Local authorities very close to

the citizens are simply better for all.

What is your favourite quotation?

should realise that we have nothing

to fear but fear itself. At least in my

fearful.

Should gay teachers be allowed in the classroom?

personal orientation should have any

thing to do with the capacity of being

a superb teacher. The only criterion to

lism to teach.

What is your position on sex education?

at some time?

How do you feel about freedom of speech in Europe?Freedom of speech is possibly one of

the most important rights that we can

an essential part when entering a dia

logue is to start by listening to people.

to listen to other people.

The most convincing evidence that brainwashing exists in Europe is the fact that some truly believe……that Europe is some kind of a Super

argued in favour of Europe in several re

What should be the highest law in Europe?The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the

treaties was one of the best things that

the Convention drafting a Constitution

naged to accomplish. Now it is part of

sonally have preferred a Constitution to

the Treaty.

What are the greatest books of all time?

biographies in general.

Three best things in life…

What do you fear?

Do you remember the last time you danced?

a lot of dancing at the party func

Have you ever read the Communist Manifesto?

document.

nar for journalists keen in learning more

about the press work in the European

litical parties and the functioning of

The event aims to bring together jour

resting programme with a broad range

ting an interesting forum to meet and

discuss Europe and share best practice

with each other.

For information contact ELDR Press Officer Chiara Puletti, [email protected], +32 2 237 01 43.

For most of history, Anonymous was a woman

1. 13-15 October ELDR Congress

2. 28 October Liberal Prime Ministers lunch (informal

EU summit), Brussels

3. 10-11 November Local and national media semi-

nar, Brussels

4. 16 December ELDR Leaders meeting (EU Summit),

Brussels

Times features a number of regulatory

nancial crisis. At the top of the list of wo

ry of new regulation this year on the

welcome her work in trying to strike the

right balance between necessary rules

and freedom of the markets.

ELDR Party aisbl

European Liberal, Democrat and Reform PartyParti européen des Libéraux, Démocrates et Réformateurs

eldr news 7

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