European youth dreams about freedom, not about treaties

The Irish voted ‘no’ to the Lisbon Treaty and since then everybody seems only interested in institutional scenarios of how to get out from this deadlock… forgetting that we have EP elections in less than one year. The fact is that citizens don’t care about institutions; it is our internal cuisine, the means to get to a result and not a result itself. What they matter about is contents and the main reasons of the Irish ‘no’ are from this perspective very eloquent: over half of the people motivated their vote by a lack of understanding of the issues whilst 68% found the ‘no’ campaign more convincing (68% voters), probably because it was focused on concrete/real-life issues that had nothing to do with the Treaty itself.

The fact is also that the Irish youth voted dominantly for the no side, creating interrogations about the reasons of such disaffection. What is important for the European youth today? An interesting hint is the result of the last Eurobarometer: when asked what does Europe represents for them, the youth answers the freedom to travel, work and study anywhere in Europe (59%); whilst cultural diversity comes second, the euro third, and peace comes much below - whereas it is one of the main elements for older citizens. Yes, the European youth is crying for freedom, they simply don’t care about whether the presidency should be permanent or rotating, if there should be one or three pillars, or if the EU should get legal personality. An intergovernmental treaty does not make people dream, freedom does.

This freedom to travel, work and study anywhere in Europe is called mobility. Young people have always been more mobile, true, but this mobility has taken today a new dimension with globalisation. There are new ways of communicating, swifter means of transport, and global mass media giving the impression that the world is at our doorstep. This feeling of mobility and freedom has also been largely enhanced by our Internal Market, a reform agenda that liberals have been pushing forcefully over past years and that is still not completed. Capital and goods are now already very mobile, true. But as regards persons and services we are far from there. For services the EU has recently approved a directive and it has been one of liberals’ major fights in the previous legislature. But services of general interest remain for instance an area where a lot of work remains to be done: railways, postal services, energy, healthcare, mobile phones (roaming)... Our internal market is today still too fragmented, limiting the freedom of citizens. As for persons, any EU citizen can of course now cross borders without passport and work abroad. But look at restrictions for labour forces from new Member States and look at EU visa policy from a pan-European level: when will we finally abolish student and tourist visas for Europeans that are at our borders? Also, mobility naturally creates new challenges that need to be addressed: think for instance about how far Europe is as regards civil rights (e.g. divorce rules for bi-national couples). The EU needs much more active in these areas if it wants to address the real life of citizens. That’s also what the “social Europe” should be about: not a big centralised State providing social benefits, because this is better done at proximity/national level, but about promoting civic rights (abortion, gay marriages/adoption, rights of minorities, etc.) cross-border because all European citizens are humans with equal rights.

But this is not all. The Internal market is not just about capital, goods, services and persons, but also about knowledge, the so-called “fifth freedom”. Is it normal that there are only 8 EU Universities in the world’s top 50 (most which in the UK)? The Bologna process is not enough. We need a common EU University policy and more ambitions in this area. Mobility of University students at European level should be further promoted as well as competition between Universities, whilst the latter should be given more autonomy and additional means in order to modernise.

Europe is not about preserving peace anymore, Europe is about freedom, and one should understand this urgently if one wants to make the European youth dream again about Europe.

Published in Youth Opinion:

http://www.youthforum.org/Downloads/Press_publications/yo/2008/YO_futureagenda.pdf

EU's generational gap: Too much consensus, not enough politics

Young people voted against the Lisbon Treaty by a factor of two to one at the referendum organised in Ireland, making it one of the main sources of the Irish 'No' together with females and manual workers. What can explain such disenchantment, a generational gap?

At least young people continue to support the EU since they are more likely to believe that their country's membership of the EU is a good thing than the oldest age group according to the Eurobarometer. The explanation shall therefore be found elsewhere. When looking at the reasons of the Irish 'No', it is instructive to see in particular that more than two-thirds of Irish voters found the No campaign simply more convincing and that, when asked to give a single reason for voting no, 40% of Irish voters replied that they did not understand the Treaty. And the youth is no exception to this.

Young people like to think differently. They like to dream, to think about how to change things and make them better. But Europe is not a dream factory like the USA and does not offer them any vision or dream. Europe is about consensus: you are in favour of the European consensus and you vote yes to anything proposed by Brussels, or you are a euroskeptic and you vote no, that's basically the choice. This is damaging Europe. Citizens, and especially young citizens, ask for choice, for alternative visions, for debate. They want dreams, they want emotions, and they hate technocrats saying what is good for them without explaining why. And if the no/anti-side is more convincing, well then too bad for Europe: in a world dominated by immediateness and mass-media, the instant emotions will win over what should be dictated by reason.

This generational gap can also be felt Europe when asking EU citizens does the EU mean to them personally: young people are the most likely to mention the freedom to travel, study and work anywhere in the EU, cultural diversity and the euro, whilst oldest respondents were most likely to mention peace (source: Eurobarometer 67). Europe is not anymore a question of peace for young people. Of course world peace remains an issue, but this is very much consensual. What matters is Europe's place in today's globalised world: are we closing or opening borders? Are we fearing or open to change? One issue is in this context of paramount importance for young people: mobility. Quite normal when "meeting with friends" is the most frequently practised activity among young Europeans (Eurobarometer, 2001)! Young people want to move and communicate easily; they don't really care if the EU should have one or three pillars and don’t understand what a EU foreign minister mean if there is no EU government.

"One does not fall in love with a growth curb". This slogan from May 1968 reminds us that if Europe wants to get closer to its citizens it has to revolutionize the way it communicates with its citizens. And this is not a question of nicer leaflets or websites, it is a question of making the EU more appealing, more personal, yes: more political. Citizens ask for more emotions, for more passion, for more debate, an EU that talks their language and that understands their priorities. And that's our role as EU political parties to respond to it. We need to disagree with other political parties. We need to show our cleavages. We need to bring a vision. We need to make citizens dream about Europe.

Published in ELDR News (August 2008)

Mobility, at the heart of change

In times of economic recession, the temptation is always to close borders. Not surprising therefore that protectionism and the fear of change get back into fashion, among both conservatives and socialists. Yesterday immigrants, today globalisation: people
need a scapegoat, and what better scapegoat than the free movement of goods and capital at a time of delocalisation of multinational companies and global financial crisis?

On the other hand, globalisation is about free movement and humans have never been so mobile in their minds and way of life than today: who would complain about the ease of travelling across the world, the falling costs of telecommunications or the availability of knowledge through the Internet? Globalisation goes, indeed, much beyond trade: it touches services, people and technologies… This mobility is furthermore at the very heart of today’s global economic growth, just as change is the key to growth. But if we fear change and put barriers to it, how can it happen and how can we grow?

In this regard we can be happy that Europeans are open to change. Take geographical mobility, probably the most daring form of change for Europeans: it is generally perceived as a ‘good thing’ for European integration by a solid majority of 62% of Europeans. In a way this result is however surprising because, when looking at home mobility, only a minority of Europeans has moved over long distances. Whilst the US Census Bureau in 2000 has e.g. shown that almost a third (32%) of US citizens live outside the state in which they were born, the Eurobarometer survey data show that only about 22% of the EU population has ever lived in another region (18%) or EU country (4%). This lack of mobility was noted as problematic by several economists at the time of the launch of the Euro, who stressed that for a monetary zone to be optimal, factors of production (labour and capital) need to be mobile enough. This was later nuanced, e.g. by the degree of openness and diversity of the economy, but one cannot deny that if a company delocalise to another country and unemployment appears, it makes things easier for the economy if the labour force can move to another country/region where labour is lacking, or if workers can easily change to another job.When looking at the motives of this geographic mobility, more than a third of those who made a long-distance move did so for labour market reasons, whilst the second most reported reason is a change of marital status (18%). A change of generation may be happening in the EU in this respect. An indicator: some 170,000 out of 875,000 divorces annually (16%) now already involve couples of different nationalities, according to EU data! And this phenomenon may be growing if we consider that young couples and students are indeed among the most mobile, in line with the “Erasmus generation” phenomenon. At the same time, the most important impediment to mobility as perceived by people is not likely to change since it concerns the loss of social contacts because of language and cultural differences… unless of course linguistic and inter-cultural knowledge improves in the EU – a challenge!

Using the fear of change as a political tool is anyway not only opportunist but also economically dangerous. Globalisation - just as change - should not be feared, it only needs to be accompanied by appropriate regulation. The only problem is that because change is by defi nition new, it is more difficult to grasp, and therefore more diffi cult to anticipate. It is thus no surprise if the EU starts only now to regulate cross-border divorces, when mobility of people starts making it necessary, and the same could be said about other areas. The bottom line, however, remains: mobility and change needs to be facilitated rather than impeded, and the looming economic recession is just another reason for it. Long live globalisation and mobility.

Published in ELDR News:

http://www.eldr.eu/pdf/publications/journaux/eldr-2009-01.pdf

Joint statement with YEPP on EP elections

ONNED, the Youth of Nea Demokratia (New Democracy), Greek centre-right political party, organised a YEPP (European People's Party Youth) Seminar on 'Youth participation, Youth campaigning' in Athens, Greece, on 22-25 January 2009. I participated in the opening of the event on 22 January, at the invitation of YEPP, together with Yannis Smyrlis, President of YEPP, and Giorgos Papanikolaou, President of ONNED.

My declaration at this occasion: 'Our mother parties will battle on different political platforms at the EP elections next June, but we are both fighting for a more political Europe. My wish with this regard is that an ideological coalition, a political coalition based on ideas, emerges from the next European Parliament, if not we will lose citizens' interest'.

Yannis Smyrlis, President of YEPP (youth of the EPP), stressed on his side: 'Youth participation in the EU debate depends on EU's willingness to listen to them. What young people want to see addressed are concrete real-life topics such as facilitating student mobility or securing eurozone's economic growth, not vague institutional issues. If we want to build a European identity, we need a European debate at the same time, and this is our role as youths of European and national political parties'.

Fact-finding mission to Cyprus

I went for a fact-finding mission to Cyprus at the invitation of the youth of the Freedom and Reform Party (North Cyprus) on 23-25 February 2009, and met at this occasion with Mr. Avci, leader of FRP and Minister for foreign affairs of the so-called Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC), as well as with Mr. Talat, leader of the Turkish Cypriot Community and President of the so-called TRNC, and Praxoula Antoniadou Kyriacou, leader of the United Democrats (ELDR member, Greek cypriot). A press conference and TV interview were also scheduled, leading to wide media coverage of the mission.

Currently in coalition with Mr. Talat's party (CTP), the Freedom and Reform Party (FRP) is actively promoting a solution to the Cyprus dispute and stand at approximately 15% of vote intentions with Parliament elections coming up next April. Both the FRP and the United Democrats (ELDR member, Greek cypriot community) favour a bizonal bicommunal federation with political equality, as defined by relevant UN Security Council resolutions.



My declaration at this occasion: ‘We are all conscious of the importance of upcoming parliament elections in the so-called Turkish Republic of North Cyprus next April. A victory of the National Unity Party, currently ahead of the CTP in the polls, could indeed seriously undermine the chances to reach a political agreement in 2009. The way out of the crisis is a bizonal bicommunal federation with political equality and I am proud that this is what liberals are fighting for in Cyprus, both in the South and in the North’, before adding: ‘It is now time for political realism, populism has created too much damage and lost opportunities for Cypriot citizens’.

Photo album on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=98437&l=33c57&id=546885922

Graham Watson candidate to the presidency of the European Parliament

ALDE Group Leader Graham Watson has launched on 6 January his campaign for the presidency of the European Parliament at the occasion of the ALDE Group annual New Year reception in Brussels, and in the presence of notably José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, who will seek re-election on behalf of the European People's Party (EPP) at the end of 2009.

Graham Watson said: 'For too long, Presidents of Parliament have been chosen through backroom deals in smoke-filled rooms. Mine will be the first ever public campaign for the presidency: in this I hope that I will set a precedent'.

Aloys Rigaut, President of European Liberal Youth (LYMEC), who attended the event, commented: 'The technical power-sharing agreements between the EPP and Socialists cannot last any longer, citizens would not understand it. What we want is an ideological coalition, a political coalition that aims at influencing the agenda of the European Commission', before adding: 'We are conscious that this means striking a deal with one of the two largest groups and reaching compromises on other EU top jobs, but we are confident that liberals can achieve that. As the youth of the European Liberal Democrats, we will in any case do our utmost to help Graham in this campaign. He is definitely the ideal candidate for the post and we wish him all the success he deserves'.

Video of Graham Watson's speech on 6 January: click here.

Lisbon Treaty is still alive

Brussels, 19th June 2008 - More than 40 European Liberal Democrat leaders, ministers, and European commissioners, including 5 liberal prime ministers, gathered in Brussels for the ELDR Leaders and Ministers meeting. This was the first ELDR Leaders meeting that I attended as LYMEC President.

The subject of the future of the Lisbon Treaty was the main topic of conversation following last week’s Irish referendum result, highjacking the topic of the completion of the Single Market which was initially on the agenda (in preparation of EP elections campaign). The liberal Prime ministers outlined at this occasion their commitment to the Treaty and their desire to see the ratification process continue.

Intervening in the roundtable debate, I have stressed that citizens are simply tired of endless institutional discussions and that we need to go ahead. Of course we shall respect the Irish people and the message it expressed through last week's referendum, but we shall equally respect all the national parliaments which have already ratified the Treaty. Holding a referendum is only one way to take a decision, and it is certainly not the preferred one of liberals for non-constitutional issues because we believe it is prone to populism.

There are several ways out possible from the crisis but it is now up to the Irish government to signal its preferred option and not up to the EU to arrogantly impose one scenario. I am confident that in the end the Irish no will be isolated and will settle down by itself. But in the meantime, we need to continue working because we have EP elections coming up next year and what citizens are worried about is not the Lisbon Treaty, but their declining purchasing power, the stagnation of the economy and climate change.

What is now certain is that the Lisbon Treaty will not be in force by the next EP elections, which will have several essential consequences. The Irish 'no' deprives the rest of Europe from more freedoms and more democracy, which is sad. However the Lisbon Treaty is not dead yet. One people expressed itself but we must listen to Europe as a whole.

ELDR press release following today's ELDR Leaders meeting is available at the following link: http://www.eldr.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1305

Elu à la présidence du LYMEC

Barcelone, 3 mai 2008 - Le Congrès des Jeunes Libéraux Européens (LYMEC), l'organisation de jeunesse du Parti Européen des Libéraux Démocrates et Réformateurs (ELDR), avait lieu le du 1er au 4 mai 2008 à Barcelone en Catalogne et a rassemblé près de 170 délégués des quatre coins de l'Europe. Il s'agissait du plus important congrès jamais organisé par le LYMEC.

Un nouveau bureau a été élu à cette occasion pour un mandat de deux ans et j'ai été élu à la présidence de l'organisation (après une longue et difficile campagne...). C'est la première fois qu'un membre des Jeunes MR occupe cette fonction, ce qui est naturellement un honneur !

Parmi mes priorités pour les prochains mois, j'ai notamment souligné l'importance des élections européennes de juin 2009 dans le contexte du nouveau traité de Lisbonne: "Ensemble nous pouvons faire de ces élections européennes un succès pour les libéraux, prétendre aux plus hautes fonctions et garder notre influence sur l'agenda européen. Le parti ELDR et le LYMEC doivent être à l'avant-garde de l'Europe politique. C'est a nous qu'il revient de professionnaliser la politique européenne et de sortir de l'apathie actuelle".

Communiqué de press du MR:
http://www.mr.be/News/news.php?id=4010

Communiqué de presse du LYMEC:
http://www.lymec.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=608

Brèves dans European Voice et European Agenda:
http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/imported/movers-and-shakers/60694.aspx
http://www.european-agenda.com/pnews/000000989.php

ELDR Party Council in Tallinn

Tallinn, 11-13 April 2008 - I was representing LYMEC at the ELDR Party Council in Tallinn. The trip was quite exhausting as I stopped in Helsinki on my way to Tallinn to quickly pass the day before by a seminar organised by Finnish Center Youth (FCY) in Helsinki on that same week: plane to Helsinki via Copenhagen, boat to Tallinn, and the same way back ;)

The meeting was attended by several liberal leaders and MEPs, including A. Ansip (PM Estonia), A. Fogh Rasmussen (PM Denmark), K. Ojuland (Estonian MP, former Minister of Foreign affairs), G. Watson (MEP, ALDE Group leader) and A. Neyts (MEP, President of ELDR Party).

The ELDR Party is developing a Manifesto around 4 chapters: Environment and Energy, Liberal Europe, Single market, and Foreign Security and Defence Policy, and workshops are being organised to define priorities for each chapter. In Tallinn, a workshop took place to discuss about Foreign Security and Defence Policy, and I intervened to make clear the most important points from LYMEC perspective: need for a European Army and a European police force to manage civil crisis (like in Kosovo), need for a Common External Energy Policy to speak with one voice towards Russia, control of the EP on EU foreign policy (in the hands of the European Commission according to the Lisbon Treaty), and no “absorption capacity” criteria for EU enlargement (only Copenhagen criteria) but need to define clearly the borders of European integration project.

On the Saturday we had a seminar about political campaigning, followed by a very interesting brainstorming about the role of the ELDR Party in next EP elections. Yes, real professional Eurpean political parties start to emerge, even though we are far from US federal politics ;)

I was interviewed by Europolitics at this occasion and you can find the publication here: http://www.europolitics.info/xg/europolitique/institutions/parlement/223357

Also, a new ELDR online database was launched, a pretty useful tool: http://www.eldr.eu/members

Photos of the event: http://www.eldr.org/modules.php?set_albumName=album60&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php

Message de soutien de Didiers Reynders

Official letter of nomination by Jeunes MR for LYMEC Bureau elections:
20080410144912268_0002.pdf

Visit to JuLis congress

Braunschweig, 15-16 March 2008 - I have been attending my 2nd JuLis (Young Liberals of Germany) congress, with a number of other international guests from JOVD, Jong VLD, TNL and LSF. Several candidates to the LYMEC Bureau were by the way present, including Jeroen Benning, Alexander Plahr, Frédéric de Harven, Dragos Aionesie and David Neyskens.

Attending as LYMEC Vice-president I was offered a speaking slot on Sunday morning and spoke about the need for LYMEC to break the European consensus and fully play its role as a European political party youth if it wants to overcome the current euro-fatigue. I notably stressed the importance of continuing to run campaigns (like the recent CAP is CRAP campaign - supported by Julis) and playing an active role in European elections. And I of course also gave a warm farewell to Gesine, who was stepping down as JuLis International officer, on behalf of LYMEC.

I also took the occasion of this weekend to sit down with LHG international officer and finalise the joint resolution on the Bologna Process, the first concrete policy outcome of the ELSN (European Liberal Students Network) existence, as well as to finalise the internal motion on EP elections. Both can be found on LYMEC website (documents for Barcelona congress).

Photos of the event can be found on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?page=1&aid=43693&id=546885922 (as you will see I have btw a new haircut ;)

LYMEC discusses the future of the Council of Europe and gives support to Moldovan liberals

Chisinau, 7-9 March 2008 - LYMEC coorganised a seminar in Moldova with the Youth of Alliance Moldova Noastra (OT-AMN) on the future of the Council of Europe in the context of EU enlargement. The last LYMEC Bureau meeting before the Barcelona congress was aso held in parallel on the same week-end, taking opportunity of the presence of most bureau members.

The seminar participants adopted a common statement (click here) on the future of Council of Europe that will be forwarded for adoption to the upcoming Congress of LYMEC in Barcelona. The document calls on the Council of Europe to remain the main reference institution for protection of democracy on the continent while exploring further synergy and joint actions with the European Union.

LYMEC has also used the opportunity of this event to issue a common statement with OT AMN (click here) on the political situation in Moldova. It calls on the Moldovan government to move closer to European integration by renouncing to its authoritarian practices and allowing for full democracy in the country

I have directly contributed to the finalisation of both texts on the Sunday, and chaired most of the seminar in addition to delivering an introduction presentation on the topic of the seminar on the Friday.

It was my first time in Moldova but certainly not the last :) Lot of political work indeed ahead in the country with national parliament elections scheduled in March 2009.

For more information: http://www.lymec.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=604

Candidate for LYMEC Presidency

Dear friends,

After serving as Treasurer and Vice-president of LYMEC, I could have stopped here and pass to something else. If I am candidate for LYMEC Presidency today, it is not because I want to hold to power but because I sincerely believe that I still have much to give to the organisation and because LYMEC will need to be in strong and reliable hands in the coming two years to face the challenges coming ahead.

Yes, our dear LYMEC has changed a lot in past years. I still remember the time where we were located in the offices of the ELDR Group in the European Parliament, with 1 stagiaire changing every six months, twice fewer members compared to today, very low marketing skills, almost no political influence or media visibility and an annual budget of less than 50.000 euros. Today LYMEC is a mature organisation, with a strong secretariat, a budget four times larger than it used to be, high quality events, real pan-European political campaigns, political respectability and influence, and even – ice on the cake - some media visibility. We could say that we have achieved enough and that today is just a matter of catering for continuity, but it is not the case.

First, we are facing a major electoral year in 2009 and we need to put all our efforts in its preparation. We will indeed not only elect a new European Parliament, but also a new European Commission and Member States will nominate a President of the Council. European liberals need to play an active role at all levels, by running a genuine pan-European campaign on our top policy issues and by having common candidates for all key positions. For this, we need to reform and rebrand the ELDR party, make it a real European political party, more influential in the EP and better prepared for elections, a transformation in which LYMEC can have a key influence by paving the way and pushing for such change.

Second, we need to continue bringing LYMEC closer to Member Organisations’ individual members. This will happen not only through the use of new media (youtube, facebook…) and through the development new pan-European campaigns (on the model of the successful no-visa campaign), but also by breaking the European consensus which has only led to further democratic deficit and by uniting LYMEC behind a common ambitious political vision for Europe: our members should see LYMEC as an organisation that has teeth, an organisation that acts and an organisation that matters, not a travelling circus.

Third, we need to consolidate LYMEC from an organisational and financial point of view and take urgent measures as regards LYMEC finances. The current financial crisis (liquidity problems + excessive expenses in 2007) is from this perspective no good news as it is only regrettable to have to cut expenses one year before EP elections. We need to manage the budget with a lot of care in 2008, create financial reserves and urgently find new financial resources if we want to breathe a bit next year. And we also need to follow with great attention the discussions on the future status and funding for European political party youths. With my record as Treasurer in 2003-2006, I believe that I am the best placed today to achieve these challenges.

From more information, you can consult my campaign group on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=9190317711

Best,
Aloys