Monthly Archives: February 2014

7 February 2014 Headlines ALDE NewsProfiles of MEPs in the News Networking ALDE News Ukraine: EU must be ready to introduce targeted sanctions if Yanukovich ignores democracy Guy Verhofstadt, ALDE Leader on 5 February told the European Parliament in Strasbourg that Europe needs a credible, action based strategy to bring change in Ukraine and stop violence immediately including, if necessary, the use of sanctions. He was speaking during a debate on the situation in Ukraine. Read More Air passenger rights: legal certainty on responsibility and rights A report adopted on 5 February by the European Parliament updates common rules for compensation for air passengers when facing long delays or cancellations of flights. It also relaxes rules on carry-on baggage, allows passengers to use the return part of their ticket even if they did not use the outward leg of the journey and establishes legal certainty for airlines on when exceptional circumstances apply that are genuinely beyond their control. Read More Improving access of third country nationals to seasonal work in the EU After years of controversies, on 5 February the Seasonal Workers Directive has finally been adopted by the European Parliament and will be transposed into national laws within 30 months from its publication in the EU official Journal. This Directive presented by the Commission in July 2010 is part of the common EU labour migration policy and sets harmonised conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purpose of seasonal employment. Read More End double discrimination against undocumented women migrants The Liberals and Democrats group in the European Parliament (ALDE) welcomes the support for the report on Undocumented Women migrants, drafted by ALDE MEP Norica Nicolai (PNL, Romania). Read More Syria: EU must do everything within its power to limit the suffering of the Syrian people Speaking during the plenary debate of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, ALDE Leader Guy Verhofstadt has said that as long as Bashar al-Assad remains in power there will be no solution ever for Syria. Read More Banking union: Council’s proposal is neither credible nor democratic The adoption of a European Resolution Mechanism and the creation of a resolution Fund is an important step for the stability of the banking sector and the euro area as a whole. As part of the single market for financial services, it is a matter of co-decision between Parliament and Ministers of finance. Read More Easier to license music rights across European borders It will now be easier for online services, such as Spotify, to acquire music rights across EU borders. The new directive, passed by the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 4 February, will not only help online music services offering their services in several member states, but also strengthen the rights of individual rights holders, by clarifying their rights vis-à-vis collecting management organisations. Read More Internet developments require new efforts on consumer rights When a hotel uses fake consumer references to praise itself in an internet forum, or if a supposedly neutral website for assisting consumer’s choice singles out products of preferred suppliers, then unfair commercial practices misrepresent the truth and abuse consumer trust. In order to tackle such cases, the European Parliament on 4 February asked for further efforts of the Members States and the European Commission to ensure consumers are better protected against emerging unfair commercial practices. Read More Insider dealing and market manipulation finally outlawed and punished “The scandal over the manipulation of the EURIBOR and LIBOR benchmarks not only underlined the transnational nature and impact of the financial markets, but it also showed that the differences between Member States’ legislation was a fertile ground for such a scourge to flourish”, said ALDE MEP Wolf Klinz (FDP, Germany) welcoming the adoption on 4 February by the European Parliament of a Directive on criminal sanctions for market abuse. Read More EU roadmap against LGBTI discrimination: Parliament’s progressive majority must speak out The European Parliament on February 4 voted on a report on homophobia and discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity. ALDE spokeswoman on the file Sophie in ‘t veld (D66,Netherlands) called on the progressive majority to provide the ultra-conservative opponents of this report with a clear and audible sound. Read More 2014 European Semester – no complacency in implementation On January 30 the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee adopted a report on the 2014 EU economic priorities set by the European Commission in November 2013 at the launch of the fourth European Semester by presenting its Annual Growth Survey for the next year focusing on “strengthening the recovery”. Read More Combatting violence against women: EU must show leadership One in four women has been a victim of violence, domestic abuse, rape, sexual exploitation, genital mutilation or other sexual violence in the EU yet there is still no comprehensive EU-strategy to prevent violence against women (VAW), despite it being a European wide problem. Read More Networking 9th Annual ALDEPAC Conference on Economic Growth and Development, Cape Town South Africa January 23 to 26 In the historical setting of the Old Chamber of the South African Parliament, prominent liberal politicians and MPs from Africa and Europe gathered for the 9th annual conference of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, Pacific, Africa and the Caribbean (ALDEPAC).In his welcome remarks, Niccolo Rinaldi, ALDEPAC, Co-President and Vice President of the ALDE Group in the EP spoke of the European context: “divided, we are irrelevant on an international level; united the EU will play a key role in global relations. In that sense, the European elections in 2014 will set an important course for Euro-African relations and their impact on world developments.” He mentioned two events in 2014 as crucial for the political future of Africa: the democratic elections in South Africa, essential to maintain a society based on liberal principles and the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide during which 800.0000 Tutsis were murdered, “which has traumatised for a long time not only Africa but also Europe”.Former Prime Minister of Guinea and Leader of UFDG Cellou Dialo inspired the audience saying: “The fight for Africa based on values, on values of freedom and liberty for everyone, is something that must inspire us on a daily basis, in all the work we are doing, in all the policies we are promoting.”ALDEPAC Political Coordinator Johan van Hecke, welcomed delegates to Cape Town and the Western Cape as “the liberated areas of South Africa”.Louis Michel, MEP, Co-President of the ACP-JPA, underlined that unlike capitalism, liberalism is a social project, a vision of humanity. Liberalism creates wealth, but that wealth must display freedom. It must enable everyone to blossom. While there is no development without economic growth it does not always guarantee human progress. Liberalism is therefore founded on two fundamental pillars: an effective market economy and a consolidated state, capable of carrying out its great missions in the service of the population, education, justice, health care, institutions, culture, etc.). Western Cape Premier and leader of the Democratic Alliance Helen Zille, addressed the political situation in South Africa and the continent, ahead of the important parliamentary elections scheduled for May this year. She spoke with pride about a “democratic South Africa with a liberal constitution.” Zille spoke of the challenges her nation and continent faced, emphasising that the “Europeans have not helped Africa”. She said: “They came to Africa, carved it out in the most illogical way, without any respect to the ethnic and tribal realities, and told the local people ‘implement democracy’ — something they could not themselves implement back at home on their continent where their states were carved out following ethnic/tribal divides.”She continued “I was blessed enough to be part of the constitutional debates, where liberals were giving ideas, where people have been for decades working hard to convince the others that a liberal constitution is the way to build a common future together. Liberals are about commitment, about a long-term service to the people to help them achieve their goals. Liberals are unique because they believe that human beings are fallible; humans are not always right. If we keep on long enough, I believe more people will understand how important it is to safeguard and guarantee other people’s freedom, and how important it is to respect each other for whoever we might be. And that is why Cape Town and the Western Cape are so wonderful, because the majority have embraced this concept.”During the course of the Conference, LI President Hans van Baalen MEP underlined that “the free market provides the right environment for human and civil rights and the fight against discrimination.” Speaking on “Good Governance and the Rule of Law” he stressed: “The free market is blind, which means, it does not discriminate between black and white, gay or straight, men or women. Private enterprise wants to attract the best people fit for the job and wants to sell its products and services to everybody. On the other hand, equal rights, civil liberties and non-discrimination unleashes the best qualities in people, and provides the best workforce and consumers for private enterprise. Therefore, the free market and the free society are complementary.”Tim Harris MP, DA, speaking on the session “Strengthening Regional Trade in Africa” summarised the general opinion “Boosting free trade in Africa is the best way to drive economic growth across the continent and help to lift millions of Africans out of poverty. Too often Africans remain separated from each other by xenophobia, ignorance, red tape, tariffs, inadequate infrastructure and visa problems. Every Liberal party on the continent should prioritise strengthening African trade on their policy platforms, particularly given the failure of most incumbent governments to make good on their lofty promises in this area.”The ALDEPAC Conference welcomed the members of the Bureau of the Africa Liberal Network (ALN) and was organised in cooperation with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty. Profiles of MEPs in the News Philippe De Backer (Open VLD, Belgium) Philippe De Backer was born on December 4th 1978 in Ekeren, a small town close to Antwerp in Belgium. . After high school he went to Ghent to study Biotechnology where he soon got involved in student councils and political organisations. First he became a member of the Liberal Flemish Student association (LVSV) where he was active for three years writing blogs and opinion articles for the liberal think tank Liberales. He was also a student representative to the Board of Directors of the University of Ghent for two years. In 2008 he became president of the Young Flemish Liberals and served for three years. He then joined the local elections for the Flemish Liberals (Open Vld) and got elected to the city Council of Kapellen. After obtaining his PhD in biotechnology from Ghent University and an MBA from Solvay Business School, Philippe worked as a Technology Transfer Officer at CRP-Santé and as analyst at Vesalius Biocapital, a Luxembourg-based venture capital firm specialising in life-sciences. He has an expertise in the valorisation of IP developed by public research institutes and setting-up early ventures in the life-sciences. Philippe became a Member of the European Parliament in 2011 where he is a full member of the Transport and Tourism Committee. He is also a substitute Member on the Economy and Monetary Affairs Committee, as well as the Employment and Social Affairs Committee. As full member of the Committee for Transport and Tourism, Philippe is involved in many important files. Transport infrastructure is the backbone of our economy. As our network is full of missing links, bottlenecks and cross border problems, Philippe defended the European added value of infrastructure projects during the discussion about new rules on the Trans-European Transport network and the Connecting Europe Facility. The completion of the internal market for transport is the ultimate goal of the legislation Philippe is working on. The railway market demonstrates how much work still needs to be done to unite Europe. The single railway market is hampered by stubborn Member States who want to protect their, mostly inefficient national railway companies by introducing technical barriers and protecting their national monopolies. During negotiations in Parliament, Philippe defended the opening of market, technical harmonisation and mandatory tendering of public service contracts. This is the only way to ensure a better level of service quality for passengers and companies who use rail to transport their goods. Philippe also plays a key role in the negotiations on the new ports regulation. Due to its history and the huge importance of ports to our EU economy, the stakes are high. Philippe believes that opening the market for port services is key to improving the working of our European ports. Transparency is absolutely necessary, but commercial freedom for our ports and port users should be preserved. In the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON), Philippe is strongly involved in creating a hospitable environment for enterprises. In particular, Philippe tried to stimulate the European Commission and the Member States in creating an adequate legislative framework for SMEs in his report “Improving access to finance for SMEs”. The crisis struck hard, especially on SMEs, and finding adequate funding was almost impossible. Therefore, Philippe strongly advocated introducing legislative frameworks for alternative means of financing. SMEs are the backbone of our economy, so legislators ought to do the maximum to support them. Not only by creating new incentives, but also by making sure that Member States structurally reform in order to be sufficiently competitive in the after-crisis-era. Therefore in his European Semester 2014 report Philippe argued for Member States to lower taxes, especially on labour, to adequately reform their pension system, and to ensure a flexible labour market. As a liberal, Philippe truly believes that it is his duty to take up responsibility in the community and actively work for the society and the people that live in it. He believes strongly in individual liberty, self-development and equal starting chances for everybody. On a personal note, Philippe has been married to Marie since May 2011 with whom he is expecting a baby in March 2014. On the rare occasion that he has free time, he enjoys reading non-fiction books. Read More For more information, please contact:ALDE Press Service and Inter-institutional relations unitneil.corlett@europarl.europa.euwillem.vandenbroucke@europarl.europa.euALDE Join ALDE on FacebookFollow ALDE on TwitterVideos Marietje SCHAAKE February 4 plenary speech on licensing of rights in musical works for online uses Phil BENNION February 3 plenary speech on EU law and better lawmaking Guy VERHOFSTADT February 6 plenary speech on Single Resolution Mechanism and a Single Bank Resolution Fund: outcome of the negotiations Wolf KLINZ February 4 plenary speech on Criminal sanctions for insider dealing and market ma Alexandra THEIN February 3 plenary speech on Promoting free movement by simplifying the acceptance of certain public documentsLinksAlliance for Liberals and Democrats for Europe – ALDE Alliance for Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party – ALDE Party European Democratic Party – EDP Liberal International Friedrich Naumann Stiftung LYMEC European Parliament

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