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ALDE Newsletter November 2013


To ensure proper delivery of this newsletter, please add newsletter@alde.eu to your email address book. Click here to view this newsletter in your browser. 22 November 2013 Headlines ALDE NewsProfiles of MEPs in the News ALDE Networking ALDE News MFF: Parliament’s tough stance delivered a better deal The European Parliament meeting in Strasbourg adopted on November 19th the General Regulations on the implementation of the 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework. ALDE participated in this consensus because after months of long and difficult negotiations with the Council, all the conditions set forth in the parliamentary resolution last July have been accepted, thus considerably altering the political agreement reached by the European Council . Read More EU provides more money than ever to boost SMEs Between 2014 and 2020 the EU will spend considerably more money to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) than ever before. With Horizon 2020 and COSME the European Parliament has adopted two major funding programmes during the November Strasbourg plenary session. Read More New EU mobility programme will help match skills and jobs across EU The European Parliament meeting during the November plenary session in Strasbourg adopted a new programme endorsed under the EU’s next multiannual budget, the EU programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI). This important policy tool in the long-running battle to stabilise the EU economy and labour markets is funded with a € 815 million budget for the next seven years. EaSI integrates three existing instruments (Progress, EURES and Microfinance) designed to fight unemployment, poverty and social exclusion in the EU and extends their coverage. Read More A better funding base to connect Europe’s infrastructure Liberals and Democrats supported the November 19 plenary vote for a new legal base to fund future trans-European transport, energy and telecommunication infrastructure projects. The adoption of the “Connecting Europe Facility” (CEF) gives the EU from 2014 on a common instrument for the co-financing of these trans-European networks. Read More Erasmus+ : More money for more mobility in education “In times of austerity we have to invest whatever we can possibly afford in education. The 40 % budget increase for the new Erasmus+ programme shows that the EU understands that principle more than ever,“ said liberal MEP Morten Løkkegaard (Venstre, Denmark), on the adoption of the new Erasmus+ programme by the European Parliament during the November Strasbourg plenary session. Read More Gender diversity is good for the boardroom say Liberals and Democrats After four decades of voluntary measures, EU companies are still failing to fill vacant boardroom seats with women. Despite the growing presence of suitably qualified and experienced women in the recruitment pool, optimism that these talented women would automatically break the” glass ceiling” turned out to be misplaced. Only 13% of company board members in the EU’s largest publicly listed companies are women. Read More EU Cohesion policy brings real added value to Europe’s regions The EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020, approved on November 19th by the European Parliament, includes €325 billion for investing in Member States, regions and cities via the Cohesion Policy instruments. It represents 30% of the total EU budget over the next seven years. The new Cohesion and Structural Funds will invest more in sectors such as Innovation and R&D, ICT, SMEs and the low-carbon economy whilst investments in sustainable transport infrastructures are maintained. Read More Online censorship: Morten Løkkegaard calls for ombudsman The issue of censorship on the internet was debated during the November plenary session by Morten Løkkegaard, vice-chair of the European Parliament’s Culture committee, who brought together representatives from Facebook and Google in Copenhagen, Denmark. Read More Seasonal workers should be treated the same as EU nationals After years of controversies, the Seasonal Workers Directive is in the final phases of adoption. The Justice and Civil Liberties Committee and the Employment Committee signed off on November 14th the agreement reached with Council last month, after two years of negotiations. 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 Verhofstadt welcomes the alliance of the two centrist and pro-European parties in France Guy Verhofstadt , President of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in the European Parliament said: “I welcome the creation of a strong alliance of the French Centre, gathering my French friends from UDI and MODEM. Such an alliance, which I have called for since the last presidential elections in France, is indispensable. This joint force establishes a real alternative for France and for Europe. ” Read More Europe must reap benefits of worldwide talent market The European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE) on November 5th adopted ALDE MEP Cecilia Wikström’s (Folkpartiet, Sweden) report on clearer conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purposes of research, studies, pupil exchange, remunerated and unremunerated training, voluntary service and ‘au pairing’. Read More More integrated European maritime management The European Parliament’s Transport and Tourism Committee (TRAN) adopted on November 5th a framework directive for the establishment and implementation of maritime spatial planning and integrated coastal management which aim at mapping the marine waters and the efficient distribution of actual and potential uses in maritime space. By coordinating the different sector activities and policies this would yield huge potential benefits for industries like offshore-energy, aquaculture and tourism. Read More Court of Auditors criticise EU accounts The Annual Report of the European Court of Auditors for the financial year 2012, was made public on November 5th in the Parliament, and indicated that the average error rates had worsened since the previous year, standing now at 4.8% on average with the highest rates of errors detected in the areas of rural development and regional policy. Read More ALDE support help for fishermen but reject subsidies for fleet renewal MEPs during the October II Strasbourg plenary rejected calls for EU subsidies to be paid for fleet renewal ie the building of new fishing boats but approved payment of subsidies to help fishermen adjust to change and provide funding for small ports affected by declines in fish landings. The vote on the European Maritime & Fisheries Fund (EMFF) will provide €6 billion towards the fishing industry between 2014 and 2020. Read More Credibility of EU in world affairs at stake if EEAS is not trusted by larger Member States The European Parliament adopted on October 24th an important report giving greater emphasis on thorough preparation of the European Defence Council of December 2013. This report is the European Parliament’s position on the annual report by the Council on the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy and outlines the main aspects of CFSP. Whilst there have been understandable difficulties in the transition to a new approach to CFSP following the Lisbon Treaty, this report now calls upon the EU’s High Representative and External Action Service to show leadership through quality, courage and decisive and timely action. Read More EU-US TFTP – temporary suspension On October 23rd the European Parliament adopted a resolution which clearly asks the Commission to temporarily suspend the EU-US TFTP agreement after leaked papers revealed that the US National Security Agency illegally accessed the Swift database. This agreement was meant to govern the exchange of financial information between the EU and the US in the joint fight against terrorism under the US Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (TFTP). Read More Lampedusa tragedy is a wake-up call for EU migration policy The latest refugee tragedies close to Lampedusa and Malta earlier this month should be considered as a turning point for European migration policy based on more solidarity and responsibility according to a resolution adopted by Parliament on October 23rd during the Strasbourg plenary session.Read More European strategy on organised crime After 18 months of hearings, the European Parliament on October 23rd gave its final assessment on the state of organised crime, corruption and money laundering in Europe and called for a European strategy to counter the growing phenomenon which is depriving national tax authorities of billions of euros every year in lost revenue in addition to the social and human misery generated by criminal activity. Read More 2014 budget: rigorous and growth oriented Aside from its role in wrestling with Council over the Multiannual Financial Framework, the European Parliament’s October II plenary session in Strasbourg adopted the 2014 draft budget. The rapporteur, Anne Jensen, did re-establish the amounts for commitments and payments as originally proposed by the European Commission, and which the Council had reduced to the point that the financing of growth policies was threatened. Even so, it is an austerity budget, which lowers the actual expenditures of the EU by 3%. The Parliament makes its contribution by substantially reducing its own 2014 operating budget. Read More EU trading rights strengthened The European Parliament on October 23rd called on the Commission to strengthen the EU’s trading rights and interests both within the WTO and in bilateral agreements. Currently, in the absence of horizontal legislation for the handling of disputes, all litigation decisions are handled on a case by case basis, which is very slow and not dissuasive to trading partners who do not fulfill their contractual obligations. Read More New rules on medical devices will restore patient confidence The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe welcomes the new legislative rules on the safety and performance of medical devices and in-vitro diagnostic medical devices approved on October 22nd during plenary session by the Members of the European Parliament. Read More Khodorkovsky: Decade of injustice Ten years after his arrest at gunpoint, Mikhail Khodorkovsky remains the definitive symbol of serious political manipulation of justice and human rights abuse in his country. He is due to be released next August but the authorities could easily release him earlier, either as part of a general amnesty or a humanitarian gesture ahead of the Sochi Olympics. Read More Protecting data privacy in the internet age On October 21st the European Parliament’s Civil liberties Committee (LIBE) voted on two new pieces of legislation on data protection, proposed by the Commission in January 2012. Specifically a Data Protection Regulation and a Directive on data processing in law enforcement. This legislative update reflects the need to keep pace with technological change and threats that have emerged over recent years as the Internet has come into widespread use. Read More Verhofstadt congratulates Luxembourg Liberals on election success Congratulating Luxembourg Liberal party leader, Xavier Bettel of the Democratic Party, after emerging as the principal winner in the October 20th national elections, Guy Verhofstadt said: “Liberals in Luxembourg were the clear winners yesterday, making themselves potential kingmakers in determining the composition and complexion of the next government. I congratulate Xavier Bettel, currently mayor of Luxembourg, on his campaign and success in placing the Liberal party centre stage.” Read More Serbia accession report: Formal talks should begin in December The European Parliament’s rapporteur on Serbia ALDE MEP Jelko Kacin (LDS, Slovenia) commented on October 16th on the publication of the latest round of progress reports by the European Commission. Read More Turkey: Warning signals on civil liberties The European Commission on October 16th adopted its progress report on Turkey, as part of the annual enlargement package, ALDE MEPs made the following statement: Alexander Graf Lambsdorff (FDP, Germany), ALDE Spokesperson on Turkey commented “As expected, the 2013 progress report on Turkey is marked by the heavy handed Government crackdown on the Gezi park protesters and the absence of dialogue with civil society.”Read More Digital signature to be valid across borders EU citizens and businesses will soon be enabled to use their national electronic identification schemes (eIDs) to access public services across the EU. The EP Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, who has the lead on the issue, adopted on October 14th by a large majority a proposal for a regulation on electronic identification and transactions in the internal market. An Austrian student who plans his studies in Lithuania could then prepare applications at the university and municipal level (and also sign a rental agreement with his land-lord) by identifying himself online via his eID. Read More ALDE Networking 10 years of ALDE-CALD Partnership commemorated in the Philippines during Typhoon Haiyan The Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) marked its 20th anniversary and its 10 years old ALDE-CALD Partnership in Manila, Philippines on 8-11 November, just as the country was being ravaged by Typhoon Haiyan, though very little news reached the capital as emergency services struggled to respond and coordinate the international relief effort.During the four-day meeting more than a hundred international and local participants discussed how Asia’s political-security environment, economic clout, and regional integration have an impact on strategic relations between Asia and Europe.Attending were prominent European Liberals such as Hans VAN BAALEN MEP (President of Liberal International – LI), Sir GRAHAM WATSON MEP (President of the Party of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe – ALDE Party), NICCOLO RINALDI MEP (ALDE Group Vice President) and ANTONYIA PARVANOVA MEP (ALDE Group Vice President).The anniversary event included commemorating CALD’s 20th Anniversary Conference “Towards Party Reform and Renewal: Bringing Political Parties Back to the People”. CALD had chosen this topic in the hope of reconnecting political parties with the general public in an age marked by widespread political disillusionment.Between the two CALD events, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation’s Freedom Day (FNF) focussed on the national campaign project: It’s All About Freedom which included thousands of runners convened at the Quezon City Memorial Circle to join the biggest fun run against corruption (http://www.fnf.org.ph/freedomrun/). ALDE staff member THERESE MURDOCK emerged as one of the top runners in the 3 km race. The evening was reserved for the Foundation’s annual Freedom Speech and Freedom Awards. Profiles of MEPs in the News Morten Løkkegaard (Venstre, Denmark) Morten was born in Helsingør, Denmark, in 1964 and is the oldest son with three younger siblings. Due to his upbringing Morten has always had a special interest in the societal issues, democracy, civil rights and freedom of expression. Therefore it was a natural choice for Morten to become a journalist.After graduating high school in 1983 he began at Copenhagen University, where he studied History, but already the year after in 1984 he was admitted to the Danish School of Journalism in Aarhus. During his student years he worked as an intern at the Danish Newspaper “Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten”, which became well known worldwide for the printing of the Muhammed cartoons back in 2005. When Morten graduated in 1988 he continued to work for Jyllands-Posten as a reporter, covering business, finance and from 1989 the political life in the Danish Parliament. In 1990 Morten started working at the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR) and continued to cover politics in Danish Parliament. In 1991-92 he followed the Tamil-case, which led to the resignation of the government in 1993. From 1994 he helped to develop a new TV-concept for investigative journalism called Søndagsmagasinet, which he afterwards hosted and edited for almost 10 years. On top of that he was the anchor on the 9 o’clock News for more than 10 years. Alongside the many years in the world of Danish journalism, Morten became a German Marshall Fellow in 1995. This exclusive fellowship awakened his interest for the transatlantic bond and the international perspective as a whole. Due to Morten’s passion for communication and a growing interest in the theoretical and practical background he started his own company in 2005 – Løkkegaard Communication, specializing in political communication and strategy. In 2008 Morten was offered a place as a candidate for the Danish Liberal Party and was elected in 2009. Since becoming a member Morten has been working as vice- chairman for the culture committee and a member in the internal market committee. In the latter Morten is focusing on the functionality of the Internal Market. At the moment this topic is reflected in an upcoming report regarding SOLVIT, an on-line problem solving network in which EU Member States work together to solve problems caused by the misapplication of Internal Market law by public authorities.In the culture committee Morten has been involved in the area of education, in particular the recent upgrade of the Erasmus programmes, the new Erasmus+, where he represented the ALDE group in negotiations. Morten has a keen interest in the Parliament’s new possibilities regarding international trade agreements. He has been following the work in the trade committee closely and has been traveling to Asia (i.e. China, Singapore, Japan), US and South Africa in order to create networks and understanding for EU among companies and local authorities.More than anything else, Morten has a keen interest in how to strengthen the European public sphere in order to secure the legitimacy of the political project as a whole. In 2010 he wrote a report on this, and in light of this he initiated “the New Narrative for Europe”. The President of the European Commission, Mr Barroso, is working together with Morten and the rest of the culture committee on this project, which will culminate in the Spring of 2014 with a new charter and an extended version of the existing Narrative for Europe. In private life Morten is married to Connie, has four children (aged between 13and24) and lives in Charlottenlund, a suburb north of Copenhagen. He played football as a youngster but nowadays he only plays on rare occasions, but loves to watch Champions League. He also enjoys playing tennis, when he is home in Denmark. He appreciates Italian wine and likes to listen to both pop and classical music, the latter also due to the fact, that he played the violin as a boy and later on the guitar in a band. For more information, please contact:ALDE Press Service and Inter-institutional relations unitneil.corlett@europarl.europa.euwillem.vandenbroucke@europarl.europa.euJoin ALDE on FacebookFollow ALDE on TwitterEventsVideos Press Crisis in Europe Seminar Nathalie GRIESBECK November 2013 plenary speech on Joint Debate Horizon 2020 George LYON November 2013 plenary speech on Joint Debate Common agricultural policy .Morten LØKKEGAARD November 2013 plenary speech on Erasmus for all programme Stanimir ILCHEV November 2013 plenary speech on Location of the seats of the European Union’s i . Silvana KOCH MEHRIN November 2013 plenary speech on Gender balance among non-executive directors Jan MULDER November 2013 plenary speech on MFF 2014 2020 .Adina Ioana VĂLEAN 18 Nov 2013 plenary speech on Connecting Europe LinksAlliance 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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ALDE Newsletter November 2013


22 November 2013 Headlines ALDE NewsProfiles of MEPs in the News ALDE Networking ALDE News MFF: Parliament’s tough stance delivered a better deal The European Parliament meeting in Strasbourg adopted on November 19th the General Regulations on the implementation of the 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework. ALDE participated in this consensus because after months of long and difficult negotiations with the Council, all the conditions set forth in the parliamentary resolution last July have been accepted, thus considerably altering the political agreement reached by the European Council . Read More EU provides more money than ever to boost SMEs Between 2014 and 2020 the EU will spend considerably more money to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) than ever before. With Horizon 2020 and COSME the European Parliament has adopted two major funding programmes during the November Strasbourg plenary session. Read More New EU mobility programme will help match skills and jobs across EU The European Parliament meeting during the November plenary session in Strasbourg adopted a new programme endorsed under the EU’s next multiannual budget, the EU programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI). This important policy tool in the long-running battle to stabilise the EU economy and labour markets is funded with a € 815 million budget for the next seven years. EaSI integrates three existing instruments (Progress, EURES and Microfinance) designed to fight unemployment, poverty and social exclusion in the EU and extends their coverage. Read More A better funding base to connect Europe’s infrastructure Liberals and Democrats supported the November 19 plenary vote for a new legal base to fund future trans-European transport, energy and telecommunication infrastructure projects. The adoption of the “Connecting Europe Facility” (CEF) gives the EU from 2014 on a common instrument for the co-financing of these trans-European networks. Read More Erasmus+ : More money for more mobility in education “In times of austerity we have to invest whatever we can possibly afford in education. The 40 % budget increase for the new Erasmus+ programme shows that the EU understands that principle more than ever,“ said liberal MEP Morten Løkkegaard (Venstre, Denmark), on the adoption of the new Erasmus+ programme by the European Parliament during the November Strasbourg plenary session. Read More Gender diversity is good for the boardroom say Liberals and Democrats After four decades of voluntary measures, EU companies are still failing to fill vacant boardroom seats with women. Despite the growing presence of suitably qualified and experienced women in the recruitment pool, optimism that these talented women would automatically break the” glass ceiling” turned out to be misplaced. Only 13% of company board members in the EU’s largest publicly listed companies are women. Read More EU Cohesion policy brings real added value to Europe’s regions The EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020, approved on November 19th by the European Parliament, includes €325 billion for investing in Member States, regions and cities via the Cohesion Policy instruments. It represents 30% of the total EU budget over the next seven years. The new Cohesion and Structural Funds will invest more in sectors such as Innovation and R&D, ICT, SMEs and the low-carbon economy whilst investments in sustainable transport infrastructures are maintained. Read More Online censorship: Morten Løkkegaard calls for ombudsman The issue of censorship on the internet was debated during the November plenary session by Morten Løkkegaard, vice-chair of the European Parliament’s Culture committee, who brought together representatives from Facebook and Google in Copenhagen, Denmark. Read More Seasonal workers should be treated the same as EU nationals After years of controversies, the Seasonal Workers Directive is in the final phases of adoption. The Justice and Civil Liberties Committee and the Employment Committee signed off on November 14th the agreement reached with Council last month, after two years of negotiations. 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 Verhofstadt welcomes the alliance of the two centrist and pro-European parties in France Guy Verhofstadt , President of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in the European Parliament said: “I welcome the creation of a strong alliance of the French Centre, gathering my French friends from UDI and MODEM. Such an alliance, which I have called for since the last presidential elections in France, is indispensable. This joint force establishes a real alternative for France and for Europe. ” Read More Europe must reap benefits of worldwide talent market The European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE) on November 5th adopted ALDE MEP Cecilia Wikström’s (Folkpartiet, Sweden) report on clearer conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purposes of research, studies, pupil exchange, remunerated and unremunerated training, voluntary service and ‘au pairing’. Read More More integrated European maritime management The European Parliament’s Transport and Tourism Committee (TRAN) adopted on November 5th a framework directive for the establishment and implementation of maritime spatial planning and integrated coastal management which aim at mapping the marine waters and the efficient distribution of actual and potential uses in maritime space. By coordinating the different sector activities and policies this would yield huge potential benefits for industries like offshore-energy, aquaculture and tourism. Read More Court of Auditors criticise EU accounts The Annual Report of the European Court of Auditors for the financial year 2012, was made public on November 5th in the Parliament, and indicated that the average error rates had worsened since the previous year, standing now at 4.8% on average with the highest rates of errors detected in the areas of rural development and regional policy. Read More ALDE support help for fishermen but reject subsidies for fleet renewal MEPs during the October II Strasbourg plenary rejected calls for EU subsidies to be paid for fleet renewal ie the building of new fishing boats but approved payment of subsidies to help fishermen adjust to change and provide funding for small ports affected by declines in fish landings. The vote on the European Maritime & Fisheries Fund (EMFF) will provide €6 billion towards the fishing industry between 2014 and 2020. Read More Credibility of EU in world affairs at stake if EEAS is not trusted by larger Member States The European Parliament adopted on October 24th an important report giving greater emphasis on thorough preparation of the European Defence Council of December 2013. This report is the European Parliament’s position on the annual report by the Council on the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy and outlines the main aspects of CFSP. Whilst there have been understandable difficulties in the transition to a new approach to CFSP following the Lisbon Treaty, this report now calls upon the EU’s High Representative and External Action Service to show leadership through quality, courage and decisive and timely action. Read More EU-US TFTP – temporary suspension On October 23rd the European Parliament adopted a resolution which clearly asks the Commission to temporarily suspend the EU-US TFTP agreement after leaked papers revealed that the US National Security Agency illegally accessed the Swift database. This agreement was meant to govern the exchange of financial information between the EU and the US in the joint fight against terrorism under the US Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (TFTP). Read More Lampedusa tragedy is a wake-up call for EU migration policy The latest refugee tragedies close to Lampedusa and Malta earlier this month should be considered as a turning point for European migration policy based on more solidarity and responsibility according to a resolution adopted by Parliament on October 23rd during the Strasbourg plenary session.Read More European strategy on organised crime After 18 months of hearings, the European Parliament on October 23rd gave its final assessment on the state of organised crime, corruption and money laundering in Europe and called for a European strategy to counter the growing phenomenon which is depriving national tax authorities of billions of euros every year in lost revenue in addition to the social and human misery generated by criminal activity. Read More 2014 budget: rigorous and growth oriented Aside from its role in wrestling with Council over the Multiannual Financial Framework, the European Parliament’s October II plenary session in Strasbourg adopted the 2014 draft budget. The rapporteur, Anne Jensen, did re-establish the amounts for commitments and payments as originally proposed by the European Commission, and which the Council had reduced to the point that the financing of growth policies was threatened. Even so, it is an austerity budget, which lowers the actual expenditures of the EU by 3%. The Parliament makes its contribution by substantially reducing its own 2014 operating budget. Read More EU trading rights strengthened The European Parliament on October 23rd called on the Commission to strengthen the EU’s trading rights and interests both within the WTO and in bilateral agreements. Currently, in the absence of horizontal legislation for the handling of disputes, all litigation decisions are handled on a case by case basis, which is very slow and not dissuasive to trading partners who do not fulfill their contractual obligations. Read More New rules on medical devices will restore patient confidence The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe welcomes the new legislative rules on the safety and performance of medical devices and in-vitro diagnostic medical devices approved on October 22nd during plenary session by the Members of the European Parliament. Read More Khodorkovsky: Decade of injustice Ten years after his arrest at gunpoint, Mikhail Khodorkovsky remains the definitive symbol of serious political manipulation of justice and human rights abuse in his country. He is due to be released next August but the authorities could easily release him earlier, either as part of a general amnesty or a humanitarian gesture ahead of the Sochi Olympics. Read More Protecting data privacy in the internet age On October 21st the European Parliament’s Civil liberties Committee (LIBE) voted on two new pieces of legislation on data protection, proposed by the Commission in January 2012. Specifically a Data Protection Regulation and a Directive on data processing in law enforcement. This legislative update reflects the need to keep pace with technological change and threats that have emerged over recent years as the Internet has come into widespread use. Read More Verhofstadt congratulates Luxembourg Liberals on election success Congratulating Luxembourg Liberal party leader, Xavier Bettel of the Democratic Party, after emerging as the principal winner in the October 20th national elections, Guy Verhofstadt said: “Liberals in Luxembourg were the clear winners yesterday, making themselves potential kingmakers in determining the composition and complexion of the next government. I congratulate Xavier Bettel, currently mayor of Luxembourg, on his campaign and success in placing the Liberal party centre stage.” Read More Serbia accession report: Formal talks should begin in December The European Parliament’s rapporteur on Serbia ALDE MEP Jelko Kacin (LDS, Slovenia) commented on October 16th on the publication of the latest round of progress reports by the European Commission. Read More Turkey: Warning signals on civil liberties The European Commission on October 16th adopted its progress report on Turkey, as part of the annual enlargement package, ALDE MEPs made the following statement: Alexander Graf Lambsdorff (FDP, Germany), ALDE Spokesperson on Turkey commented “As expected, the 2013 progress report on Turkey is marked by the heavy handed Government crackdown on the Gezi park protesters and the absence of dialogue with civil society.”Read More Digital signature to be valid across borders EU citizens and businesses will soon be enabled to use their national electronic identification schemes (eIDs) to access public services across the EU. The EP Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, who has the lead on the issue, adopted on October 14th by a large majority a proposal for a regulation on electronic identification and transactions in the internal market. An Austrian student who plans his studies in Lithuania could then prepare applications at the university and municipal level (and also sign a rental agreement with his land-lord) by identifying himself online via his eID. Read More ALDE Networking 10 years of ALDE-CALD Partnership commemorated in the Philippines during Typhoon Haiyan The Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) marked its 20th anniversary and its 10 years old ALDE-CALD Partnership in Manila, Philippines on 8-11 November, just as the country was being ravaged by Typhoon Haiyan, though very little news reached the capital as emergency services struggled to respond and coordinate the international relief effort.During the four-day meeting more than a hundred international and local participants discussed how Asia’s political-security environment, economic clout, and regional integration have an impact on strategic relations between Asia and Europe.Attending were prominent European Liberals such as Hans VAN BAALEN MEP (President of Liberal International – LI), Sir GRAHAM WATSON MEP (President of the Party of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe – ALDE Party), NICCOLO RINALDI MEP (ALDE Group Vice President) and ANTONYIA PARVANOVA MEP (ALDE Group Vice President).The anniversary event included commemorating CALD’s 20th Anniversary Conference “Towards Party Reform and Renewal: Bringing Political Parties Back to the People”. CALD had chosen this topic in the hope of reconnecting political parties with the general public in an age marked by widespread political disillusionment.Between the two CALD events, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation’s Freedom Day (FNF) focussed on the national campaign project: It’s All About Freedom which included thousands of runners convened at the Quezon City Memorial Circle to join the biggest fun run against corruption (http://www.fnf.org.ph/freedomrun/). ALDE staff member THERESE MURDOCK emerged as one of the top runners in the 3 km race. The evening was reserved for the Foundation’s annual Freedom Speech and Freedom Awards. Profiles of MEPs in the News Morten Løkkegaard (Venstre, Denmark) Morten was born in Helsingør, Denmark, in 1964 and is the oldest son with three younger siblings. Due to his upbringing Morten has always had a special interest in the societal issues, democracy, civil rights and freedom of expression. Therefore it was a natural choice for Morten to become a journalist.After graduating high school in 1983 he began at Copenhagen University, where he studied History, but already the year after in 1984 he was admitted to the Danish School of Journalism in Aarhus. During his student years he worked as an intern at the Danish Newspaper “Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten”, which became well known worldwide for the printing of the Muhammed cartoons back in 2005. When Morten graduated in 1988 he continued to work for Jyllands-Posten as a reporter, covering business, finance and from 1989 the political life in the Danish Parliament. In 1990 Morten started working at the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR) and continued to cover politics in Danish Parliament. In 1991-92 he followed the Tamil-case, which led to the resignation of the government in 1993. From 1994 he helped to develop a new TV-concept for investigative journalism called Søndagsmagasinet, which he afterwards hosted and edited for almost 10 years. On top of that he was the anchor on the 9 o’clock News for more than 10 years. Alongside the many years in the world of Danish journalism, Morten became a German Marshall Fellow in 1995. This exclusive fellowship awakened his interest for the transatlantic bond and the international perspective as a whole. Due to Morten’s passion for communication and a growing interest in the theoretical and practical background he started his own company in 2005 – Løkkegaard Communication, specializing in political communication and strategy. In 2008 Morten was offered a place as a candidate for the Danish Liberal Party and was elected in 2009. Since becoming a member Morten has been working as vice- chairman for the culture committee and a member in the internal market committee. In the latter Morten is focusing on the functionality of the Internal Market. At the moment this topic is reflected in an upcoming report regarding SOLVIT, an on-line problem solving network in which EU Member States work together to solve problems caused by the misapplication of Internal Market law by public authorities.In the culture committee Morten has been involved in the area of education, in particular the recent upgrade of the Erasmus programmes, the new Erasmus+, where he represented the ALDE group in negotiations. Morten has a keen interest in the Parliament’s new possibilities regarding international trade agreements. He has been following the work in the trade committee closely and has been traveling to Asia (i.e. China, Singapore, Japan), US and South Africa in order to create networks and understanding for EU among companies and local authorities.More than anything else, Morten has a keen interest in how to strengthen the European public sphere in order to secure the legitimacy of the political project as a whole. In 2010 he wrote a report on this, and in light of this he initiated “the New Narrative for Europe”. The President of the European Commission, Mr Barroso, is working together with Morten and the rest of the culture committee on this project, which will culminate in the Spring of 2014 with a new charter and an extended version of the existing Narrative for Europe. In private life Morten is married to Connie, has four children (aged between 13and24) and lives in Charlottenlund, a suburb north of Copenhagen. He played football as a youngster but nowadays he only plays on rare occasions, but loves to watch Champions League. He also enjoys playing tennis, when he is home in Denmark. He appreciates Italian wine and likes to listen to both pop and classical music, the latter also due to the fact, that he played the violin as a boy and later on the guitar in a band. For more information, please contact:ALDE Press Service and Inter-institutional relations unitneil.corlett@europarl.europa.euwillem.vandenbroucke@europarl.europa.euJoin ALDE on FacebookFollow ALDE on TwitterEventsVideos Press Crisis in Europe Seminar Nathalie GRIESBECK November 2013 plenary speech on Joint Debate Horizon 2020 George LYON November 2013 plenary speech on Joint Debate Common agricultural policy .Morten LØKKEGAARD November 2013 plenary speech on Erasmus for all programme Stanimir ILCHEV November 2013 plenary speech on Location of the seats of the European Union’s i . Silvana KOCH MEHRIN November 2013 plenary speech on Gender balance among non-executive directors Jan MULDER November 2013 plenary speech on MFF 2014 2020 .Adina Ioana VĂLEAN 18 Nov 2013 plenary speech on Connecting Europe LinksAlliance 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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ALDE Newsletter October 2013


11 October 2013 Headlines ALDE News Profiles of MEPs in the News ALDE News EUROSUR: avoiding another Lampedusa tragedy The European Parliament on October 10 adopted a proposal establishing a European Surveillance system (EUROSUR), a new key EU instrument that will help prevent further human tragedies, like the latest in Lampedusa. Read More EU must launch three step strategy in response to the loss of human lives “What happened off the coast of Lampedusa last week is a tragedy, but one that could have been prevented. Over 235 lives have so far been lost and the figure is likely to rise in the coming days as more bodies are recovered from the wreck. According to the IMO, 25,000 migrants have lost their lives in the Mediterranean over the past 20 years “, said Guy Verhofstadt during the October I plenary session as EU justice and home affairs ministers meet to discuss the matter in Luxembourg. “The issue of managing migration flows is complex but there can be no excuse for turning our backs on desperate asylum seekers at our borders.” Read More Dismay at human right violations in Russia ALDE has questioned the European Commission on the rule of law and Human Rights in Russia during a October 10th debate in the European Parliament. Since the adoption of several laws restricting freedom of expression, assembly and association, notably the ‘Foreign Agents’ law and federal and regional ‘anti-propaganda’ laws, numerous organisations have reported an increase in violent xenophobic and homophobic attacks. There is ample evidence of unfair trials in which organisations, like Side-by-Side LGBT Film Festival, were fined and forced to shut down. Read More Commission backs ALDE call for refugee conference ALDE Group President Guy Verhofstadt welcomes the commitment of the European Commission to organise a European humanitarian Conference on the Syrian refugee crisis, as the European Parliament called for in its resolutionduring the October I Strasbourg plenary session. Vice-President Michel Barnier gave a positive response during the debate in Strasbourg. Read More New tobacco directive discourages smoking Under legislation approved on October 8th by Members of the European Parliament, rules on the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco products were made tougher – despite intense lobbying from the industry. Read More Malala Yousafzai wins 25th Sakharov Prize ALDE Group nominee, Malala Yousafzai has won the 2013 European Parliament Sakharov Prize for freedom. This is an award for achievement in the field of human rights and democracy. Malala Yousafzai is a young Pakistani school girl who was shot in the head and neck in an assassination attempt by Taliban gunmen while returning home on a school bus in October 2012. Since the attempt on her life, and medical treatment in the UK, she has captured the attention of the world in her fight for access to education for young girls. Read More Limits on hazardous substances in batteries and accumulators Members of the European Parliament during the first October plenary session have adopted a report on the Commission’s legislative proposal for the amending of the Directive on batteries and accumulators containing hazardous substances which are used in electronic equipment and in professional tools. The long-awaited reform of EU rules governing the market in batteries and accumulators was finally agreed between the European Parliament and Council. Read More EU must fight caste-based discrimination The European Parliament has adopted a resolution calling on the EU to step up its efforts to eliminate caste-based discrimination and in particular to protect Dalit women. The resolution calls on EU institutions to recognise and address caste-based discrimination on a par with other grounds for discrimination such as ethnicity, race, religion, gender and sexuality. Read More ALDE favorable to balanced trade relations with Taiwan as well as China The European Parliament voted during the October I Strasbourg plenary session for balanced trade relations between the EU, China and Taiwan. When the European Commission rightly claims a negotiating mandate for an investment treaty with China, MEPs, and particularly ALDE sought equal treatment for Taiwan which is also requesting a bilateral Treaty with the EU. Read More Easier movement for professionals within EU Millions of EU citizens consider working abroad. But many of them are worried about the recognition of their professional qualifications. Inside the European Union, many obstacles will soon be removed for them: The European Parliament on October 9th adopted the revised legislation on ‘Mutual recognition of professional qualifications’ after a successful trilogue negotiation on the issue, there will be a first reading agreement with the Council and a quick implementation. Read More Pilot flying and rest time: Commission proposal does not undermine safety The European Parliament adopted the European Commission’s proposal on new safety rules on flight and rest times for pilots and cabin crew, which had initially been rejected in Transport Committee. This technical review of EU Flight Time Limitations (FTL) rules were presented to the Parliament under a scrutiny procedure, whereby it could have only accepted it or rejected it. Read More Guy Verhofstadt on Egypt: without dialogue chaos will prevail October 6, was again a very bloody day in Egypt. Clashes between pro-Morsi protesters and the security forces resulted in more than 50 people killed, 300 wounded and more than 400 arrested whilst, on Tahrir square, celebrations marked the 40th anniversary of a military victory. As if nothing was happening, no-one uttered a word about the blood being spilled across the city. Read More Azerbaijan: Human rights violations continue in run-up to presidential elections On the eve of the October 9th presidential elections in Azerbaijan the human rights situation in the country is still deteriorating dramatically. Journalists, human rights defenders and other opponents of the authoritarian regime are imprisoned on political grounds and silenced. ALDE’s October 3rd conference on the pre-election situation in Azerbaijan, hosted by Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy (D66, Netherlands), analyses the current political climate and Baku’s relations with the European Union with speakers from the opposition, EEAS, OSCE and civil society. Read More Verhofstadt lays out priorities for EU to complete before summer 2014 At a October 3rd meeting of Parliament’s political group leaders with Commission President, José Manuel Barroso, to discuss legislative priorities and coordination until the end of the mandate, Guy Verhofstadt underlined the urgency to complete three important files. Read More Verhofstadt congratulates NEOS on bringing Liberals back into Austrian politics Guy Verhofstadt, President of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament, called Matthias Strolz, leader of NEOS, to congratulate him on September 9, and said, “We are delighted to see the breakthrough of a pro-European liberal force in Austria. Austria needed to break out of its duopoly of the two large parties. And NEOS is the only party that does not provide for simplistic and populist answers.” Read More Syria: UN resolution does not go far enough On September 27th the five permanent members of the UN security council reached an agreement on the wording of what they call a “binding and enforceable” resolution to eliminate Syria’s stockpiles of chemical weapons. Read More Sochi 2014 – Let’s not give Putin a political photo opportunity Guy Verhofstadt, President of the ALDE Group was in Moscow September 27th speaking at a conference on EU and Russia in the global world today on the invitation of Mikhail Kasyanov, Co-chair of RPR-PARNAS. Mr. Verhofstadt used this opportunity to raise the issue of the forthcoming Olympic Games in Sochi. Read More EU, Member States and the Eastern Partnership countries against human trafficking issue On 24 September 2013 the conference “An agenda for better human rights in the Eastern Partnership countries” took place in the European Parliament in Brussels. It assembled MEPs, stakeholders and various experts in human rights. Read More Single seat for Parliament: ALDE welcomes the debate which has finally been launched ALDE welcomes the frank debate which has finally opened in the European Parliament on the question of the institution’s seat. By adopting the opinion of Alexander ALVAR0 (FDP, Germany), the Budget Committee puts particular emphasis on the financial aspect of this controversial issue. The cost spent on monthly trips for the plenary sessions is more than € 180 million, notwithstanding other substantial costs due to the dispersion, such as the loss of working hours, additional costs for staff, and additional travel expenses for members. MEPs therefore are asking for Parliament’s administration to conduct an analysis of the savings that could be achieved if Parliament had only one workplace or at least stopped the monthly move. Read More Judicial reform essential for successful EU accession negotiations ALDE leader Guy Verhofstadt welcomed the beginning of the screening of Chapter 23 in the accession negotiations with Serbia. The screening is an analysis of the level of harmonization of Serbia’s laws with EU standards relating to reform of the judiciary, battle against corruption and rule of law. Read More ALDE wants clear and firm guidelines for the EU/China Investment Treaty The Parliamentary Committee on International Trade on September 17th adopted by a large majority a resolution on the European Commission’s mandate to negotiate an investment treaty with China. This treaty, which must secure European investment, is a long-standing request of ALDE’s, whose many amendments serve as guidelines for the treaty. Read More EU needs an agressive strategy against organised crime The European Parliament’s CRIM special committee on September 17th voted its final report, based on its first interim resolution adopted by the European Parliament on 11 June 2013. Read More EP Trade committee aims to strengthen the EU’s capacity to enforce its rights and interests under trade agreements By approving on September 17th by a large majority Niccolò Rinaldi’s (IdV, Italy) report, the committee urges the European Commission to strengthen its new proposal of regulation allowing the EU to enforce its trade rights and interests under the WTO and bilateral trade agreements. Today, in the absence of horizontal legislation on trade disputes, all litigation decisions are on a case by case basis; which is very slow and not an effective deterrent for trading partners who do not fulfil their contractual obligations. Read More Profiles of MEPs in the News Frédérique Ries (MR, Belgium) Frédérique Ries was born in Balen, Luxembourg in 1959. She earned a first degree in Economics in 1979 at the University of Liège, and then obtained her master’s degree in journalism from the same university in 1981.She began her career as a journalist working for Radio FM56 as Sales Director from 1981 to 1984. In 1987 she was recruited to the small screen where she worked for RTL, first in Luxembourg as a producer and presenter, and then in Brussels, where she handled the editing and presentation of the RTL – ITV News until 1998.In 1999, Frédérique Ries joined the Belgian liberal political party, the Reformer Movement (MR). She took on Belgian nationality and presented herself on the MR’s list for the European elections the same year. Since being elected to the European Parliament in 1999, she has shown a particular interest in health related matters.As a member of the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee (ENVI) Fédérique through the reports that she has brought forward or defended, has continually advocated for true European interests in the domain of health. Issues include: tobacco, pesticides, contaminants, obesity, microwave, innovative drugs, organs, rare diseases and medical devices donations.She was appointed shadow rapporteur for the Liberal group on the revision of the Tobacco Products Directive, a dossier which she fought on the front lines so that, among other elements, electronic cigarettes would not be considered as medicine that could only be sold in pharmacies.She won majority support for the ALDE amendment which was adopted by Parliament on October 8th.”When Fédérique is not dealing with Parliamentary issues, she spends as much time as possible with her family, especially with her young son. Passionate about television she enjoys watching documentaries and news debates. She’s also a poetry fan and recites Shakespeare in less time than it takes to explain it. Lastly, she is a great music lover, especially of French music. For more information, please contact:ALDE Press Service and Inter-institutional relations unitneil.corlett@europarl.europa.euwillem.vandenbroucke@europarl.europa.euJoin ALDE on FacebookFollow ALDE on TwitterEventsThe European Arrest Warrant: issues and solutions2013-10-17 Videos Frédérique RIES October 8 plenary speech on manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco Guy VERHOFSTADT October 9 plenary speech on EU and Member State measures to tackle the flow of refugees as a result of the conflict in Syria Chris DAVIES October 7 plenary speech on Oral question – European carbon market in 2012 Antonyia PARVANOVA October 8 plenary speech on Oral questions – Convention on preventing and combating violence against womenLinksAlliance 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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ALDE Newsletter July 2013


5 July 2013 Headlines ALDE NewsNetworking Opening of the Lithuanian Presidency of the European UnionProfiles of MEPs in the News ALDE News EU must give support to genuine democracy in Egypt Reacting to the tense and dangerous situation in Egypt this afternoon, Guy Verhofstadt, ALDE President has called on the EU to support the calls for genuine democracy in Egypt. Recognising that millions of people have taken to the streets over the past few days to protest against the government under President Morsi, Guy Verhofstadt said: “In a democracy it is impossible to ignore the fact that many millions of citizens take to the streets. They demand freedom and democracy, just as they did in the revolution in 2011.Read More MFF: All EP conditions must be fulfilled prior to giving our final assent On adoption of the political resolution on the Multi-annual Financial Framework during the July Strasbourg plenary session, Guy Verhofstadt, president of the ALDE Group said, “The ALDE Group supported the MFF resolution voted today in the Parliament. However, the ALDE Group believes that all the conditions laid out in resolution must be fulfilled prior to giving our final assent.” Read More Parliament prepares the way for a truly pan-European election in 2014 Welcoming the adoption (507 for, 120 against, and 18 abstentions) of his report on improving the organization of the 2014 European elections by the July plenary session of the European Parliament meeting in Strasbourg, Andrew DUFF (LibDem, UK) believes that next year’s election will be decisive for the future of Europe. This is why the report calls on European political parties to nominate their candidate for the presidency of the Commission early enough to enable them to mount an effective campaign on a European scale and focused on European issues. He also insists that political debates between the candidates be organized in the Member States. Read More Hungary: If the EP is serious about fundamental rights, it must apply Article 7(1) TEU Ahead of the July 3rd vote on a report on the situation of fundamental rights in Hungary, Parliament held a debate in the presence of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Read More OLAF must conduct own initiative investigations to better fight corruption “The EU’s anti-fraud office OLAF must conduct investigations on its own initiative as part of its future activities. Instead of limiting its investigations only to cases brought to OLAF by whistle-blowers or other sources, OLAF should pro-actively investigate in areas where we know there is corruption and which are currently left untouched”, says Theodoros Skylakakis (Drassi, Greece), ALDE spokesperson on the Protection of the EU’s financial interests. Read More Safety standards raised on vehicles and their trailers On July 2nd the European Parliament adopted three pieces of legislation – also known as “Roadworthiness Package” – aiming at enforcing new rules on standards on safety checks for all vehicles to improve both road safety and environmental protection. Read More Expert Group on EU redemption fund established During the European Parliament’s July 2nd debate on the outcome of last European Council meeting, the President of the Commission formally launched the setting up of an Expert Group that will analyse the feasibility to mutually issue part of euro-zone national debts in the form of a redemption fund and eurobills. Read More Verhofstadt angry over NSA revelations Speaking in Parliament’s July plenary debate on the results of the June EU summit, Guy VERHOFSTADT, President of the ALDE group, focused especially on the MFF deal reached the preceeding week which will be the subject of a political resolution but only formally voted in September, once remaining EP concerns have been clarified. Read More EU roaming fees cut again but should be scrapped altogether Whilst welcoming the entry into force (on July 1st) of the new EU caps on mobile phone roaming fees which will reduce the cost of data roaming by over a third and further reduce the cost of making calls and sending messages when visiting another EU country, Liberals and Democrats are now campaigning to end roaming charges altogether by this time next year. Read More Fair public procurement deal for SMEs The Liberal and Democrat Group in the European Parliament welcomes the agreement reached between national ministers and MEPs on the Public Procurement, Utilities and Concessions Directives as a fair deal for small and medium-sized entreprises (SMEs). Read More Improved “Connecting Europe Facility” The Liberal and Democrat (ALDE) Group in the European Parliament welcomes the breakthrough on the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) as a deal that will enable targeted infrastructure investment in transport, energy and telecommunications at European level and boost competitiveness and economic growth. Read More Breakthrough deal on CAP After a breakthrough was achieved on the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, ALDE MEPs welcomed the deal as a big step in the right direction, but stressed that the Liberal and Democrat Group would have liked to go further in the area of market liberalisation. The ALDE Group also expressed disappointment that MEPs were not given the chance to discuss issues that formed part of the Multi Annual Financial Framework (MFF) that was negotiated by national governments behind closed doors in spring. Read More Italian Organised crime a threat to EU Following the explicit request made by the European Parliament when it adopted ALDE MEP Sonia Alfano’s (Italy) report on “An EU strategy to fight transnational organised crime” in October 2011, Europol published on June 24 its threat assessment on the Italian mafia-style organisations within the EU. Read More Next generation Erasmus programme “The June 26 agreement on Erasmus+ is very good news for Europe in general and exceptionally good news for European students, trainees, teachers, trainers and youth workers” says Morten Løkkegaard (Venstre, Denmark), ALDE vice-president of the Culture Committee of the European Parliament. Read More Boost SMEs with new EU research and innovation programme Horizon 2020 On June 25 MEPs and national ministers reached a deal on the EU’s seven year research and innovation programme called “Horizon 2020”. The ALDE group substantially improved the original proposals by simplifying the way funds can be accessed, putting more emphasis on innovation, and by improving the synergies between Horizon 2020 and structural funds. Read More Posted workers: Liberals oppose protectionism To clarify how rules on posted workers in Europe’s Internal Market should be better applied in practice the European Commission has proposed an Enforcement Directive. In 2011, one million workers were temporarily posted to another EU member state, of which 25 % for activities in the construction sector. Read More Better targeted protection for unaccompanied children entering EU Unaccompanied children entering the EU should be exempted from accelerated immigration procedures given their age and vulnerability according to a committee of MEPs. The European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee adopted on June 19 the report by ALDE MEP Nathalie Griesbeck (Modem, France) on “the situation of unaccompanied minors in the European Union”. Read More Opening of the Lithuanian Presidency of the European Union Dalia Grybauskaitė officially launched Lithuania’s EU Presidency in Strasbourg At the July plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, President Dalia Grybauskaitė outlined Lithuania’s EU Presidency priorities and key tasks and answered questions from members of the parliament. According to the President, the Lithuanian Presidency agenda is ambitious and very important for all European citizens. Over the next six months, Lithuania will have to negotiate more than 300 EU legislative acts that are critical to promoting the EU’s long-term economic growth, reducing youth unemployment and energy prices, and ensuring more secure neighborhood.”After suffering five years of economic hardship, people are justifiably impatient for results. Which leave us with a lot of decisions to take in a short period of time and new opportunities to open up for our citizens. To this end, strong political will and coordinated action by all – EU institutions and national governments – are needed. Lithuania is ready to put all its effort into building a European consensus for a better, stronger, more united future together,” the President said.Speaking about the importance of urgent decisions, the President highlighted the unity of the Lithuanian people: “I represent a country who knows all too well the heavy price paid for making hard choices, but also one who understands the advantages that come from taking those difficult decisions when they need to be. The resolve shared by people right across my country now makes Lithuania’s economy the fastest growing in Europe. I speak as representative of a country that draws its strength from unity,” the President noted.The President underlined the importance of reaching agreement among the EU member states in order the funds earmarked in the EU budget could get to the EU member states and the most problematic areas as soon as possible – at the beginning of 2014. After reaching political agreement on the EU’s multiannual budget, Lithuania will work to coordinate around 70 documents crucial for implementation of the budget.According to the President, the single market is the major economic success of the European Union. Therefore it is necessary to effectively exploit its potential and deliver well-functioning internal markets in energy, services and digital economy.As the President pointed out, an integrated EU internal energy market alone could substantially reduce prices for energy resources and improve the EU’s competitiveness. It is estimated that if the EU becomes a fully integrated market in 2015, it could save as much as 35 billion euros a year in electricity costs.”Today, our citizens and businesses pay far too much for their energy. That makes our economy less competitive, and leaves consumers with less purchasing power. The lack of an internal market in energy opens up an energy security vacuum. We agreed that the internal energy market must be completed by 2014, and that no EU member state should remain isolated from European gas and electricity networks after 2015,” the President emphasized speaking about the energy agenda.On November 4 – 5, Vilnius will host the conference on completing the EU internal energy market where decisions will be made on key European energy projects.The President also underscored the significance of the digitization the EU economy. Two events will be dedicated to the digital market issues and IT development during Lithuanian EU Presidency – the European Council summit in October and the European research and innovation event (ICT 2013) to be held in early November in Vilnius.Open Europe is Lithuania’s third priority. During Lithuanian’s EU Presidency talks on free trade agreements will be held with the Unites States and Japan, also seeking closer rapprochement between the EU and its Eastern partners. According to the President, those partners who have made their European choice must know that they too are welcome, when they are ready, to join our family. There are high expectations that the Vilnius Summit in November will see the signing of an association agreement with Ukraine as well as the conclusion of negotiations and initialing of relevant agreements with Moldova, Georgia and Armenia. Read More ALDE Response to Lithuanian Presidency Lithuania needs to use its EU presidency to improve the rights of minoritiesThe Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe welcomes the accession of Lithuania to the European Union’s presidency and welcomes the focus on the internal energy market and the Eastern Partnership programme. Liberals and Democrats also wish that Vilnius will take advantage of this period to improve the rights of minorities.Cecilia WIKSTRÖM (Folkpartiet liberalerna, Sweden) said. “Europe is primarily a Union of values, common universal values, one of which is the principle of anti-discrimination. Europe was not created to protect states but individuals. Therefore we regret that the Lithuanian Parliament has rejected legislation recognizing gay rights, and that the Gay Pride parade is still prohibited in Vilnius this summer. “Sophie in’t Veld (D66, Netherlands) said: “I urge the Lithuanian presidency to lift the ban on Gay Pride which is scheduled for July 27th. This would give Vilnius the image of a colorful city open to all. I will go to Vilnius myself to celebrate diversity. “Leonidas DONSKIS (Liberal Movement, Lithuania), concluded: “We are the first country in the former Soviet Union to assume the presidency of the EU. This is a new historic role for my country which was one of the main challenges for Russia. But in this postmodern world, tyranny remains. Armed with experience, Lithuania must fight for the Eastern Partnership countries aspiring to democracy. ” Read More Networking ALDEPA Working Lunch – 17 JUNE 2013 (during 25th session of the ACP-EU JOINT PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY in Brussels) The ALDEPAC lunch was honoured with the presence of Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister, Didier Reynders and the intervention of H.E. Cina LAWSON, Minister of Posts and Telecommunications of Togo. In addition to the numerous African delegates, many Brussels-based African Ambassadors from BENIN, BURUNDI, DJIBOUTI, ETHIOPIA, IVORY COAST, MALAWI, NIGERIA, TOGO, RWANDA and UGANDA were present. The lunch was co-chaired by ALDEPAC Co-President; Niccolò RINALDI and Louis MICHEL; Co-President of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly. Members of ALDE Group; Olle Schmidt, Marielle De Sarnez, Catherine Bearder and Fiona Hall also participated. ALDELAT dinner On June 18th 2013 ALDE Members, Renate Weber and Izaskun Bilbao had the opportunity to meet a delegation of Latin American liberals invited to Brussels by the Friedrich Naumann Stiftung. The Latin-American delegation was composed by experts on environmental issue and chaired by Ricardo Lopez Murphy, President of RELIAL. During the dinner issues such as the ongoing EU-Mercosur negotiations and Energy and environmental policies in the EU and Latin America were discussed. Profiles of MEPs in the News Niccolò Rinaldi (Italia dei Valori’, Italy) Niccolò Rinaldi was born in Florence in 1962. A graduate in political science, he wrote his dissertation, entitled “Dakar Road Economy”, after his field experience in Senegal. Drawing from his experience of life in Peshawar in Pakistan, as well as Kabul and other regions of Afghanistan, he has been responsible for providing information in support of United Nations campaigns. The period spent in Afghanistan was a difficult but exciting experience, adding to his sense of ‘life training’. During this period he published a number of books; the most notable titles include:• “Islam, guerra e dintorni”, published by L’Harmattan in 1997, foreword written by Mr Jas Gawronski, later translated into French under the title of “Dieu, guerre and autres paysages” with a foreword by Mr Daniel Cohn-Bendit;• “Droga di Dio”, published by L’Ancora;• and the tale “Firenze, Herat e la forza di Kabul”, published in “Imago Mundi: Piazza di Guerra”, edizioni Festina Lente.In 1991 he left the United Nations and began a career with the European Parliament as a political adviser. He oversaw a series of projects implementing multimedia installations in Florence for collective memory regarding issues of city blockades (“Piazza di guerra”, 2003), genocide in Rwanda (“Silenzio per il Rwanda”, 2004), and the Holocaust (“Anatomia di un genocidio” 2009, published by Giuntina).In 2000 he was appointed Deputy Secretary General of the Liberal group in the European Parliament. In 2009 he was elected Member of the European Parliament, representing the Italian political party ‘Italia dei Valori’ (IdV). He is currently Head of Delegation of IdV as well as vice-president of the political group ‘Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe’ (ALDE). A member of the Committees for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, and promoter of a number of parliamentary programmes in attempts to defend the rights of the less fortunate; Mr Rinaldi pursues many initiatives, including those regarding issues of federalism, culture, education and euro-planning.As a member of the Committee on International Trade (INTA), he has been rapporteur for the FTA with Malasia, the EU-India FTA (safeguard clause), for the special conditions for trade with those areas of Cyprus in which its government does not exercise effective control and for the exercise of the Union’s rights for the application and enforcement of international trade rules. He also was responsible for steering the ALDE group line in opposing the controversial ACTA agreement that was eventually rejected by the European Parliament last year.Elsewhere, he is very concerned about the every-day problems of vulnerable people who are often less protected by the social system, such as immigrants, the disabled, and Roma people. He promotes voluntary work, and often helps out with disabled people himself. In his spare time he has a passion for mountains and is a member of the Tuscan sky rescue service and of the Italian Alpine Club. He is also co-founder and member of the board of the fair trade cooperative Equoland.Niccolò Rinaldi is also a member of the Italian Journalists Association.Read More For more information, please contact:ALDE Press Service and Inter-institutional relations unitneil.corlett@europarl.europa.euwillem.vandenbroucke@europarl.europa.euALDEJoin ALDE on FacebookFollow ALDE on TwitterEventsProtecting the EU’s financial interests: Towards a European Public Prosecutor2013-07-11 Videos Marietje Schaake plenary speech on Situation in Egypt Sophia in ‘t Veld plenary speech on US NSA surveillance programme Theodoros Skylakakis plenary speech on Closure of Greek national broadcasting company Rinaldi Niccolò plenary speech on negotiations on a plurilateral agreement on services Verhofstadt blames Viktor Orban for defending his own interests, not the Hungarian ones Phil Bennion plenary speech on vehicles Anne Jensen plenary speech on financial transaction tax Cecilia Wikström plenary speech on Lithuanian Presidency LinksAlliance 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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ALDE Newsletter June 2013


14 June 2013 Headlines ALDE NewsProfiles of MEPs in the News Networking ALDE News EU should show leadership in ensuring press freedom in the world Marietje Schaake, MEP (D66, Netherlands) has called for a strategy for press and media freedom to be implemented by the EU in her report on media freedom in the world which was adopted by the European Parliament during the June plenary session in Strasbourg. Read More To fight youth unemployment the EU needs better economic governance To effectively tackle the urgent problem of youth unemployment, structural solutions to improve the overall economic governance of the EU are needed. During the June plenary session the group of Liberals and Democrats in the European Parliament (ALDE) again stressed that market reforms such as the strengthening of the internal market for services, trade agreements and incentives to support self-employment for young people by cutting red-tape are key to getting the economy back on track and creating jobs. Beyond special measures focussed on youth the key challenge is to ensure that the EU relies on a strong, competitive and modern economy. Read More Verhofstadt criticizes weak attitude of Europe against state violence in Turkey During an exchange of views with the EU High Representative Catherine Ashton during the June plenary session in Strasbourg, ALDE Leader Guy Verhofstadt said he was disappointed that the Union has again chosen to be ambivalent in the face of a clear violation of fundamental rights by a state that is candidate for accession to the EU and added that Turkey must not turn its back on European principles and values. Read More Verhofstadt: “No, Mr. Hollande. The eurocrisis is not behind us.” Addressing a debate in Parliament on June 12 with the European Commission and Council representatives on preparation for the forthcoming EU summit at the end of June, Guy Verhofstadt lamented the lack of progress in all the key areas that will help end the economic and financial crisis. Read More Asylum package: A step towards increased solidarity and responsibility The European Parliament on June 12 adopted several pieces of legislation which will mark a step towards completing and improving the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) – due to have been completed by 2012 following the Stockholm programme – which establishes harmonised minimum standards for member states’ asylum systems. Read More Transparent accounting for mining and logging sectors Large oil, gas, diamond and logging companies will now be obliged to disclose full information about every single project whose payments to the governmental authorities exceed the threshold of 100.000 Euros, following the adoption by the parliament on June 12 of a first reading agreement with Council on transparency of non-financial reporting by large EU companies operating in the extracting business in third countries. Read More New Fund for the EU’s poorest citizens For the last two years the number of people facing extreme poverty has increased due to the financial crisis. In the EU, one in ten citizens is finding it hard to get enough to eat. 18 million people now have to rely on food aid. More than 25 million children are at risk of poverty or social exclusion. To help Member States break the vicious circle of poverty and deprivation the European Commission proposed a new programme, the Fund for European Aid to the most deprived (FEAD). Read More Improved Schengen supervision will preserve citizens’ freedom of movement The European Parliament on June 12 confirmed its agreement with the Council – after almost a year of negotiations – on a new Schengen governance system. This will strengthen the Schengen supervision by finally putting an end to the current strictly intergovernmental system and creating a more European Schengen Evaluation Mechanism, and set clearer rules and checks for situations of last resort to avoid any abuse or misuse of the exceptional reintroduction of controls at Schengen’s internal borders. Read More Prism: US data mining programme must be challenged by the EU Following ALDE’s request, the European Parliament on June 11 held a first debate on the US Internet surveillance programme (PRISM). “The Commission must clarify in detail to what extent EU citizens data has been misused and abused by the US authorities. The ALDE group expects the President of the European Commission to report back fully to the Parliament on the outcome of the discussion with the US administration and what measures the Commission intends to take” said ALDE President Guy Verhofstadt who proposes to hold another debate with the Commission in the July plenary session. Read More EP sheds light on scale of organised crime in EU The European Parliament on June 11 adopted the first interim report of the Special Committee on Organised crime, corruption and money laundering, which recommends the need for an EU strategy and stronger instruments to be taken both at international, European and national levels. Read More New customs rules for product piracy EU customs authorities will be able to take more effective action against product piracy. On June 11 the European Parliament adopted by unanimity the revision of the relevant regulation. As the Council had approved the trilogue negotiations’ result already in March, the rules will enter into force EU-wide by 1st January 2014. Read More Stricter rules on food for vulnerable consumers After 20 months of work and debate, the European Parliament during the June Strasbourg plenary session has given the green light to new rules governing specific foods. Those concerned are infants, young children, hospitalized patients and the obese. For Frédérique Ries (MR, Belgium), rapporteur of the European Parliament, it was urgent to revise the old 1977 directive which only broadly covered diet foods. Read More Verhofstadt & Cohn-Bendit awarded European Leader of the Year Award At a June 6 awards ceremony in Brussels at an annual event on the State of the European Union, ALDE group leader, Guy Verhofstadt and his Green group counterpart, Daniel Cohn-Bendit were awarded this year’s European leadership award. The organising forum brings together Europe’s senior executives from the European Executive Council, Business schools, consultancy firms and PR companies. Read More Labour migration: not a matter of security but an instrument for growth On June 5th ALDE Members Cecilia Wikström (Folkpartiet, Sweden), Jan Mulder (VVD, the Netherlands) and Nadja Hirsch (FDP, Germany) held a seminar on labour migration, “Facing the paradox: ensuring skills and talents for European economic growth”. Faced with long and complicated procedures to hire employees in the EU, companies decide not to establish themselves in Europe and re-direct their development strategy towards other economies (US, Australia, Brazil, India, China, etc.) leaving Europe ironically struggling to find the right skilled labour. Read More Europe must not remain silent as Putin turns Russia’s back on democracy Speaking at a seminar on Russian political prisoners organised by the ALDE Group in the European Parliament coinciding with the 50th birthday of former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, ALDE spokesperson on Human Rights, Leonidas Donskis (Liberal Movement, Lithuania), said: “Political prisoners, fake elections, a silenced press and an increasing number of citizens fleeing their own country, show the real face of Putin’s Russia. Europe must not watch silently as the Putin regime openly turns its back on democracy.” Read More MEPs should back up Council of Europe and sanction Hungary over breach of EU values As Parliament’s Civil Liberties committee begins examining amendments to the Tavares report tomorrow on standards and practices in Hungary with respect to EU Fundamental Rights, ALDE members will be urging colleagues on the committee to state clearly what is already the case – that there already a risk of a breach of fundamental rights in Hungary and the Treaty foresees action in such circumstances. Read More MFF: ALDE warns the Council against any denial of democracy Liberals and Democrats are concerned about the progress of discussions within the trialogue between Parliament, Council and the Commission on the next Multiannual Financial Framework. The Irish Presidency obviously lacks the necessary leeway to meet the Parliament’s demands: mandatory review clause, flexibility between years and chapters both in payments and commitments, system of own resources, and a modern and innovative budget. This intransigence is all the more surprising as the two institutions are not disputing the figures. The Council not only denies Parliament of its fair exercise of budgetary powers, but also challenges its democratic legitimacy since it refuses the principle of a mandatory review of the financial framework at the next legislature of Parliament, denying the newly elected MEPs in 2014 to have any input into the MFF which will cover the entire duration of the next legislature. Read More Outrageous: NGO workers in Egypt jailed On June 4th an Egyptian criminal court sentenced 43 people to between one and five years in prison for working for unregistered NGOs in Egypt. Twenty-seven defendants, all of whom were tried in absentia, received five-year jail sentences. Of the defendants who attended the trial, 11 received one-year suspended sentences, and five received two-year sentences. Read More ALDE backs call to end roaming charges Liberals and Democrats in the European Parliament are delighted by the strong proposal of Commissioner Neelie Kroes to abandon mobile roaming by Easter 2014. By then, Kroes said, the EU could deliver a full, final legislative package to end roaming charges. Read More Fisheries reform a big step forward The European Parliament reached a political agreement with the Irish Presidency on the Reform of the Common Fisheries Policy. The agreement was brokered at 3.30am (CET) on May 30th in the European Parliament in Brussels. Pat the Cope Gallagher (FF, Ireland) and ALDE sopkesman on Fisheries stated “I welcome this reform as it includes significant changes such as a strong request urging Member States to endeavour to provide additional quotas to vessels that fish in an environmentally sustainable manner, such as small scale vessels, recognition that existing biological sensitive areas should be maintained and extended and the establishment of greater regionalisation and bottom up decision making especially for technical and conservation measures.” Read More EU lifts arms embargo but highlights disunity Guy Verhofstadt, ALDE Leader has sharply criticised the failure of the EU foreign ministers to find a common EU position on the Syria arms embargo after high level discussions in Brussels May 27 but welcomed the fact that the Free Syrian Army may finally get necessary arms to protect themselves if the peace process fails. Read More Clear vehicle registration raises safety standards The European Parliament’s Transport committee on May 30 voted on three pieces of legislation – also known as “Roadworthiness Package” – enforcing new rules on standards on safety checks for all vehicles to improve both road safety and environmental protection. Read More Networking EURONEST MPs visit ALDE Party HQ MPs from the EU’s eastern neighbourhood visited Brussels on 27-29 May for discussions with MEPs within the framework of the EURONEST joint parliamentary assembly. Three MPs from Georgia, Tinatin Khidasheli, David Onoprishvili and Viktor Dolidze and one from Armenia, Hrant Bagratyan, visited the ALDE Party HQ for a meeting with Party President Sir Graham Watson and ALDE MEP Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy Vice-Chair of the EURONEST Parliamentary Assembly.Liberals on the Assembly later successfully fought off EPP attempts to derail the process of bringing Georgia and the Ukraine closer to the EU. “The forces of moderation won the day”, said Sir Graham “with the EPP’s protest – based on the treatment of EPP sister party leaders in each country – being shown up as an attempt to play party politics.” ALDE Summer Academy June 5 – 6th The annual ALDE Summer Academy took place in Brussels on the 5 & 6 June with more than 100 hundred young liberals and democrats from all over Europe coming together to discuss this year’s theme: ‘One Year Ahead of the European Elections: The Voice of the Youth’ . Hans Van Baalen, President of Liberal International opened the event, and in addition to contributions from Guy Verhofstadt, President of the ALDE Group, and Graham Watson – President of the ALDE Party, Jasna Gabric, the Deputy Mayor of Trbovlje Slovenia, gave a very interesting personal perspective of how a young person can make a difference in their own regional politics. The young participants entered into a lively debate with the speakers on how to reach out to the voting citizens of Europe, and what role the youth can play in the forthcoming European elections. ALDE Group – Harvard University Exchange Programme begins The Exchange Programme between ALDE Group and the Minda de Gunzburg Centre for European Studies of the Harvard University was officially initiated on May 20 with the arrival of two Harvard trainees. Beatrice Walton and Karen Zhou arrived during the May Strasbourg session and were immediately introduced to the legislative work of the European Parliament. Beatrice and Karen will follow the work of Committees and will support ALDE staff members with their research expertise. We wish them all the best during their stay with ALDE. ALDE MEP Theodoros Skylakakis elected President of Drassi On May 25, ALDE Member Theodoros Skylakakis was elected President of Drassi by the steering committee of the party. Drassi (Greek: Δράση; English: Action) was founded in 2009 by former finance minister Stefanos Manos. The party has a political agenda of extensive liberal reforms for the Greek economy and the public sector. Drassi is in favour of a small and flexible government through the decrease of unnecessary public expenses and privatization of public assets. In the double elections of May/June 2012, Drassi received 1.8% and 1.5% respectively. ALDE Group Leader Guy Verhofstadt was present in the party congress of Drassi on May 11, in Athens, having officially presented his recent book to the Greek public the day before. Profiles of MEPs in the News Cecilia Wikström (Folkpartiet Liberalerna, Sweden) Cecilia Wikström was born in 1965 and raised in Kalix, but has lived in Uppsala since the 1980′s. She holds a bachelor degree in theology from the University of Uppsala, and has been a practising priest in the Swedish Church since 1994.Cecilia Wikström has been an active and dedicated Member of the European Parliament since 2009, where she represents the Swedish liberal party Folkpartiet Liberalerna. Before joining the European Parliament she was a member of the Swedish Parliament. In the European Parliament Cecilia is a full member of the Committee of Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) and the Committee of Legal Affairs (JURI), where she also is the coordinator of the ALDE group. In 2012, she was appointed to the Advisory Committee of the European Parliament, a consultative ethics committee consisting of five senior MEPs who act as advisors to other colleagues on ethical issues. Cecilia is also vice-chair of the Parliament’s intergroup for disabled people.During her first mandate in the European Parliament Cecilia Wikström has been the rapporteur for the new Dublin regulation, one of five dossiers forming the European common asylum system that has just been adopted. She also played an active part in forming the common European patent rules and is presently the rapporteur of two key reports on how to attract students and researchers to the EU, and the new trademarks package. Cecilia has studied theatre extensively and has proven repeatedly her commitment to culture during her time in the European Parliament. In December 2010, she staged the play ‘Seven’ in Brussels. ‘Seven’ portrays seven female human rights activists’ life stories from different parts of the world. Cecilia played Mu Sochua, who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her fight against trafficking in Cambodia. In March 2011, Cecilia Wikström performed the Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler, in front of 500 spectators in the European Parliament in Brussels. Both plays were performed by MEPs from different countries and different groups in the European Parliament. For more information, please contact:ALDE Press Service and Inter-institutional relations unitneil.corlett@europarl.europa.euwillem.vandenbroucke@europarl.europa.euALDEJoin ALDE on FacebookFollow ALDE on TwitterEventsConnecting Europe through General Aviation. Towards a better regulatory environment2013-06-19 Videos Sharon Bowles 11 June 2013 plenary speech on Lack of progress in Council and Commission’s delay of financial reforms Fiona Hall 11 Jun 2013 plenary speech on Financial statements Celia Wikström 11 June 2013 plenary speech on Asylum Marian Harkin 11 June 2013 plenary speech on Fund for European aid to the most deprived Frederique Ries 10 June 2013 plenary speech on Food intended for infants, young children and the severely ill Sophia in t Veld 11 June 2013 plenary speech on Commission statement on US internet surveillance Sonia Alfano 10 June 2013 plenary speech on Organised crime, corruption and money laundering Verhofstadt Guy 12 June plenary speech on Preparations for the June European Council Renate Weber 11 June 2013 plenary speech on SchengenLinksAlliance 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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ALDE Newsletter May 2013


24 May 2013 Headlines ALDE NewsProfiles of MEPs in the News Networking ALDE News ALDE supports an ambitious and global trade agreement with the United States of America The European Parliament on May 23 gave its full support for the rapid commencement of negotiations in view of a trade and investment agreement with the United States. The resolution gives the European Commission a negotiating mandate to negotiate an ambitious and comprehensive trade and investment partnership between the world’s two largest markets. ALDE is committed to ensuring that negotiations take place in a transparent manner and request that Parliament be informed at every stage. Read More No Single Supervisory Mechanism until an agreement is reached with the ECB During the May Strasbourg plenary session the European Parliament voted on the deal reached with Council last March on a Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), the first building block of the Banking union. The Parliament though decided to hold the final vote adopting this proposal until an agreement is reached with the ECB ensuring due democratic accountability of the ECB’s supervisory arm. The ALDE group decided to further keep pressure on the ECB also by abstaining to the report as amended. Read More EU action plan urgently needed to ease catastrophic Syrian refugee crisis For the last two years, the international community has stood by as Syrians are increasingly being crushed between the brutal actions of the Assad regime and extremist groups. There are now seven million Syrians that rely on aid. 4,5 million Syrians are internally displaced and the amount of refugees in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan is expected to rise to 3,5 million in the coming months. The European Parliament, on the initiative of Marietje Schaake (D66, Netherlands), adopted on May 23 a resolution on the urgent humanitarian crisis and how to deal with Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries. Read More ALDE continue to strongly support EU membership for Iceland Reacting to statements made by a spokesperson for the new coalition government in Iceland announcing that no further negotiation will be held with the European Union and Iceland on future EU membership without a prior referendum, Hans Van Baalen (VVD, NL), spokesperson on Iceland for the ALDE Group in the European parliament, made the following statement: “The Liberal Democrat Group in the European Parliament strongly supports EU membership for Iceland. With its strong and old democracy it will be an asset to the EU…”Read More European Parliament rejects Czech ‘opt-out’ on charter of fundamental rights On the proposal of Andrew DUFF (Lib Dem, UK), ALDE coordinator in the Constitutional Affairs Committee, the European Parliament called on the European Council to reject a request to amend the Treaty of Lisbon which would weaken the force and limit the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the Czech Republic. With a vote of 574 to 82 and 24 abstentions, MEPs for the first time used their right not to support an amendment of the EU treaties. Read More Free movement for pets across Europe Ferrets, dogs and cats have gained on May 23 greater opportunities to travel across EU borders. MEPs have given their support to changes in the law providing for the movement of non-commercial pet animals. The new arrangements are built on the success of ‘pets passports’ legislation approved a decade ago. Read More Member States must endorse an EU strategy against tax fraud, evasion and tax havens Ahead of the May EU Summit, due to focus on tax fraud and tax evasion, the European Parliament adopted its own recommendations that all Member States should endorse a common European strategy against tax fraud, evasion and havens. ALDE spokesperson on the subject Theodoros Skylakakis (Greece) said: “Reality must take precedence over mere lip-service. Evaders exploit the respective Member States’ national tax legislation loopholes. If they don’t start taking concrete action, they will just serve as accomplice”. Read More Media freedom and pluralism: Commission must take all EP recommendations on board Member States and the Commission should take appropriate measures to ensure better monitoring and enforcement of media freedom and pluralism across the EU, given that this right has become legally binding with the entry into force of the Charter of Fundamental Rights (Article 11 (2)), according to a report by ALDE MEP Renate Weber on standard settings for media freedom across the EU, adopted during the Strasbourg May plenary session of the European Parliament. Read More EU leaders must address growing euroscepticism caused by crisis “EU leaders tomorrow need to produce actions not more words and address the issues that are giving rise to increased euroscepticism across the EU,” said Guy Verhofstadt in a debate in the May Strasbourg plenary session ahead of the EU summit on tax havens and energy policy. Read More Freed Chinese dissident launches Transatlantic Human Rights Link The blind Chinese activist who escaped house arrest and whose freedom in the USA was organised by former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has marked the anniversary by launching a transatlantic project for parliamentarians to adopt individual human rights defenders worldwide. Read More Recovery and Resolution Directive (RRD): Protection of small depositors guaranteed On May 20th the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs committee adopted its report on an EU framework for bank recovery and resolution, which aims to provide Member States’ relevant authorities with common and effective tools to address the banking crisis and eventually the orderly winding up of insolvent institutions, to safeguard financial stability and to minimise taxpayers’ exposure to losses. Read More Europe needs a future proof Audio Visual Media Services Directive ALDE, the group of Liberals and Democrats in the European Parliament during the May Strasbourg plenary session voted against the Borys report on the implementation of media regulation in the EU. We denounce the lack of an innovative, future-oriented approach to tackle the important challenges that technological changes impose. In today’s rapidly changing media landscape, legislation needs to adapt to internet-driven changes such as Connected TV, bringing together internet and broadcasting. Read More Mali: International donor support only effective if elections deliver stable government Leading ALDE MEP Louis Michel (MR, Belgium), who has been recently nominated as Head of the EU’s observer mission for the presidential elections in Mali says that the forthcoming elections are a vital opportunity to start rebuilding this broken State. Following yesterday’s donor conference in Brussels- co-hosted by the EU and France, which saw pledges of over 3.25 billion euros to rebuild Mali, M. Michel said: “The funds pledged yesterday to rebuild Mali are vital but only as long as there is good and stable government. The presidential and legislative elections scheduled for 28 July next are the first step towards the return to stable democracy….”Read More Combatting Homophobia: time for concrete actions long overdue May 17th is the International Day against Homophobia and also marks the 23rd year since the World Health Organization (WHO) deleted homosexuality from the international list of classified diseases. Unfortunately though lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people worldwide still suffer from discrimination, persecution and violence. The ALDE group reiterates its commitment to combat this persistent hatred both in Europe and in the wider world Read More Rethinking education to address the skills gap Even amid the economic crisis, Europe is facing acute shortage of skilled labour. Parallel with the unemployment queues, an estimated 2 million unfilled jobs are available across Europe. While the problem has traditionally been linked to low-skilled jobs, filling jobs in high-skill sectors, such as engineering and IT, is also becoming increasingly challenging. Europe can only end the crisis and resume growth if it delivers the right skills for the future. But European education and training systems need investment, updating and reform if the right skills for employability are to be delivered. Read More Window of opportunity opens up for Ukraine On the same day the European Commission has given the green light to the Council for the signature of the Association Agreement with Ukraine, ALDE hosted a “Ukraine day” to discuss the current situation in the country. Leonidas Donskis who organized this event said “Today’s decision of the European Commission, despite it being technical in nature, sends a strong political message to the Ukraine authorities that the Association Agreement is not an association with corrupt officials or dysfunctional judiciary , it is an association with and for the Ukrainian people.”Read More Road transport: smart tachographs for greater competition and safety On May 14th the European Parliament, Council and Commission reached a second reading agreement on the new technical standards for digital tachographs used to record and monitor driving times, breaks, and rest periods of professional drivers for both goods and passenger transport. The idea behind the introduction of ‘smart’ tachographs which are integrated with the GNSS and other Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) applications within Europe is to ensure a level playing field and proper working conditions for drivers. Read More The future of the Common Fisheries Policy hangs in the balance Following a marathon Fisheries Council meeting to establish a mandate for further negotiations with the European Parliament on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, the Council is moving towards Parliament’s position but the deal is still not done according to ALDE MEPs. Pat the Cope Gallagher (FF, Ireland), ALDE shadow on the basic regulation of the CFP commented during the meeting: “I would like to pay tribute to the Presidency for their work in progressing this extremely important policy within the Council of Ministers. The new mandate will allow the Irish Presidency to resume negotiations with the European Parliament. It appears that some of the Parliament important issues have been addressed by Council.” Read More EU needs stronger instruments to tackle cross-border organised crime After months of work since its establishment in March 2012, the European Parliament’s Special Committee on organised crime, corruption and money laundering (CRIM), chaired by ALDE MEP Sonia Alfano, adopted on May 7th its first interim report which includes preliminary recommendations on action and initiatives to be taken both at international, European and national levels. Read More MEPS back lower CO2 emission levels in vans Members of the European Parliament’s Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee approved on May 7 a report on the Commission’s legislative proposal amending the Regulation to define the modalities for reaching the 2020 target to reduce CO2 emissions from new light commercial vehicles (Vans). The report confirms the 2020 target as defined in legislation adopted in 2011 and defines the modalities for reaching this target and includes key issues such as emission limit values, phasing requirements, method of calculating a carmaker’s average emissions, long-term targets, eco-innovations and implementation. Read More EU must take bold step towards Magnitsky visa ban list The Irish Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee has adopted a resolution stating that the Irish Presidency will highlight their concern and that of the international community about the death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky but it has backed down from sanctioning Russian officials involved in his death. Guy Verhofstadt, ALDE Leader in the European Parliament made the following statement: “I strongly welcome the decision by the Irish Parliament to use its Presidency of the European Council to highlight the case of Sergei Magnitsky. I am confident that the Irish Presidency will relay these concerns to the next European Council and consequently to the EU-Russia Summit. ” Read More Potential bee killer pesticides banned by EU A chemical implicated in the recent rapid decline of bee numbers has been banned by the European Commission as Member States remained divided on the matter. Chris Davies (UK, Lib Dem), ALDE environment spokesperson has been campaigning for neonicotinoids to be banned since evidence first started being reported that the controversial pesticide could be causing bee colonies to die. Read More Mandatory rotation of audit firms is essential to ensure their independence Ahead of the April 25 vote in Parliament’s Legal Affairs committee on rules for improving the quality and independence in the auditing of major companies (especially banks), Liberals and Democrats underlinef the need to establish some time limits on the contractual relationship between auditors and their clients. Read More ALDE secures mandatory rotation for audit firms Thanks to crucial ALDE backing, the need to establish time limits on the contractual relationship between auditors and their clients was approved by MEPs on the Legal Affairs committee of the European Parliament by a majority of 15 in favour, 10 against, with no abstentions. Read More Europe needs a new narrative to counter euroscepticism Recent Eurobarometer figures show a decline in support for the European project. Sixty years after the start of this project, Europe has to regain confidence of its citizens. An updated version of the European story is necessary to reinterpret its existing ‘raison d’être’ of peace through a common market. Read More No EU PNR before Data Protection Rules are firmly in place The majority of the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee voting during an April committee meeting rejected the draft Directive on the use of airline Passenger Name Record data (PNR) within the EU, proposed by the Commission in February 2011. According to the ALDE members, the EU PNR proposal, as it stands, does not incorporate all the requests made by the Parliament in 2010, raises concerns regarding its conformity to fundamental rights and disregards the current shaping of an EU Data protection directive. Read More ALDE backs better protection for home buyers After months of negotiations, on April 22nd an agreement was reached between the European Parliament, Council and Commission on the Mortgage Credit Directive which aims to create a level playing field where minimum harmonisation requirements will apply to all EU countries and, most importantly, consumers will be guaranteed due protection. Read More ALDE lead on Single Seat election pledge At a April 23rd public hearing hosted by the ALDE group and organised by the cross-party campaign for a Single Seat, participants from all major political groupings will be asked to endorse a statement committing to pursue the campaign in their election manifestos for the European Parliament next year. Read More Minimum EU standards for asylum will end current lottery between Member States The European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee confirmed on April 24 the agreement reached with Council on two pieces of legislation which are part of the EU Asylum package. One text updates the rules governing the functioning of a database of asylum seeker fingerprints (also known as Eurodac) and its access by police authorities. The second text deals with the setting up of common EU procedures to process the asylum applications in order to overcome the current discrepancies in Member States (also known as Procedures Directive). ALDE welcomes the endorsement of these two important asylum instruments because it paves the way for the final adoption in plenary, normally in June, of the whole Asylum package. Read More Networking Open Door Days Brussels and Strasbourg ( May 4 and 19) The ALDE Group once again enjoyed a very successful European Open Door Day both in Brussels, 4 May and in Strasbourg, 19 May. In Brussels ALDE Staff, greatly assisted by our current interns, had the chance to meet and greet the visitors, who in turn had the opportunity to have their photographs taken and printed on personalised ‘ALDE on your side’ t-shirts. More than 2500 visitors passed by our stand and left with smile, a t-shirt and little more knowledge of who we are.In Strasbourg more than 24,000 visitors passed through the European Parliament and the ALDE Stand, a record number by all accounts. The ALDE Staff were on hand throughout the day to answer any questions the public had about our Group, and were very impressed with the interest the general public had in the affairs of the European Parliament. The 8th ALDEPAC Annual Conference “Africa and the Challenges of Urban Sustainability” Lilongwe, Malawi 25-28 April. THE NEW “BABEL” OF THE METROPOLIS The European and African Liberals and Democrats focused on Urban Sustainability through good governance and local democracy. Today about 70% of humanity lives in cities and in particular the African continent has experienced massive urban growth in recent decades. Forecasts indicate that between 2010 and 2025, some African cities will represent up to 85% of their countries population. Roughly 800 million people worldwide live in slums, many of them in Africa. The cities are exploding and becoming complex entities that face major challenges: mobility, waste, crime, work, parallel economy, corruption, taxation, zoning, medical services and schools. On a community level there are divisions between rich and poor neighbourhoods, inexistent interaction with immigrants, homeless, abandoned children – all this reflecting the new “Babel” of the Metropolis. At Lilongwe we discussed at length with African experts the challenges of urban sustainability requiring decentralization, popular participation, transparency and much optimism. More specifically we addressed: land management, public-private partnerships, investments, environmental issues and the promotion of durable eco-tourism, resilience against hardships and the key-partnership of urbanisation and culture The Conference was officially opened by the Speaker of the Malawi Parliament, Hon. Henry Chimunthu Banda and closed by H.E.K. Hastings Kachali, Vice President of the Republic of Malawi. The meeting was attended by Parliamentarians from 40 different African countries including Ministers from Kenya, Zimbabwe, Senators, Mayors, representatives from UN-HABITAT, the African Development Bank, the European Investment Bank and the Africa Regional Director of our Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, Hubertus Von Welck.Meetings with EU Ambassadors and with Malawi NGOs were organised and the third ALDEPAC book “TOWARDS A PAN-AFRICAN LIBERAL MANIFESTO” was presented.Members of the ALDE Group, Niccolò Rinaldi, Marielle De Sarnez, Hans van Baalen, Nathalie Griesbeck and Catherine Bearder greatly contributed to the success of this conference. ALDE “BOOST SME” CAMPAIGN NEWSLETTER May 2013 Reporting back…The trilogue negotiations on the COSME programme, made to support SMEs across Europe (and a constant feature in our newsletter), are expected to come to an end soon. Having said that, its most important aspect is subject to tough negotiations on the Multiannual Financial Framework, the budget of COSME having already is reduced by 350 million Euros (15%). A week ago, SME campaign host Jürgen Creutzmann, along with his colleagues in the SME Intergroup wrote an open letter calling on the EP chief negotiator Alain Lamassoure “to ensure that COSME is properly financed.” In the Parliament….In its report assessing the ECB activities for 2011, the European Parliament endorsed an ALDE amendment at its April plenary session, calling on the Central bank to directly intervene in helping SMEs against the current and serious credit crunch they are facing in several Member States. Especially in Southern Europe, the crisis is undermining the financial foundations of many SMEs. ALDE rapporteur on the report, Ramon Tremosa who tabled the amendment said: “We don’t have a monetary union if competitive SMEs in some Member States have to shut down because credit is scarce and falling. We also don’t have a monetary union if SMEs in some Member States have to shut down because they pay between 4 and 8% more for a loan than similar SMEs in other parts of the euro zone. This difference has become structural”.The negotiations on the European Regional Development Funds in the Regions Parliamentary Committee illustrate the difficult struggle for SMEs. First, the Commission proposal envisaged that only SMEs could be eligible under ERDF investment priorities. Then the Council’s negotiating mandate said that all enterprises (large and small) should be able to access money available under the innovation/research (ERDF art. 5.1) investment priorities. ALDE’s initiative to support the extension of eligibility for large companies with the condition that the focus was kept on SMEs, was at first endorsed by almost all groups. However, during the trilogue negotiations in March, the EPP rapporteur and the S&D coordinator agreed to support the Council’s proposal. Until the committee vote in July and the plenary vote due in October, ALDE will continue the fight to persuade the other groups to return the focus back to SMEs. In the Commission…The results of DG Enterprise’s public consultation on the TOP 10 most burdensome legislative acts for SMEs were published earlier this spring. On the basis of 1000 questionnaires it shows in what ways ‘Brussels’ really gives SMEs problems. On top: problems with the REACH regulation on chemicals and with transnational VAT. This survey is a step in the right direction Commissioner Tajani. Now ALDE will be on your side to tackle those problems!The link to the final report: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/files/top10report-final_en.pdf Coming up…In an earlier edition, we claimed that Munich was also the place for our next ‘Boost SME’ conference – but this will now take place 150 km north in Nürnberg! On the 9th of June, representatives of small and medium sized enterprises will discuss liberal SME politics with ALDE members. Hosted by FDP MEPs Nadja Hirsch and Jürgen Creutzmann panellists (a.o. Olle Schmidt, Philippe de Backer and the Bavarian minister for Economy Martin Zeil) will deal with the three main targets of our SME campaign (reverse side) and discuss the “Shortage of skilled workers, recognition of foreign qualifications, reconciliation of family and work, the integration of women into the labor market”. For more information, please contact Karin Sauerteig.An overall boost for SMEs is appearing on the horizon. If the negotiations with the United States on a transatlantic free trade agreement succeed, both the EU and the US economies are expected to profit widely – and with them small and medium sized enterprises. As a first step the plenary is set to adopt its mandate for the negotiations on 23rd May.Read More Profiles of MEPs in the News Hans van Baalen (VVD, the Netherlands) Hans van Baalen was born on June 17th 1960 in Rotterdam. He studied International Law and International Relations at the Leyden University. He served in the Royal Netherlands Army and currently holds the rank of Reserve Colonel.Before entering politics, Mr. Van Baalen worked as a journalist and was director of Public Affairs Consultants Deloitte, Touche Tohmatsu. He was International Secretary of VVD and served as campaign manager to Frits Bolkestein and Gerrit Zalm in the 1998 and 2002 general elections. From 1999 to 2009 Van Baalen was Member of the Netherlands Parliament. He was Member of the European Convention and of the Parliamentary Assemblies of the Council of Europe and of NATO.Hans became a member of the European Parliament in 2009. He is also leader of the VVD delegation and a member of the ALDE bureau. In 2009 Van Baalen was elected President of Liberal International, the world federation of liberal political parties. In the European Parliament he is a Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the ALDE co-ordinator for the Sub-Committee for Security and Defence. He is also Chairman of the Japan Delegation and a Member of the Delegations for relations with the United States and Afghanistan.On behalf of the ALDE group, Van Baalen is the shadow rapporteur for the Ukraine, Iceland and Belarus. He is actively involved in free trade issues (Japan, Latin America). As President of Liberal International he actively participates in ALDEPAC, ALDELAT, ALDECALD and the Arab Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (AAFD). Van Baalen will lead the VVD in the European elections in 2014.Hans van Baalen lives in the Hague with his wife Ineke Sybesma, (director of the Victim Support Fund in The Netherlands) and their young son Robert. For more information, please contact:ALDE Press Service and Inter-institutional relations unitneil.corlett@europarl.europa.euwillem.vandenbroucke@europarl.europa.euALDEJoin ALDE on FacebookFollow ALDE on TwitterEventsICT and Web Entrepreneurship: How to keep the creative class in the EU2013-06-06 EU Tax Free Zones: a tool against recession 2013-06-05 Russian Political Prisoners2013-06-05 Facing the paradox: ensuring skills and talents for European economic growth2013-06-05 ALDE SME Conference in Nürmberg2013-06-08 Videos Schaake Marietje 22 May plenary speech on EU trade and investment agreement negotiations Bowles Sharon 21 May plenary speech on Banking union single supervisory mechanism 75-7 . Harkin Marian 22 May plenary speech on Social pillar of the economic and monetary union Guy Verhofstadt May plenary speech on the the preparations for the European Council meeting Inevitable change for China – A testimony by Chen Guangcheng in the EP . Fiona Hall 20 May 2013 plenary speech on Report Herbert Reul Renewable energy in the EU ALDE Seminar: A Roadmap towards a Single Seat: Countdown to the 2014 European Parliament ElectionsLinksAlliance 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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ALDE Newsletter April 2013


18 April 2013 Headlines ALDE News Profiles of MEPs in the News ALDE News Strengthening EU banks and curbing excessive bonuses The European Parliament formally adopted on April 16th the agreement reached last February with Council and Commission on updated prudential banking rules referred to as CRD IV, establishing minimum capital requirements for Europe’s banks. While in recent weeks the hotly politicised subject of capping bankers’ bonuses has dominated the headlines, this measure is in fact part of this much larger raft of legislation, which will increase banks’ resilience to future financial crises by requiring them to have higher capital buffers to absorb losses and hold more easy-to-sell liquid assets. In addition, the regulation and directive introduce various other measures to strengthen corporate governance and transparency, and encourage growth and lending to the real economy in the EU. Read More German anti-euro party ignores political and economic costs of exit In response to the founding conference of the German anti-euro party “Alternative für Deutschland” in Berlin, Guy Verhofstadt, ALDE group leader, underlined that “the realisation of its central goal would lead to an economic meltdown in Europe – and Germany would be the first victim. Given the increased attention on the congress, and a survey about the party’s potential among German voters [showing that up to 24% might be inclined to vote for them], the pro-European politicians in Berlin and Brussels must strengthen their forces to clearly communicate to the public what the costs of unravelling the Euro to national currencies or the establishment of different currency zones would be.” Read More Hungarian Government is at least at risk of breaching EU fundamental values At the request of ALDE Group the European Parliament on April 17th debated the constitutional situation in Hungary following the adoption of a fourth amendment to the Hungarian Constitution. Since its entry into force on January 2012, the country’s ruling party (Fidesz) – which represents two-thirds of the seats in the parliament – has restricted laws on the judicial system, homelessness, higher education, election campaigns and family rights. Read More ECB must intervene directly to help SMEs The European Parliament adopted during the April plenary session the report assessing the ECB activities for 2011. By endorsing an ALDE amendment, Parliament called upon the Central bank to directly intervene in helping SMEs against the current and serious credit crunch they face in several Member States. Read More EP budget for 2014: Parliament must continue to show restraint The European Parliament adopted on April 17 the preliminary estimates of revenue and expenditure for its 2014 financial year – the first phase in the EP budget process. This first set of figures presented in February by the Secretary General of the Parliament, called for a budget of € 1.8 billion (3.47% increase over 2013), in order to finance the one off costs in 2014 of the European Parliament elections and the full accession of Croatia. The EP has already negotiated to cut this increase down by € 5 million, with the full expectation of further decreases in the second phase of the budget after the summer. An amendment tabled by the ALDE group, calling for any final budget increase to be reduced to within a real terms freeze , strictly in line with the inflation rate , was unfortunately rejected in the Plenary vote. This would have guaranteed that a further 25 million euros of savings would be found by the final vote in October this year. Read More Libya: Mahmoud Jebril calls for national dialogue to consolidate democratic transition The week of April 11th the ALDE group welcomed Mahmoud Jibril, Libya’s interim Prime Minister after the fall of the Gaddafi regime and currently leader of the largest political party in the Libyan Parliament (National Forces Alliance). This was his first visit to the group since March 2011, shortly after being elected chairman of the executive board of the National Transitional Council. He publicly acknowledged the role played by ALDE in assisting in the democratic transition in Libya. Read More ALDE MEPs pave the way for more transparency in the extracting business and less accounting burden for SME’s Large oil, gas, diamond and logging companies will be obliged to disclose full information about every single project whose payments to the governmental authorities exceed the threshold of 100.000 Euros. And administrative accounting burdens for small businesses will be reduced considerably. Read More Europe cannot wait for another Cyprus before establishing a common resolution fund Guy Verhofstadt called on the European Commission to speed up its preparation of a legislative proposal establishing a common European bank resolution fund as soon as possible in light of the experiences in dealing with the Cyprus banking crisis. Read More Improved Schengen Information system finally fully operative The European Commission announced April 9th that the new generation of the Schengen Information System (SIS II) became fully operational. ALDE spokesperson on the SIS, Sarah Ludford (LibDem, UK) said: “SIS II finally put in place a genuine European information sharing system that guarantees a more secure Europe without borders while further strengthening the area of security and justice. Its EU-wide scope will overcome the loopholes and malfunctioning that the previous intergovernmental system suffered and will contribute to further shaping Schengen governance”. Read More International Roma Day: break social exclusion via education and better implementation of EU laws To commemorate the International Roma Day , ALDE group member Sir Graham Waston on April 8th hosted in collaboration with the European Liberal Forum, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation and with the assistance of the Open Society Foundations, a roundtable on “You cannot walk straight when the road is bent”. This is an occasion for presenting liberal policy recommendations on how to favour integration of the Roma people within Europe. Read More Serbian accession to the EU is of mutual importance Jelko Kacin (LDS, Slovenia) ALDE rapporteur on Serbia told the European Parliament during the April plenary session that Serbia has achieved some significant progress in the field of EU-related reforms and he called on the Council to set the date for the beginning of accession negotiations. Read More Unaccompanied Minors: finding the best reception practices Nathalie Griesbeck (ALDE, Modem, France) led a delegation from the European Parliament to the Netherlands in early April to collect data and explore best practices for the reception of unaccompanied children in view of drafting its report to the Parliament on the situation in the EU. Read More ALDE MEPs call for an investigation into serious health concerns over the aspartame On Wednesday March 27th, 2013, ALDE MEPs Corinne Lepage (CAP 21, France), Andrea Zanoni (IT) and Antonyia Parvanova (NMSP, Bulgaria) hostted a conference in the European Parliament on the issue of full re-evaluation of aspartame and addressing the crucial issue of the independence of science in regulatory decision making. Read More Urgent ECON hearing with Dijsselbloem called for by ALDE Group The President of the ALDE Group Guy Verhofstadt and Sylvie Goulard, ALDE Coordinator on the ECON committee has called for a urgent meeting of the ECON committee in order to hear Mr Dijsselbloem. Read More Boosting Europe’s attractiveness for foreign talent The European Commission presented on March 25th a new Directive to improve EU attractiveness and accessibility for foreign researchers and talents. EP rapporteur Cecilia WIKSTRÖM (Sweden, Folkpartiet) welcomes the EU proposal to set clearer, more consistent and transparent rules across Europe for non-EU nationals wishing to come to the EU for the purposes of research, study and other exchanges. These rules will tackle the current discrepancy in the legislation’s implementation amongst Member States. Read More EU Pensions: Ambitious reforms necessary to balance the burden Member states across the EU have to reform their pension systems. They share common challenges: How to guarantee safe pensions when faced with ageing populations and budgetary limits? Pensions are national competences, but EU-coordination of the different national pension policies helps to achieve sustainable results. Read More ALDE call for new limits on hazardous substances in batteries Members of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee approved on March 20th a report on the Commission’s legislative proposal amending the Directive on batteries and accumulators containing hazardous substances. The Batteries Directive focuses on minimising the negative impacts of batteries and accumulators on the environment and also introducing measures for more transparency in the internal market. Read More EU wastes another opportunity on Syria EU countries have wasted another opportunity to stop Bashar al-Assad’s killing machine, Guy Verhofstadt said following inconclusive talks on the Syria arms embargo by EU foreign ministers in Dublin. Read More ALDE welcomes Commission’s new consultations on media freedom and pluralism The ALDE Group welcomes the March 22 launch by the European Commission of two consultations on media freedom and pluralism and audiovisual media regulator independence. Read More Russia: visa-waiver agreement is unacceptable without Magnitsky law The EU member states should adopt their own ‘Magnitsky law’ to punish Russian violators of human rights if progress on relaxing visa regulations between the EU and Russia is to be made, according to ALDE Russia spokeswoman Kristiina Ojuland (Reform Party, Estonia). Read More Why 2030 renewables target are important for investment and planning certainty The European Parliament’s ITRE committee on March 19 voted on a report on the post-2020 framework for renewables in the EU. The report acknowledges the importance of completing the EU’s internal energy market as soon as possible in order to facilitate renewables integration. It also calls on the Commission to assess the costs and benefits of moving to a 2030 EU target on renewables in order to give industry the long-term planning certainty they need. Read More Profiles of MEPs in the News Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, (D66, the Netherlands) Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy was born in 1967, one year after the Dutch social-liberal party Democrats 66 (D66) was founded. He is the son of two biologists growing up in The Hague, the political heart of the Netherlands. Gerben-Jan studied Public Administration at the University of Leiden and at the University of Scranton, Pennsylvania. He started his career as an assistant to Joris Voorhoeve, who was director of the Clingendael Netherlands Institute of International Relations. From 1994 until 1998 Gerbrandy worked as an assistant to former Dutch Member of the European Parliament Doeke Eisma (D66). After his work as political advisor to the Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade, he became secretary-general of the D66 parliamentary faction in the Second Chamber. Thereafter he became senior political advisor at the Dutch Ministry for Agriculture and Nature. Gerben-Jan was elected to the European Parliament in 2009 and is currently vice-chair of the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee and vice -chair of the EuroNest Delegation, the parliamentary cooperation between the European Parliament and EU’s Eastern neighbours Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova and Belarus. Furthermore, he is a member of the Committee on Budgetary Control and a substitute member on the Budget Committee. His latest work as rapporteur for the discharge of the budget for European Union agencies contained over 35 reports. In 2012 Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, rapporteur on Resource Efficiency, was ranked 27th in the “Sustainable top-100″ by the Dutch newspaper Trouw. He was rewarded for his decisiveness and critical questions in the field of environment, agriculture and fisheries. While working on sustainability, the social-liberal is always flagging the importance of environmental issues for our economy: ”The case for moving to a resource efficient society is as much economic as it is environmental. Becoming more resource efficient is simply an economic necessity.” Since the beginning of his mandate Mr Gerbrandy has also been actively engaged in the protection of biodiversity, our natural capital. He is the Parliament’s Rapporteur on the EU biodiversity strategy for 2020 and a staunch fighter of wild life crime. Gerbrandy lives in The Hague with his wife and three children, where he plays football, tennis and cricket. For more information, please contact:ALDE Press Service and Inter-institutional relations unitneil.corlett@europarl.europa.euwillem.vandenbroucke@europarl.europa.euALDEJoin ALDE on FacebookFollow ALDE on TwitterEventsA Roadmap towards a Single Seat: Countdown to the 2014 European Parliament Elections 2013-04-23 Sports and democracy2013-04-23 Videos Sylvie Goulard on European Central Bank annual report (2011) Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy on Estimates of revenue and expenditure for 2014 . Guy Verhofstadt on Current situation in Cyprus Chris Davies on Timing of auctions of greenhouse gas allowances Sophia in ‘t Veld on Equal treatment between men and women Sharon Bowles on Credit institutions and prudential supervision Guy Verhofstadt on The future of the European Union LinksAlliance 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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ALDE Newsletter March 2013


19 March 2013 Headlines ALDE NewsProfiles of MEPs in the News European Commission Initiatives ALDE News ALDE: CAP reform suffers significant set-back The Liberal and Democrat Group (ALDE) in the European Parliament deeply rejects large parts of today’s adopted negotiating mandate of the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) as a significant step back towards the bad old days of food mountains.Commenting after the votes, George Lyon MEP (UK, Lib), ALDE shadow rapporteur on the direct payments and the horizontal regulation, said:”While it is good news that we have established a new principle of payments for public goods rather than pure income support, the loss of flexibility on the greening components will prove very difficult for many farmers across Europe and will result in less environmental benefits.” Read More MFF: European Parliament rejects current deal and lays out its conditions for negotiations The European Parliament during the March Strasbourg plenary rejected the future budgetary framework proposal reached by EU leaders at their summit on 8th February. In the resolution, approved by a very large majority (506 in favour, 161 against, 23 abstentions), MEPs of all major groups supported several key demands which the ALDE group has been advocating and which will be the focus of the negotiations.Read More Verhofstadt: EU should follow French and UK lead and rethink arms embargo on Syria Guy Verhofstadt, ALDE Leader welcomed comments by France’s Foreign Minister – Laurent Fabius on March 14 indicating that France could be prepared to review support for the EU arms embargo in order to help the conflict to a swift end. Read More EU must strengthen fight against racism, xenophobia and hate crimes The European Parliament adopted on March 14 a resolution on strengthening the fight against racism, xenophobia and hate crime. ALDE spokesperson Renate Weber (PNL, Romania) said: “Evidence shows that populism driven by intolerance, hate and scapegoating has been spreading throughout the Union and such propaganda is also encouraged by some leading political partie”.Read More EU cannot stand by and watch Syria implode Addressing the March Strasbourg plenary session of the European Parliament, Guy Verhofstadt pleaded for a more activist EU approach to Syria which, if allowed to rumble on, will destroy the country its people and have a devastating effect on stability in the wider region. Read More Violence against women is a persistent stain on our society Ahead of International Women’s Day, Liberals and Democrats in the European Parliament (ALDE) call for united international action to combat violence against women.In Europe, 45 % of women will experience some type of violence at least once in her lifetime. Every day one in five women in Europe is a victim of violence. Read More Consumer disputes: a balance between consumer protection and business needs All European consumers will now be able to turn to a competent body, whatever the type of dispute. The European Parliament on March 12th adopted by a large majority two reports that make available all mediation procedures in Europe by arbitrators, mediators, and ombudsmen. The reports define the online dispute resolution (ODR) as well as extrajudicial disputes (ADR). Read More Watchdog needed in fight against match-fixing Match-fixing is not new, but is becoming an increasing problem because of criminal organizations using sport fraud both to launder their gains and to fund other illegal activities in drugs and human trafficking. They run relatively little risk to be detected whilst earning billions in manipulating sporting results across the globe. Read More Secure and sustainable energy future requires key targets MEPs voted during the March Strasbourg plenary session on scenarios on how to decarbonise the energy sector in response to the Commission’s 2050 Energy Roadmap proposals of how to reach the EU’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 80-95% below 1990 levels by 2050. Commenting after the vote, Fiona Hall MEP (UK, Lib Dem), ALDE’s spokesperson on energy issues, said: “ALDE agrees with the Commission that any feasible scenario to reach our decarbonisation target must include a higher share of renewables in the energy mix, increased energy efficiency and a smarter and more flexible energy infrastructure. “Read More Commission backs Parliament’s call for candidates for Commission President Following the Commission’s March 12 recommendation to Member States concerning the European elections in 2014, Andrew Duff (Lib Dem, UK), ALDE constitutional affairs spokesperson said: “The Commission is right to back Parliament’s call for the political parties to nominate their candidates for the next presidency of the Commission. The arrival of party political champions on the scene will dramatise the European Parliamentary election campaign across Europe, and offer the voters a real choice between competing policies and personalities.” Read More Tougher measures to avoid radioactive contamination of drinking water The European Parliament during the March Strasbourg plenary session adopted a report on draft EU rules on radioactive substances in water intended for human consumption. The report has a significant health relevance to avoid radioactive contamination in drinking water including the regulation of carcinogenic substances and contaminants such as toxic chemicals as well as all radioactive materials which are used in the medical industry and manufacturing activities. Read More Active migration policies for a changing world In her report adopted during the March plenary session on “the integration of migrants, its effects on the labour market and the external dimension of social security coordination” Nadja Hirsch (FDP, Germany) calls for active migration policies to resolve the dual dilemma faced by the EU: The decline in the working-age population and the shortage of skilled workers. Read More Parliament votes to rebalance MEPs in light of Croatian accession During the Strasbourg plenary session the European Parliament proposed to adapt its composition and distribution of parliamentary seats for 2014, particularly to take into account the arrival of Croatian MEPs. ALDE does not dispute the report’s approach, which is pragmatic, pending an overhaul of the institutions which should occur after the European elections. Read More Parliament signs off two-pack deal in return for decisive step towards debt redemption fund On March 12th the European Parliament signed off the agreement reached last February with the Council and Commission on new EU legislation aiming at further enhancing the coordination and supervision of budgetary surveillance for all euro-area Member States – also known as ‘two pack’. The adoption of these pieces of legislation will be accompanied by a formal declaration from the Commission committing itself to establish an expert group that will analyse the feasibility to mutually issue part of euro-zone national debts in the form of a redemption fund and eurobills. Read More Hungary is still not applying its Treaty obligations to respect fundamental rights The ALDE group is once again extremely worried about a draft Amendment to the Constitution that is currently being examined by the Hungarian Parliament and has tabled an Oral Question on this matter with a view of holding a debate in plenary, possibly in April. Read More Trade negotiations EU / Morocco: an opportunity for economic development in the Maghreb March 1st marks the official launch in Rabat of negotiations for a comprehensive free trade agreement (CAFTA) between the EU and Morocco, Marielle DE SARNEZ (Modem, France), rapporteur for EU trade relations with the Maghreb, said: “These trade negotiations are highly symbolic. They further deepen the close relationship between the EU and Morocco. They are also a sign that Europe remains a major economic partner for Morocco, two years after the beginning of major reforms in the country. “Read More EU youth guarantee scheme gets green light The group of Liberals and Democrats in the European Parliament (ALDE) welcomes the political agreement reached today in Council on the Youth Guarantee proposal. Nadja Hirsch (FDP, Germany), ALDE Vice-Chair of the Employment Committee commented: “Too may young Europeans are drifting away from the labour market. Across Europe, 7.5 % of young people are in neither employment nor education nor training. Investment in Youth Guarantee schemes is one of the key measures to avoid us literally losing an entire generation.”Read More MEPs close deal on stricter controls over the banking sector On February 27th a delegation of MEPs struck a political agreement with Council and Commission on updated prudential banking rules referred to as CRD IV establishing minimum capital requirements for Europe’s banks in line with Basel III provisions. Although the deal still needs to be formally confirmed by both sides, it brings to an end months of wrangling over transparency, liquidity and the bonus culture in the financial services sector. Read More “Smart borders package”: A better management of EU external borders The Commission presented on February 28th its “Smart borders” package. ALDE welcomes this legislative initiative as it will simplify the life of “bona fide” foreigners frequently travelling to the EU, whose number is expected to increase in the future. Read More Verhofstadt: EU shares responsibility for Italian election result The result of the Italian elections has delivered a political stalemate which will only add to uncertainty about the country’s ability to reform and recover from recession. Read More Guy Verhofstadt on the tragic accident involving Alexander Alvaro Guy Verhofstadt, President of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament said on having been informed about the tragic accident involving Alexander Alvaro and three other people last Friday night. Read More EU should develop a strategy for Turkmenistan that will promote freedom and human rights Norica Nicolai (PNL, Romania) the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkmenistan, welcomed the recent release from prison of Sapardurdy Khajiev and Annakurban Amanklychev, unjustly jailed in 2006 for assisting a French film documentary into the state of Human Rights in the country and calls on the EU to develop a strategy for pro-active engagement with the country to promote basic freedoms and respect for human rights in view of developing a broader partnership agreement in the future. Read More EU needs means to uphold standards of media freedom and pluralism The European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee adopted on February 21st the report by ALDE MEP Renate Weber (PNL, Romania) on an “EU Charter: Standard settings for Media Freedom across the EU”. The ALDE group, as well as the majority of the EP, repeatedly called on Member States and on the Commission to take appropriate measures to ensure better monitoring and enforcement of media freedom and pluralism across the EU, given that this right has become legally binding with the entry into force of the Charter of Fundamental Rights (Article 11 (2)). Read More Opening of EU-US FTA negotiations will be a milestone in evolution of world trade Dutch Liberal Member of European Parliament Marietje Schaake (D66) expected the European Commission to swiftly present a negotiating mandate as the basis for a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the United States following President Obama’s support for the opening of negotiations in last night’s State of the Union address. Read More European Commission Initiatives European Commission proposes new measures to strengthen air passenger rights The European Commission on March 13th announced a package of measures to ensure that air passengers have new and better rights to information, care and re-routing when they are stranded at the airport. At the same time there will be better complaint procedures and enforcement measures so passengers can actually obtain the rights to which they are entitled. The air passenger rights proposal clarifies legal grey areas and introduces new rights where necessary, for full list see MEMO/13/203. Vice President Siim Kallas said “It is very important that passenger rights do not just exist on paper. We all need to be able to rely on them when it matters most – when things go wrong. . We know that the real priority for stranded passengers is just to get home. So our focus is on information, care and effective rerouting. The aim is to get passengers where they want to be as quickly as possible while giving the airlines the time they need to sort problems out.” The proposal updates passenger rights in four key areas: 1. Clarifying Grey Areas: rights to information on delayed or cancelled flights; extraordinary circumstances; rights in relation to long delays and tarmac delays; contingency planning; rights to re-routing and rights on connecting flights. 2. New Rights: in the case of rescheduling; misspelt names; new rights with regard to mishandled baggage and transparency requirements for cabin and checked luggage.3. Enforcement, Complaint-Procedures and Sanctioning: strengthening oversight of air carriers by national and European authorities (monitoring and joint investigations); as well as for complaint handling and enforcing individual rights (including a requirement on airlines to reply to complaints within two months); insolvency. 4. Disproportionate Financial Burden: limits to assistance; limits for regional operations; sharing the economic burden.Read More ALDE Response to Commission Proposals on Passenger Rights ALDE MEP Phil Bennion welcomes EU proposal to strengthen air passenger rights The European Commission on March 13 unveiled new proposals to strengthen air passenger rights. ALDE MEP Phil Bennion, who sits on the European Parliament Transport Committee, commented:”This is a very welcome proposal which will close some of the glaring loopholes in the existing legislation. A significant change is the clarification of the “exceptional circumstances” under which airlines do not have to pay compensation, something I have long called for as a member of the Transport Committee. This means airlines will no longer be able to avoid paying out by pointing to issues like mechanical problems, and will prevent customers being dragged through long and expensive court cases. Airlines will also have to explain to passengers why they are being delayed no more than half an hour after the scheduled departure time, putting an end to uncertain and frustrating waits sitting on the runway or in the departure lounge.””I’d now like to see some of our other recommendations taken up, especially on price transparency and ensuring that consumers aren’t mislead by hidden costs when booking tickets online. The EU has already achieved a lot in improving air passengers’ rights, but there is still more work to do to make sure that all passengers are treated fairly, kept properly informed and offered adequate compensation.” ENDS Notes to Editors: The full European Commission proposal can be found here: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-219_en.htm?locale=enFrequently ask questions o air passenger rights MEMO: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-203_en.htm?locale=en The European Parliament’s Transport Committee drafted an own-initiative report last year which called on the Commission to clarify its definition of “extraordinary circumstances” in which airlines do not have to pay compensation http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/pressroom/content/20120227IPR39347/html/Air-travel-Transport-Committee-calls-for-a-fair-deal-for-all-passengers Profiles of MEPs in the News Leonidas Donskis, (Lithuania) Dr. Leonidas Donskis, (Lithuania), elected to the European Parliament in 2009, has a background as an academic with PhDs from the Department of Philosophy in Vilnius (1990) and another from the Department of Social and Moral Philosophy of the University of Helsinki (1999). He also received an honorary Doctorate from the University of Bradford in 2010. He was Professor and Dean at the Vytautas Magnus University School of Political Science and Diplomacy, in Kaunas, Lithuania before being elected to the European Parliament. He is also a visiting professor in several universities, including Bologna, Helsinki, and Tallinn. Leonidas was author and host of the highly popular cultural programme “Be pykčio” (“Pique-free”) on the Lithuanian national television LTV (2003-2009). As an academic Donskis has written and edited over thirty books, half of them in English, combining political theory, history of ideas, philosophy of culture, and philosophy of literature. Among his well known works are: Modernity in Crisis: A Dialogue on the Culture of Belonging (2011), Power and Imagination: Studies in Politics and Literature (2008), and Forms of Hatred: Troubled Imagination in Modern Philosophy and Literature (2003). Most recently, he has co-authored a book with the eminent sociologist Dr. Zygmunt Bauman Moral Blindness: The Loss of Sensitivity in Liquid Modernity (2013). In the European Parliament Dr. Donskis, became a member of the Development Committee and the Parliamentary Subcommittee on Human Rights for which he is the ALDE Coordinator. He also participates in the activities of the Delegation to EU-Armenia, EU-Azerbaijan and EU-Georgia Parliamentary Cooperation Committees, as well as the Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly. In 2012 L. Donskis was appointed as EP Rapporteur for the Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy in the World 2011, and the European Union’s policy on the matter. In the European Parliament, he is a vocal human rights defender through not only numerous EP resolutions, but he also works personally with human rights defenders and dissidents, particularly from the post-Soviet regions including Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, as well as those from other countries such as China. He also works on thematic human rights issues such as the abuse of psychiatry, caste-based discrimination and religious and cultural oppression. In 2004 the European Commission awarded Donskis the title of Ambassador for Tolerance and Diversity in Lithuania and in 2008, he received the Orange-Nassau Order Commander’s Cross from Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. Besides politics and academic work, his other interests lie in art history (religious painting, Flemish Primitives, Italian Renaissance painting, and Dutch Baroque painting), cultural history, museums of fine arts, literature, and music. He is also a passionate and long-time fan of Dutch football. For more information, please contact:ALDE Press Service and Inter-institutional relations unitneil.corlett@europarl.europa.euwillem.vandenbroucke@europarl.europa.euALDEJoin ALDE on FacebookFollow ALDE on TwitterEventsRe-evaluation of Aspartame: State of Play2013-03-27 Quantitative Growth vs. Qualitative Development 2013-04-10 Videos Marietje Schaake on Syria & the humanitarian situation .Guy Verhofstadt on Preparations EU Council meeting (14-15 March 2013) . Marian Harkin on living conditions of people with disabilities . .Antonyia Parvanova on Eliminating gender stereotypes in the EU . Robert Rochefort on Online consumer dispute resolution . George Lyon on CAP Jorgo Chatzimarkakis on Strengthening the fight against racism, xenophobia and hate crimeLinksAlliance 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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ALDE Newsletter February 2013


8 February 2013 Headlines ALDE News Profiles of MEPs in the News ALDE News Verhofstadt on MFF: “Even the Soviet Union did not have seven year plans” Addressing a debate during the February plenary session of the European Parliament ahead of this week’s EU summit aiming to strike a political deal on the EU’s next seven year funding plans, Guy Verhofstadt outlined the essential elements of an acceptable deal for Parliament, without which the EP should be prepared to reject it. Read More ALDE supports a better future for the fishing industry A significant step was taken by the European Parliament during the February plenary session to reform the Common Fisheries Policy. These reforms will set legally binding measures to end discards and overfishing and rebuild Europe’s fish stocks. This move was welcomed by ALDE MEPs as the fishing industry faces not only an ecological disaster but also an economic and social one. Read More ALDE leads in demanding updated EU rules for a transparent pricing and reimbursement of medicines Members of the European Parliament on February 6th adopted a report on the European Commission´s legislative proposal on the “Price Transparency Directive” drafted by Antonyia Parvanova (NMSP Bulgaria), which calls for better transparency of measures regulating the pricing and reimbursement of medical products for human use. Read More European Semester: fiscal consolidation and investment are two sides of the same coin The European Parliament adopted on February 7 a report on the European Semester for economic policy coordination: annual growth survey 2013. The ALDE group takes the view that current efforts on fiscal consolidation and structural reforms should be maintained whilst simultaneously laying the foundations for future recovery and guaranteeing full democratic accountability of the European semester process. Read More Verhofstadt: France has the vocation and duty to push for renewed EU integration Addressing Francois Hollande, the President of France, in the February Strasbourg plenary session of the European Parliament Guy Verhofstadt stated: “60 years ago Jean Monnet said that ‘we are building a union amongst people, not a cooperation between states.’ Our union only makes sense if it becomes a genuine federation of peoples and nations, what Churchill called a ‘united states of Europe’ France was the first country along with Britain to have understood the benefits of uniting its territory, its economy and its public management. France thus has both the vocation and duty to push for closer integration of our continent.” Read More Companies, not legislators, should deal with CSR policies The group of Liberals and Democrats in the European Parliament (ALDE) supports and encourages companies in undertaking actions in the framework of corporate social responsibility and believes that such measures should, in general, be declared openly and transparently to avoid false and misleading claims. Read More SMEs: De Backer report calls for better access to finance The European Parliament confirmed on February 5th its report on improving access to finance for Small and Medium Enterprises’ (SMEs) that responds to the 2011 Commission’s communication. Read More ALDE welcomes new proposals to tackle money laundering On February 5th the European Commission presented proposals to revise the current legislation that prevents the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering, including terrorist financing. Read More European Investment Bank’s contribution to ending the crisis is key The European Parliament during the February plenary session voted on the 2011 Annual report on the European Investment Bank. The report not only assesses what the EIB has done but it also addresses the future goals this institution should target to assist the European Union out of the crisis, based on the 10 billion euro capital increase granted by Member States and on the Europe 2020 Project Bond Initiative whose implementation was confided to the EIB by the European Commission. Read More EU bee population at risk unless action is taken to ban harmful pesticides On January 24th MEPs of Parliament´s environment committee held a debate on the dangers of pesticides to Europe’s bee population. They call on the European Commission for concerted action to restrict certain neonicotinoid pesticides (clothianidin, imidacloprid, thiamethoxam) and other neurotoxins. Recent scientific evidence from the European Food Safety Authority and European Environment Agency has shown that the insecticides may pose risks to bees which play a key part in our food chain. Read More Verhofstadt: “Cameron is playing with fire over Europe issue” Responding to David Cameron’s January 23rd speech on Britain’s place in Europe, Guy Verhofstadt said: “By holding out the prospect of renegotiating the terms of Britain’s membership of the European Union and subjecting it to a referendum, David Cameron is playing with fire. He can control neither the timing nor the outcome of the negotiations and in so doing is raising false expectations that can never be met.” Read More Franco-German friendship needs the European framework On January 22nd Liberals in the European Parliament rejoiced at the 50th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty sealing the reconciliation between Germany and France after centuries of intense rivalry. When Charles De Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer signed the Treaty at the Elysée Palace in Paris they also set in concrete rules for mutual political consultations at various levels and established the Franco-German youth office. Read More ALDE supports Commission in enforcing social partner agreement on flag state responsibilities The group of Liberals and Democrats in the European Parliament (ALDE) supported the European Commission’s proposal on Flag State responsibilities (1) aimed at enforcing the social partners’ agreement on the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) in the EU. Read More EU needs to make itself an attractive place for skilled migrants, say Liberals and Democrats The Parliament’s Employment committee unanimously adopted on January 24th the report drafted by Nadja Hirsch (Germany, FDP) on the integration of migrants, its effects on the labour markets and the external dimension of social security coordination. Read More ALDE MEPs welcome deal on CAP reform proposals but reject double greening payments for farmers and inflexible market interventions The European Parliament’s Agricultural Committee (AGRI) on January 22nd voted on reform proposals to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). ALDE MEPs welcomed the votes in general as a major step towards a more sustainable European agricultural model. However, ALDE condemns the possible double payment for greening and agri-environmental measures and rejects a possible return to failed past policies of heavy market interventions. Read More ALDELAT and EuroLat meetings in Santiago de Chile (23-25 January 2013) A nine member ALDE delegation participated in the EuroLat Plenary and standing committees meetings that took place on 24-25 January 2013 in Santiago de Chile. The delegation was chaired by ALDE Latin American issues coordinator Renate Weber and with the participation of LI President Hans van Baalen, Andean community delegation Vice president Izaskun Bilbao, and ALDEPAC co-President Niccolò Rinaldi. On the eve of the EuroLat meetings an ALDELAT meeting took place in cooperation with FNF and Fundación para el Progreso of Chile in which we had the opportunity to talk about the Chilean reform model and the public debt crisis in the EU. ALDE Boost SME Campaign Update Reporting back…Read More Profiles of MEPs in the News Pat the Cope Gallagher ( FF, Ireland) Pat the Cope Gallagher’s involvement in politics began back in 1979 when he was elected to Donegal County Council. Since then he has been successful in over 13 elections to the County Council, the Irish Parliament and to the European Parliament. His success and lengthy career as a politician can be attributed to consistently making time for people and abiding by the rule that no issue is too big or too small.For Pat the Cope Gallagher all politics are local and he has always worked tirelessly both locally and nationally, while also effectively balancing his work as a member of the European Parliament, to such an extent that he is one of the few MEPs still with a 100% attendance record during the current mandate.As an MEP now for over 12 years in total, one of his main interests in European affairs is fisheries. A full member of the Fisheries Committee, his interest and immense work on the committee will come as no surprise to those who know him. Pat the Cope was born and raised in County Donegal, a county highly dependent on the fishing industry and he has previously worked as a fish processor and exporter, therefore the proposed reform of the Common Fisheries Policy is high on his agenda. Donegal is also a border county and has benefited from numerous cross border initiatives supported by Pat the Cope including the International Fund for Ireland. The renewal of the PEACE programme in 2014 is something he firmly believes is a necessity to ensure further stability and peace for the North and border county regions. He is also endeavouring to secure additional funding under the structural fund regulation for the border, midland and western regions in Ireland which is a peripheral area most affected by the current crisis.Pat the Cope is the chairman for the delegation for relations with Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein. Furthermore, by virtue of his chairmanship he is also a member of the Arctic, Baltic Sea and Nordic parliament bodies. Away from politics, Pat the Cope is a avid follower of Donegal GAA and his native county are holders of the famous Sam Maguire Cup after winning the All Ireland Gaelic Football Championship in 2012. He is also a keen follower of the Celtic football team and he is looking forward to the next round of the Champions League when Celtic take on Italian giants Juventus. For more information, please contact:ALDE Press Service and Inter-institutional relations unitneil.corlett@europarl.europa.euwillem.vandenbroucke@europarl.europa.euALDEUnsubscribeJoin ALDE on FacebookFollow ALDE on TwitterEventsVideos Jorgo Chatzimarkakis on Improving access to finance for SMEs . Cristian Silviu Buşoi on the prices of medicinal products for human use . Pat the Cope Gallagher on Common fisheries policy .ALDE ADLE· 7,398 videos Guy Verhofstadt on the Statement by François Hollande, President of the French Republic . Sylvie Goulard on European Semester for economic policy coordination . Rebecca Taylor on Corporate social responsibility . Guy Verhofstadt on Preparations for the European Council meeting (7-8/2/2013) Antonyia Parvanova on Elimination and prevention of violence against women and girls LinksAlliance 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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ALDE Newsletter February 2013


8 February 2013 Headlines ALDE News Profiles of MEPs in the News ALDE News Verhofstadt on MFF: “Even the Soviet Union did not have seven year plans” Addressing a debate during the February plenary session of the European Parliament ahead of this week’s EU summit aiming to strike a political deal on the EU’s next seven year funding plans, Guy Verhofstadt outlined the essential elements of an acceptable deal for Parliament, without which the EP should be prepared to reject it. Read More ALDE supports a better future for the fishing industry A significant step was taken by the European Parliament during the February plenary session to reform the Common Fisheries Policy. These reforms will set legally binding measures to end discards and overfishing and rebuild Europe’s fish stocks. This move was welcomed by ALDE MEPs as the fishing industry faces not only an ecological disaster but also an economic and social one. Read More ALDE leads in demanding updated EU rules for a transparent pricing and reimbursement of medicines Members of the European Parliament on February 6th adopted a report on the European Commission´s legislative proposal on the “Price Transparency Directive” drafted by Antonyia Parvanova (NMSP Bulgaria), which calls for better transparency of measures regulating the pricing and reimbursement of medical products for human use. Read More European Semester: fiscal consolidation and investment are two sides of the same coin The European Parliament adopted on February 7 a report on the European Semester for economic policy coordination: annual growth survey 2013. The ALDE group takes the view that current efforts on fiscal consolidation and structural reforms should be maintained whilst simultaneously laying the foundations for future recovery and guaranteeing full democratic accountability of the European semester process. Read More Verhofstadt: France has the vocation and duty to push for renewed EU integration Addressing Francois Hollande, the President of France, in the February Strasbourg plenary session of the European Parliament Guy Verhofstadt stated: “60 years ago Jean Monnet said that ‘we are building a union amongst people, not a cooperation between states.’ Our union only makes sense if it becomes a genuine federation of peoples and nations, what Churchill called a ‘united states of Europe’ France was the first country along with Britain to have understood the benefits of uniting its territory, its economy and its public management. France thus has both the vocation and duty to push for closer integration of our continent.” Read More Companies, not legislators, should deal with CSR policies The group of Liberals and Democrats in the European Parliament (ALDE) supports and encourages companies in undertaking actions in the framework of corporate social responsibility and believes that such measures should, in general, be declared openly and transparently to avoid false and misleading claims. Read More SMEs: De Backer report calls for better access to finance The European Parliament confirmed on February 5th its report on improving access to finance for Small and Medium Enterprises’ (SMEs) that responds to the 2011 Commission’s communication. Read More ALDE welcomes new proposals to tackle money laundering On February 5th the European Commission presented proposals to revise the current legislation that prevents the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering, including terrorist financing. Read More European Investment Bank’s contribution to ending the crisis is key The European Parliament during the February plenary session voted on the 2011 Annual report on the European Investment Bank. The report not only assesses what the EIB has done but it also addresses the future goals this institution should target to assist the European Union out of the crisis, based on the 10 billion euro capital increase granted by Member States and on the Europe 2020 Project Bond Initiative whose implementation was confided to the EIB by the European Commission. Read More EU bee population at risk unless action is taken to ban harmful pesticides On January 24th MEPs of Parliament´s environment committee held a debate on the dangers of pesticides to Europe’s bee population. They call on the European Commission for concerted action to restrict certain neonicotinoid pesticides (clothianidin, imidacloprid, thiamethoxam) and other neurotoxins. Recent scientific evidence from the European Food Safety Authority and European Environment Agency has shown that the insecticides may pose risks to bees which play a key part in our food chain. Read More Verhofstadt: “Cameron is playing with fire over Europe issue” Responding to David Cameron’s January 23rd speech on Britain’s place in Europe, Guy Verhofstadt said: “By holding out the prospect of renegotiating the terms of Britain’s membership of the European Union and subjecting it to a referendum, David Cameron is playing with fire. He can control neither the timing nor the outcome of the negotiations and in so doing is raising false expectations that can never be met.” Read More Franco-German friendship needs the European framework On January 22nd Liberals in the European Parliament rejoiced at the 50th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty sealing the reconciliation between Germany and France after centuries of intense rivalry. When Charles De Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer signed the Treaty at the Elysée Palace in Paris they also set in concrete rules for mutual political consultations at various levels and established the Franco-German youth office. Read More ALDE supports Commission in enforcing social partner agreement on flag state responsibilities The group of Liberals and Democrats in the European Parliament (ALDE) supported the European Commission’s proposal on Flag State responsibilities (1) aimed at enforcing the social partners’ agreement on the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) in the EU. Read More EU needs to make itself an attractive place for skilled migrants, say Liberals and Democrats The Parliament’s Employment committee unanimously adopted on January 24th the report drafted by Nadja Hirsch (Germany, FDP) on the integration of migrants, its effects on the labour markets and the external dimension of social security coordination. Read More ALDE MEPs welcome deal on CAP reform proposals but reject double greening payments for farmers and inflexible market interventions The European Parliament’s Agricultural Committee (AGRI) on January 22nd voted on reform proposals to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). ALDE MEPs welcomed the votes in general as a major step towards a more sustainable European agricultural model. However, ALDE condemns the possible double payment for greening and agri-environmental measures and rejects a possible return to failed past policies of heavy market interventions. Read More ALDELAT and EuroLat meetings in Santiago de Chile (23-25 January 2013) A nine member ALDE delegation participated in the EuroLat Plenary and standing committees meetings that took place on 24-25 January 2013 in Santiago de Chile. The delegation was chaired by ALDE Latin American issues coordinator Renate Weber and with the participation of LI President Hans van Baalen, Andean community delegation Vice president Izaskun Bilbao, and ALDEPAC co-President Niccolò Rinaldi. On the eve of the EuroLat meetings an ALDELAT meeting took place in cooperation with FNF and Fundación para el Progreso of Chile in which we had the opportunity to talk about the Chilean reform model and the public debt crisis in the EU. ALDE Boost SME Campaign Update Reporting back…Read More Profiles of MEPs in the News Pat the Cope Gallagher ( FF, Ireland) Pat the Cope Gallagher’s involvement in politics began back in 1979 when he was elected to Donegal County Council. Since then he has been successful in over 13 elections to the County Council, the Irish Parliament and to the European Parliament. His success and lengthy career as a politician can be attributed to consistently making time for people and abiding by the rule that no issue is too big or too small.For Pat the Cope Gallagher all politics are local and he has always worked tirelessly both locally and nationally, while also effectively balancing his work as a member of the European Parliament, to such an extent that he is one of the few MEPs still with a 100% attendance record during the current mandate.As an MEP now for over 12 years in total, one of his main interests in European affairs is fisheries. A full member of the Fisheries Committee, his interest and immense work on the committee will come as no surprise to those who know him. Pat the Cope was born and raised in County Donegal, a county highly dependent on the fishing industry and he has previously worked as a fish processor and exporter, therefore the proposed reform of the Common Fisheries Policy is high on his agenda. Donegal is also a border county and has benefited from numerous cross border initiatives supported by Pat the Cope including the International Fund for Ireland. The renewal of the PEACE programme in 2014 is something he firmly believes is a necessity to ensure further stability and peace for the North and border county regions. He is also endeavouring to secure additional funding under the structural fund regulation for the border, midland and western regions in Ireland which is a peripheral area most affected by the current crisis.Pat the Cope is the chairman for the delegation for relations with Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein. Furthermore, by virtue of his chairmanship he is also a member of the Arctic, Baltic Sea and Nordic parliament bodies. Away from politics, Pat the Cope is a avid follower of Donegal GAA and his native county are holders of the famous Sam Maguire Cup after winning the All Ireland Gaelic Football Championship in 2012. He is also a keen follower of the Celtic football team and he is looking forward to the next round of the Champions League when Celtic take on Italian giants Juventus. For more information, please contact:ALDE Press Service and Inter-institutional relations unitneil.corlett@europarl.europa.euwillem.vandenbroucke@europarl.europa.euALDEUnsubscribeJoin ALDE on FacebookFollow ALDE on TwitterEventsVideos Jorgo Chatzimarkakis on Improving access to finance for SMEs . Cristian Silviu Buşoi on the prices of medicinal products for human use . Pat the Cope Gallagher on Common fisheries policy .ALDE ADLE· 7,398 videos Guy Verhofstadt on the Statement by François Hollande, President of the French Republic . Sylvie Goulard on European Semester for economic policy coordination . Rebecca Taylor on Corporate social responsibility . Guy Verhofstadt on Preparations for the European Council meeting (7-8/2/2013) Antonyia Parvanova on Elimination and prevention of violence against women and girls LinksAlliance 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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Posted in ALDE | Tagged | Comments Off on ALDE Newsletter February 2013