In addition to all the MEPs, Prime Ministers and Grandees there were also quite a few local Councillors like me in attendance.
The Committee of Regions continued to focus on Local Government issues by mounting a couple of specific interest Fringe sessions.
One regular event is entitled the Liberal Mayors Summit, and despite the poor attendance of Mayors and Group Leaders from the UK ,even when we were in the EU, I’ve fortunately managed to sneak in on a couple of occasions. There were about 20 attending this year, from metropolitan areas across the EU, with representation from well-known cities like Warsaw, Stockholm, St Omer, Bucharest, Split, Budapest, Vienna and smaller less well-known ones from across the EU states. It was good to realise that the Liberal influence is present in so many local authority areas.
The main guest was the very popular Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice President of the European Commission who had delivered a speech about plans to regulate IA.
The agenda included issues about SMEs, and combatting gender-based violence but the item which generated most contributions and took up the majority of time was about The European Year of Skills. Every attendee around the table had prepared a contribution on this subject and I found there was such resonance with issues our own towns and cities are experiencing, I thought it would be of interest to our colleagues here in the UK.
As the discussion went round the table, we heard from every representative about problems that their authority faced in planning for the future. These were an ageing population, a lack of well qualified staff and skilled personnel to fill vacancies, while experiencing an incoming surfeit of unskilled migrants. An interesting example was given of an authority above the Arctic Circle in the North of Finland, which had recognised that it needed to bring in new people if its business and activities were to thrive.
The second day of the ALDE Congress started with the usual family photo before heading off to the plenary session for passage of the resolutions. Given that most of them had been previously extensively discussed and compromise texts established, then most of the resolution were passed without any substantive opposition.
The first day was dominated by the elections to the ALDE Bureau, with the election of a new President and six new Vice Presidents. German MEP Svenja Hahn was the only candidate for the Presidency. She’s known to many Liberal Democrats as a former President of the youth movement, LYMEC, and spoke to the delegates of her love for the UK having spent some time working in St. Albans. Our own Sal Brinton was one of the candidates for the Vice Presidency. The results will be declared tomorrow morning.
The main Congress kicked off with speeches from current ALDE Presidents Timmy Dooley from Ireland and Ilhan Kyuchyuk from Bulgaria, who provided a thorough report on the activities of the past year. They talked about the recent elections which returned a much smaller Liberal group in the European Parliament. Unsurprisingly, a further theme of their address was the ongoing war in Ukraine. Their focus was on the crucial support provided by ALDE members to Ukraine in its fight for sovereignty and democracy. The pair underscored the importance of continued aid and diplomatic backing for the Ukrainian people in the face of Russia’s aggression.
At the weekend we met with old friends and new from our European sister parties for ALDE Congress, albeit via a Zoom link, as the Congress was online for the first time. It was my privilege to lead a diverse Lib Dem delegation of around forty, which in addition to the official categories for diversity, included several UK nationals resident in the EU and a few EU citizens resident in the UK.
Two weeks ago liberals from across Europe gathered together in Madrid to debate policy, receive training and pass a new manifesto for next year’s European Parliament elections. This new manifesto reflects the commitment of liberals from across the EU to our shared European values. It is a manifesto which seeks to bring all Europeans together; and because of the efforts of European Liberal Youth (LYMEC)’s delegation, it reflects the views and aspirations of young people from across the continent. Indeed, there were few delegations as active or as well prepared as LYMEC’s.
The count had taken place, the results were known. All that was left was to announce them, and that was the point where Congress went wrong for the Liberal Democrats.
Two years ago, in Budapest, saw the election of six ALDE Party Vice Presidents and, after a tough nine-way contest, Baroness Ros Scott was safely elected. And, after a successful first term, she is seeking re-election.
Yes, it’s election time again, as the ALDE Party elects different positions in alternate years, the Presidency and some Vice-Presidents in odd-numbered years, the Treasurer and a few more Vice-Presidents in even-numbered years.
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