A positive 1st Young Elected Leaders’ Summit

YDE @ ALDE CoR Young Leaders' Summit

On the 27th and 28th of August, Ludovic BENMOKHTAR – YDE individual member and Deputy Mayor for Culture for the City of Bernay (Normandy, France) – and Sebastian LEIß – member of the Junge Freie Wähler and Leader of the Liberal Council Group at the County of Dachau (Bavaria, Germany), attended the 1st Young Elected Leaders Summit organised with the ALDE Group at the Committee of Regions and the European Liberal Youth.

These two days of meetings and visits allowed them to discover the work of elected representatives of the Committee of Regions (CoR) as well as to get acquainted with other young elected Liberals and Democrats from all over the European Union.

To Ludovic: “As a young local elected representative of a rural town, I am witnessing the great difficulty for the EU to publicise its actions. Unfortunately, because of its simplicity, populist discourse is advancing in our rural areas. The round-tables held during the Summit allowed me to understand that the problems that affect Bernay, the city where I am elected, also affect other European cities. We were able to share our experiences, the solutions to make and hear the elected representatives of the Committee of Regions, with their experience.”

This weekend is not meant to remain a simple event but has the ambition to create a network of young pro-European as several of them may be tomorrow’s European leaders.

European Democrat and Liberal Youth organisations and the ALDE Group at the Committee of Regions, thanks to this summit, want to build a network that will allow young elected leaders to work efficiently tomorrow towards a more efficient and sustainable European integration.

YDE and LYMEC welcome an open future of wealth, sustainability and innovation entrepreneurship

We, the young liberals and democrats, have insofar enjoyed a European continent open to travel, trade, studying, working and living wherever opportunities are best. Binding our economies and societies together has guaranteed peace, secured the European leadership in the world and furthered the rights of the individual. Young people need to be the guarantors of the values of human rights, democracy and transparency that set the foundation for European cooperation. At the face of disagreement on small scale, the EU debate has to roll back to its core values and the four freedoms.

Digital change, entrepreneurship and fair labour market

We young liberals and democrats think the EU needs to take a courageous position on how to reform the labour market, where entrepreneurship is encouraged and technological advances are considered an opportunity. We think that the EU should make sure there is no room for exploitation on the labour market. We think the EU should also make sure there is no breach of legal contracts within the labour market. The digital transformation of the economy is the heritage of our generation, it is the outcome of technological breakthroughs that open new opportunities, and it is up to us to seize them to the fullest. There is no changing the path of development of the market, rather we young liberals and democrats need to accommodate and create flexibility at the face of change, including improvement of conditions for start ups and easing the transition from obsolete jobs to new ones.

Press freedom and ethics

According to us young liberals and democrats, now is the time to tackle fake news and cyber propaganda, coming from all directions, with the goal to increase transparency and citizens’ decision-making powers. In this regard, we young liberals and democrats actively promote and defend press freedom, and press for institutions that assess that every freedom is accompanied by requirements regarding ethics. The young generation sees the need for ensuring education in independence of information and the universal respect of ethics, and the role of Social Media in spreading false information should not be underestimated as well.

Populism, rhetoric, getting the message out to citizens and youth in leadership

We, the young generation will advocate for a new fact-oriented rhetoric in the fight against populism, with a focus on the democratic credentials and the aim to reach the general citizen. We call on the EU institutions to outline a roadmap to encourage and assist member states in setting up programmes to improve critical thinking skills in an online context in order to counter disingenuous content. The EU, as a democratic union, is a value in its own and a method for regional decision-making. Upholding credibility of the institutions is therefore of utmost importance.  Young people are not only the future EU leaders but are also the leaders of today, so the EU should invest more in strengthening structured dialogue on all levels of government: local, national and international.

Cyber threats, terrorism and defence

These information challenges, along with terrorism, stress the need for increased security cooperation and cyber security at home. Long-standing partners are changing their position towards the EU and these changed circumstances create the basis for deepened defence cooperation, starting with military procurement and enhanced intelligence sharing and increased military cooperation with the EU neighbourhood policy countries. For that reason and in order to strengthen the defence cooperation it would be convenient to have a common asylum system, as well as a proper European border control agency. We the young liberals and democrats believe in safeguarding the privacy and integrity of European citizens and standing up against any attacks on internet freedom and civil liberties.

Trade, sustainability and global opportunities

We young liberals and democrats believe in fair trade and in a priority for green and sustainable choices as well as a long-term view on equal opportunities to entrepreneurship and trade globally. When populists promote protectionism, we the young liberals and democrats want to see an open trading Europe. We call on the EU to continue to negotiate new bilateral and multilateral trade agreements to stimulate economic cooperation. We believe the EU must be at the forefront of green growth in all sectors and adopt regulations that regard the long-term consequences of our choices including a specific, comprehensive plan for decarbonising the European energy mix. We young liberals and democrats demand openness of negotiations of trade agreements and ask decisionmakers to communicate better as citizens have shown a lack of trust in the agreement processes. Free and fair rules-based trade agreements, guided by the basic rules in the EU treaties should always be the basis for agreements. Human rights, labour and environmental standards need to be guaranteed in the trade agreements also in the future. Trade agreements guarantee the market competition and reduce protectionism, while at the same time also cementing universal values and peace.

A Summer Academy aiming at an innovative and efficient Europe!

Last week, on the 28th and 29th of June 2017, the Young Democrats for Europe and the European Liberal Youth organised the 2017 Summer Academy with the support of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament on the topic “Innovation and Efficiency: Building the Europe that Citizens Dream of”. This event gathered more than 90 young Democrats and Liberals from all over Europe.

Amongst them young democrat activists from San Marino, France, Basque Country, Canarias, Iceland, Latvia, Hungary, Germany, Cyprus and other EU countries.

Not only composed of panels, a debate on the Future of Europe was organised under the European Youth Forum patronage and with speakers from other Political Party Youth organisations. For more details on what Antoine Carette (our president) and Sissel Kvist (LYMEC president) had to say about priorities for Europe’s future:

A common LYMEC – YDE statement was also drafted and is available on our website.

Find out more about this event from our member organisations:

European Youth Convention: Youth is key to changing the EU!

150 representatives of youth organisations from 38 countries summoned at the European Parliament Strasbourg in March 2017 to develop the foundation of a better Europe. Amongst them our general secretary, Asier Areitio. The European Youth cannot stay still during this important moment.

It is also important to highlight that EDP played an important role with a financial support to the organisers.

The convention aimed at drafting a European Citizens´ Constitution, in order to enhance the power of the Union, and to change the model we have now. The main idea was to create a more federal Europe as the current model is already outdated. Young representatives’ work was based on collaboration, cooperation and exchange of ideas within small groups of around 14 people, with different backgrounds, from scholars to young politicians, or NGO members.

Asier focused his work on “Home Affairs and Security”, “Economic & Social model” and “Rights and Freedom” issues and is satisfied with the outcomes of this event: the drafted constitution will be sent to EU politicians.

You can read the Constitution here: http://www.youthconvention.eu/european-youth-convention-citizens-constitution.php

Credit: European Youth Convention/Joël Hellenbrand, 2017

Asier at the European Parliament
Asier at the European Parliament
Working Group
Working Group

Welcome to Junge Freie Wähler from Germany

The Young Democrats for Europe have the pleasure to welcome a new member: Junge Freie Wahler from Germany. We are particularly happy to extend our reach in Germany, the most populated EU member state.

We were also very happy to be invited to the JFW founding Congress last January. Since 2014, JFW members have been very active within the YDE and EDP and we are very glad they join us officially.

For YDE president Antoine Carette: “We warmly welcome JFW’s application as the result of a two years process of informal work together. We share a common concern for building a more democratic EU. Indeed our organisations strive to empower citizens and to give them the role they deserve in decision making at both a European and national level. For this purpose we need to gather all Democrats across Europe and strengthen our cooperation.”

As Michael Schultheis – JFW Chairman – highlights: “We are so thankful that we are now a part of the YDE. In times when populism is growing again, it is important that we as pro-Europeans work together and fight for a Union that is beneficial for all of us.”

Young Democrats for Europe (YDE)
Jeunes Democrates Europeens (JDE)
YDE is the youth wing of the European Party.We embrace the key role of democratic principles, underlined in the Lisbon Treaty and shrined in our political belief: democracy, freedom, equality, participation, sustainability and solidarity.

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