4th Summit of Young Elected Local and Regional Leaders

Following on from the success of the previous Summits of Young Elected Local and Regional Leaders that took place in 2017, 2018 and 2019, Renew Europe CoR group have yet again teamed up with European Liberal Youth (LYMEC) and Young Democrats for Europe (YDE) to organise a fourth in 2020. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the event will take place online.

When?

25 September 2020

Where?

Online

Why?

To provide an opportunity for young liberal democrat local and regional elected leaders to meet and share ideas and best practice amongst themselves.

Who?

You are encouraged to apply if: 1) you are between 18 and 35; 2) you hold an elected mandate at local or regional level; and 3) you hold a position of responsibility either in government or in opposition.

How?

Apply by filling an online form.

3rd Summit of Young Elected Local and Regional Leaders

Last year, twenty young elected local democrat and liberal leaders from twelve different countries debated how to address the issue of climate change at local and regional level and also how can leadership be shown to achieve climate action. You can see the highlights from the 2nd summit which took place in 2018 here.

Therefore following on from the success of its Liberal Mayors Summits, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in the European Committee of the Regions (ALDE-CoR) together with LYMEC and YDE yet again teamed up to organise a 3rd Summit of Young Elected Local and Regional Leaders in 2019: in Brussels on the 20th of September.

 

When?

20 September 2019

Where?

Brussels, European Committee of the Regions

Why?

To provide an opportunity for young democrat and liberal local and regional politicians to meet and share ideas and best practice amongst themselves, and afterwards to meet with experienced local and regional politicians in a joint meeting with ALDE-CoR.

Who?

Young (18-35) local and regional politicians with an elected mandate and having a responsibility either in government or in opposition are encouraged to apply.

How?

Apply by filling an online form. When applying please indicate your elected mandate, your current position of responsibility in government or opposition, the dates these began, and your policy interests under comments. Places are limited and selection will be carried out by ALDE-CoR based on experience, and with a view to ensuring geographical, policy and gender balance. The full agenda and confirmations will be sent in August.
Deadline for applications is 19 July.
Travel arrangements and accommodation will be organized by ALDE-CoR.

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.

Young Democrats and Liberals gathered at ALDE Winter Academy

Last week, on the 7th and 8th of December 2016, the Young Democrats for Europe and the European Liberal Youth organised the 2016 Winter Academy with the support of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament on the topic  A Connected Continent for Young People. This event gathered more than 80 young Democrats and Liberals from all over Europe.

Amongst the speakers on different issues such as Transport, Digitalisation, Migration and Education: YDE president Antoine Carette, ALDE Group vice president Petras Auštrevičius, Vincent Chauvet from the European Citizens’ Initiative One Single Tariff, ALDE MEPs Dominique Riquet, Angelika Mlinar, Fredrik Federley and Martina Dlabajová, Alexandre Beddock, director of the movie Voices of Refugees and Sacha Garben, Professor of EU Law at College of Europe.

Delegates had also the opportunity to engage in discussion and promote their views for the 1st time thanks to 2 workshops on Migrations and Digitalisation. The 2 statements following the workshops are available here.

Beyond the gloomy present: your Democratic impulse! – IED/YDE Winter Academy

This first IED/YDE Winter Academy Edition gathered in Brussels about 30 young centrists from all over Europe.

Speakers with various backgrounds and responsibilities participated in making this event interesting, lively and a general success. Amongst these speakers were François Pauli (deputy Secretary General of the ALDE Group), François Lafond (member of the Scientific Committee of the IED), Claude Rolin (Belgian MEP), Henri Malosse (Former EESC president), as well as young experts such as Marinella Davide, Wilhelm Bargum, Stepan Berko, Mihai Sebe, Jeremy Van Gorp, and Mathieu Baudier.

IED/YDE Winter Academy – Dec'15 – Beyond the gloomy present: y…

What do more than 30 young Centrists do just a week before Christmas? Reflect, exchange, learn and plan on a brighter future for Europeans and #Europe

Posted by Young Democrats for Europe (YDE) on Tuesday, 29 December 2015

The European Union is facing one massive challenge and all the participants agreed on it: the EU has nearly no budget and is facing great adversity and expectations both internally and externally. The EU’s Budget – 1% of the EU-28’s Gross National Income (just a little bit above Hungary’s GNI) – is far too small for 508 million Europeans. With 75% of its expenditure going to the Common Agricultural Policy and the Regional Cohesion Policy, there is very few left to tackle tremendous crises and challenges at a continent scale such as those currently faced by the EU.

We understand that we need more Europe where it is necessary to tackle those challenges. However, the current organisation of European institutions and the Eurosceptic climate in Europe is a break we, Democrats, will have to handle.

Improving our messages and how the EU is functioning are the only ways to tackle challenges such as youth unemployment, which is “a cancer for our societies”, as Claude Rolin explained. A dematerialised economy and politicians understanding what it means for someone to be unemployed for several months or years are one of the key issues Europe needs to address.

Our internal challenges should not make us forget about external challenges, those just happening at and within our borders. We need to rethink the way we approach the Eastern partnership considering the current and the potential future geopolitical situation. We need to support Democrats where they are, battling for a better, independent, society, just like in Ukraine.

No practical solution can be found without values. Solidarity was exuding from our different talks. Solidarity between citizens after the recent terrorist attacks, solidarity with smaller countries threatened by climate change, solidarity with youngsters who thrive to integrate, solidarity between Member States in tackling the refugees’ crisis.

It is crystal-clear that European Union members have not found the answer yet to handle the refugees’ crisis following a truly humanist path regarding refugees and migrants; nor in a fair way for Member States such as Greece, Italy or Spain which have been asked to handle on their own a region-wide situation, or Germany and Sweden showing solidarity for all others. Fighting opposition one by one is the best way to fail and fall one by one.

While the present does look gloomy, it is not too late to avoid more deadlocks. But solutions will not happen without everyone’s contribution and it is about time to roll up our sleeves.

Special thanks to Eimys Ortiz and Mathieu Camescasse for making it happen.

Also available in German, Basque and Spanish

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