LI president backs Chilean and Latin American liberals - Main contents
LI President Hans van Baalen MEP participated in the EuroLat Parliamentary Assembly held in Santiago, Chile. Addressing a fringe meeting co-organized by LI cooperating organizations RELIAL and Friedrich Naumann Foundation, Van Baalen said: 'Chile is the envy of the international community for its open economy and liberalised pension system. Regulation will not get the world out of the economic recession; only free trade can. Chile is leading the way in this respect.'
After the EurLat Parliamentary Assembly Van Baalen spoke at the launching event of a new liberal force, Partido Liberal, which under the young and energetic Vlado Mirosevic will participate in the 2014 general elections. The President said: 'Liberal International, together with FNF and RELIAL, will support Partido Liberal as it brings together the free market, social and environmental responsibility, good governance and civil rights. The Chilean liberals which are many should leave the parties on the right and the left and unite in the Partido Liberal.' Van Baalen was an LI observer to the first Chilean democratic elections after the dictatorship in 1989.