In brief: ALDE Party Congress 2016 in Warsaw, Poland - Main contents
From 1-3 December, hundreds of European Liberal Democrats met in Warsaw, Poland, for the 37th Congress of the ALDE Party. Here is a snapshot of some of the headlines from the Congress:
Bureau
Three ALDE Party Vice Presidents and a new Treasurer were elected to join ALDE Party President Hans van Baalen MEP in the 11-member Bureau.
Angelika Mlinar MEP (NEOS, Austria) was re-elected to the Bureau alongside Henrik Bach Mortensen (Venstre, Denmark) and Luis Garicano (Ciudadanos, Spain) who were elected as Vice Presidents. Gašper Koprivsek (SMC, Slovenia) is the new ALDE Party Treasurer. More
New logo
ALDE has a new logo. Our new official colours are magenta and blue and our new logo symbolises the idea of moving fast forward towards a better future. The new logo was jointly unveiled during a ceremony with ALDE Party President Hans van Baalen MEP and the Leader of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament Guy Verhofstadt MEP. More
New member parties
The ALDE Party political family grew once again as the Union des démocrates et indépendants (UDI) from France and Liberalno-demokratska Partija (LDP) from Macedonia were accepted as new member parties. Delegates also approved the ALDE Party’s revised statutes, and reforms regarding the calculation of delegates and annual membership fees. More
Congress 2017
It was confirmed that the next ALDE Party Council meeting will take place in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in June 2017, hosted by Stranka SMC, and Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced the 2017 Congress would be held in the Netherlands.
Adopted resolutions
Congress delegates adopted many policy resolutions on a range of important and topical matters, such as on the consequences of UK referendum on Brexit, on the protection of democracy in Ukraine and Russia, on EU-NATO defence cooperation, and on women's right to decide over their own body. All adopted resolutions can be found here an here
Official Opening Ceremony ALDE congress Hans van Baalen
ALDE Party President Hans van Baalen MEP opened the ALDE Party Congress with a strong message and insisting that "it is time for strong Liberal politics, to fight for Liberal solutions and defend rule of law, democracy and individual freedoms."
Watch his speech again via the ALDE Party’s YouTube channel.
More speeches
Other high profile speakers included Cecilia Malmström, European Commissioner for Trade, Ryszard Petru MP, Party Leader of ALDE Party member Nowoczesna, Andrej Babiš, Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition, Juli Minoves, Liberal International President, and Guy Verhofstadt MEP, Leader of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament.
All of their speeches can be watched again via the ALDE Party’s YouTube channel.
The former Estonian Prime Minister and Leader of the Estonian Reform Party Taavi Roivas and Albert Rivera, the leader of Ciudadanos Party, Spain, delivered speeches to Congress.
Summit of Liberal Mayors
The ALDE Group in the Committee of the Regions hosted its second annual Summit of Liberal Mayors. 20 Liberal Mayors from 14 different European countries discussed and agreed a document setting out the principles which make cities and local communities Liberal, and the actions that a Liberal Mayor should take. This was the first annual Summit to be hosted by the Group’s new leader Bart Somers. More
Individual Members
The ALDE Party Individual Members held their Annual General Meeting during which the Steering Committee reported on developments in 2016 and gave a preview of its plans for 2017.
The Liberal Vision for the Future of Europe
The Liberal Vision for the Future of Europe was debated with the participation of Mark Rutte (VVD), Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Ryszard Petru MP (Nowoczesna, Poland), Matthias Strolz MP (NEOS, Austria) and Michel Link (FDP, Germany). Brexit and the Politics of Fear was the topic of another Plenary debate that included Sophie in 't Veld MEP (D66, Netherlands), Willie Rennie MSP (Liberal Democrats, Scotland, UK) and Sveinung Rotevatn MP (Venstre, Norway).