On Thursday night the ELDR Bureau held a meeting, were the situation in
the Middle East was discussed thoroughly and a press release was issued.
The Bureau also discussed the Upcoming elections in Netherlands and
Hungary and the need for more support from high-ranching Liberals
promote their sister-parties in other countries for example through a
visit during the election campaign. The ELDR Bureau also discussed the
Legal Status of the party and the possibilities on this aspect. LYMEC
will of course draw experiences and ideas from the work done by the
ELDR.
Last but not least the Bureau discussed the ELDR Congress in Bath in
October and the frame for the ELDR individual Members Section.
On Friday a meeting of the ELDR Party Council was held. Following the
welcome from Werner Hoyer there was a brief discussion and approval of
the Press release on the Situation in the Middle East. The press release
called for the UN Security Council to initiate a Conference For Security
and Co-operation in the Middle East (CSCME) and strongly welcomed
President Bush's decision to send Secretary of State Colin Powell on a
peace mission to the region.
The main topic of the Meeting was the Convention on the future of
Europe. The delegates were informed on the state of play on the
Convention proceedings. Henning Christophersen, member of the Presidium
and representative of the Danish government on the Convention, gave an
introduction to the topic and Andrew Duff MEP, Vice-president of the
European Parliament delegation to the Convention, also offered his
perspectives. An intense debate on the topic - including a discussion
about the youth convention led to many interesting conclusions. The
debate was wrapped up by Pat Cox, President of the European Parliament,
who welcomed the inputs as well as most of the liberal members of the
convention stated that they will be happy to come out and debate -
something LYMEC will of course follow up upon.
The Council also excepted new member organisations from Greece - Free
Citizens and ANO from the Slovak Republic.
