At the end of the Madrid Congress on Saturday 10 November, ALDE President Hans van Baalen announced that the members of team Europe would be appointed next February.
"We have a ‘team Europe’, it's better than one man or woman. So we will fight with this team, we will put it together and decide in Berlin, when we will have the launch of our campaign in early February,” he explained. An ALDE source said that the date of the Berlin Congress was not yet known, but it should take place between early February and early March.
Contrary to what had been envisaged (see EUROPE 12123), the application procedure for what was to be the Spitzenmannschaft, which should open on 10 November and end on 1 February, has not been officially launched.
For the Europe team, the number of which has not been defined, it is the party president, Mr van Baalen, who will collect the candidatures until February, and will propose the team, in consultation with the ALDE member parties.
No specific criteria have been defined - at least for the moment - but one source indicated that executive experience or a political mandate could play a role. Similarly, the team will have to have a significant proportion of women, according to this source. She added that it was likely that the ALDE group's President in the European Parliament, Guy Verhofstadt, would be part of it.
The subject of the Europe team will be discussed on 14 December, during the traditional liberal pre-summit before the European Council, with the eight Prime Ministers and the five ALDE Commissioners. And while the Europe team was started at La République en Marche (LREM), an ALDE source hoped that French President Emmanuel Macron would be present on 14 December.
The Europe team will then be officially appointed - as a whole - by a vote of the delegates of the ALDE member parties in Berlin. LREM, if they have a member on the team, will not be able to speak on the rest of the team.
Resolution on the alliance with En Marche
ALDE members also adopted a resolution on Building a Progressive Alliance to fight for Europe. This resolution, proposed by Ciudadanos, VVD, NEOS, D66, Nowoczesna, the FDP and Radikale Venstre, is, in a way, an endorsement of the alliance with La République en Marche (see EUROPE 12134). Among other things, it calls on the party to ‘work, along with other progressive political forces, to redefine our foundations for a sovereign, united, and democratic Europe’.
The resolution proposes to ‘build a cross party, cross-national platform to seize the opportunity ahead of the May 2019 European Parliament elections and prevent xenophobic, nationalist and populist forces from prevailing’. Opposition to nationalists is also highlighted, with the resolution urging ‘to oppose, along with other progressive political forces, authoritarian politicians and their policies that attack freedom of press, crushes individual rights, weakens justice, and threatens minorities’.
Adoption of the manifesto for the European elections
At the end of the Congress, the party also adopted, by a very large majority, its manifesto for the 2019 European elections entitled ‘Freedom, opportunity, prosperity: the Liberal vision for the future of Europe‘.
This nine-page manifesto highlights the main positions of the party, which presents itself as an opposition to the nationalists. "The choice is as follows: Are we updating the EU to maintain openness, prosperity and stability or do we go back to the days of nationalism and growing authoritarianism? ," asks the ALDE.
"We want a Europe that is rich in its diversity and united in standing up for the fundamental rights and freedoms of its citizens [...] free, fair, dynamic and open [...] a Europe that protects the rule of law [...] that renews its promise of a strong social contract for a competitive economy [...]which embraces the potential of technological and digital change, innovation and what the world's largest research programme can bring [...] protecting its citizens from threats such as climate change, terrorism, cyber conflict and organised crime. We want a Europe that defends entrepreneurship and business [...] open markets and free trade. We want a Europe that pursues economic innovation to lead in a competitive world. [...] a Europe where you can succeed. A more liberal Europe”, summarises the manifesto.
The paper reviews a number of issues currently at the heart of European discussions.
On migration, ALDE wants a common European law on immigration and asylum. "We need a new common European response, based on a long-term vision”, he explains. For the party, this includes migration agreements with safe countries in the Middle East and Africa, an EU commitment to provide financial support to countries hosting refugees, to facilitate the resettlement of refugees in a safe, humane and legal manner and to ensure the return of migrants to these safe countries. "We will seek the collaboration of safe countries, in particular by linking financial support to their willingness to facilitate this safe return”, explains the manifesto, which also highlights the establishment of more legal immigration channels.
As a defender of the four fundamental freedoms, the ALDE opposes ‘any reintroduction of permanent controls at internal borders between Schengen Member States’. In order to strengthen security, the party wants ever-closer cooperation in the fight against terrorism, as well as more effective efforts to secure the EU's external border, but also better protection against hybrid activities.
For ALDE, the EU must continue to consolidate Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), focusing on both stability and solidarity. The party will also work for "a better control mechanism and more automatic sanctions on countries when the Stability and Growth Pact is broken", for the rapid implementation of a banking union in the Eurozone and for the conversion of the European Stability Mechanism ‘into a real European Monetary Fund’.
The party supports ‘modern and progressive free trade agreements’, in which negotiators ‘preserve human dignity and working conditions, sustainability and the fight against corruption in future agreements’.
ALDE advocates a strengthening of the knowledge economy, investing in research and innovation and equipping our workforce with the right skills. Liberals want to pursue the implementation of the digital single market, abolish geoblocking and adopt legislation allowing new technologies such as blockchain or artificial intelligence. In addition, achieving the target of 3% of EU GDP invested in research and development by 2020 ‘is essential to boost our competitiveness, productivity and the creation of sustainable jobs’.
For the party, the EU “must play a leading role in the fight against climate change”. It therefore advocates strengthening international environmental cooperation, research and development of low-emission technologies and clean energy production, and energy efficiency and emission reduction in industry and transport. The ALDE also calls for the completion of the Energy Union.
At the international level, the ALDE supports an “greater strategic engagement of the EU in its neighbourhood and the future enlargement perspective for the countries of the Western Balkans and its common European neighbourhood, once these countries meet the accession criteria”. The party wants a gradual introduction of qualified majority voting on issues related to the strategic challenges facing the EU.
In addition, “we shall establish a new effective mechanism outside the framework of Article 7 of the TEU to monitor violations of fundamental rights, civil liberties and the rule of law in the member states,” warn ALDE members, encouraging the Commission “to enforce sanctions in cases of violations and create stronger conditionality between the rule of law and receipt of European funding”.
For the ALDE, investment in innovation and research, security, the environment and the fight against climate change, as well as the fight against youth unemployment, must be the new priorities of the EU budget.
Cohesion policy must be results-oriented, effective and thematic, respond to the real needs of citizens and stimulate sustainable economic growth and an innovative economy in all regions of the EU. In addition, it should be linked to the 'European Semester' budget process and support the implementation of structural reforms. The CAP must also be thoroughly reformed, according to the ALDE.
Finally, at the institutional level, Liberals believe that there is a need for “a greater degree of transparency in negotiations and voting in the European Council and the Council of the EU” and take a position in favour of a single seat for the European Parliament ‘in Brussels’. They also support “initiatives to reassess and renegotiate the distribution of competences between the EU and its Member States, bearing in mind the principles of simplification and subsidiarity”.
The manifesto is available at: https://bit.ly/2Fg9eWM . (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)