New Vice President: Liberal Eyes presents Hans van Baalen - Hoofdinhoud
At the most recent ALDE Party Congress, held in Lisbon, Hans van Baalen MEP was elected as one of the new ALDE Party Vice Presidents, together with Austrian MEP Angelika Mlinar. This week Liberal Eyes features Mr Van Baalen to learn more about his priorities.
Liberal Eyes: What would you like to achieve in the next two years as Vice President?
Hans van Baalen: Europe needs liberal solutions to the current and future social-economic challenges. Mass unemployment can only be solved by a free market approach, fiscal discipline, international trade and the advancement of the digital economy. Furthermore, a free market and civil liberties and human rights go together. We liberals must be proud that we are the only political force which has made this combination work. The ALDE Party is the main European platform of the liberal parties in the EU member states. Therefore it is my main priority as ALDE Vice President to build a stronger ALDE Party which is owned by its members.
By sharing best practices and using the experience of national campaign managers we can become a stronger force in the European and national elections. We have to get the voters out! The ALDE Party cannot do this on its own from Brussels, only our member parties can do this. However, the ALDE Party can strengthen national efforts through team work. Apart from pooling and sharing, the ALDE Group and ALDE Party have to grow.
Existing parties should be made stronger and new political parties should join, also from countries which are at this moment not EU members such as Ukraine. We can and should not accept that we are the 4th force in the European Parliament. As I stated at the congress in Lisbon, "Politics is Rugby". Our political opponents should not like us, they should fear us! I will make use of my own experience as campaign manager, national MP for VVD, MEP and as a former President of Liberal International to help to make our European liberal family stronger, more political and more robust.
Could you highlight one of your political priorities?
Small is beautiful does not apply to politics. I will help ALDE Party President Sir Graham Watson and the Bureau and ALDE Group President Guy Verhofstadt and the Group to make ALDE a fighting force.