Liberal leaders meet in Brussels ahead of European Council meeting - Hoofdinhoud
At the invitation of the ALDE Party President Hans van Baalen MEP, liberal Prime Ministers and European Commissioners met at the Egmont Palace in Brussels on Thursday 17 December ahead of the European Council Summit of the same day. Crucial topics were discussed such as the refugee crisis, Passenger Name Records (PNR) and the proposal of the President of the European Council on safeguarding our external land and sea borders.
During the event, President Hans van Baalen said: "It was a great liberal family gathering where we discussed in depth on how to strengthen our borders, find solutions for the refugee crisis, a liberal approach to Passenger Name Records and how to tackle terrorism."
"In the presence of François Bayrou and Albert Rivera, we discussed the political situation in France and Spain. I was particularly impressed with Rivera, who is full of energy to reform Spain," he added.
"We are looking forward to the potential success in Spain, which would bring another strong centrist political party to the forefront, after the good results of Nowoczesna in Poland", concluded Hans van Baalen.
The leader of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament Guy Verhofstadt said: "We hope that European leaders take the lead now on refugee crisis and it is important that all countries apply the same rules on these issues. Liberal Prime Ministers, European Commissioners and Members of the European Parliament are ready to do so."
On Sunday 20 December Spanish citizens are going to the polls to elect a new Parliament. Ciudadanos (C's) represented by Albert Rivera were present at the Pre-Summit. The leader of C's Albert Rivera said: "We now have an opportunity for change in Spain, to change things from the centre and not from the extremes. In this sense, Ciudadanos represents the centre, the liberal democracy in Spain, and I hope that after the Spanish elections on Sunday we can be that change."
The participants were:
Xavier Bettel, Prime Minister of Luxembourg
Miro Cerar, Prime Minister of Slovenia
Charles Michel, Prime Minister of Belgium
Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark
Taavi Rõivas, Prime Minister of Estonia
Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
Juha Sipilä, Prime Minister of Finland
Andrej Babiš, Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
Violeta Bulc, European Commissioner for Transport
Vĕra Jourová, European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality
Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition
Guy Verhofstadt, Leader of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament
François Bayrou, President of the European Democratic Party and leader of MoDem, France
Albert Rivera, Leader of Ciudadanos, Spain
For an overview of the Pre-Summit, you can watch:
Comments Hans van Baalen ahead of Liberal Pre-Summit today
Press conference Liberal pre-Summit ALDE