Against All Odds - Liberals Are on the Rise in Europe
The first coordinated meeting of ALDE Party individual members and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom drew the attention on the challenges liberals face today. The event was honoured by the presence of Sir Graham Watson, President of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Party, who met the most distinct liberals in Bulgaria.
Introducing the topic of the discussion, Daniel Kaddik, FNF Project Director for Southeast Europe, argued the rumours that liberalism is in decline. “Evidences indicate that liberal ideas are on the rise in a number of European countries,” Kaddik said, “because liberals have proven to be the only real reformists in Europe”.
Sir Graham Watson referred to the past when each period of crisis led to social unrests, boost of populism and far-right nationalism which undermined and endangered the liberal values. Yet, due to its value-driven nature, liberalism managed to conform to the new ambience. Likewise, the same approach determined the evolution of the European Union far beyond a pure free market economy concept since the 1990s.
The idea of inclusiveness positively marked the European political life, with the adoption of the so called “Spitzenkandidat”- conception. Thus, all parties agreed on a leading candidate, who will become the President of the European Commission, if their party wins the elections. The adoption of a such bottom-up approach of the policy-making rests deeply in the liberal idea led by ALDE Party. As Sir Watson said, “ALDE is becoming more genuinely supranational being not only a federation of national parties but also offering the possibility for individual membership”. Such an individual contribution and commonly driven politics is the bedrock which has allowed liberalism to stand so strong over the time.
Sir Graham Watson underlined the three main challenges of the present day: Rapid population growth and migration issues, energy security and terrorism all have strong supranational implications. “Such supranational challenges require an unanimous international respond,” Sir Watson concluded at the end of his speech.
Asked about the liberal response to terrorism, the President of ALDE Party stated that terrorism has always been a phenomenon in our society but today, its methods are more destructive than ever. Charlie Hebdo, as the most recent terrorist act in Europe, exemplifies that individual misinterpretation of religious norms could considerably interfere with the liberal values, established within our current society. Most tragically, however, such a misconception has been taking human lives. Following this line of thought, Sir Watson remarked: “Religions shall take further efforts to cope with the intolerance within themselves because we need to teach to live together.”