CALD Youth representatives take part in ALDE Summer Visitors’ Programme

Delegates from CALD Youth participated in the ALDE Summer Visitors’ Programme organized by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) of the European Parliament. The five-day programme took place in Brussels, Belgium from 27 June to 01 July 2011 and included meetings with policy advisors from different ALDE working committees and visits to the European Parliament. The programme also integrated the annual ALDE Summer Academy co-organized by the European Liberal Youth (LYMEC) and Young Democrats for Europe (YDE).

CALD Youth representatives in the ALDE programme were Ms. Jessie Chou, Associate Researcher of the Democratic Progressive Party of Taiwan (DPP), and Ms. Kathy Lee, Associate Researcher of the DPP’s Policy Research Committee, who attended the programme on behalf of the DPP Youth.

The main topic of this year’s Summer Academy was the future of Europe’s energy policy in light of the recent catastrophic events in Japan. Speakers from different sectors and backgrounds, including members of the European Parliament, executives of the European Commission, as well as representatives from the nuclear industry and NGOs (such as Greenpeace), discussed and debated the future steps in energy policy for Europe. Issues such as the growing problem of energy supply were presented, especially the future of nuclear energy, which produces 14% of the total energy supply in Europe. Additionally, questions regarding renewable energy were widely discussed in the conference. On this topic, speakers and participants shared their views on the governments’ role in the development of alternative energies sources and the efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

CALD Youth representatives took the opportunity to visit the LYMEC headquarters in Brussels and met with its Secretary General Mr. Slaven Klobucar and researcher Mr. Lorenzo Marchese. Mr. Klobucar delivered a briefing on LYMEC’s operations and functions, its membership and structure, and its close cooperation with the ELDR Party and the ALDE Group. Mr Klobucar also introduced LYMEC’s recent campaigns, one of which is focused on debt issues, emphasizing that debt places a heavy burden on coming generations, hence the reasons why LYMEC calls for more inter-generation fairness and seriousness when dealing with this matter.

Furthermore, it was learned that LYMEC, as a youth organization representing the European youth, has taken an active role in advocating liberal values in Europe. Through efforts in identifying key issues and organizing events and campaigns, LYMEC has been a successful example for other youth organizations around the world. CALD Youth has benefitted from learning from LYMEC’s experiences and looks forward to future cooperation with the organization.

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This post was written by CALD