23 Apr, 2024
The COVID-19 pandemic has created a global, never-before-seen crisis that will impact our lives and societies for months and years to come. Across Europe, Liberals are taking action to save lives and to protect jobs, freedoms and prosperity.
Against this background, it comes with no doubt that later this year, when we are hopefully able to meet again in person and gather together as a liberal family, there will be a lot to discuss and debate, but also to learn from each other on the impacts of this crisis on several areas of life, from health to economy, from civil liberties to the state of liberal democracy.
In the meantime, here at the ALDE Party HQ, we want to keep the discussions and debates alive now when they matter the most, and for this reason we have been hosting a number of virtual workshops on a range of topics for our member parties. There will also be virtual events open to the public; more details will be announced shortly.
Past events:
14 April - With ALDE Party Vice President Annelou van Egmond, Liberals shared information on communication strategies in this unprecedented crisis that has put economies in shutdown and societies in lockdown across the globe.
How do liberal parties, in government and opposition alike, deal with this unprecedented communication challenge? What is the right approach to balance political measures to ensure public safety on the one hand and prevent unemployment and an economic meltdown on the other hand? How to reconcile drastic infringements on the open society and liberal-democratic governance with the need for fast and efficient decision-making?
17 April - ALDE Party Vice President Luis Garicano MEP discussed measures to re-start the economy.
The time of crisis has always been the hour of the executive. State governments take charge and try to come to rescue of employees, families and businesses. This global economic shutdown and standstill has been unprecedented.
In this virtual workshop we looked at some of the measures taken in the EU and around the world and have a first exchange of views on what will need to be done to support workers and business and re-start the economy after a gradual return towards the open society and open markets? Will we need to rethink elements of the economic model we have gotten used to over the past decades including global supply chains and freedom of good, services and workers across the EU?
Toward a European Reconstruction Fund - an article by Luis Garicano and Guy Verhofstadt
21 April - Former field campaign director of VVD, Kiki Bakker discussed best practices of voter contact during the crisis.
Liberal parties in Europe have worked hard to transform their organizations to directly engage with voters through door2door and direct conversations in real life. In times like these as door2door neither is feasible nor seems opportune; how can we turn social distancing into smart distancing, build a campaign organization and connect with real people in real conversations?
What kind of strategy can you develop as a party to create sustainable voter contact moments and engage your volunteers to do the same?
In this virtual workshop we explored possible strategies, solutions and tactics to keep your voter contact operation going.
Webinar materials available here
30 April - When a crisis hits - social media best practices for an external crisis
In this workshop, the ALDE Party Communications team (Iiris André, Didrik de Schaetzen) together with Anna Vetter discuss best practices for social media during an external crisis, such as the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.
Materials available here and here.
7 May - Going digital: how ALDE parties are using technology
At least for near to medium-term future, traditional campaigning techniques like door-to-door campaigning and market stalls will be a public health risk. Many campaigns are turning to digital solutions for their campaigning -- including Zoom calls, Facebook Lives, and phone applications.
How can Liberals turn to digital campaigning without losing our most important advantage: our people?
In this workshop, we use European and international case studies to explore how liberals can use digital organising to enhance their campaigns, strengthen their parties, and develop digital campaigning techniques to use during, and after, the coronavirus pandemic.
ALDE Party’s Data Team has also discussed data analysis, coding and field experiments to inform on and discuss data-driven political party work.
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