First Hans van Baalen town hall meeting held in Sarajevo

On 3 September, ALDE Party kicked off its series of town hall meetings on the future of Europe, named after our late President Hans van Baalen. The first meeting in this series took place in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a focus on the Western Balkans perspective. The town hall meeting was co-hosted by LIBSEEN (Liberal South East European Network).

ALDE Party acting co-President Ilhan Kyuchyuk MEP, Member of Bosnian Parliament Sabina Ćudić and Marjana Puljak, Member of Croatian Parliament and co-President of ALDE member party Centar, discussed their expectations for the Conference on the Future of Europe, the importance of including the voice of the Western Balkan countries in the debates as well as the civic activism and engagement during the process.

Citizens and representatives from across Europe joined the event both in-person and online and were able to share their ideas, thoughts and questions on the future of Europe with the speakers.

Kyuchyuk stressed the need for de-bureaucratisation of the institutions as well as the creation of a true political European Union that has real geopolitical powers. He also highlighted the role of the European institutions when it comes to the future of Europe: “We have to be more transparent. We have to deliver. We have to announce what we want to do with the European Union because we have the trust of the people.”

Talking about the role of liberals in the Conference, Ćudić remarked: “There is a huge difference between the citizens, who see themselves as Europeans, and the government that currently represents them. Therefore, as liberals, we must offer a bold and optimistic vision of the future so that citizens can recognize us as their leaders along the way.”

Referring to the citizens’ engagement, Puljak stressed that regardless of the type of engagement “everybody should join and engage in all kind of activities if they want to improve our society. Whether it is civic initiatives, digital platforms or any type of political organisations”.

In case you missed the event, you can rewatch it here.

From September to December, the ALDE Party will host several town hall meetings on the future of Europe with the aim of bringing European citizens closer to the Conference and putting them in the spotlight by allowing them to share their worries and ideas to reform Europe.

If you want to know more about ALDE Party’s action plan on the Future of Europe, click here.

🔴 LIVE. First @ALDEParty event on the #CoFoE, symbolically organised in the #WesternBalkans because we will not exclude the region from the big discussion.
Stay tuned! #Liberals on the future of #Europe. pic.twitter.com/X3YkcCCtLw
— Ilhan Kyuchyuk (@ilhankyuchyuk) September 3, 2021