During the first half of 2018, a series of expert forums will be organised around Europe on topical matters and challenges facing the European Union, and will be conducted as the ALDE Party considers its manifesto for the 2019 elections to the European Parliament.

Experts in the respective fields from our member parties are warmly invited to participate in these meetings for sharing their views and actively contributing to the manifesto drafting process.

The first Manifesto Forum took place in Warsaw on Monday 12 March organised by the European Liberal Forum with the support of Project:Polska and ALDE Party. The main topical focus this time was on EU security and defence.

The former Danish Prime Minister and former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen offered some opening remarks, in which he emphasised the responsibility to protect of democratic countries, the importance of increasing the EU's budget on defence, and how governments should be ready to counter disinformation as a type of warfare.

https://twitter.com/AndersFoghR/status/973238156794482688?s=20

.@AndersFoghR: “Autocratic governments don’t respect weakness, they only understand power and strength. We need to show them that cooperation is better than disruption by showing the superiority of #freedom” #ELFevent #ALDEmanifesto

Nowoczesna leader Katarzyna Lubnauer also welcomed the participants by highlighting the importance of security and peace in order to reach prosperity.

https://twitter.com/ALDEParty/status/973127445221138432?s=20

https://twitter.com/KLubnauer/status/973154808868757504?s=20

ALDE Party Vice President Joanna Schmidt officially closed the event.

https://twitter.com/ALDEParty/status/973214543139794945?s=20

You can take a look at some of the best moments of the manifesto forum in Warsaw on our Flickr album.

For an overview of all the expert forums coming up in spring, take a look here.