Last weekend our youth wing, the European Liberal Youth (LYMEC), held its biennial electoral Congress in Berlin, Germany. The Congress that gathered 130 young liberals from across Europe elected Svenja Hahn, as LYMEC's President for 2018-2020. Hahn, a German national living in Hamburg, is a member of the ALDE Manifesto Drafting Committee for the 2019 European elections as well as a participant of our 2018 European Women's Academy.

"The time for thinking in patterns like black and white is over. Liberals think in opportunities and challenges,” said the newly elected president in her acceptance speech in Berlin, and continued: “One year ahead of the European Palrliament elections, Europe for sure faces many challenges but LYMEC will work to turn them into opportunities. Opportunities for an EU that offers more to its future citizens than to any generation before. We will make sure LYMEC puts topics that matter for youth high on the agenda with our political partners in ALDE Party and ALDE Group. Because only with joint forces can we create a progressive and liberal future."

The Congress also elected Edgaras Mascinskas (Lithuania, individual member) as Vice President and Lena Höglund (Finland, Svensk Ungdom) as Treasurer. The new Bureau Members are Antoaneta Asenova (Bulgaria, YMRF), Pau Castellví Canet (Catalonia, Spain, JNC), Deimantė Rimkutė (Lithuania, LLJ) and Dan-Aria Sucuri (Sweden, LUF). The Congress also re-appointed Danica Vihinen as the Secretary General for a second two-year mandate.

Congrats to @svenja_hahn, a member of our #ALDEmanifesto drafting committee, who has just been elected the new President of @LYMEC 👌🏻 pic.twitter.com/RhObFmz7J9

— ALDE Party (@ALDEParty) April 7, 2018

The event was preceded by a seminar, organised in cooperation with the European Liberal Forum, on the Liberal Fightback, lifting the mood ahead of the 2019 European Parliament elections by reminding the young liberals how liberal parties across Europe have fought their way back after major losses. The seminar was a kick-off for LYMEC’s work to support young candidates and its member organisations ahead of the elections.

„Liberal Fightback“ Seminar with @EurLiberalForum kicks off with an inspiring campaign session by @ALDEParty VP @AnnelouEgmond and former @D66 campaign manager 💪 pic.twitter.com/3xnd692Qsb

— LYMEC (@LYMEC) April 5, 2018

Deep insights into the @fdp communication strategy by @MarcoBuschmann and how the german liberals managed to get back into parliament 💪 #ELFevent pic.twitter.com/oPOpnOEYYN

— LYMEC (@LYMEC) April 5, 2018

The Congress also discussed resolutions on a broad spectrum of topics ranging from digitisation and artificial intelligence to education, institutional reform and minority rights to name a few.

For more details, visit LYMEC's website.