This year, Mouvement Démocrate’s activists, together with members of the European Democratic Party, had the pleasure of visiting Guidel again, where the Europe’s days were held from 27 to 29 September as a fringe event of the ‘Université de rentrée’ (‘back to school university’) event organised by the French party.
Located in the picturesque region of Brittany in northern France, Guidel has hosted this event for 12 consecutive years.
Participants, including many students and people passionate about European values and the future of European politics, had the opportunity to listen to speeches by our MEPs and experts, ask questions and engage in dialogue with leading figures in European and French politics.
Members of the European Parliament from our party, such as Sandro Gozi, Christophe Grudler, Marie-Pierre Vedrenne and Laurence Farreng, spoke together in a participatory panel to present the new European team and the challenges it faces. This panel, as well as the other more sectoral ones, gave the audience the opportunity to communicate directly with them. These included a panel on the US elections with Sandro Gozi, Marie-Pierre Vedrenne and the newly appointed French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot; a panel on educational models for children with Laurence Farreng and François Decoster; a panel on environmental issues with Valérie Hayer (President of Renew Europe) and former MEP Max Orville; a panel on Europe in transition with Christophe Grudler; a panel on disinformation with Laurence Farreng; and a panel on treaty reform and EU enlargement with Sandro Gozi. Other panels included experts from thinks-tanks such as Institut Montaigne, Fondation Jean Jaurès and NGOS like Autism Europe, the Young Democrats for Europe (YDE) and the EDP team, including Mathieu Camescasse and Alessio De Giorgi.
Discussions focused on the future of Europe and the most pressing issues of our time: the rise of the right-wing radicalism, the perspectives of young people, the American elections, mental health and the challenges of the new mandate of the European Parliament. See you at the next meeting in Guidel!
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Sandro Gozi to Vučić: “Serbia cannot join Europe with repression and lies”
The Secretary General of the European Democratic Party and Member of the European Parliament with Renew Europe, Sandro Gozi, has published an open letter to the President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, with a copy to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The initiative follows Vučić’s letter sent to Brussels on 21 August, in which he accused Serbian students and demonstrators of violence, reversing the truth and blaming the victims of repression.
In his statement, Gozi denounces the hundreds of arrests of students and peaceful citizens, the use of a sonic cannon (LRAD) during the March protest in Novi Sad, the shocking video of students forced to their knees and filmed by police, the violent arrests of women and even minors, and the attack on press freedom with intimidation against N1, documented by OCCRP/KRIK.
Gozi stresses that it is not citizens who endanger Serbia’s European path, but President Vučić and his government. By resorting to repression, false narratives and attacks on fundamental freedoms, they are undermining the credibility and the European future of the country.
Open Letter
To the President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić
with a copy to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen
President Vučić,
Your letter of 21 August addressed to President von der Leyen is a masterpiece of hypocrisy. But facts, numbers and images tell another story.
In recent months, hundreds of people have been arrested in Serbia, including students and peaceful citizens. Many of them remain in prison today, facing charges that are essentially political. In practice, this undermines their freedom of expression and discourages democratic participation. It is not the citizens who are destabilising the country: it is your government, repressing the right to protest.
In March, during a commemoration in Novi Sad, a sonic cannon (LRAD) was used against demonstrators, A weapon, capable of provoking harsh pain, panic and permanent hearing damage. A practice that has nothing to do with the european standards you claim to embrace.
On 15 August, a video showed fifteen young people forced to their knees against a wall, filmed by police officers. An act of public humiliation, in total contempt for human dignity and contrary to every democratic standard.
And this was not an isolated case: in those same days, other footage and testimonies clearly showed worrying heavy-handed arrests, with students dragged to the ground, women and even minors treated without regard for their rights.
While students are beaten and arrested, citizens have witnessed violent groups apparently close to your party moving about undisturbed.
This selective tolerance raises serious concerns of rule of law.
Equally serious is the attack on freedom of information. N1, a news channel belonging to United Media (United Group), has been the target of a campaign of intimidation and pressure documented in recordings published by OCCRP/KRIK. You know perfectly well that silencing the last independent broadcaster means suffocating truth and pluralism.
President Vučić, it is not the youth, it is not the citizens, it is not the demonstrators who are jeopardising the European path of Serbia: Serbia belongs to Europe. But it is you — with your policies, your denyal your statements — which are undermining the credibility and the european path of your country.
Your accusations against Nikolina Sindjelić are embarrassing . The evidence shows that threats, unlawful arrests and violence have indeed taken place: personal attacks do not erase reality.
Your letter must therefore be sent back to the sender.
Serbian citizens deserve much better and Europe is something else: freedom, dignity, democracy.
EDP Hosts Transatlantic Dialogue on the Future of Centrist Politics
As part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen international cooperation between democratic forces, the EDP recently hosted a transatlantic dinner discussion in Paris, bringing together key figures from European and American centrist politics.
Joint statement on the 30th Anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide
Thirty years ago, in Srebrenica, more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were murdered by the Bosnian Serb army. In 2007, the International Court of Justice ruled that the atrocities constituted genocide. The wider Bosnian War saw over 100,000 killed, thousands of women raped, and more than two million people forced from their homes between 1992 and 1995. On this solemn occasion remembering one of the darkest chapters in Europe’s recent history, the ALDE Party, LIBSEEN members in the region, ALDE in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, European Democratic Party, Liberal International, LYMEC, Renew Europe in the Committee of the Regions, Renew Europe in the European Parliament, and the Young Democrats for Europe are united in honouring their memory and issue the following statement: