On Thursday 20 June, Maxime PREVOT, President of the Mouvement Les Engagés, and Yvan VEROUGSTRAETE, Vice-President and MEP, announced the arrival of the Mouvement Les Engagés in the European Democratic Party at a press conference at the European Parliament in the presence of François BAYROU, President of the PDE, and Sandro GOZI, Secretary General of the European Party.
As announced during the election campaign, Les Engagés wanted to rethink its place at European level in order to come closer to the centrist and progressive values it has embodied since its creation. Now, with the European Democratic Party, Les Engagés wants to take its project forward with a strong ambition for the European Union and breathe new life into it.
For Maxime PREVOT, “for almost two years, Les Engagés has had the courage to change and reinvent itself on the national stage. On the European stage, it could not have done otherwise in the face of the democratic challenges of today and tomorrow, be they social, environmental, economic or geopolitical. Joining the family of the European Democratic Party is a step in a new direction, more in line with our modern values, which have been moving away from the more conservative ideas of the European People’s Party on issues such as the environment and migration.
“We decided to answer the call of the European Democratic Party, which sits in the Parliament in the RENEW group, and to represent the humanist and most progressive wing of the party,” explains Yvan VEROUGSTRAETE, recently elected MEP for Les Engagés. “It is also a question of honesty towards voters and citizens. We are proud of the work done within the EPP itself, where our MEP’s voice has regularly stood out and moved internal lines. But it has to be said that since our re-foundation, the EPP’s focus has become less relevant to us”.
According to François BAYROU and Sandro GOZI, “Europe is at a turning point. Faced with the return of war to our soil, faced with geopolitical instability, faced with the desire of continental states to take control of technologies and economies, faced with climate change, it is urgent to breathe new life into Europe. With Les Engagés at our side, we want to keep up the momentum and build bridges between all those who want to build a stronger, fairer, more sustainable, humane and democratic Europe”.
“For us – explain François BAYROU – today is a moment of certainty and commitment for the future. We will not allow Europe and our countries to stray down the dangerous paths of extremes.It is our responsibility as citizens, as a family, to fight against this dark threat. This is a profoundly significant moment for us to decide, together, the path that will take us out of this impasse”.
“We are very pleased – say Sandro GOZI – with this decision by the Les Engagés party, which strengthens the European Democratic Party and the Renew Europe group. I believe this is the first of a series of arrivals: in the coming weeks we will have proof that the EDP’s centrist positions of reasonableness and pragmatism will be extremely attractive.”
Les Engagés and the PDE therefore define themselves as a central, humanist, progressive and pro-European political force that believes in political pluralism and rejects the false dichotomy between left-wing and right-wing politics. “We want to reinvent Europe and build a European future that our citizens can be proud of,” conclude Maxime Prévot and Yvan Verougstraete.
Related member(s)
François
Bayrou
President
France
MoDem
Sandro
Gozi
Secretary General
France
Engin
Eroglu
Executive Vice-President
Germany
Freie Wähler
Marie-Pierre
Vedrenne
.
France
MoDem
Izaskun
Bilbao Barandica
Member of the Presidency
Basque Country
EAJ-PNV
Joachim
Streit
.
Germany
Freie Wähler
Yvan
Verougstraete
Deputy Secretary General
Belgium
Les Engagés
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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:
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