When people speak up
European Liberal Forum
The political foundation and think tank of the European liberal family | Connecting Europeans with liberal ideas
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Georgia is dangerously close to the line of no-return ?
Georgia is going through one of the most difficult episodes of its independent history. For weeks, thousands of people have crowded the streets of the capital,?Tbilisi and other cities, demanding the ‘Georgian Dream’ government to withdraw its ‘foreign agent’ law ahead of?final reading and adoption by the parliament. The law, which failed to pass a year ago again during massive protests, aims to stigmatise organisations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad as?“agents of foreign influence”. ?
While initially protests were peaceful and without incidents, in the past week, the level?of police brutality has increased significantly, with protesters being beaten, arrested, tear gassed, and water cannoned almost every day. ?
Georgia’s Western partners have emphasised how dangerous this law can be for Georgian people's EU integration aspirations and even discussed potentially freezing the visa-free regime with the country and adopting sanctions against the ruling party chairman and Kremlin-linked oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili.?
If this law comes into effect, it will?endanger the vibrant and strong civil?society and media scene in the country, which are two of the remaining powers resisting the government's foreign policy steering towards Russia. As the ‘Georgian Dream’ party seems relentless, the law was adopted yesterday by the Georgian parliament and will probably get vetoed by President Salome Zourabichvili. However, her term is ending in a few months, and the severity of the domestic and foreign response is yet to be revealed.?
READ OUR PAPER ‘GEORGIA’S EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE A LITMUS TEST FOR EU CONDITIONALITY?’?AND WATCH DR. ANTONIOS NESTORAS’S INTERVIEW WITH EURONEWS GEORGIA.
The most European election we have ever had?
ELF Executive Director, Ailbhe (Alva) Finn , was invited to Euronews 's weekly talk?Brussels, my love? to discuss what's on voters' minds, one month before European elections.?
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Are we having a truly European election or 27 national elections??
‘It’s the most European election we have ever had’, says?Alva Finn. Many people have seen what the EU has managed to do in the last five years with the response to the COVID-19 crisis and handling a war on our doorsteps. What happened in Ukraine will?make a lot of people go to the polls, even though Ukraine might not be the issue which Europeans will?prioritise during this vote. Unfortunately, we don’t have transnational lists, which would allow us to make the European debate a bit stronger. These European elections can become a protest vote and force the political?establishment to really look at their political?ideologies and reimagine them for the moment that people are facing. People feel?insecure, we need to respond to that, make them feel secure and give them?a hopeful?narrative against the fear. And as the European Union, we have things to be hopeful about.?
Voters’ priorities for EU elections?
Fighting rising prices, reducing social inequality, supporting economic growth and tacking illegal?immigration and climate change are top priorities for EU voters ahead of these elections.?To tackle these kitchen-table issues, we need to focus on the single market – It’s the crown jewel of the European?Union. Everything that we have done during the past mandate, such as the Digital Single Market and Capital?Markets Union, will help us be more competitive during the next five years and beyond. At the same time, in order not to sacrifice our sustainability or security objectives on the road to competitiveness, we need a balance. Going too far into one will?put others in a vulnerable spot. Sustainability is the future, and we need to have an innovative way of thinking, which the EU hasn’t found yet.?
Migration and housing crisis ?
Housing is a serious political issue in Europe. Young people in Portugal, Greece, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium are facing spiking prices for housing. The housing crisis has also led us down a path of anti-immigration sentiments, which have been used by the far right. We cannot allow migration to be a scapegoat for the housing crisis that a lot of European countries are facing. The housing crisis has been decades in the making. We need to have an honest and frank conversation about the economic integration of immigrants, our freedoms and the types of housing that migrants and refugees are using versus the problems linked to the open and social housing market.?
WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH EURONEWS AND READ OUR STUDY ON THE SUSTAINABILITY-SECURITY-COMPETITIVENESS TRILEMMA.
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