Conference
: Life is too short to wait
for visas!!
On May 8-10 LYMEC
organized an international conference
titled “Life is too short
to wait for a visa”, in
Chisinau, Republic of Moldova.
The event was organized in cooperation
with the National Liberal Youth,
Romania, the Youth Organization
of Alianta Moldova Noastra and
with the support of the Friedrich
Naumann Foundation and the ALDE
Group in the European Parliament.
The conference included
two panels for discussion during
which the participants debated
on the visa regime for Moldovans
citizens within the framework
of LYMEC’s European-wide campaign
“No
visa”, the relations between
Moldova and EU and the limited
individual freedoms in a country
still ruled by an oppressive
communist regime.
On May 9th a street
action was organized in the
center of Chisinau. Almost one
hundred young liberals from
Moldova and from other European
countries held paper letters
with the message “No
visa. Europe is our home” in
a silent manifest against the
Moldovan communist regime and
its policy of blocking in-depth
discussions with EU officials.
The public action took place
despite attempts of local police
authorities to prevent it from
happening through different
arrests of OT-AMN members.
The seven people LYMEC
delegation included bureau members
Julia
Leferman, Pietro Paganini and
LYMEC Treasurer Jeroen
Benning. Both events were
meant to provide political support
for young liberals in Moldova,
ahead of the local elections
to be organized on June 3rd, which
are considered to be the last
chance to break the communist
majority before the next parliamentary
elections.
The event along with
the interviews of Julia Leferman
and Eugen Spataru (OT-AMN President)
was well reflected in the Moldovan
opposition press.
In a TV interview,
Julia
Leferman presented the objective
of this action: “The
reason we are here is because
we want to show our firm support
for young liberals in Moldova
in their efforts to encourage
Moldovan citizens, especially
the young people, to actively
involve in the process of building
up a democratic society in their
country”.
March
16th, LYMEC
LYMEC
and FEL delegates meet with
Louis Michel
On Friday,
March 16th, LYMEC’s Belgian
member organisation – Fédération
des Etudiants Libéraux
(FEL) – and LYMEC Secretary-general
Srd Kisevic visited the European
Commission in Brussels and met
with Commissioner for Development
and Humanitarian Aid, Louis
Michel. FEL used the opportunity
to present to the Commissioner
the No Visa – Europe is Our
Home campaign that is conducting
as part of LYMEC’s pan-European
campaign against visas.
Louis Michel expressed
in his private capacity his
support and satisfaction with
the young liberals’campaign,
stressing that freedom of movement
is one of the fundamental freedoms
we must strive for on the European
continent.
LYMEC
No Visa campaign presented to
European Liberal Democrat Prime
Ministers
At the Liberal
Democrat summit held
on 8 March, ELDR Party President
Annemie
Neyts, Estonian PM Andrus
Ansip, Danish PM Anders
Fogh Rasmussen, Romanian
PM Calin Popescu, Belgian
PM Guy Verhofstadt, ALDE
Group Leader Graham Watson, and
European Commission Vice President
Siim
Kallas met to discuss economic
and energy issues. The need
to strengthen the internal market
and to fully implement the Services
Directive were also key to the
discussions.
At the
meeting, Annemie Neyts presented
to the Prime Ministers LYMEC's
No Visa campaign for students
and tourists, noting that “the
young liberals are showing their
attachment to the free movement
of people and are reminding
us of what Europe is all about”.
March
1st, LYMEC
LYMEC
takes No Visa campaign to the
European Parliament and European
Commission
Brussels
03/03/2007: The European
Liberal Youth - LYMEC - conference organized
on March 1st in the European
Parliament with the support
of the ALDE group was focused
on the topic "No visa.
Europe is our home". Almost
one hundred participants attended
the event and examined the visa
facilitation prospects for citizens
of European countries not yet
members of the EU.
Speaking at the opening of the
conference, Roger Albinyana
i Saigi, LYMEC President
said: "One of the basic
and fundamental rights that
we as liberals strongly believe
in is the right for individuals
to move, both socially and geographically.
We need a Europe close to citizens,
a Europe which enables citizens
to move around, to seek new
opportunities, to create. We
need a Europe that makes possible
the exchange, that facilitates
students (regardless of which
point in Europe they come from,
be it from Chisinau or from
Gibraltar) to study in a different
country. We need a Europe that
becomes even more useful for
its citizens."
LYMEC
takes No Visa action to the
European Parliament and Commissioner
Rehn
LYMEC's
conference Europe is Our Home
- No visas for Students and
Tourists finished today with
its main session in the European
Parliament in Brussels. The
conference attended by more
than 70 young liberals from
across Europe was addressed
by the leader of the ALDE Group
in the European Parliament,
Graham
Watson, and a number of
liberal MEPs.
As part
of the conference, participants
engaged in a performance protesting
against visa obstacles to freedom
of movement in Europe. They
formed a long visa queue inside
the parliament wearing t-shirts
with signs ‘Life is to
short to wait for a visa’, ‘Mr
Barosso, do you remember when
you needed a visa to come here?’ and
‘I
needed a visa to come here,
am I that different?’
A delegation
of LYMEC, headed by its president,
Roger
Albinyana i Saigí, and
campaign officer, Slaven
Klobucar, was
received in the afternoon by
the Enlargement Commissioner
Olli
Rehn. During the meeting,
LYMEC presented its campaign
and demands for abolishment
of tourist and student visas
in Europe to the Commissioner.
A full
report of the conference and
a photo gallery will be made
soon available at this website.
February
25th, LYMEC Serbia and Croatia
Reports
from the meetings with national
governments
Boris
Tadic, President of Serbia has
fully supported our campaign,
and has sent to the LYMEC office
a personal letter of gratitude
to LYMEC.
In Zagreb,
the youth of HNS has meet with
the State secretary for foreign
affairs and presented the campaign.
The campaign was supported by
ministry, but due to the restrictions
from the side of the EU, Croatia
is not possible to abolish tourist
visas for Albania, Moldova,
Ukraine and Belarus, but the
student visas could be abolished.
Interesting
thing is that President of Serbia
comes from conservative, and
Croatian ministry of foreign
affairs is run by the conservative
minister Kolinda Grabar Kitatovic!
February
16th, LYMEC
The
street actions : big success!!
Through this campaign
against visas, young liberals
from all over Europe showed
support for the freedom of movement
within the European continent.
We consider borders have become
less important in today's world,
and in order to build more democratic
and stable societies on our
continent, young people should
have the opportunity to travel
and study abroad freely.
PHOTO : "We are now
perceived as cheap, unqualified
labor force, but we know that
by completing our studies in
an advanced educational system
we can change this reality into
a better one for us and for
our country";, declared
Eugen Spataru, President of
OT-AMN, during a street action
against visa regime organized
on February 13th.
With these demonstrations
we wanted to raise the awareness
of the national governments
on this problem. Young liberals
approached national governments
with open letter, asking the
governments to start the liberalisation
of the visa regimes with the
final goal of complete abolishment
of student and tourist visas.
PHOTO : Also in Sarajevo
young people gathered on February
13th to advocate publicly, for
the abolishment of visas for
students and tourists, as a
way to accelerate the rythm
of reforms and development of
the region.
First fully fledged LYMEC
campaign turned out to be a
huge success in many European
countries. The campaign was
featured on several newspaper
covers in Europe, from The Netherlands
to Serbia. Yet unseen media
coverage of LYMEC's event has
resulted in public response
of some government officials,
which is what this campaign
aimed to do.
PHOTO : "We don't
want to close our borders to
education. We want students
from Belarus, Ukraine or Balkan
countries gain the same privileges
in travelling and studying abroad
as we have now"; stated
Kamil Wiszowaty, President of
Young Center during a similar
street action organized in Krakow,
Poland.
The biggest
street actions took place in
Sarajevo, Belgrade, Skopje and
Chisinau gathering hundreds
of participants and many representatives
of European media. Leader of
the campaign Slaven Klobucar
participated on the street actions
in Belgrade, where the turnout
of media was impressive. LYMEC's
street action and campaign has
been covered by all TV stations
as the main event of the day
and on cover page of Serbia's
most prestige newspapers "Danas"
PHOTO : In Belgrade,
young liberals gather in front
of the Embassy of Austria and
symbolically stood in lines
holding tags of European countries
whose citizens have limited
mobility to travel across Europe.
The street action in Belgrade
was held symbolical in front
of the Austrian embassy, where
a huge line of people waiting
for visas is something that
can be seen each day. Prior
to the street action, Slaven
Klobucar attended LYMEC's round
table with Petar Djordjevic
(CYA), Dusan Gamser (CA) and
Olja Homa (Civic Pact). The
round table and the street action
was attended by many organisations
that are not LYMEC organisations,
such as Liberal Democrat Party
youth, Civic Pact for SEE, Student
Union of Serbia, AEEGEE and
Fractal.
More about the campaign,
and the press clips can be found
on our "No Visa"
web site : www.lymec.org/novisa
Photos can be found in the gallery!
As
planned we will carry through
the street actions around Europe
to fight against visa regime.
All the details have been communicated
with you earlier, but here is
the final check list that you
should pay attention to when
organising the event:
Report
the event to the local authorities
Send
a press release/press call
one day before the event
(should be drafted by you)
Send
the open letter drafted
by LYMEC President, translated
to your language, and cosigned
by your organisation to
the media and governments.
Print
out the leaflets, make banners
for the action
Print
out the petition sheets
against the visa
Talk
to the press present on
the event
Don't
forget to take many photos
AND
BE CREATIVE!:)
If
you still don't have Letter
by LYMEC President and petition
sheets, you can download them
here:
And
the final list of countries
and cities where the campaign
will take place:
Norway
- Oslo
Sweden
- Stockholm
Finland
- Helsinki
Estonia
- Tallinn
Denmark
- Copenhagen
Lithuania
- Vilnius
Belarus
- Minsk
Poland
- Krakow, Warsaw
The
Netherlands - Amsterdam,
Leiden,
Rotterdam,
Utrecht,
Groningen,
Tilburg,
Maastricht
- Street actions organised
by JD
Belgium
- Brussels
Catalonia
- Barcelona
Switzerland
- Bern
Italy-
Rome
Slovenia
-Ljubljana
Croatia
- Pul, Zagreb
Bosnia
and Herzegovina - Sarajevo
Serbia
- Belgrade
Hungary
- Budapest
Skopje,
Macedonia
Chisinau,
Moldova
Bucharest,
Romania
Tbilisi,
Georgia
CSL
Romania and Association of Georgian
Liberal Youth have now joined
the campaign as well!
We
recommend you to mention in
the press release that you the
action will take place in many
European countries.
Good
luck with the campaign and send
us the photos and press clips!
February
2nd, LYMEC
Street
actions in a week, update of
the countries involved!
There
are several other organisations
that will join our campaign.
The organisations and countries
that have now joined are put
in blue color. The updated map
is here as well!
STREET
ACTIONS WILL TAKE PLACE ON 13th
February IN;
Barcelona, Catalonia
- JNC (Press Release)
Bern, Switzerland
- JFS (Press Release)
Brussels, Belgium
- FEL, JMR
Amsterdam, The
Netherlands - JOVD (Press
Release)
Copenhagen, Denmark
- RU
Rome, Italy -
GIV and JEF
Ljubljana, Slovenia
- MLD
Pula, Croatia
- IDY
Zagreb, Croatia
- Mladi HNS
Sarajevo, Bosnia
and Herzegovina - MLBiH
Belgrade, Serbia
- Civic Pact, CYA, CA, Mladi
HNS, AEGEE
Belgrade, AEISEC
Pristina, Kosovo
- LRK and AEGEE Pristina
Skopje, Macedonia
- Liberal Youth Union of
Macedonia, LiDem
Bucharest, Romania
- TNL and LSC (Press Release)
Warsaw, Poland
- YC
Chisinau, Moldova
- AMN
Minsk, Belarus
- Liberal Generation
Tallinn, Estonia
- Reform Party
Vilnius,
Lithuania, LLJ (Press Release)
Helsinki, Finland
- SU
Stockholm, Sweden
- LUF
Budapest,
Hungary - New Generation
Oslo,
Norway - NUF, NLSF, IMS
Club of Vikings
Amsterdam,
The Netherlands, JOVD &
JD
February
2nd, LYMEC
Leaflets
have been translated on several
languages.
Member
organisations of LYMEC have
translated and printed no visa
leaflet on sveral languages.
Here are examples of some of
them:
