ALDE : secular Arab leaders

[Politics.be]

Guy Verhofstadt: a historic alliance of secular Arab Leaders is launched in CairoToday, Sunday 23 September, sees the inaugural meeting of a network of "Arab Leaders for Freedom and Democracy”. This unique network connects Arab leaders who are determined to make the Arab spring and its aspirations succeed. They will support each other in order to make as many Arab countries as possible free and democratic states ruled by good governance. This network will look for partners who share the same convictions in the entire world. Their first partner is the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group in the European Parliament (ALDE) which helped to make this network and this meeting happen. That is why Guy Verhofstadt, ALDE group leader, and Edward McMillan-Scott (ALDE), European Parliament Vice-President for Democracy & Human Rights, were present in Cairo.

Guy Verhofstadt: “This meeting of Arab Leaders for Freedom and Democracy is historic. It is the first meeting of the first network of leaders who join forces to make the aims of the Arab Spring succeed. The fact that each one of the leaders is very high level will ensure the effectiveness of this alliance. It will also be a contact point for Europe in order to understand what is going on in the Arab region and what needs to be done. Right now it is hard to overestimate the importance of this alliance of Arab Leaders, certainly in these confusing times in the region. I am proud to say that is was ALDE who helped to make this happen.”

Edward McMillan-Scott: “After the fall of the Soviet Union, we have seen how difficult it was to turn countries run by dictators into well-functioning liberal democracies. That was the case in Europe and it is no different in the Arab world. This alliance of “Arab Leaders for Freedom and Democracy” is a very important step in the direction of democracy and good governance. It makes each one of the members stronger as they will learn from each others ideas, policies, successes and failures. ALDE will work to support and enforce this very important nework.”

The leaders who are participating in the “Arab Leaders for Freedom and Democracy” are: Amr Moussa(Egypt) former Secretary-General of the Arab League and former Foreign Minister, Ayman Nour (Egypt) chairman of El Ghad El Thowra party, former presidential candidate,Mahmoud Jibril (Libya)former Prime Minister of the transition government, president of the National Forces Alliance, Awn Khasawneh, (Jordan) former Prime Minister, Fawaz Tello(Syria) prominent opposition member,Yassine Brahim (Tunisia) former Minister, executive secretary El Goumhouri party, Hanan Ashrawi(Palestine) activist, scholar, member of the Palestinian National Council,Munib Al-Masri (Palestine) businessman, former Minister, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Ahmad Hariri (Lebanon) acting president of the Future Movement.


For more information please contact:
Koert Debeuf
Corlett Neil

Bron: politics.be