ELF hosted its Autumn General Assembly on 25-26 September in Florence. During a very crucial GA, our members have elected a new board, said goodbye to the old one, actively engaged in the working groups and discussed your projects for 2025. We break down everything below.
The General Assembly in Florence elected a new board for the 2024-2026 mandate.
Newly elected President, MEP Jan-Christoph Oetjen, said in his speech that he would “use his mandate as an MEP to make ELF more visible in Europe over the course of the next two years”.
Congratulations to our new Board Members, and we wish them success in their future work at the European Liberal Forum!
While welcoming the new board, we also sadly said goodbye to some of the old board members and our two-term president, MEP Hilde Vautmans.
“In the last four years, ELF managed to renew itself, not just as a political foundation but as a distinguished think tank in its own right,” said ELF President MEP in her last presidential report. “I want to express how incredibly proud I am of all the work we have accomplished together. We managed to overcome many difficulties and grow significantly, laying the groundwork for the ELF of today and tomorrow.”
In addition to MEP Vautmans, we thank outgoing board members — former MEPs Catharina Rinzema and Katalin Cseh — for their significant contributions to ELF’s work over the past two years.
Our Romanian affiliate member organisation, O Țară ca Afară, received a full membership from the General Assembly. O Tara ca Afara was established in 2021 with the main goal of monitoring the implementation of Romania’s Recovery and Resilience plan, focusing particularly on the specific reforms that are key to the country’s liberal transition.
O Țară ca Afară has published this year a research paper on ‘The State of Democracy in Romania: A Future Problem on the EU Agenda’. Find out more about the organisation on their website.
For photos from the event, keep an eye on our Flickr album.