ELDR leaders to discuss election results

ELDR prime ministers, ministers, commissioners and party leaders will gather together on Thursday 18th June for the traditional ELDR Leaders and Ministers meeting in advance of the European summit.

This meeting will be the first time that ELDR's leaders will have gathered since the European elections and the main focus of the discussions will be the election results and the composition of the liberal democrat group in the European parliament.

Party leaders will also discuss the latest state of play regarding the Lisbon Treaty with Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen; the priorities of the upcoming Swedish EU presidency in the company of Maud Olofsson, Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of Centerpartiet, Sweden and Cecilia Malmström, Swedish Minister for European Affairs and the presidency of the European Commission.

The participants will arrive from 11:30 (possibility of “doorstepping”) and there will be a family photo and press conference at 14:30 following the meeting. The event will take place at the Palais d'Egmont, Petit Sablon 8 in Brussels, Belgium.

Please find below a list of party leaders, ministers and commissioners attending the meeting:

President of the ELDR Party

Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck, MEP

Prime Ministers, Commissioners, Ministers and Leaders

Andrus Ansip, Prime Minister of Estonia
Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark
Matti Vanhanen, Prime Minister of Finland
Brian Cowen, Prime Minister of Ireland
Mariann Fischer Boel, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development
Siim Kallas, European Commission Vice-President, Commissioner for Administrative Affairs, Audit and Anti-Fraud
Neelie Kroes, Commissioner for Competition
Charlie McCreevy, Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services
Louis Michel, Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid
Olli Rehn, Commissioner for Enlargement
Karel de Gucht, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Belgium
Cecilia Malmström, Minister of European Affairs, Sweden
Astrid Thors, Minister of Immigration and European Affairs, Finland
Werner Becher, Leader Liberales Forum, Austria
Gjergj Dedaj, Leader, Liberal Party of Kosovo
Ivars Godmanis, Co-President, Latvia's First Party / Latvia's Way, Latvia
Werner Hoyer MP, Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, Free Democratic Party, Germany
Jelko Kacin MEP, Liberal Democratic Party of Slovenia
Mikhail Kasyanov, Leader People's Democratic Union, Russia
Sergey Mitrokhin, Leader Yabloko Party, Russia
Norica Nicolai, National Liberal Party, Romania
Maud Olofsson, Deputy Prime Minister, Leader Centerpartiet, Sweden
Leoluca Orlando MP, Italia dei Valori, Italy
Didier Reynders, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, Leader Mouvement Réformateur, Belgium
Mark Rutte MP, Leader VVD, The Netherlands
Federica Sabbati, ELDR Party Secretary General, Italy
David Usupashvili, Leader Republican Party, Georgia
Guy Verhofstadt, Leader Open VLD, Belgium
Graham Watson MEP, Leader ALDE group, European Parliament, United Kingdom