The last little bit has been crazy in the office from Barcelona to Belfast to the Balkans to the move and to the start of a new internship programme.

In the beginning of May, the European Youth Forum held the Council of Members and LYMEC had their Congress. Jelena Spasovic was representing IFLRY, and I was there on behalf of LYMEC. So we had a good liberal presence. The COMEM was very interesting and had session on EU-Africa work, recognizing training, EU Election work, and many more exciting sessions. The representatives from the young Conservatives, Socialist, Greens, Liberals and as well as the student political groups, all met briefly to discuss future cooperation. It was suggested that in the future, that a fringe meeting of the political youth be coordinated, since it’s not that often that we are all together.  To learn more of about the COMEM, please contact Jelana@iflry.org.

After the COMEM was the LYMEC dinner. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend any of the congress, but from the facebook photos and stories, it sounds like it was a grand time. The dinner reception was very nice and the tribute to Roger was sweet.

Next up was LI’s 55th Congress in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This was a great event where liberals from around the world gather to discuss the theme ‘inclusive society’. This session had great speeches by many leading liberals such as President of Senegal Mr. Abdoulaye Wade, Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai presidential candidate of Zimbabwe, and our very own former Secretary General and current president of Alliance of Liberal and Democrats for Europe, Graham Watson MP. I had a great time at the workshop on the “Northern Ireland ten years after the Good Friday Agreement”. It was a great learning experience to engage in an open conversation with those who lived during the conflict and members of the audience who were invited to provide their thoughts and experiences. I asked the question of the reception of the agreement among young people and what kind of impact this will have on future leaders and policy makers. For more information on IFLRY representation at Liberal International events, please contact Paola@iflry.org

June rolled around and we had our seminar on Human Rights: Tools of the trade. This seminar was hosted by Young Liberals of Montenegro –YFLPMEN with sponsors from the European Youth foundation and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation. The session yielded great discussion and very interesting perspectives. Participations created messages and projects that we will look at a gain in manila. To hear more on the seminar, please read Bart’s blog post.

On my way home from the seminar, I had a few hours in the Belgrade airport due to a delay of my flight. I had a great conversation with a man from Northern Ireland. It was like talking to your grandfather where wee talked about all things from life, job, family, and the good Friday agreement. I can’t seem to have a simple conversation without politics. It was a great insight to hear his opinion and stories.

Well, I am back in London after Barcelona, Belfast, and the Balkans. I am back in the cold weather of London and longing for the warm days of Montenegro….

Bära, in Swedish means ‘to carry’. We just recently moved our office to a new location in the building. We’re now self contained and have our own IFLRY office within the office we share with Liberal International. So we have a great new space and a great new intern ;) To keep with the B theme, I wrote the French word for volunteer. Lena Höglund started in June as our intern for the next 6 months. Her placement has been supported by the Foundation for Swedish Culture in Finland and Lena is a member of our Member Organization SU. We are really excited to have Lena working with us.

Next up…Parliamentary Assembly Meetings in Strasbourg and the Executive Committee in Manila.

Sarah (office@iflry.org)