Liberal South East European Network

LIBSEEN Defends Civic Space in Warsaw! 🇪🇺🇵🇱

The LIBSEEN Steering Committee has successfully concluded a powerful strategic forum in Warsaw alongside Polish MPs and civil society leaders from Central Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Partnering with the Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit and VVD International, we came together at the German Marshall Fund headquarters to confront shrinking civic spaces and map out a "gold standard" framework for democratic resilience.
By bridging the gap between grassroots civil society and political institutions, LIBSEEN is actively building a united, progressive front to fight polarization, counter anti-NGO rhetoric, and safeguard individual liberties across our regions. Together, we are turning challenges into evolving power! 💪✨

⚖️🇪🇺 For the liberals "Rule of Law" is the ultimate defense against authoritarianism and the only way to ensure our citizens finally experience the stability and fairness of the European family. It isn't just a technical requirement for EU membership.
✨🇩🇪 LIBSEEN Chairwoman Моника Зајкова - Monika Zajkova visited Germany this week, leading a strategic push to prioritize Chapters 23 and 24—the "Rule of Law" pillars—as the non-negotiable foundation for Western Balkan integration in the EU. Joined by regional colleagues, including Nikola Zirojević MP (a speaker from our recent Podgorica conference), this mission moves beyond protocol to tackle the core geostrategic necessity of judicial independence and anti-corruption.

USR will not give up on Romania’s European modernization! 🇪🇺🇷🇴

The party leader Dominic Fritz spoke resolutely: USR refuses to negotiate its core values or form majorities with those attempting to drag the country backward. This follows the "toxic" PSD-AUR alliance’s decision to detonate Romania’s pro-European government, choosing cynical political sabotage over the country’s economic survival.

In this manufactured crisis, it is the Romanian citizens who will pay the ultimate price as vital EU funds and essential modernization efforts are derailed. LIBSEEN stands firmly with USR in their fight to protect Romania’s European future against those who prefer instability over progress.

🇷🇸🇪🇺 Symbolic identity politics is frequently utilized as a strategic substitute for genuine institutional reform, effectively shielding the status quo from essential advancements in the judiciary and anti-corruption efforts. True stability and EU-standard modernization will only be achieved when political competition moves from empty symbolism to tangible results—a transition that must be driven by robust civic initiatives, student movements, and clear, reform-based party programs.
👉🏻 In a compelling new analysis, LIBSEEN Steering Committee member and PSG Vice President Dr Aris Movsesijan deconstructs the "patriotism paradox" that continues to stall systemic progress in the region.
Read his analysis:
[Serbian] https://www.danas.rs/dijalog/licni-stavovi/patriotizam-kao-zamena-za-politiku/
[English] https://tinyurl.com/53f56u55

🇷🇸🇪🇺 At the recent rally in Belgrade LIBSEEN SC member Dr Aris Movsesijan and the colleagues from Pokret slobodnih građana were in the front rows, sending a clear message that they stand firm for European democratic and living standards and against authoritarianism, manipulation and kleptocracy!
👀 All eyes of the region and Europe is on Serbia, especially after the Slovenian liberals of Svoboda party came first in the elections in Slovenia 🇸🇮, the massive electoral defeat of the atoritarian kleptocraric pro-Putin regime of Orban in Hungary 🇭🇺, and the clear anti-oligarchic vote in Bulgaria 🇧🇬.

🇲🇪🇪🇺 As the Commission announced the establishment of the Working Party to draft Montenegro’s accession treaty to the , the leaders of the European Alliance from Montenegro paid a work visit to Zagreb 🇭🇷 and Ljubljana 🇸🇮,
🗣️ Vatroslav Belan, Leader of Montenegrin liberals LPCG (LIBSEEN member) sent a clear in his message in Zagreb and Ljubljana: “Montenegro must make a clear decision between the modern European state and the model that leads to isolation, populism and the influence of undemocratic power centers”.
🤝 They were welcomed and received support by the leaderships of the liberal parties and LIBSEEN members in Croatia (Centar and HSLS) and Slovenia (Svoboda).

🌐🏦 The world is entering serious economic turbulence. South East Europe is not immune to the global trends. LIBSEEN President Моника Зајкова - Monika Zajkova 🇲🇰 joined the Spring 2026 meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group in Washington 🇺🇸 to discuss economic growth, inflation, adopting measures and implementing serious policies to protect the citizens from the current financial shocks.

🗣️IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva 🇧🇬, in her address, again warned that this crisis will have long-term consequences and that "everyone will feel the blow", especially the most vulnerable, in the face of the biggest energy shock in decades.

🇧🇬🗳️ After the elections in Hungary, Marijana Puljak MP 🇭🇷, LIBSEEN SC member and ALDE-PACE VP is now in Sofia as part of the election observation mission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

🗣️ “Free and fair elections are the foundation of any democracy. Bulgaria is going through an extraordinary political instability, this is the eighth parliamentary election in just five years. Frequent changes of government and a decline in public trust have led to a record low turnout, which fell to only around 33% in the last elections. The way elections are conducted in one country says a lot about the state of democracy in the whole of Europe.”🇪🇺

🇭🇺🗳️👏 LIBSEEN congratulates the HUNGARIAN CITIZENS on the massive turnout in these elections and for CHOOSING FREEDOM, DEMOCRACY, and EUROPE!
🇪🇺 May these winds be felt strongly across South East Europe!

🇭🇺🗳️ Historic elections in Hungary - at 17h00 turnout greater than total turnout at last parliamentary elections.
👀 LIBSEEN leadership observes the crucial vote for the nation and Europe - President Моника Зајкова - Monika Zajkova MP 🇲🇰 as part of the OSCE PA and SC member Marijana Puljak MP 🇭🇷 as part of PACE