Deactivated blog – blog desactivado. Please visit www.seanocurneen.com

ENGLISH
This was my English language blog for the election campaign to the European Parliament in 2009. It is no longer updated. If you would like to access my regularly updated blog please visit http://seanocurneen.com. To read it in English please use the Google translator. Many thanks.

ESPAÑOL
Este es el blog en inglés que utilicé durante la campaña electoral para el Parlamenteo Europeo en 2009. Ya no lo actualizo. Si deseas acceder al blog que actualizo con regularidad puedes hacerlo pulsando aquí http://seanocurneen.com. Gracias

Graham Watson endorses my campaign and CDL

Graham Watson, leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in the European Parliament, MEP for South West England, and candidate for President of the European Parliament, endorses my campaign and CDL.

Interview in English with EurActiv

Interview in English with EurActiv, the popular online news-service in Brussels. In this interview you will get a good overview of what CDL stands for.

See the interview.

Liberals make yet again the difference and safeguard citizens’ freedoms

Led by the liberal group the European Parliament rejected on 6 May 2009 legislation that would have restricted internet access of users without prior ruling of judicial authorities.

Being a clear political victory for those advocating free access to the internet the liberals cracked open the duopoly of Socialists and Conservatives in the European Parliament.

Thereby, the parliamentary majority blocked a wide-ranging reform of EU telecoms rules by rejecting an earlier compromise with member states over the protection of Internet users’ rights. The rejection came in response to a draft French anti-piracy bill, which had caused uproar among MEPs and consumer groups.

Liberal co-rapporteur Alexander Alvaro (FDP) said “Internet users must not be denied access to what is today one of their main sources of information and social interaction.

Being the 3rd largest force in the Parliament the Liberals prove yet again their ability to stamp their mark on a policy area that is distinctively liberal: the safeguarding of individual freedoms.

If you are interested in the background note of the telecom package, click here.

Centro Democrático Liberal (CDL) submits its list of candidates for the European Elections, demonstrating its firm commitment to the European Union, the Environment, fair and transparent Town Planning and Local Democracy in Spain

Press release:

Commitment to Europe

Sean O’Curneen Cañas, the 38 year old Head of List, of Irish father and Spanish mother, embodies the Party’s commitment to the EU, through his personal profile and professional career. Since 2004 O’Curneen Cañas has held the post of Secretary General of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) in the EU’s Committee of the Regions. ALDE is the Union’s third largest political force, with 100 MEPs, 9 of the 27 EU Commissioners, 5 Prime Ministers, more than 800 elected National MP’s and thousands of Regional and Local Councillors. The candidate’s campaign blog (soon to be a fully fledged website) can be found at www.sean2009.es

Commitment to the Environment and a Green Economy
Number 2 on the list is 34 year old Gema Sanbruno, an economist based at the Renewable Energies House in Brussels and Secretary General of the European Association of Small Hydropower www.esha.be . The website of the Renewable Energies House is www.erec.org/reh

Commitment to a fair and transparent Town Planning and Local Democracy
The CDL emphasizes its permanent commitment to furthering democracy by responding to the concerns of citizen pressure groups fighting for democratic principles in such important areas as town planning and the environment. In tune with these aims the CDL embraces Jacqueline Cotterill as number 4 on its list. A 48 year old Briton, resident in Spain for 19 years, and deputy Mayor of Parcent, a town in Valencia, she was one of the people who last year presented cases of town planning irregularities affecting Spaniards and Europeans to the European Parliament.

Number 3 and number 5 on the list are Jose Manuel Zamora, CDL councillor in the Murcian town of Mula, and Alfonso Reina Briasco, president of the CDL Federation of Madrid, from Villanueva del Pardillo and a professional tax advisor in Majadahonda (Madrid).

The complete list can be found at www.sean2009.e

The Daily paper “El Ideal” reports support of our candidature by the A3V

We thank A3V for their support!

A3V Statement:

“The Andalusians for the Third Way pressure group, A3V, which campaigns for the formation and promotion of a centrist political party in the region as an alternative to the major ones, has decided to support Centro Democrático Liberal (CDL) at the forthcoming European Parliament Elections [which in Spain will take place on Sunday 7 June].

This initiative of the A3V to collaborate with the CDL, headed by Sean O’Curneen Cañas, is driven by the fact that it is the only national political party in Spain standing for the EU Elections on June 6th on a centrist platform and manifesto. Moreover the CDL is the only Spanish national party member of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR) which is Europe’s third largest party after the European Socialists and Conservatives.

A3V calls on all Andalusian Voters in the political centre, as well as all inhabitants who are unhappy with the major parties, to support and collaborate with the CDL, joining this A3V initiative which aims to achieve an alternative to the existing two-party system which predominates in Andalusia and Spain.”

My Meeting with Guy Verhofstadt, Belgian Prime Minister between 1999 and 2008

I had a meeting today with Guy Verhofstadt, Belgian Prime Minister (1999 – 2008).

We have both previously been at many meetings of European Liberal Democrat leaders and Prime Ministers, in which, because there has not been a Spain-wide Liberal Party for many years, millions of Spaniards have not been represented. Hence, Guy, who is a very European minded person, reiterated his total support for the Centro Democrático Liberal today.