The John Smith Memorial Trust welcomes young Moldovan political leaders to the UK
On 18th February 2007 six young Moldovan political leaders arrived in the UK to take part in a week long programme organised by the John Smith Memorial Trust on behalf of the UK Embassy in Moldova. The main purpose of the visit was to build an understanding of parliamentary democracy among young leaders from different political backgrounds. Taking part in the programme were young political activists representing the six largest parties with parliamentary representation in Moldova:
Alexandru Simionov
Senior Advisor, Foreign Policy and European Integration Committee of the Parliament of Moldova;
Ludmila Lupu
Executive Secretary of the Youth Wing, Our Moldova Party;
Elena Catisev
The Christian Democratic Peoples’ Party;
Liviu Oboroc
Vice President of Youth Wing, Democratic Party;
Cornel Ciurea
Deputy Chair, Social Liberal Party; and
Oxana Oprea
President of the Municipal Youth Organisation of the Party of Social Democracy.
Accompanying the group was Victor Neagu, Press and Public Affairs Officer for the British Embassy in Chisinau.
The group began their programme with a visit to the House of Commons Library and a briefing by Tim Youngs, Senior Research Analyst on International Affairs. The Library provides an invaluable service to MPs, who rely on the Library for high quality and impartial information, research and analysis. Research backup is particularly important to opposition members and backbenchers who don’t have the resources of the civil service to call upon. After a tour of the Library, the visitors took part in a roundtable discussion with a number of MPs’ researchers, giving them a useful insight into the office support parliamentarians receive and the role played by MPs’ staff.
The group with Lord Dubs and Lord Haworth in the House of Lords
The roundtable was followed by a meeting with Lord Dubs, Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Moldova, the Rt. Hon. Alun Michael MP and Lord Haworth to discuss the process of legislation. They met the Trust’s Deputy Chairman, Damian Green MP, who spoke about the importance of an effective opposition and about his role as Shadow Minister for Immigration. The Rt. Hon. Nigel Griffiths MP, as Deputy Leader of the House, arranged VIP gallery tickets for the visitors to see a debate in progress.
The theme for the second day of the programme was Europe. The day began at the European Parliament’s UK Headquarters where the group met Dr. Charles Tannock MEP for a discussion about the European Parliament’s attitudes to Moldova. This was followed by a seminar on EU enlargement in the House of Lords led by Lord Dubs and members of the Jt. Committee on EU Enlargement/APPG Moldova. Lord Grenfell, Chairman of the Select Committee on EU Enlargement, presented the main findings of their recent report on Enlargement and spoke of the prospects for Moldova as a European Neighbour. Other prominent parliamentarians joined the discussion, including Lords Woolmer, Radice, Roper, Hylton, Harrison, McCluskey and Michael Connarty MP.
The group then visited Brian Penny of the Europe and Central Asia Department of DfID and met senior Governance Advisors at the Department to discuss the department’s work and priorities in Moldova. Tony Kay, the UN Political Team Desk Officer in the International Organisations Department of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office laid on a special seminar for the visitors on the role of international organisations such as the UN and OSCE, and their relevance to Moldova. That evening, Lords McCluskey and Roper kindly hosted a dinner for the group in the House of Lords. They were joined by: Tatiana Parvu, Counsellor at the Embassy of Moldova; Vivien Life, Head of External Relations Group, Europe Directorate General, FCO; and Tony Kay, UN Political Team Desk Officer, FCO.
On Wednesday the visitors had a day devoted to ways in which Think Tanks, NGOs and the public can influence the political process. Rachel Lopata, Research Director of Opinion Leader Research gave a presentation to the group on new government initiatives to engage the public directly in policy formation. The group attended a seminar in parliament organised by CentreForum, the Liberal Democratic think tank, entitled, ‘Is there a Liberal response to Terrorism?’ They later met CentreForum’s Executive Director, Anthony Rowlands, to discuss the role of think tanks and their influence on UK public policy and political parties.
The group sat in on a meeting of the Environmental Audit Select Committee on “The Role of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.” This was an oral evidence session led by the Rt. Hon. Ian McCartney MP, Minister of State in the FCO and DTI, who chatted to the visitors after the hearing. Mike Hennessy, Clerk of the Committee, explained the role and impact of Select Committees, and answered questions on the work of the committee clerks and how they work with the media, and NGOs. The group finished their day with a private chat with James Connal, Special Advisor to the Rt. Hon. Geoff Hoon, MP, Minister for Europe, who travelled to Moldova shortly afterwards for the first time.
The theme of the fourth day was media regulation. The group began the day with a visit to the BBC World Service where they were met and interviewed by Petru Clej of the BBC Romanian Service. Follow this link to view the interview (in Romanian):
BBC Romanian Service
The group visited BBC Television Centre where they met Jasmin Buttar, Deputy Editor of Newsnight, and sat in on an editorial meeting. They had a working lunch with John Newbigin (Channel 4 TV), Lord Gordon (John Smith Trustee), Andy McSmith (Lobby Correspondent, The Independent) and David Jordan (Controller of Editorial Policy, BBC). The group went on to meet Philip Candice, International Relations Manager of Ofcom, for a discussion of the role of the independent media regulator (joined by David Jordan, John Newbigin and representatives of ITN/Channel 4 TV).
On their final day of the programme, the group were split into three and each visited a different Political Party Headquarters. At the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat offices the young leaders were able to meet with officials dealing with campaigns, fundraising, membership, and international services.
The group with HE Ambassador Durlestianu (far left), Julie Utting (JSMT), Laurence Sherwin (EBRD), and Norman Fraser.
The group were then taken to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for a presentation and discussion on the EBRD’s work in Moldova led by Laurence Sherwin, Deputy Director of Communications at the bank. The EBRD kindly hosted a lunch for the visitors and other guests, including a number of EBRD staff from Moldova and Romania, representatives of DfID and the FCO, and Dr. Norman Fraser of Endava, who has invested in Moldovan expertise in software development. After the lunch the Moldovan Ambassador, HE Mariana Durlestianu, invited all the guests to sample traditional Moldovan refreshments and some excellent Moldovan wine at the Old Bailey Restaurant along with Embassy staff and other invited guests.
The John Smith Memorial Trust would like to thank all the many people who shared their expertise with the visitors and gave up their time during this week. The experience provided an invaluable introduction to the UK parliament, to the issue of EU enlargement, to media regulation and to UK relations with Moldova. The visitors were unanimous in expressing their gratitude to all who took time to meet with them during a most informative – and enjoyable - week.