The seventh workshop took place on 15th of June at Majestic Hotel in Iași. The training team was composed of Ciprian Negoiță – moderator, Tudor Tim Ionescu – event organizer and Raimar Wagner – team coordinator. The game plan worked without any flaw and all the participants were satisfied. However, it lasted more than 4 hours, which gave us the opportunity to debate all the proposed themes. It is the fourth workshop when we felt the need to explain and debate in depth all the topics since all the participants engaged in discussions and actively participated in all the activities.
The first part of the workshop focused on the challenges faced by the traditional parties and their political messages. While giving particular examples for several countries from EU (Italy, Hungary, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Poland, France, Spain, Great Britain, Germany), the moderator explained why some traditional parties lost their capacity to influence the citizens. The hypothesis advanced was that political cleavages (Centre versus periphery, State versus church, Owner versus worker, Land versus industry) have disappear and instead they were replaced by new populist parties with no ideological background. Afterward, the moderator asked all the participants to identify and debated the problems in Romania that can be solved with the help of the EU and the role of Romania inside the Union. The results were, to a certain extent, surprising.
Two themes were highlighted. Economic development and strengthening the social services in Romania are two priorities for the citizens of Iasi. What we have noted was the diversity of opinions and ideas advanced by all the participants. Their thoughts written on the meta-cards contained several distinct ideas, that is why it was necessary a careful analysis of each answer.
Following closely the instructions of the game plan, in the second part of the workshop the moderator explained the following relevant topics for the ALDE party: EU’s security and its relation with NATO, globalization and climate changes, digital era and globalization, free trade and the international commerce, EU budget, transport, infrastructure and mobility, human rights, economic and monetary policies and migration as a challenge and opportunity. After the debate, the workshop continued with the voting process.
