Tijdens de jongste vergadering in maart van het bureau van de Liberale Internationale heb ik voorgesteld President Zelenski voor te dragen voor de Prize For Freedom. Jaarlijks kent de LI deze prijs toe aan een personaliteit die een uitzonderlijke bijdrage leverde voor de vooruitgang en de promotie van de Rechten van de Mens en van de Politieke Vrijheden. Officieel moet de nominatie uitgaan van een lidorganisatie van de LI. Op mijn voorstel heeft Open VLD nu President Zelenski formeel voorgedragen. Het Executive Committee van LI zal op zijn meeting van 1 juli in SOFIA, tussen alle voorgedragen nominaties beslissen. De meeting van het LI Executive Committee maakt deel uit van het programma van het 75ste Jubeleum Congress van LI dat doorgaat van 30 juni tot 3 juli in Sofia ( Bulgarije). Hieronder de nominatie door Open VLD.
On behalf of full LI Member Open VLD, we have the honour to nominate President Volodymyr Zelenski for the 2022 Prize for Freedom.
Born in 1972 in Kryvy, Rih, Ukraine, he grew up to become trilingual speaking Russian, Ukrainian and English.
He studied law, but built a career as a TV personality. He founded a TV production company and become famous with a show in which he played a teacher who is elected to the presidency to eradicate corruption.
In 2018 he established a political party and effectively ran for the presidency of Ukraine and won. During the following parliamentary elections, his party gained an absolute majority.
This in itself is no small achievement, but President Zelenski was harshly put to the test when Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
What we are witnessing since then is a man who galvanises his fellow citizens to fight the invader and overcome unspeakable suffering and destruction.
At the same time, he galvanises the world to come to the rescue of Ukraine and sanction Putin’s regime, while at the same time demonstrating a willingness to negotiate an end to the war.
For all these reasons, and many more, we believe that Volodymyr Zelenski more than deserves the 2022 LI Prize for Freedom
P.S. Zelenski’s party has joined the ALDE party.
For Open VLD,
Eva De Bleeker
International Officer
Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck
President of Honour of LI
Bureau member of Open VLD