ABSTRACT: Congress approved the draft Statute presented by Sergio Stanzani. The next Congress, to be held no later than eighteen months after the new Party organs take office, will be responsible for ratifying the draft.

The congressional commission formed to deal with this matter was chaired jointly by Sergej Sheboldaiev, Deputy Chairman of the Legal Committee of the Russian Supreme Soviet and Lorenzo Strik Lievers, former Italian deputy. Amongst the other people who participated were parliamentarians: Lev Semanshko, Lev Ivanov and Mikhail Lebedinskij from Russia; Edmond Serban from Romania, and the entire Radical Party Assembly of parliamentarians.

(THE NEW PARTY, MARCH 1993)

The approved text maintains the principles that form the basis of the preceding Statute: the precept of liberty on which the direct membership is founded and which implies a free choice in assuming individual responsibilities, and exemption from Party regulations. Payment of the enrolment fee and acceptance of the Statute are the conditions of membership.Members are not obliged to implement Party decisions, which are on the other hand binding for the Party organs and for Party executives. No one has the right to judge a member's behaviour or to expel a member from the Party. This implies that the Party does not guarantee protection to anyone; does not assume the political or moral responsibility for its members, making them responsible for their own actions and the political position they assume. In this sense the Radical Party is a "Service Party", formed by free people who enrol to collaborate on joint initiatives.

The Party has no intention whatsoever of "representing" its members as regards their personal actions, ideas and general interests. It is a self-financing party: the fact that the cost of membership is so high guarantees its autonomy, which is its strength.

Another principle is added with the new transnational dimension: that of the Radical Party's not competing with other parties in elections. This consistutes a refusal of any kind of internal organization on a national or territorial basis.

The Statute: a) must guarantee and permit direct contact between members and the congress: how can we ensure that the Congress adequately expresses the joint wishes of members who are all so different and so far away? b) must avoid the formation of "national" radical parties but at the same time ensure that members may organize themselves, obviously on a local or national basis, in order to work together; c) must give due significance to the great number of parliamentarians from many different countries who are members; d) must overcome the economic and logistic problems involved in arranging meetings of the Party organs.

The organs provided for are: the Congress, the Assembly of Parliamentarians, the General Council, the Organizing Committee, the Area Congresses, the Secretary and the Treasurer, with the respective working committees, and the Board of Auditors.

The Congress will be held biennially, and will be preceded by a series of Area Congresses, at which members resident in specific geographic areas will meet - before and after the main Congress.

The Area Congresses do not elect Party organs, but an allotted number of representatives at the General Council and on the Organizing Committee. The purpose of the Area Congress held prior to the actual Congress is to put forward suggestions for the congressional motion. The Organizing Committee examines the drafts presented by the Area Congresses and incorporates them into a document, which is also a result of their findings. At this point, the Organizing Committee disbands, and sits once again on the occasion of the next Congress.

During the months following the Congress, the Area Congresses are re-convened to put the congressional motion into effect.

The General Council comprises a number of members elected by Congress, a number of parliamentarians and a number elected by the Area Congresses.

The Statute provides for a new body: the Assembly of Parliamentarians. It has been conceived as an instrument for planning and coordinating the activities of the parliamentarians, and reflects the new transnational dimension of the Radical Party and its project: "the simultaneous presentation of identical bills and motions in as many parliaments as possible, in order to create positive new laws."

In the approved draft Statute, the Secretary is elected directly by Congress, assuming full responsibility, and the necessary powers, for putting into effect the motion passed,

concerning which the Secretary must answer directly to the next Congress. The Treasurer is entirely responsible, politically speaking, for the Party's finances.

The Stature institutes the President, whose duty it is to chair Congress, the General Council and the Organizing Committee, as well as to guarantee the correct application of the Statute.

Unlike the former Statute, the draft presented does not provide for any associative duties on the part of members. The various organizations do not have the right to speak on behalf of the Radical Party, which is represented by its federal organs.