Mouvement Réformateur (MR)
The French-speaking liberals (MR) are members of the European Liberal Democrats party (ELDR) and of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ADLE) group in the European Parliament. The MR President Didier Reynders is in favour of a strong federal EU. Satisfied with the liberal direction the EU has taken, the MR leader has been a strong advocate of the single currency and is fully engaged in complying with the Lisbon strategy (which aims at making the EU the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010). The MR has also supported the adoption of the REACH directive and the Service directive (Bolkenstein). For democratic reasons, and also for reasons of legitimacy, the MR is in favour of popular consultation when it comes to big European or international decisions. When asked about the EU Constitution, Reynders answered that he would support a nation-wide referendum instead of just having parliamentary ratification.