European political party
The
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party
(
ALDE Party
) is a
centrist
European political party
composed of 76 national-level parties from across Europe, mainly active in the
European Union
. The ALDE Party is affiliated with
Liberal International
and a recognised European political party, incorporated as a non-profit association under
Belgian law
.
[2]
It was founded on 26 March 1976 in
Stuttgart
as a confederation of national political parties under the name "Federation of Liberal and Democrat Parties in Europe" and renamed "European Liberals and Democrats" (ELD) in 1977 and "European Liberal Democrats and Reformists" (ELDR) in 1986. On 30 April 2004, the ELDR was reformed as an official European party, the "European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party" (ELDR Party).
[3]
On 10 November 2012, the party chose its current name ALDE Party, taken from its then-
European Parliament
group
, the
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
(ALDE), which had been formed on 20 July 2004 in conjunction with the
European Democratic Party
(EDP). Prior to the
2004 European election
, the European party had been represented through its own group, the
European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party Group
(ELDR) Group. In June 2019, the ALDE group was succeeded by
Renew Europe
.
As of 2020
[update]
, ALDE is represented in European Union institutions, with 70
MEPs
and five members of the
European Commission
. Of the 27
EU member states
, there are four with ALDE-affiliated Prime Ministers:
Mark Rutte
(
VVD
) in the Netherlands,
Xavier Bettel
(
DP
) in Luxembourg,
Kaja Kallas
(
Estonian Reform Party
) in Estonia and
Alexander De Croo
(
Open VLD
) in Belgium. ALDE member parties are also in governments in seven other EU member states: Croatia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Slovenia, Lithuania and Germany. Some other ALDE member parties offer parliamentary support to governments in Croatia, Denmark, Italy, Romania and Sweden.
Charles Michel
, former Belgian Prime Minister, is the current President of the
European Council
.
ALDE's think tank is the
European Liberal Forum
, led by
Hilde Vautmans
, MEP, and gathers 46 member organisations. The youth wing of ALDE is the
European Liberal Youth
(LYMEC), which is predominantly based upon youth and student liberal organisations but contains also a small number of individual members. LYMEC is led by Dan-Aria Sucuri.
In 2011, ALDE Party became the first pan-European party to create the status of
individual membership
. Since then, between 1000 and close to 3000 members (the numbers fluctuate annually) maintained direct membership in the ALDE Party from several EU countries. Over 40 coordinators mobilised liberal ideas, initiatives and expertise across the continent under the leadership of the Steering Committee, which was first chaired by Julie Cantalou. The ALDE Party took a step further in the direction of becoming a truly pan-European party when granting voting rights to individual members’ delegates at the Party Congress. Individual membership was eventually discontinued in 2023.
Structure
[
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Bureau
[
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]
The day-to-day management of the ALDE Party is handled by the Bureau, the members of which are:
[4]
Presidents
[
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]
History of pan-European liberalism
[
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]
Pan-European liberalism has a long history dating back to the foundation of Liberal International in April 1947. On 26 March 1976, the Federation of Liberal and Democrat Parties in Europe was established in
Stuttgart
. The founding parties of the federation were the
Free Democratic Party
of Germany,
Radical Party
of France,
Venstre
of Denmark,
Italian Liberal Party
, Dutch
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
and
Democratic Party
of Luxembourg.
[5]
Observer members joining later in 1976 were the
Danish Social Liberal Party
, French
Radical Party of the Left
and
Independent Republicans
,
British Liberal Party
, and
Italian Republican Party
.
[5]
In 1977, the federation was renamed European Liberals and Democrats, in 1986, European Liberal Democrats and Reformists.
It evolved into the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR Party) in 2004, when it was founded as an official
European party
under that name and incorporated under Belgian law at an extraordinary Congress in Brussels, held on 30 April 2004 the day before the
enlargement of the European Union
. At the same time the matching group in the European Parliament, the
European Liberal Democrats and Reformists Group
allied with the members of the newly elected
European Democratic Party
, forming the
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
(ALDE) with a matching
ALDE Group in the European Parliament
.
On 10 November 2012, the ELDR Party adopted the name of the alliance between the two parties, to match the parliamentary group and the alliance.
On 12 June 2019, the ALDE group was succeeded by a new enlarged group,
Renew Europe
, which primarily consists of ALDE and
EDP
member parties and France's
La Republique En Marche!
(LREM).
[6]
European Commissioners
[
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]
ALDE Member Parties contribute five out of the 27 members of the
European Commission
:
Elected representatives of member parties
[
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]
European institutions
[
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]
European Council
[
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]
National parliaments of European Union member states
[
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]
National parliaments outside the European Union
[
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]
Member parties
[
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]
Outside the EU
[
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]
See also
[
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]
Notes
[
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]
- ^
Independent on the national level but affiliated with ALDE at the EU level
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]
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Parties
| Member parties (
EU
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Member parties (non-EU)
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Party Presidents
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European Parliament
Group Presidents
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European Commissioners
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Heads of government
at the European Council
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Affiliated organisations
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Member parties
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Leadership
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Pan-European political organisations
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Political parties not
recognised by the EU
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Other confederations
of national parties
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Member parties of international liberal organisations
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- Andorra:
LA
- Belgium:
MR
,
VLD
- Bosnia and Herzegovina:
LDS
*
- Botswana:
BMD
*
- Bulgaria:
DPS
,
NDSV
- Burkina Faso:
ADF-RDA
*
- Burma:
NLD-LA
*
- Burundi:
ADR
- Cambodia:
PSR
- Canada:
Liberal Party
- Colombia:
U
*
- DR Congo:
ANADER
,
ARC
*,
URC
*
- Costa Rica:
PML
- Cote d'Ivoire:
RDR
- Croatia:
HSLS
- Cuba:
PLC
,
PSD
,
ULC
- Denmark:
RV
,
Venstre
- Egypt:
FEP
,
Ghad
*
- Equatorial Guinea:
UDENA
- Estonia:
RE
- Ethiopia:
EDP
*
- Finland:
Keskusta
,
SFP
- Georgia:
RPG
*
- Germany:
FDP
- Gibraltar:
Liberal Party
- Guatemala:
MR
*,
PP
- Guinea:
UFDG
*,
UFR
*
- Honduras:
PLH
- Hungary:
MLP
- Iceland:
FSF
- Indonesia:
PD
*
- Ireland:
FF
*
- Israel:
Yesh Atid
- Italy:
Rad
,
FdL
*
- Kenya:
LDP
*
- Kosovo:
PLK
*
- Latvia:
LPP/LC
- Lebanon:
Future Movement
*
- Lithuania:
LCU
- Luxembourg:
DP
- Madagascar:
MFM
*
- Malawi:
UDF
- Malaysia:
Gerakan
*
- Mali:
PCR
*
- Mexico:
NA
*
- Moldova:
PRL
*
- Mongolia:
IZN
- Montenegro:
LSCG
- Morocco:
AdL
*,
UC
,
MP
- Mozambique:
PPDD
*
- Netherlands:
D66
,
VVD
- Nicaragua:
PLI
*
- North Macedonia:
LDP
- Norway:
Venstre
- Paraguay:
PLRA
- Philippines:
LP
- Romania:
PNL
- Russia:
Yabloko
- Senegal:
PDS
- Serbia:
LDP
- Seychelles:
SNP
*
- Slovakia:
ANO
- Slovenia:
LDS
- South Africa:
DA
- Spain:
CDC
- Sri Lanka:
LP
- Sweden:
C
,
L
- Switzerland:
FDP.The Liberals
- Taiwan:
DPP
- Tanzania:
CCW/CUF
- Thailand:
DP
- Ukraine:
UM
*
- United Kingdom:
APNI
,
Lib Dems
- Zambia:
UNDP
*
National groups:
* observer
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EU
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Member parties (non-EU)
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Party Presidents
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European Parliament
Group Presidents
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European Commissioners
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Heads of government
at the European Council
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Affiliated organisations
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- Cambodia:
PSR
- Hong Kong:
DP
(represented through two individual members)
- Indonesia:
PDI-P
,
PKB
**
- Japan:
DPJ
**
- Malaysia:
PGRM
- Mongolia:
IZN
- Myanmar:
NCUB
- Pakistan:
LFP
*
- Philippines:
LP
- Singapore:
SDP
- Sri Lanka:
LP
- ROC Taiwan:
DPP
- Thailand:
DP
*associate member **observer
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