Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party

This article is about European political party. For the European Parliament Group, see Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group. For the transnational political alliance, see Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party
President	Hans van Baalen
Founded	March 1976 (as "Federation of Liberal and Democrat Parties in Europe") 30 April 2004 (as "European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party")
Headquarters	Rue Montoyer 31, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Youth wing	European Liberal Youth
Ideology	Liberalism (European)
Political position	Centre
International affiliation	Liberal International
European Parliament group	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
Colours	Gold and Blue
Political foundation	European Liberal Forum
Website
www.aldeparty.eu
Politics of the European Union Political parties Elections

The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE Party) is a European political party mainly active in the European Union, composed of 60 national-level liberal parties from across Europe. Until 10 November 2012, the party was known as European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR). The ALDE Party is affiliated with the Liberal International.

Having developed from a loose confederation of national political parties in the 1970s, the ALDE Party is a recognised European political party incorporated as a non-profit association under Belgian law.

As of 2015, ALDE is represented in European Union institutions, with 70 MEPs and 5 members of the European Commission. Of the 28 EU member states, there are seven with ALDE-affiliated Prime Ministers: Xavier Bettel (DP) in Luxembourg, Charles Michel (MR) in Belgium, Taavi Rõivas (RE) in Estonia, Miro Cerar (SMC) in Slovenia, Juha Sipilä (KESK) in Finland, Mark Rutte (VVD) in the Netherlands and Lars Løkke Rasmussen (Venstre) in Denmark. Liberals are also in government in three other EU member states: Croatia, Czech Republic and Lithuania.

Since 20 July 2004, the ALDE Party is politically represented in the European Parliament by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) parliamentary group, formed in conjunction with the European Democratic Party (EDP). The ALDE parliamentary group is led by Guy Verhofstadt, a former Prime Minister of Belgium. Prior to the 2004 European election the party was attached to the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR) Group.

ALDE's think tank is the European Liberal Forum. 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 Vedrana Gujic (HNS, Croatia), who was elected for a two-year term as LYMEC President in May 2014, and counts 200,000 members.

Structure

Bureau

The day-to-day management of the ALDE Party is handled by the Bureau, the members of which are:

President

• Hans van Baalen MEP (VVD, Netherlands)

Vice-Presidents

• Marc Guerrero i Tarragó (CDC, Spain)
• Lousewies van der Laan (Democrats 66, Netherlands)
• Alexander Graf Lambsdorff MEP (FDP, Germany)
• Karin Riis-Jørgensen MEP (Venstre, Denmark)
• Dick Roche (Fianna Fáil, Ireland)
• Olle Schmidt (Liberal People's Party, Sweden)

Treasurer

• Roman Jakič (Zares, Slovenia)

ALDE Group leaders

• Guy Verhofstadt MEP (OpenVLD, Belgium): ALDE Group Leader, European Parliament
• Anne Brasseur (DP, Luxembourg): President of The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (ALDE-PACE)
• Flo Clucas (Liberal Democrats, United Kingdom): ALDE Group Leader, EU Committee of the Regions

Other party officials

• Jacob Moroza-Rasmussen (Venstre, Denmark): ALDE Party Secretary-General
• Alexander Beels (VVD, Netherlands): ALDE Group Secretary-General
• Vedrana Gujić (mHNS, Croatia): President, European Liberal Youth (LYMEC)
• Juli Minoves (PLA, Andorra): President, Liberal International

Leaders

• 1978–1981: Gaston Thorn
• 1981–1985: Willy De Clercq
• 1985–1990: Colette Flesch
• 1990–1995: Willy De Clercq
• 1995–2000: Uffe Ellemann-Jensen
• 2000–2005: Werner Hoyer
• 2005–2011: Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck
• 2011–2015: Graham Watson
• 2015–present: Hans van Baalen

History of pan-European liberalism

Main article: History of pan-European liberalism

ELDR Party logo (2009-2012).

Pan-European liberalism has a long history dating back to the foundation of Liberal International in April 1947. In March 1976, the Federation of Liberal and Democrat Parties in Europe was established. The founding parties of the federation were the Free Democratic Party of Germany, Radical Party of France, Liberal Party of Denmark, Italian Liberal Party, Dutch People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and Democratic Party of Luxembourg. 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. The federation gradually evolved into the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR) with a matching group in the European Parliament, the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party Group.

At an extraordinary Congress in Brussels held on 30 April 2004 the day before the enlargement of the European Union, the ELDR Party incorporated itself under Belgian law and became a European political party.

The ELDR Party allied with the European Democratic Party in 2004 to form the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), with a matching ALDE Group in the European Parliament. The ELDR Party adopted its current name on 10 November 2012 in order to match the pan-European alliance and parliamentary group.

European Council and Council of Ministers

Member State	Representative	Title	Political party	Member of the Council since	Photo
Estonia	Taavi Rõivas	Head Minister	Estonian Reform Party	26 May 2014
Netherlands	Mark Rutte	Minister-President	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	14 October 2010
Luxembourg	Xavier Bettel	Prime Minister	Democratic Party	4 December 2013
Belgium	Charles Michel	Prime Minister	Mouvement Réformateur	11 October 2014	100x120px
Slovenia	Miro Cerar	Prime Minister	Modern Centre Party	18 September 2014
Finland	Juha Sipilä	Prime Minister	Centre Party	29 May 2015

European Commissioners

ALDE Member Parties contribute 5 out of the 28 members of the European Commission:

State	Commissioner	Portfolio	Political party	Photo
Estonia	AnsipAndrus Ansip	Vice-President, European Commissioner for Digital Single Market	RE
Sweden	MalmströmCecilia Malmström	European Commissioner for Trade	FP
Slovenia	BulcVioleta Bulc	Vice-President, European Commissioner for the Energy Union	Modern Centre Party
Czech Republic	JourováVěra Jourová	European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality	ANO 2011	100px
Denmark	VestagerMargrethe Vestager	European Commissioner for Competition	Danish Social Liberal Party

Elected Representatives of Member Parties

European institutions

Guy Verhofstadt.

Organisation	Institution	Number of seats
European Union	European Commission	5 / 28
European Union	European Council (Heads of Government)	7 / 28
European Union	Council of the EU (Participation in Government)	10 / 28
European Union	European Parliament	70 / 751
Council of Europe	Parliamentary Assembly	28 / 318

National Parliaments of European Union member states

Mark Rutte.

Taavi Rõivas.

Margrethe Vestager.

Nick Clegg.

Country	Institution	Number of seats	Member parties
Austria	National Council	9 / 183	NEOS
Belgium	Chamber of Representatives Lower house	34 / 150	MR, Open Vld
	Senate Upper house	13 / 60	MR, Open Vld
Bulgaria	National Assembly	38 / 240	MRF
Croatia	Sabor	16 / 151	HNS, IDS-DDI
Czech Republic	Chamber of Deputies	47 / 200	ANO 2011
Denmark	Folketing	64 / 175	V, RV
Estonia	State Council	57 / 101	ER, EK
Finland	Parliament	59 / 200	Kesk., SFP, C
Germany	Bundestag	0 / 631	FDP
Hungary	Országgyűlés	1 / 199	MLP
Ireland	Dáil Lower house	20 / 166	FF
	Seanad Upper house	14 / 60	FF
Italy	Chamber of Deputies Lower house	0 / 630	IdV, Radicali
	Senate of the Republic Upper house	0 / 315	IdV, Radicali
Lithuania	Seimas	39 / 141	LRLS, DP
Luxembourg	Chamber of Deputies	13 / 60	DP
Netherlands	House of Representatives Lower house	53 / 150	VVD, D66
	Senate Upper house	21 / 75	VVD, D66
Romania	Chamber of Deputies Lower house	26 / 412	ALDE
	Senate Upper house	12 / 176	ALDE
Slovenia	National Assembly	40 / 90	SMC, ZaAB
Spain	Congress of Deputies Lower house	11 / 350	CDC
	Senate Upper house	10 / 266	CDC
Sweden	Riksdag	41 / 349	C, L
United Kingdom	House of Commons Lower house	8 / 650	Lib Dems
	House of Lords Upper house	105 / 793	Lib Dems
	Gibraltar Parliament unicameral	3 / 17	Liberal Party of Gibraltar

National Parliaments outside the European Union

Country	Institution	Number of seats	Member parties
Andorra	General Council	8 / 28	PLA
Armenia	National Assembly	7 / 131	ANC
Azerbaijan	National Assembly	0 / 125	Musavat
Georgia	Parliament	17 / 150	Republican, FD
Iceland	Althing	6 / 63	BF
Moldova	Parliament	13 / 101	PL
Montenegro	Assembly	1 / 81	LPCG
Norway	Storting	9 / 169	Venstre
Switzerland	National Council Lower house	31 / 200	FDP.The Liberals
	Council of States Upper house	12 / 46	FDP.The Liberals

Member parties

Proportion of ALDE Party MEPs per country as of 2004

Country or Region	Party	MEPs
Austria	NEOS – The New Austria and Liberal Forum	1 / 18
Belgium (Dutch)	Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats	3 / 12
Belgium (French)	Reformist Movement	3 / 8
Bulgaria	Movement for Rights and Freedoms	4 / 17
Bulgaria	National Movement for Stability and Progress	0 / 17
Croatia	Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats	1 / 11
Croatia	Croatian Social Liberal Party	0 / 11
Croatia	Istrian Democratic Assembly	1 / 11
Cyprus	United Democrats	0 / 6
Czech Republic	ANO 2011	4 / 21
Denmark	Danish Social Liberal Party	1 / 13
Denmark	Venstre – Liberal Party of Denmark	2 / 13
Estonia	Estonian Centre Party	1 / 6
Estonia	Estonian Reform Party	2 / 6
Finland	Centre Party	3 / 13
Finland	Swedish People's Party of Finland	1 / 13
Finland Åland Islands	Åland Centre	0 / 13
Germany	Free Democratic Party	3 / 96
Greece	Drassi	0 / 21
Hungary	Hungarian Liberal Party	0 / 21
Ireland	Fianna Fáil	1 / 11
Italy	Italian Radicals	0 / 73
Italy	Italy of Values	0 / 73
Latvia	Latvian Development	0 / 8
Lithuania	Labour Party	1 / 11
Lithuania	Lithuanian Liberty Union	0 / 11
Lithuania	Liberals' Movement of the Republic of Lithuania	2 / 11
Luxembourg	Democratic Party	1 / 6
Netherlands	Democrats 66	4 / 26
Netherlands	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	3 / 26
Poland	Democratic Party – demokraci.pl	0 / 51
Portugal	Earth Party	1 / 21
Romania	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats	0 / 32
Slovenia	Modern Centre Party	0 / 8
Slovenia	Alliance of Alenka Bratušek	0 / 8
Spain	Democratic Convergence of Catalonia	1 / 54
Sweden	Centre Party	1 / 20
Sweden	The Liberals	2 / 20
United Kingdom	Liberal Democrats	1 / 73
United Kingdom Gibraltar	Liberal Party of Gibraltar	0 / 73

Outside the EU

Andorra

• Liberal Party of Andorra

Armenia

• Armenian National Congress

Azerbaijan

• Müsavat Party

Belarus

• Belarusian Liberal Party of Freedom and Progress

Georgia

• Our Georgia – Free Democrats
• Republican Party of Georgia

Iceland

• Bright Future

Kosovo

• Liberal Party of Kosovo
• New Kosovo Alliance

Moldova

• Liberal Party

Montenegro

• Liberal Party of Montenegro

Norway

• Liberal Party

Russia

• Republican Party of Russia – People's Freedom Party, successor of the People's Democratic Union
• Russian United Democratic Party "Yabloko"

Serbia

• Liberal Democratic Party

Switzerland

• FDP.The Liberals

Ukraine

• European Party of Ukraine

See also

• European Liberal Youth
• Liberal International
• Political parties of the world

External links

• Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party official site
• European Liberal Youth (LYMEC)