Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party

The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE Party) is a European political party composed of 60 national-level liberal parties from across Europe, mainly active in the European Union. The ALDE Party is affiliated with the 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 of 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 five with ALDE-affiliated Prime Ministers: Mark Rutte (VVD) in the Netherlands, Xavier Bettel (DP) in Luxembourg, Kaja Kallas (Estonian Reform Party) in Estonia, Alexander De Croo (Open VLD) in Belgium and Micheál Martin (FF) in Ireland. ALDE member parties are also in governments in six other EU member states: Croatia, Finland, 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 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 Antoaneta Asenova (MRF) of Bulgaria, and counts 200,000 members.

In 2011, the 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) maintain direct membership in the ALDE Party from several EU countries. Over 40 coordinators mobilise 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.

Structure[edit | edit source]

Part of a series on
Liberalism
History Age of Enlightenment List of liberal theorists (contributions to liberal theory)
Ideas Consent of the governed Due process Democracy Economic liberalism Economic globalization Equality Gender Legal Federalism Freedom Economic Market Trade Press Religion Speech Harm principle Internationalism Invisible hand Labor theory of property Lockean proviso Laissez-faire Liberty Negative Positive Limited government Market economy Natural monopoly Open society Permissive society Popular sovereignty Property Private Public Rights Civil and political Natural and legal To own property To bear arms Rule of law Secularism Separation of church and state Separation of powers Social contract Social justice Basic income Social services Welfare state State of nature
Schools of thought Classical Conservative Cultural Democratic Feminist Equity Green Internationalist Muscular National Neo Ordo Radical Radical centrism Religious Christian Catholic Islamic Jewish Secular Social Techno Third Way
Thinkers Acton Alberdi Arnold Aron Badawi Bastiat Bentham Berlin Burke Čapek Cassirer Collingwood Condorcet Constant Croce Emerson Friedman Guizot Hayek Hobhouse Hu Humboldt Jouvenel Kant Keynes Korais Kymlicka Leoni List Locke Martineau Mill Milton Mises Montesquieu Nozick Ortega Paine Popper Priestley Rawls Ricardo Rousseau Say Sen Smith Spencer Spinoza Staël Tocqueville Turgot Voltaire Weber Wollstonecraft
Politicians Artigas Bright Broglie Cavour Cobden Deák Deakin Einaudi Gladstone Gokhale Itagaki Jefferson Jenkins Juárez Kemal Kennedy King Kołłątaj Kossuth Lamartine Levski Lincoln Lloyd George Macaulay Madison Madero Mazzini Milyukov Mommsen Naoroji Ohlin Pearson Pino Suárez Rathenau Roosevelt Sarmiento Ståhlberg Venizelos
Organizations Africa Liberal Network Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party Amnesty International Arab Liberal Federation Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats European Democratic Party European Liberal Youth European Party for Individual Liberty Humanists International International Alliance of Libertarian Parties International Federation of Liberal Youth Liberal International Liberal Network for Latin America Liberal parties Liberal South East European Network
Regional variants Europe Latin America Albania Armenia Australia Austria Belgium Bolivia Brazil Bulgaria Canada China Chile Colombia Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech lands Denmark Ecuador Egypt Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Venizelism Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Iran Israel Italy Liberism Japan Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Mexico Moldova Montenegro Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Nigeria Norway Panama Paraguay Poland Cracovian Peru Philippines Portugal Romania Russia Senegal Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain South Africa South Korea Sweden Switzerland Thailand Tunisia Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom Cobdenism Gladstonian Manchester Whiggism United States Arizona School Classical Jeffersonian Modern Uruguay Venezuela Zimbabwe
Related topics Anti-authoritarianism Anti-communism Bias in American academia Bias in the media Capitalism Democratic Centrism Economic freedom Egalitarianism Empiricism Humanism Individualism Anarchist Land value tax Libertarianism Left Right Pirate Party Progressivism Sexually liberal feminism Utilitarianism
v t e

Bureau[edit | edit source]

The day-to-day management of the ALDE Party is handled by the Bureau, the members of which are:^[4]

Office	Name	State member	Party member
President
Vice-Presidents	Henrik Bach Mortensen	Denmark	Venstre
	Dita Charanzová MEP	Czech Republic	ANO
	Senator Timmy Dooley	File:Flag of Ireland.svg Ireland	FF
	Baroness Sal Brinton	United Kingdom	LibDem
	Luis Garicano MEP	File:Flag of Spain.svg Spain	Cs
	Ilhan Kyuchyuk MEP	File:Flag of Bulgaria.svg Bulgaria	MRF
	Daniel Berg	File:Flag of Hungary.svg Hungary	M
	Annelou van Egmond	File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands	D66
	Alexander Graf Lambsdorff	File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany	FDP
Treasurer	David Burke	File:Flag of Ireland.svg Ireland	FF
Ex officio members
ALDE Party Secretary-General	Jacob Moroza-Rasmussen	Denmark	Venstre
President of Liberal International	Hakima El Haite	File:Flag of Morocco.svg Morocco	/ (MP)
Group Chair in the PACE	Jacques Maire MP	File:Flag of France.svg France	/ (LREM)
Leader in the European Parliament	Stéphane Séjourné MEP	File:Flag of France.svg France	LREM
Leader in the European Committee of the Regions	François Decoster	File:Flag of France.svg France	/
President of the European Liberal Forum	Hilde Vautmans	File:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium	Open VLD
President of the European Liberal Youth	Antoaneta Asenova	File:Flag of Bulgaria.svg Bulgaria	MRF

Presidents[edit | edit source]

• 1978–1981: File:Flag of Luxembourg.svg Gaston Thorn
• 1981–1985: File:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Willy De Clercq
• 1985–1990: File:Flag of Luxembourg.svg Colette Flesch
• 1990–1995: File:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Willy De Clercq
• 1995–2000: Uffe Ellemann-Jensen
• 2000–2005: File:Flag of Germany.svg Werner Hoyer
• 2005–2011: File:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck
• 2011–2015: Graham Watson
• 2015–2021: File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Hans van Baalen
• 2021–2022: acting co-Presidents File:Flag of Ireland.svg Timmy Dooley File:Flag of Bulgaria.svg Ilhan Kyuchyuk

History of pan-European liberalism[edit | edit source]

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 République En Marche! (LREM).^[6]

European Council[edit | edit source]

European Commissioners[edit | edit source]

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

State	Commissioner	Portfolio	Political party	Photo
Denmark	Margrethe Vestager	A Europe Fit for the Digital Age, Executive Vice President Competition, Commissioner	RV	File:Margrethe Vestager (2011).jpg
Czech Republic	Věra Jourová	Values and Transparency, Vice President	ANO	File:Věra Jourová.jpg
File:Flag of Slovenia.svg Slovenia	Janez Lenarčič	Crisis Management, Commissioner	Ind.	File:Hearing of Janez Lenarčič (Slovenia) - Crisis management (48833246092) (cropped).jpg
File:Flag of Estonia.svg Estonia	Kadri Simson	Energy, Commissioner	KESK	File:Kadri Simson 2017-05-25 (cropped).jpg
File:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium	Didier Reynders	Justice, Commissioner	MR	File:Didier Reynders (31092545008)(cropped).jpg

Elected representatives of member parties[edit | edit source]

European institutions[edit | edit source]

National parliaments of European Union member states[edit | edit source]

Country	Institution	Number of seats	Member parties		Status
File:Flag of Austria.svg Austria	National Council Lower house	15 / 183	NEOS		Opposition
	Federal Council Upper house	1 / 61	NEOS		Opposition
File:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium	Chamber of Representatives Lower house	26 / 150	MR	14 / 26	Government
			Open Vld	12 / 26	Government
	Senate Upper house	11 / 60	MR	6 / 11	Government
			Open Vld	5 / 11	Government
File:Flag of Bulgaria.svg Bulgaria	National Assembly	34 / 240	MRF		Opposition
File:Flag of Croatia.svg Croatia	Sabor	9 / 151	HNS	1 / 12	Government
			HSLS	2 / 9	Support
			Glas	1 / 9	Opposition
			IDS-DDI	3 / 9	Opposition
			Centre	2 / 19	Opposition
File:Flag of Cyprus.svg Cyprus	House of Representatives	4 / 56	Democratic Alignment		Opposition
Czech Republic	Chamber of Deputies Lower house	72 / 200	ANO		Opposition
	Senate Upper house	5 / 81	ANO		Opposition
Denmark	Folketing	58 / 175	RV	16 / 58	Support
			V	42 / 58	Opposition
File:Flag of Estonia.svg Estonia	Riigikogu	59 / 101	EK	25 / 59	Government
			ER	34 / 59	Government
File:Flag of Finland.svg Finland	Parliament	41 / 200	Kesk	31 / 41	Government
			SFP	10 / 41	Government
File:Flag of France.svg France	National Assembly Lower house	11 / 577	UDI	6 / 11	Opposition
			PR	6 / 11	Government
	Senate Upper house	48 / 348	UDI	38 / 48	Opposition
			PR	10 / 48	Government
File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany	Bundestag	92 / 735	FDP		Government
File:Flag of Hungary.svg Hungary	Országgyűlés	10 / 199	Momentum		Opposition
File:Flag of Ireland.svg Ireland	Dáil Lower house	37 / 160	FF		Government
	Seanad Upper house	21 / 60	FF		Government
File:Flag of Italy.svg Italy	Chamber of Deputies Lower house	2 / 630	RI, +E		Support
	Senate of the Republic Upper house	1 / 315	RI, +E		Support
File:Flag of Lithuania.svg Lithuania	Seimas	23 / 141	LRLS	12 / 33	Government
			LP	11 / 33	Government
File:Flag of Latvia.svg Latvia	Saeima	13 / 100	A/Par!		Government
File:Flag of Luxembourg.svg Luxembourg	Chamber of Deputies	12 / 60	DP		Government
File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands	House of Representatives Lower house	58 / 150	VVD	34 / 58	Government
			D66	24 / 58	Government
	Senate Upper house	19 / 75	VVD	12 / 19	Government
			D66	7 / 19	Government
File:Flag of Poland.svg Poland	Sejm Lower house	8 / 460	.Nowoczesna		Opposition
	Senat of Poland Upper house	1 / 100	.Nowoczesna		Opposition
File:Flag of Portugal.svg Portugal	Assembly of the Republic	8 / 230	IL		Opposition
File:Flag of Romania.svg Romania	Chamber of Deputies Lower house	55 / 330	USR		Opposition
	Senate Upper house	25 / 136	USR		Opposition
File:Flag of Slovakia.svg Slovakia	National Council	0 / 150	PS		Extraparliamentary
File:Flag of Slovenia.svg Slovenia	National Assembly	19 / 90	LMŠ	14 / 19	Opposition
			SAB	5 / 19	Opposition
File:Flag of Spain.svg Spain	Congress of Deputies Lower house	10 / 350	Cs		Opposition
	Senate Upper house	8 / 266	Cs		Opposition
File:Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden	Riksdag	50 / 349	C	31 / 50	Support
			L	19 / 50	Opposition[7]

National parliaments outside the European Union[edit | edit source]

Country	Institution	Number of seats	Member parties
File:Flag of Andorra.svg Andorra	General Council	4 / 28	PLA
File:Flag of Armenia.svg Armenia	National Assembly	0 / 107	ANC, Bright Armenia
Azerbaijan	National Assembly	0 / 125	Musavat
File:Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina.svg Bosnia and Herzegovina	House of Representatives	4 / 42	Our Party
File:Flag of Georgia.svg Georgia	Parliament	9 / 150	Republican, FD, SA, Lelo, Girchi MF
File:Flag of Iceland.svg Iceland	Althing	4 / 63	Viðreisn
File:Flag of Moldova.svg Moldova	Parliament	0 / 101	PL
File:Flag of Montenegro.svg Montenegro	Assembly	1 / 81	LPCG
File:Flag of Norway.svg Norway	Storting	8 / 169	Venstre
File:Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Switzerland	National Council Lower house	45 / 200	FDP, GLP
	Council of States Upper house	12 / 46	FDP
File:Flag of Ukraine.svg Ukraine	Verkhovna Rada	261 / 450	Servant of the People, Voice
United Kingdom	House of Commons Lower house	15 / 650	Liberal Democrats, Alliance
	House of Lords Upper house	94 / 775	Liberal Democrats
	Gibraltar Parliament unicameral	3 / 17	Libs

Member parties[edit | edit source]

Country or Region	Party	MEPs
File:Flag of Austria.svg Austria	NEOS – The New Austria and Liberal Forum	1 / 18
File:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium (Dutch)	Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats	3 / 12
File:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium (French)	Reformist Movement	2 / 8
File:Flag of Bulgaria.svg Bulgaria	Movement for Rights and Freedoms	3 / 17
File:Flag of Croatia.svg Croatia	Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats	0 / 11
	Croatian Social Liberal Party	0 / 11
	Istrian Democratic Assembly	1 / 11
	Civic Liberal Alliance	0 / 11
	Centre	0 / 11
File:Flag of Cyprus.svg Cyprus	United Democrats	0 / 6
	Democratic Alignment	0 / 6
Czech Republic	ANO 2011	6 / 21
Denmark	Social Liberal Party	2 / 13
	Venstre	3 / 13
File:Flag of Estonia.svg Estonia	Estonian Centre Party	1 / 6
	Estonian Reform Party	2 / 6
File:Flag of Finland.svg Finland	Centre Party	2 / 13
	Swedish People's Party of Finland	1 / 13
File:Flag of France.svg France	Radical Party	1 / 79
	Union of Democrats and Independents	0 / 79
File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany	Free Democratic Party	5 / 96
File:Flag of Hungary.svg Hungary	Hungarian Liberal Party	0 / 21
	Momentum Movement	2 / 21
File:Flag of Ireland.svg Ireland	Fianna Fáil	2 / 13
File:Flag of Italy.svg Italy	Italian Radicals	0 / 73
	More Europe	0 / 73
	Team K	0 / 73
File:Flag of Latvia.svg Latvia	For Latvia's Development	1 / 8
	Movement For!	0 / 8
File:Flag of Lithuania.svg Lithuania	Liberal Movement	1 / 11
	Freedom Party	0 / 11
File:Flag of Luxembourg.svg Luxembourg	Democratic Party	1 / 6
File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands	Democrats 66	2 / 26
	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	4 / 26
File:Flag of Poland.svg Poland	.Nowoczesna	0 / 51
File:Flag of Portugal.svg Portugal	Liberal Initiative	0 / 21
File:Flag of Romania.svg Romania	Save Romania Union[8]	8 / 33
File:Flag of Slovakia.svg Slovakia	Progressive Slovakia	3 / 14
File:Flag of Slovenia.svg Slovenia	List of Marjan Šarec	2 / 8
	Party of Alenka Bratušek	0 / 8
File:Flag of Spain.svg Spain	Citizens	6 / 54
File:Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden	Centre Party	2 / 20
	Liberals	1 / 20

Outside the EU[edit | edit source]

See also[edit | edit source]

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

References[edit | edit source]

External links[edit | edit source]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party.

• Official website
• European Liberal Youth (LYMEC)