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]

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party
AbbreviationALDE Party
PresidentHans van Baalen
Secretary-GeneralJacob Moroza-Rasmussen
Founded26 March 1976 (1976-03-26)
HeadquartersRue d'Idalie 11,
Brussels, Belgium
Think tankEuropean Liberal Forum
Youth wingEuropean Liberal Youth
IdeologyLiberalism[1]
Pro-Europeanism
Political positionCentre
International affiliationLiberal International
European Parliament group
Colours
  •    Blue, magenta
  •   Yellow (customary)
European Parliament
68 / 705
European Council
6 / 27
European Commission
5 / 27
European Lower Houses
723 / 9,874
European Upper Houses
244 / 2,714
Website
www.aldeparty.eu

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, ALDE is represented in European Union institutions, with 65 MEPs and five members of the European Commission. Of the 27 EU member states, there are six with ALDE-affiliated Prime Ministers: Mark Rutte (VVD) in the Netherlands, Xavier Bettel (DP) in Luxembourg, Kaja Kallas (Estonian Reform Party) in Estonia, Andrej Babiš (ANO) in the Czech Republic, Alexander De Croo (Open VLD) in Belgium and Micheál Martin (FF) in Ireland. ALDE member parties are also in governments in four other EU member states: Croatia, Finland, Latvia and Slovenia. 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.

Structure

Bureau

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 Hans van Baalen  Netherlands VVD
Vice-Presidents Henrik Bach Mortensen  Denmark Venstre
Dita Charanzová MEP  Czech Republic ANO
Senator Timmy Dooley  Ireland FF
Baroness Sal Brinton  United Kingdom LibDem
Luis Garicano MEP  Spain Cs
Ilhan Kyuchyuk MEP  Bulgaria MRF
Daniel Berg  Hungary M
Annelou van Egmond  Netherlands D66
Alexander Graf Lambsdorff  Germany FDP
Treasurer Gašper Koprivšek  Slovenia SMC
Ex officio members
Secretary-General Jacob Moroza-Rasmussen  Denmark Venstre
President of Liberal International Hakima El Haite  Morocco / (MP)
Group Chair in the PACE Jacques Maire MP  France / (LREM)
Leader in the European Parliament Dacian Cioloș MEP  Romania PLUS
Leader in the European Committee of the Regions François Decoster  France /
President of the European Liberal Forum Hilde Vautmans  Belgium Open VLD
President of the European Liberal Youth Antoaneta Asenova  Bulgaria MRF

Presidents

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. 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

MemberRepresentativePolitical partyMember sincePhoto
Netherlands Prime Minister

Mark Rutte

VVD 14 October 2010
Luxembourg Prime Minister

Xavier Bettel

DP 4 December 2013
Estonia Prime Minister

Kaja Kallas

Reform Party 26 January 2021
Czech Republic Prime Minister

Andrej Babiš

ANO 6 December 2017
Belgium Prime Minister

Sophie Wilmès

MR 27 October 2019
Ireland Taoiseach

Micheál Martin

FF 27 June 2020
European Union President

Charles Michel

MR (ALDE) 1 December 2019

European Commissioners

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

StateCommissionerPortfolioPolitical partyPhoto
Denmark Margrethe Vestager A Europe Fit for the Digital Age,

Executive Vice President

Competition,

Commissioner

RV
 Czech Republic Věra Jourová Values and Transparency,

Vice President

ANO
Slovenia Janez Lenarčič Crisis Management,

Commissioner

Ind.
 Estonia Kadri Simson Energy,

Commissioner

KESK
 Belgium Didier Reynders Justice,

Commissioner

MR

Elected representatives of member parties

European institutions

OrganisationInstitutionNumber of seats
 European UnionEuropean Commission
5 / 27
European Council
(Heads of Government)
6 / 27
Council of the EU
(Participation in Government)
10 / 27
European Parliament
65 / 705
 Council of EuropeParliamentary Assembly
28 / 318

National parliaments of European Union member states

CountryInstitutionNumber of seatsMember parties Status
 AustriaNational Council
15 / 183
NEOS Opposition
 BelgiumChamber 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
 BulgariaNational Assembly
25 / 240
MRF Opposition
 CroatiaSabor
9 / 151
HNS
1 / 12
Government
HSLS
2 / 9
Support
Glas
1 / 9
Opposition
IDS-DDI
3 / 9
Opposition
Centre
2 / 19
Opposition
 Czech RepublicChamber of Deputies
Lower house
78 / 200
ANO Government
Senate
Upper house
7 / 81
ANO Government
 Denmark Folketing
58 / 175
RV
16 / 58
Support
V
42 / 58
Opposition
 EstoniaState Council
59 / 101
EK
25 / 59
Government
ER
34 / 59
Opposition
 FinlandParliament
41 / 200
Kesk
31 / 41
Government
SFP
10 / 41
Government
 FranceNational Assembly
Lower house
36 / 577
UDI
18 / 36
Opposition
MR
18 / 36
Opposition
Senate
Upper house
46 / 348
UDI
31 / 46
Opposition
MR
15 / 46
Opposition
 GermanyBundestag
80 / 631
FDP Opposition
 HungaryOrszággyűlés
1 / 199
Liberálisok
1 / 1
Opposition
M
0 / 1
Extraparliamentary
 IrelandDáil
Lower house
37 / 160
FF Government
Seanad
Upper house
20 / 60
FF Government
 Italy Chamber of Deputies
Lower house
2 / 630
RI, +E Support
Senate of the Republic
Upper house
1 / 315
RI, +E Support
 LithuaniaSeimas
23 / 141
LRLS
12 / 33
Government
Freedom Party
11 / 33
Government
 LatviaSaeima
13 / 100
A/Par! Government
 LuxembourgChamber of Deputies
12 / 60
DP Government
 NetherlandsHouse of Representatives
Lower house
51 / 150
VVD
39 / 51
Government
D66
19 / 51
Government
Senate
Upper house
19 / 75
VVD
12 / 19
Government
D66
7 / 19
Government
 PolandSejm
Lower house
8 / 460
.Nowoczesna Opposition
Senat of Poland
Upper house
1 / 100
.Nowoczesna Opposition
 PortugalAssembly of the Republic
1 / 230
IL Opposition
 RomaniaChamber of Deputies
Lower house
38 / 330
USR Government coalition
Senate
Upper house
17 / 136
USR Government coalition
 SlovakiaNational Council
0 / 150
PS Extraparliamentary
 SloveniaNational Assembly
27 / 90
SMC
8 / 27
Government
LMŠ
14 / 27
Opposition
SAB
5 / 27
Opposition
 SpainCongress of Deputies
Lower house
10 / 350
Cs Opposition
Senate
Upper house
8 / 266
Cs Opposition
 SwedenRiksdag
50 / 349
C
31 / 50
Support
L
19 / 50
Support

National parliaments outside the European Union

CountryInstitutionNumber of seatsMember parties
 AndorraGeneral Council
4 / 28
PLA
 ArmeniaNational Assembly
17 / 132
ANC, Bright Armenia
 AzerbaijanNational Assembly
0 / 125
Musavat
 Bosnia and HerzegovinaHouse of Representatives
4 / 42
Naša Stranka
 GeorgiaParliament
0 / 150
Republican, FD
 IcelandAlthing
4 / 63
Viðreisn
 MoldovaParliament
0 / 101
PL
 MontenegroAssembly
1 / 81
LPCG
 NorwayStorting
8 / 169
Venstre
  SwitzerlandNational Council
Lower house
45 / 200
FDP, GLP
Council of States
Upper house
12 / 46
FDP
 UkraineVerkhovna Rada
20 / 450
Voice
 United KingdomHouse of Commons
Lower house
12 / 650
Liberal Democrats, Alliance
House of Lords
Upper house
94 / 775
Liberal Democrats
Gibraltar Parliament
unicameral
3 / 17
Libs

Member parties

Proportion of ALDE Party MEPs per country as of 2004
  States with full (and possibly associate) member parties
  States with associate member parties
Country or Region Party MEPs
 AustriaNEOS – The New Austria and Liberal Forum
1 / 18
 Belgium (Dutch)Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats
3 / 12
 Belgium (French)Reformist Movement
2 / 8
 BulgariaMovement for Rights and Freedoms
3 / 17
 CroatiaCroatian 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
 CyprusUnited Democrats
0 / 6
Democratic Alignment
0 / 6
 Czech RepublicANO 2011
6 / 21
 DenmarkSocial Liberal Party
2 / 13
Venstre
3 / 13
 EstoniaEstonian Centre Party
1 / 6
Estonian Reform Party
2 / 6
 FinlandCentre Party
2 / 13
Swedish People's Party of Finland
1 / 13
 FranceRadical Movement
1 / 74
Union of Democrats and Independents
0 / 74
 GermanyFree Democratic Party
5 / 96
 HungaryHungarian Liberal Party
0 / 21
Momentum Movement
2 / 21
 IrelandFianna Fáil
2 / 13
 ItalyMore Europe
0 / 73
Team Köllensperger
0 / 73
 LatviaFor Latvia's Development
1 / 8
Movement For!
0 / 8
 LithuaniaLiberal Movement
1 / 11
Freedom Party
0 / 11
 LuxembourgDemocratic Party
2 / 6
 NetherlandsDemocrats 66
2 / 26
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
4 / 26
 Poland.Nowoczesna
0 / 51
 PortugalLiberal Initiative
0 / 21
 RomaniaSave Romania Union[7]
4 / 33
 SlovakiaProgressive Slovakia
2 / 13
 SloveniaList of Marjan Šarec
2 / 8
Modern Centre Party
0 / 8
Party of Alenka Bratušek
0 / 8
 SpainCitizens
6 / 54
 SwedenCentre Party
2 / 20
Liberals
1 / 20

Outside the EU

See also

References

  1. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "European Union". Parties and Elections in Europe. Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "European Liberal Democrats change party name to ALDE Party | ALDE Party". Eldr.eu. Archived from the original on 13 February 2013. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  4. "ALDE-party Bureau".
  5. Dimitri Almeida (2012). The Impact of European Integration on Political Parties: Beyond the Permissive Consensus. Taylor & Francis. pp. 102–103. ISBN 978-1-136-34039-0.
  6. "Macron-Liberal alliance to be named Renew Europe". Politico. 12 June 2019.
  7. "ALDE Party Council meets in Zürich". ALDE. 28 June 2019.
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