Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party
| Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party | |
|---|---|
| President | Sir Graham Watson MEP |
| 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)[1] Internal factions: • Classic liberalism • Social liberalism • Conservative liberalism • European federalism |
| International affiliation | Liberal International |
| European Parliament group | Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe |
| Colours | Gold and Blue |
| European Parliament |
75 / 754
|
| European Council (Heads of Government) |
2 / 27
|
| Council of the European Union (Participation in Government) |
12 / 27
|
| National Upper House Seats |
493 / 2,273
|
| National Lower House Seats |
716 / 7,124
|
| Website | |
| www.aldeparty.eu | |
The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE Party) is a European political party mainly active in the European Union, composed of 52 national-level liberal and liberal-democratic parties from across Europe. Having developed from a loose confederation of national political parties in the 1970s, the ALDE Party is recognised European political party incorporated as a non-profit association under Belgian law.[citation needed] Despite this legal status, the ALDE Party has yet to achieve significant grassroots involvement and retains much of the character of a mere confederation of national political parties.[citation needed] The ALDE Party is affiliated to the Liberal International.
Until 10 November 2012, the party was known as European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR).[2]
As of 2010, ALDE is the third largest European-wide political party represented in European Union institutions, with 75 Members of the European Parliament and 8 members of the European Commission. Of the 27 member states of the European Union, there are two with ALDE-affiliated Prime Ministers: Andrus Ansip in Estonia (Reform Party), and Mark Rutte in the Netherlands (VVD). Furthermore, the leader of the German Free Democratic Party (FDP), Philipp Rösler, serves as Vice-Chancellor of Germany and the leader of the British Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, serves as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Liberals are also in government in nine other EU member states: Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden.
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. The ALDE parliamentary group is led by Guy Verhofstadt, a former Prime Minister of Belgium. The party was previously attached to the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR) Group prior to the 2004 European elections.
The youth wing of ALDE is the European Liberal Youth (LYMEC), which is predominantly based upon youth and student liberal organisations from across Europe but also contains a small number of individual members. LYMEC is led by Dutch politician Jeroen Diepemaat (VVD, The Netherlands), who was elected to a two-year term as LYMEC President in May 2012, and has a collective membership of over 200,000 young liberal Europeans.
Contents |
Leadership [edit]
The leader of the ALDE Party is Sir Graham Watson MEP.
Structure [edit]
Bureau [edit]
The day to day management of the ALDE Party is handled by the Bureau, the members of which are:[3]
President [edit]
- Graham Watson MEP (Liberal Democrats, United Kingdom): ALDE Party President
Vice-Presidents [edit]
- Marc Guerrero (CDC, Spain)
- Lousewies van der Laan (Democrats 66, Netherlands)
- Alexander Graf Lambsdorff MEP (FDP, Germany)
- Ramona Mănescu MEP (PNL, Romania)
- Leoluca Orlando MP (Italy of Values, Italy)
- Dick Roche (Fianna Fáil, Ireland)
- Astrid Thors MP (Swedish People's Party of Finland, Finland)
Treasurer [edit]
- Roman Jakic (Zares, Slovenia)
ALDE Group leaders [edit]
- Guy Verhofstadt MEP (OpenVLD, Belgium): ALDE Group Leader, European Parliament
- Anne Brasseur (DP, Luxembourg): President of 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 [edit]
- Jacob Moroza-Rasmussen (Venstre, Denmark): ALDE Party Secretary-General
- Alexander Beels (VVD, Netherlands): ALDE Group Secretary-General
- Jeroen Diepemat (JOVD, Netherlands): President, European Liberal Youth (LYMEC)
- Hans van Baalen MEP (VVD, Netherlands): President, Liberal International
Leaders [edit]
- 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– now:
Graham Watson
History of pan-European liberalism [edit]
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, which gradually evolved into the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR) with a matching group in the European Parliament, the Group of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party.
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 Commissioners [edit]
ALDE Member Parties contribute 8 out of the 27 members of the European Commission:
Elected Representatives of Member Parties [edit]
European institutions [edit]
| Organisation | Institution | Number of seats |
|---|---|---|
| European Commission |
8 / 27
|
|
| European Council (Heads of Government) |
2 / 27
|
|
| Council of the EU (Participation in Government) |
12 / 27
|
|
| European Parliament |
75 / 736
|
|
| Parliamentary Assembly |
28 / 318
|
|
National Parliaments of European Union member states [edit]
National Parliaments outside the European Union [edit]
| Country | Institution | Number of seats | Member parties |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Council |
11 / 28
|
PLA | |
| National Assembly |
5 / 125
|
Musavat | |
| Sabor |
17 / 151
|
HNS, IDS, HSLS | |
| Parliament |
19 / 150
|
Republican, FD[4][5] | |
| Assembly |
13 / 120
|
AKR | |
| Assembly |
5 / 120
|
LDP, LPM | |
| Parliament |
12 / 101
|
PL | |
| Storting |
2 / 169
|
Venstre | |
| National Assembly |
11 / 250
|
LDP | |
| National Council Lower house |
31 / 200
|
FDP.The Liberals | |
| Council of States Upper house |
12 / 46
|
FDP.The Liberals |
Member parties [edit]
Outside the EU [edit]
- Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats
- Croatian Social Liberal Party
- Istrian Democratic Assembly
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ Parties and Elections in Europe: The database about parliamentary elections and political parties in Europe, by Wolfram Nordsieck
- ^ http://www.eldr.eu/en/press-releases/european-liberal-democrats-change-party-name-alde-party-0
- ^ http://www.aldeparty.eu/en/members-bureau
- ^ http://www.parliament.ge/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2344&Itemid=441&lang=en
- ^ http://www.parliament.ge/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2345&Itemid=444&lang=en
External links [edit]
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