European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party
| European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party | |
|---|---|
 |
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| President | Sir Graham Watson MEP |
| Founded | March 1976 (as "Federation of Liberal and Democrat Parties in Europe") 30 April 2004 (as formal Party) |
| Headquarters | Rue Montoyer 31, 1000 Brussels, Belgium |
| Youth wing | European Liberal Youth |
| Ideology | Liberalism, Conservative liberalism, Social liberalism[1] |
| International affiliation | Liberal International |
| European Parliament Group | Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe |
| Official colours | Gold and Blue |
| Political foundation | European Liberal Forum |
| Website | |
| www.eldr.eu | |
| Politics of the European Union Political parties Elections |
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The European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party is a European political party mainly active in the European Union, composed of 56 national-level liberal and liberal-democratic parties from across Europe. Having developed from a loose confederation of national political parties in the 1970s, the ELDR is now a recognised European political party incorporated as a non-profit association under Belgian law. Despite this legal status, the ELDR party has yet to achieve significant grassroots involvement and retains much of the character of a mere confederation of national political parties.[citation needed] ELDR is affiliated to the Liberal International.
As of 2010, the ELDR is the third largest 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 ELDR-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 eight other EU member states: Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden.
Since 20 July 2004, ELDR 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 ELDR party was previously attached to the ELDR Group.
The youth wing of ELDR 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 German politician Alexander Plahr (FDP, Germany), who was elected to a two-year term as LYMEC President in May 2010, and has a collective membership of over 200,000 young liberal Europeans.
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[edit] Leadership
The leader of ELDR is Sir Graham Watson MEP. He was elected President for a two-year mandate on 25 November 2011 at the Congress in Palermo, Italy. Following his election, Sir Graham said: "I am honoured that ELDR has chosen me to lead our great party. I pledge to strengthen European Liberalism, support Liberal parties across our continent and build up the ELDR by opening its doors to new members."
"My three main goals will be to expand our Party, to update its campaign techniques and to build it into a party which is truly pan-European in its thinking."
"The multiple crises we are currently mired in - economic, political and environmental - are an opportunity for Liberals to show what we are made of."
"It is our job as Liberals to explain how we offer a real, principled and economically responsible alternative to the behemoths of conservatism and socialism. And as President of ELDR I intend to do just that."
[edit] Structure
[edit] Bureau
The day to day management of the ELDR Party is handled by the Bureau, the members of which are:
[edit] President
- Graham Watson MEP (Liberal Democrats, United Kingdom): ELDR Party President
[edit] Vice-Presidents
- Marc Guerrero (CDC, Spain)
- Lousewies van der Laan (Democrats 66, Netherlands)
- Alexander Graf Lambsdorff MEP (FDP, Germany)
- Leoluca Orlando MP (Italy of Values, Italy)
- Vesna Pusić MP (HNS, Croatia)
- Dick Roche (Fianna Fáil, Ireland)
- Astrid Thors MP (Swedish People's Party of Finland, Finland)
[edit] Treasurer
- Roman Jakic (Zares, Slovenia)
[edit] ALDE group leaders
- 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
[edit] Other party officials
- Federica Sabbati (Italy): ELDR Party Secretary-General
- Alexander Beels (VVD, Netherlands): ALDE Group Secretary-General
- Alexander Plahr (FDP, Germany): President, European Liberal Youth (LYMEC)
- Hans van Baalen MEP (VVD, Netherlands): President, Liberal International
[edit] ELDR Congress
The ELDR Congress is the sovereign body of the ELDR corporation, usually meeting on an annual basis, and as such its primary purposes are to:
- Elect members of the ELDR Bureau
- Debate, and adopt, resolutions on matters of policy;
- Adopt the ELDR Party's electoral manifesto for European Parliament elections
- Make amendments to the ELDR Party Statutes
The voting members of the ELDR Congress number around 600–700, and are composed of:
- Members of the ELDR Council
- A number of representatives nominated by each of the Member Parties based on the number of votes that Party received at the last set of European Parliament elections,
- 2 representatives nominated by each of the Affiliate Parties, and
- 10 representatives nominated by the European Liberal Youth.
In addition to the voting members of the ELDR Congress, the following are entitled to attend as non-voting members:
- ELDR members of the European Parliament,
- ELDR members of the EU Committee of the Regions,
- One delegate nominated by each of the liberal-democratic groupings in other European parliamentary assemblies, and
- One delegate nominated by Liberal International
[edit] ELDR Council
The ELDR Council acts as the ELDR Party's de facto executive committee, meeting in between meetings of the ELDR Congress, and is empowered to:
- Approve the budget of the ELDR Party;
- Approve ELDR membership applications; and
- Speak and act on behalf of the ELDR Party in between meetings of the ELDR Congress.
The voting members of the ELDR Council number around 100–150 members and are composed of:
- Voting members of the Bureau,
- Two or more representatives nominated by each of the Member Parties based on the number of votes that Party received at the last set of European Parliament elections, and
- One representative nominated by each of the Affiliate Parties, and
- One representative nominated by the European Liberal Youth
In addition to the voting members of the ELDR Council, the following are entitled to attend as non-voting members:
- Non-voting members of the Bureau,
- One representative nominated by each of the liberal-democratic groups in European parliamentary assemblies (including the European Parliament and the Committee of the Regions), and
- One representative nominated by Liberal International
[edit] ELDR Political Leaders' Meeting
In addition to the formal structure of the ELDR Party, there are convened at least two Political Leaders' Meetings a year in order to exchange views on the items on the agenda of the European Council and more general views on the European political situation.
The members of the Political Leaders' Meeting are:
- The President and Vice-Presidents of the ELDR Party
- ELDR Members of the European Commission
- ELDR Heads of Government
- The political leaders of ELDR Member Parties
- Other ELDR Ministers
- The President of the European Liberal Youth
[edit] 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– now:
Graham Watson
[edit] History of pan-European liberalism
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 ELDR Party 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 later became a European political party.
The ELDR Europarty allied with the European Democratic Party in 2004 to form the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, with a matching group in the European Parliament.
[edit] European Commissioners
ELDR Member Parties contribute 8 out of the 27 members of the European Commission:
- Siim Kallas (ERP, Estonia): Vice-President, European Commissioner for Transport
- Neelie Kroes (VVD, Netherlands): Vice-President, European Commissioner for Digital Agenda
- Olli Rehn (Keskusta, Finland): Vice-President, European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs
- Máire Geoghegan-Quinn (Fianna Fáil, Ireland): European Commissioner for Science and Research
- Karel De Gucht (OpenVLD, Belgium): European Commissioner for Trade
- Cecilia Malmström (Liberal People's Party (Sweden), Sweden): European Commissioner for Home Affairs
- Janez Potočnik (LDS, Slovenia): European Commissioner for the Environment
- Androula Vassiliou (United Democrats, Cyprus): European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth
[edit] Elected Representatives of Member Parties
[edit] European institutions
| Organisation | Institution | Number of seats |
|---|---|---|
 European Union |
European Commission |
8 / 27
|
| European Union |
European Council (Heads of Government) |
3 / 27
|
| European Union |
Council of the EU (Participation in Government) |
10 / 27
|
| European Union |
European Parliament |
75 / 736
|
| Council of Europe |
Parliamentary Assembly |
28 / 318
|
[edit] National Parliaments of European Union member states
[edit] National Parliaments outside the European Union
| Country | Institution | Number of seats | Member parties |
|---|---|---|---|
 Andorra |
General Council |
11 / 28
|
PLA |
 Azerbaijan |
National Assembly |
5 / 125
|
Musavat |
 Croatia |
Sabor |
17 / 151
|
HNS, IDS, HSLS |
 Georgia |
Parliament |
2 / 150
|
Republican |
 Kosovo |
Assembly |
13 / 120
|
AKR |
 Macedonia |
Assembly |
5 / 120
|
LDP, LPM |
 Moldova |
Parliament |
12 / 101
|
PL |
 Norway |
Storting |
2 / 169
|
Venstre |
 Serbia |
National Assembly |
11 / 250
|
LDP |
 Switzerland |
National Council Lower house |
31 / 200
|
FDP.The Liberals |
| Council of States Upper house |
12 / 46
|
FDP.The Liberals |
[edit] Member parties
[edit] Outside the EU
- Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats
- Croatian Social Liberal Party
- Istrian Democratic Assembly
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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