| European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party | |
|---|---|
| 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/Montoyerstraat 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. 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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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."
The day to day management of the ELDR Party is handled by the Bureau, the members of which are:
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:
The voting members of the ELDR Congress number around 600–700, and are composed of:
In addition to the voting members of the ELDR Congress, the following are entitled to attend as non-voting members:
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:
The voting members of the ELDR Council number around 100–150 members and are composed of:
In addition to the voting members of the ELDR Council, the following are entitled to attend as non-voting members:
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:
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.
ELDR Member Parties contribute 8 out of the 27 members of the European Commission:
| 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
|
| 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 |
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