Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party
Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox political party
The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE Party) is a European political party composed of 76 national-level parties from across Europe, mainly active in the European Union. The ALDE Party is affiliated with Liberal International and a recognised European political party, incorporated as a non-profit association under Belgian law.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
On 10 November 2012, under the leadership of Sir Graham Watson MEP, the party chose its current name 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.
Template:As of, ALDE Party is represented in European Union institutions, with 51 MEPs and five members of the European Commission. Of the 27 EU member states, there are two with ALDE-affiliated Prime Ministers: Kristen Michal (Estonian Reform Party) in Estonia and Alexander De Croo (Open VLD) in Belgium. ALDE Party members are also in governments in ten other EU member states: Cyprus, France, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Germany and the Netherlands. Charles Michel, former Belgian prime minister, was the president of the European Council until December 2024.
ALDE's think tank is the European Liberal Forum, led by Jan-Christoph Oetjen 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 Ines Holzegger.
In 2011, 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) maintained direct membership in the ALDE Party from several EU countries. Over 40 coordinators mobilised 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. Individual membership was eventually discontinued in 2023.
In 2025, the Alliance was declared an undesirable organization in Russia.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Structure
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Bureau
The day-to-day management of the ALDE Party is handled by the Bureau, the members of which are:<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
| Office | Name | State member | Party member |
|---|---|---|---|
| President | Svenja Hahn MEP | Template:Flag | FDP |
| Vice-presidents | |||
| Yoko Alender | Template:Flag | Reform | |
| Malik Azmani MEP | Template:Flag | VVD | |
| Dan Barna MEP | Template:Flag | USR | |
| Baroness Sal Brinton | Template:Flag | LibDem | |
| Rik Daems | Template:Flag | Open VLD | |
| Eva Kjer Hansen | Template:Flag | Venstre | |
| Yevheniia Kravchuk MP | Template:Flag | Servant of the People | |
| Jouni Ovaska MP | Template:Flag | Keskusta | |
| Lucia Plaváková MP | Template:Flag | Progressive Slovakia | |
| Treasurer | David Burke | Template:Flag | FF |
| Office | Name | State member | Party member |
|---|---|---|---|
| ALDE Party Secretary-General | Didrik de Schaetzen | Template:Flag | MR- Open VLD - DP |
| President of Liberal International | Karl-Heinz Paqué | Template:Flag | FDP |
| ALDE Group Chair in the PACE | Iulian Bulai | Template:Flag | USR |
| President of the Renew Europe Group in the European Parliament | Valérie Hayer MEP | Template:Flag | Renaissance |
| Leader of the Renew Europe Group in the European Committee of the Regions | François Decoster | Template:Flag | Renaissance |
| President of the European Liberal Forum | Jan-Christoph Oetjen | Template:Flag | FDP |
| President of the European Liberal Youth | Ines Holzegger | Template:Flag | NEOS |
Presidents
- 1978–1981: Template:Flagicon Gaston Thorn
- 1981–1985: Template:Flagicon Willy De Clercq
- 1985–1990: Template:Flagicon Colette Flesch
- 1990–1995: Template:Flagicon Willy De Clercq
- 1995–2000: Template:Flagicon Uffe Ellemann-Jensen
- 2000–2005: Template:Flagicon Werner Hoyer
- 2005–2011: Template:Flagicon Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck
- 2011–2015: Template:Flagicon Graham Watson
- 2015–2021: Template:Flagicon Hans van Baalen
- 2021–2024: Template:Flagicon Timmy Dooley Template:Flagicon Ilhan Kyuchyuk co-presidents
- 2024–present: Template:Flagicon Svenja Hahn
History of pan-European liberalism
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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.<ref name="Almeida2012">Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref name="Almeida2012" /> 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).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Funding
As a registered European political party, ALDE is entitled to European public funding, which it has received continuously since 2004.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Below is the evolution of European public funding received by ALDE. {{#chart:Evolution_of_public_funding_of_European_political_parties.Line.chart |arg:where=party |arg:eq=ALDE |arg:cols=year,maximum_allocated,amount_received }}
In line with the Regulation on European political parties and European political foundations, ALDE also raises private funds to co-finance its activities. As of 2025, European parties must raise at least 10% of their reimbursable expenditure from private sources, while the rest can be covered using European public funding.Template:Efn
Below is the evolution of contributions and donations received by the ALDE.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="epfo">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> {{#chart:Contributions raised by European political parties.Line.chart |arg:cols=year,ALDE }} {{#chart:Donations raised by European political parties.Line.chart |arg:cols=year,ALDE }}
European Commissioners
Members from ALDE Party political family contribute five out of the 27 members of the European Commission:
| State | Commissioner | Portfolio | Political party | Portrait |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Flagicon Estonia | Kaja Kallas | High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy,
Vice President |
ER | File:Kaja Kallas, High Representative of the Union, and Vice-President of the European Commission - P064583-775481 (cropped).jpg |
| Template:Flagicon Ireland | Michael McGrath | Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection
Commissioner |
FF | File:McGrath EC Portrait 2024 (cropped).jpg |
| Template:Flagicon Slovenia | Marta Kos | Enlargement,
Commissioner |
Ind.Template:Efn | File:Kos EC Portrait 2024 (cropped).jpg |
| Template:Flagicon Belgium | Hadja Lahbib | Equality,Preparedness and Crisis Management
Commissioner |
MR | File:Lahbib EC Portrait 2024 (cropped).jpg |
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Elected representatives of member parties
European institutions
| Organisation | Institution | Number of seats | |
|---|---|---|---|
| {{#invoke:flag | European Union}} | European Parliament | Template:EUPP data |
| European Commission | Template:EUPP data | ||
| European Council (Heads of Government) |
Template:EUPP data | ||
| Council of the European Union (Participation in Government) |
|||
| Committee of the Regions | Template:EUPP data | ||
| Template:Flag (as part of Template:Wikidata) | Parliamentary Assembly | Template:Composition barTemplate:Wikidata |
European Council
| Member State | Title | Representative | Political party | Member of the Council since | Portrait |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Flagicon Estonia | Prime Minister | Kristen Michal | Estonian Reform Party | Template:Dts | File:Kristen Michal in 2024 (cropped).jpg |
| Template:Flagicon Ireland | Taoiseach | Micheál Martin | Fianna Fáil | Template:Dts | File:Micheál Martin TD (cropped).jpg |
| Template:Flagicon Slovenia | Prime Minister | Robert Golob | Freedom Movement | Template:Dts | File:Novinarska konferenca po sestanku o energetski samooskrbi - 30.1.2024 - Robert Golob (cropped).jpg |
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In third countries
Through its associate and observer parties ALDE has two heads of state or government in non-EU countries:
| State | Title | Representative | Political party | In power since | Portrait |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Flag | President | Karin Keller-Sutter | FDP.The Liberals | Template:Dts | File:Karin Keller-Sutter (2024, cropped).jpg |
| Federal Councillor | Ignazio Cassis | Template:Dts | File:Ignazio Cassis 2024 (3x4 cropped).jpg |
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National parliaments of European Union member states
National parliaments outside the European Union
Membership
The ALDE party has 73 member parties from EU and non-EU countries.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Only delegates from full members of the ALDE Party and its youth wing LYMEC, together with the delegates of the ALDE Party Supporters and ALDE Party Bureau members, are permitted to vote at the ALDE Congress and Council. Affiliated member parties have non-voting delegates.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Full members
Affiliated members
Former members
Individual members
ALDE also includes a number of individual members. For many years, ALDE had the largest number of individual members of all European parties; however, this membership was discontinued with only one individual member remaining as of 2024. As most other European parties, it has not sought to develop mass individual membership.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Below is the evolution of individual membership of ALDE since 2019.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> {{#chart:Individual members of European political parties.Line.chart |arg:cols=year,ALDE }}
Election results
European Parliament
| Year | Lead Candidate | % Seats | Seats | Status | Ref | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann | 7.2 (#4) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Yes | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |
CitationClass=web
}}</ref> | |
See also
- European Liberal Forum
- European Liberal Youth
- European political party
- Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations
- European political foundation
- Liberal International
- Political parties of the world
Notes
References
External links
Template:Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party Template:Renew Europe Template:European political parties Template:Political organisations at European Union level Template:ELDR member parties Template:Authority control