Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group

 

The ALDE Group traced its unofficial ancestry back to the Liberal members present at the first meeting of the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community (the Parliament's predecessor) on 10 September 1952,^[9] but the Group was officially founded as the Group of Liberals and Allies^[3] on 23 June 1953.^[3]

As the Assembly grew into the Parliament, the French Gaullists split from the Group on 21 January 1965^[10] and the Group started the process of changing its name to match the liberal/centrist traditions of the new member states, firstly to the Liberal and Democratic Group^[3][11] in 1976,^[3] then to the Liberal and Democratic Reformist Group^[12] on 13 December 1985,^[3] then to the Group of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party^[3][11][13] on 19 July 1994^[3] to match the European political party of the same name.

In 1999, the Group partnered with European People's Party–European Democrats (EPP-ED) group to form an informal coalition for the Fifth Parliament. This included supporting the EPP's candidate for President of the Parliament in 1999 and the ALDE candidate in 2002. This meant that the Group secured its first President of the European Parliament since Simone Veil, when Pat Cox was elected to the post to serve the latter half of the Parliament's five-year term. This arrangement was discontinued after the 2009 election, when the EPP and the socialist S&D Group formed an informal Grand Coalition.

On 13 July 2004, the Group approved a recommendation to unite with MEPs from the centrist political party at the European level called the European Democratic Party (EDP) founded by François Bayrou's Union for French Democracy, the Labour Party of Lithuania and Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy of Italy.

The Group accordingly became the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe^[3] (ALDE) on 20 July 2004,^[3] to match the eponymous transnational political alliance, although the two European-level parties remained separate outside the European Parliament. The MEP Graham Watson of the British Liberal Democrats became the first chair of ALDE.

In May 2019, speaking at a debate leading up to the 2019 European Parliament election, ALDE President Guy Verhofstadt announced that following the election, the group would form a new, centrist alliance with Emmanuel Macron's "Renaissance" list and be renamed as Renew Europe.^[14]

 

The national parties that are members of ALDE are as follows:

Country	National party	National party in national language	European party	MEPs 2004–2009	MEPs 2009–2014	MEPs 2014–2019
Austria	NEOS – The New Austria and Liberal Forum	Neos – Das Neue Österreich und Liberales Forum	ALDE	1 / 18	–	1 / 18
Belgium	Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats	Dutch: Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten	ALDE	3 / 24 3 / 14	3 / 22 3 / 13	3 / 21 3 / 12
	Reformist Movement	French: Mouvement Réformateur	ALDE	2 / 24 2 / 9	2 / 22 2 / 8	2 / 21 2 / 8
			EDP[a]	1 / 24 1 / 9	–	1 / 21 1 / 8
Bulgaria	National Movement for Stability and Progress	Национално движение за стабилност и възход (Nacionalno Dviženie za Stabilnost i Văzhod)	ALDE	2 / 18	2 / 18	–
	Movement for Rights and Freedoms	Движение за права и свободи (Dvizhenie za Prava i Svobodi)	ALDE	3 / 18	3 / 18	4 / 17
Croatia	Civic Liberal Alliance	Građansko-liberalni savez	ALDE	–	–	1 / 11
	Istrian Democratic Assembly	Istarski demokratski sabor - Dieta democratica istriana	ALDE	–	–	1 / 11
Cyprus	Democratic Party	Greek: Δημοκρατικό Κόμμα (Dimokratikó Kómma) Turkish: Demokrat Parti	ALDE [b]	1 / 6	–	–
Czech Republic	ANO 2011	ANO 2011	ALDE	–	–	2 / 21
	Petr Ježek and Pavel Telička (Independent)[c]	–	–	–	–	2 / 21
Denmark	Venstre - Denmark's Liberal Party	Venstre - Danmarks Liberale Parti	ALDE	3 / 14	3 / 13	1 / 13 [d]
	Danish Social Liberal Party	Det Radikale Venstre	ALDE	1 / 14	–	2 / 13
Estonia	Estonian Centre Party	Eesti Keskerakond	ALDE	1 / 6	2 / 6	1 / 6
	Estonian Reform Party	Eesti Reformierakond	ALDE	1 / 6	1 / 6	2 / 6
Finland	Centre Party	Finnish: Suomen Keskusta Swedish: Centern i Finland	ALDE	4 / 14	3 / 13	3 / 13
	Swedish People's Party	Finnish: Suomen ruotsalainen kansanpuolue Swedish: Svenska Folkpartiet i Finland	ALDE	1 / 14	1 / 13	1 / 13
France	Democratic Movement	Mouvement Démocrate	EDP	7 / 78	5 / 74	2 / 74 [e]
	Cap21	Citoyenneté Action Participation Pour le XXIe Siècle	None	–	1 / 74	–
	Civic Alliance for Democracy in Europe	Alliance Citoyenne pour la Démocratie en Europe	ALDE	3 / 78	–	–
	Génération citoyens	–	none	–	–	1 / 74
	Radical Movement	Mouvement radical	ALDE	–	–	2 / 74
	Union of Democrats and Independents	Union des démocrates et indépendants	EDP (2014–2016) ALDE (2016–2019)	–	–	1 / 74
Germany	Free Democratic Party	Freie Demokratische Partei	ALDE	7 / 99	12 / 99	3 / 96
	Free Voters	Freie Wähler	EDP	–	–	1 / 96
Greece	Drassi	Δράση Drassi	none	–	1 / 22	–
Hungary	Alliance of Free Democrats	Szabad Demokraták Szövetsége - A Magyar Liberális Párt	ALDE	2 / 24	–	–
	Hungarian Liberal Party	Magyar Liberális Párt - Liberálisok		–	–	–
	Momentum Movement	Momentum Mozgalom		–	–	–
Ireland	Fianna Fáil	–	ALDE	[f]	3 / 12	- [g]
	Marian Harkin (Independent)	–	EDP	1 / 13	1 / 12	1 / 11
Italy	Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy (note: merged into PD in 2007)	Democrazia è Libertà - La Margherita	EDP	9 / 78	–	–
	Italy of Values	Italia dei Valori	ALDE	1 / 78	5 / 73	–
	Alliance for Italy	Alleanza per l'Italia	EDP	1 / 78	1 / 73	–
	Italian Radicals	Radicali Italiani	ALDE	2 / 78	–	–
Latvia	Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way	Latvijas Pirmā Partija / Latvijas Ceļš	ALDE	1 / 9	1 / 9	–
	Union of Greens and Farmers	Zaļo un Zemnieku savienība	EGP (LZP)	–	–	1 / 8
Lithuania	Labour Party	Darbo Partija	ALDE	5 / 13 [h]	1 / 12	2 / 11
	Liberal and Centre Union	Liberalų ir Centro Sąjunga	ALDE	2 / 13	–	–
	Liberal Movement	Liberalų Saįūdis	ALDE	–	1 / 12	1 / 11
Luxembourg	Democratic Party	Luxembourgish: Demokratesch Partei French: Parti Démocratique German: Demokratische Partei	ALDE	1 / 6	1 / 6	1 / 6
Netherlands	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	Volkspartij Voor Vrijheid en Democratie	ALDE	4 / 27	3 / 26	3 / 26
	Democrats 66	Democraten 66	ALDE	1 / 27	3 / 26	4 / 26
Poland	Democratic Party – demokraci.pl	Partia Demokratyczna - Demokraci.pl	ALDE	4 / 54	–	–
	Paweł Piskorski (Independent)	–	none	1 / 54	–	–
	Marek Czarnecki (Independent)	–	none	1 / 54	–	–
Portugal	Liberal Initiative	Iniciativa Liberal	ALDE	–	–	–
	Democratic Republican Party	Partido Democrático Republicano	EDP	–	–	1 / 21
Romania	National Liberal Party	Partidul Național Liberal	ALDE[i]	6 / 35	5 / 33	–
	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (formerly PNL and Independent)	Alianța Liberalilor și Democraților	ALDE	–	–	1 / 32
	Renate Weber (formerly PNL)	–	ALDE[i]	–	–	1 / 32
	Mircea Diaconu (Independent)	–	ALDE	–	–	1 / 32
Slovakia	People's Party – Movement for a Democratic Slovakia	Ľudová Strana - Hnutie Za Demokratické Slovensko	EDP	–	1 / 13	–
Slovenia	Liberal Democracy of Slovenia	Liberalna Demokracija Slovenije	ALDE	2 / 7	1 / 8	–
	Zares – Social Liberals	Zares - Socialno-Liberalni	ALDE	–	1 / 8	–
	Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia	Demokratična stranka upokojencev Slovenije	EDP	–	–	1 / 8
	List of Marjan Sarec	Lista Marjana Šarca, LMŠ	ALDE	–	–	–
Spain	Basque Nationalist Party	Basque: Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea	EDP	1 / 54	1 / 54	1 / 54
	Catalan European Democratic Party	Catalan: Partit Demòcrata Europeu Català	ALDE	1 / 54	1 / 54	1 / 54
	Union, Progress and Democracy	Spanish: Unión, Progreso y Democracia	None	–	1 / 54	4 / 54
	Citizens	Spanish: Ciudadanos – Partido de la Ciudadanía	ALDE	–	–	2 / 54
Sweden	Liberals	Liberalerna	ALDE	1 / 19	3 / 20	2 / 20
	Centre Party	Centerpartiet	ALDE	1 / 19	1 / 20	1 / 20
United Kingdom	Liberal Democrats	Welsh: Democratiaid Rhyddfrydol	ALDE	11 / 78	12 / 73	1 / 73
Total ALDE Party				70	74	56
Total EDP				26	10	8
Total Other				4	1	4
Total				100	85	68

In September 1952, the third-largest grouping in the Common Assembly was the Liberal grouping with 11 members.^[15] The Group of Liberals and Allies was officially founded on 23 June 1953.^[3] By mid-September 1953, it was again the third-largest Group with 10 members.^[16]

ALDE was a coalition of liberal and centrist MEPs. It did not have formal subgroups, although the MEPs fell naturally into two informal subgroups, depending on whether they associated with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party or the European Democratic Party.

The Bureau was the main decision making body of the ALDE Group and is composed of the leaders of the delegations from each member state that elects ALDE MEPs.^[17] The Bureau oversaw the ALDE Group's main strategy and policies and was headed by a chair (referred to as the Leader). The day-to-day running of the Group was performed by its secretariat, led by its Secretary-General.

The senior staff of ALDE as of July 2012 were as follows:^[17]

The chairs of ALDE and its predecessors from 1953 to 2019 are as follows:

Chair		Took office	Left office	Country (Constituency)	Party
Yvon Delbos		1953	1956	France	Radical Party
René Pleven		1957	1968	France	Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance
Cornelis Berkhouwer		1970	1973	Netherlands	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
Jean-François Pintat		1978	1979	France	Union for French Democracy
Martin Bangemann		1979	1984	West Germany	Free Democratic Party
Simone Veil		1984	1989	France	Union for French Democracy
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing		1989	1991	France	Union for French Democracy
Yves Galland		1992	1994	France	Union for French Democracy
Gijs de Vries		1994	1998	Netherlands	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
Pat Cox		1998	2002	Ireland (Munster)	Independent
Graham Watson		2002	2009	United Kingdom (South West England)	Liberal Democrats
Guy Verhofstadt		2009	2019	Belgium (Dutch)	Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats

Along with the other political groups, ALDE has been analysed by academics on its positions regarding various issues. In short, it's a group of cohesive, gender-balanced centrist Euroneutrals that cooperate most closely with the EPP, are ambiguous on hypothetical EU taxes and supportive of eventual full Turkish accession to the European Union.

• Archives of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, at the Historical Archives of the European Union
• ALDE Group in the European Parliament (official website)