Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group

The Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE Group) was the liberal–centrist[4][5] political group of the European Parliament from 2004 until 2019. It was made up of MEPs from two European political parties, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and the European Democratic Party, which collectively form the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
European Parliament group
Name	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
English abbr.	ALDE
French abbr.	ADLE
Formal name	Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
Ideology	Liberalism[1] Conservative liberalism[2] Social liberalism[2]
Political position	Centre
European parties	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party European Democratic Party
Associated organisations	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Liberal International
From	20 July 2004[3]
To	June 2019
Preceded by	European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party Group
Succeeded by	Renew Europe
Website	alde.eu

The ALDE Group traced its unofficial origin back to September 1952 and the first meeting of the Parliament's predecessor, the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community. Founded as an explicitly liberal group, it expanded its remit to cover the different traditions of each new Member State as they acceded to the Union, progressively changing its name in the process. Its immediate predecessor was the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party Group (ELDR).

The ALDE Group was the fourth-largest group in the Eighth European Parliament term, and previously participated in the Grand Coalition (the coalition designed to provide a majority) during the Sixth Parliament (2004–2009). The pro-European platform of ALDE was in support of free market economics and pushed for European integration and the European single market.[6]

On 12 June 2019 it was announced that the successor group in alliance with La République En Marche! would be named Renew Europe.[7][8]

History

Guy Verhofstadt

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 the Grand Coalition for the Fifth Parliament. The customary split of the Presidency of the European Parliament between Groups in the Coalition meant that the Group achieved its first President of the European Parliament on 15 January 2002, when Pat Cox was elected to the post to serve the latter half of the five-year term. The Group lost its Grand Coalition status after the 2004 elections.

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 intended to dissolve and form a new, centrist alliance with Emmanuel Macron's "Renaissance" list.[14]

Membership

The ALDE has MEPs from 20 countries, including 14 with more than one MEP (in yellow) and six with one MEP each (light yellow).

Membership by party in Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Parliaments

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[lower-alpha 1]	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 [lower-alpha 2]	1 / 6	–	–
Czech Republic	ANO 2011	ANO 2011	ALDE	–	–	2 / 21
	Petr Ježek and Pavel Telička (Independent)[lower-alpha 3]	–	–	–	–	2 / 21
Denmark	Venstre - Denmark's Liberal Party	Venstre - Danmarks Liberale Parti	ALDE	3 / 14	3 / 13	1 / 13 [lower-alpha 4]
	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 [lower-alpha 5]
	Cap21	Citoyenneté Action Participation Pour le XXI^e 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	[lower-alpha 6]	3 / 12	- [lower-alpha 7]
	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 [lower-alpha 8]	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[lower-alpha 9]	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[lower-alpha 9]	–	–	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

1. Gérard Deprez as EDP individual member
2. The Democratic Party left the ALDE for S&D in 2009.
3. They were elected as ANO 2011
4. Jens Rhode was originally also elected for Ventre, but left to join Danish Social Liberal Party in December 2015.
5. 4 MoDem MEPs were elected in 2014
6. Fianna Fáil was then a member of Union for Europe of the Nations.
7. The sole Fianna Fáil member sat with the European Conservatives and Reformists.
8. EDP member until 2012
9. Following the 2014 European Parliament election, the National Liberal Party (PNL) left ALDE to join the European People's Party. Reelected MEPs Norica Nicolai and Renate Weber rejoined the ALDE group later and were subsequently expelled from their party.

Membership at formation

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]

Structure

Subgroups

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.

Organisation

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]

Member	Position	Nation
Guy Verhofstadt	President	Belgium
Sophia in 't Veld	Vice-President	Netherlands
Pavel Telička	Vice-President	Czech Republic
Maite Pagazaurtundúa Ruiz	Vice-President	Spain
Andrus Ansip	Vice-President	Estonia
Filiz Hyusmenova	Vice-President	Bulgaria
Marielle de Sarnez	Vice-President	France
Izaskun Bilbao Barandica	Vice-President	Spain
Norica Nicolai	Vice-President	Romania
Petras Auštrevičius	Member	Lithuania
Catherine Bearder	Member	United Kingdom
Philippe De Backer	Member	Belgium
Mircea Diaconu	Member	Romania
José Inácio Faria	Member	Portugal
Fredrick Federley	Member	Sweden
Charles Goerens	Member	Luxembourg
Marian Harkin	Member	Ireland
Ivan Jakovčić	Member	Croatia
Alexander Graf Lambsdorff	Member	Germany
António Marinho e Pinto	Member	Portugal
Louis Michel	Member	Belgium
Angelika Mlinar	Member	Austria
Ulrike Müller	Member	Germany
Javier Nart	Member	Spain
Maite Pagazaurtundúa	Member	Spain
Morten Helveg Petersen	Member	Denmark
Jozo Radoš	Member	Croatia
Olli Rehn	Member	Finland
Yana Toom	Member	Estonia
Nils Torvalds	Member	Finland
Ramon Tremosa i Balcells	Member	Spain
Ulla Tørnæs	Member	Denmark
Viktor Uspaskich	Member	Lithuania
Ivo Vajgl	Member	Slovenia
Johannes Cornelis van Baalen	Member	Netherlands
Cecilia Wikström	Member	Sweden

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

From	To	Chair	Source
1953	1956	"Delbos" (likely Yvon Delbos)	[18]
1957	1968	"Pleven" (René Pleven?)	[15][18]
2 February 1970	15 March 1973	Cornelis Berkhouwer	[18][19]
1973	1977	"Durieux"	[18]
9 October 1978	16 July 1979	Jean-François Pintat	[20]
17 July 1979	27 June 1984	Martin Bangemann	[18][21]
24 July 1984	24 July 1989	Simone Veil	[22]
25 July 1989	11 December 1991	Valéry Giscard d'Estaing	[22][23]
27 January 1992	18 July 1994	Yves Galland	[22][24]
19 July 1994	2 August 1998	Gijs de Vries	[22][25]
9 September 1998	14 January 2002	Pat Cox	[22][26]
16 January 2002	31 June 2009	Graham Watson	[22][27]
1 July 2009	present	Guy Verhofstadt	[28]

Academic analysis

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.

References

1. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "European Union". Parties and Elections in Europe. Archived from the original on 2017-06-08. Retrieved 2019-05-30.
2. Slomp, Hans (2011-09-26). Europe, A Political Profile: An American Companion to European Politics. ABC-CLIO. p. 245. ISBN 978-0-313-39182-8. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
3. "ALDE on Europe Politique". Europe-politique.eu. Retrieved 2010-06-18.
4. Andreas Staab (2011). The European Union Explained, Second Edition: Institutions, Actors, Global Impact. Indiana University Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-253-00164-1. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
5. Tapio Raunio (2012). "Political Interests: The European Parliament's Party Groups". In John Peterson; Michael Shackleton (eds.). The Institutions of the European Union. Oxford University Press. p. 341. ISBN 978-0-19-957498-8.
6. David Phinnemore; Lee McGowan (2013). A Dictionary of the European Union. Routledge. p. 277. ISBN 978-1-135-08127-0. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
7. Baume, Maïa de La (2019-06-12). "Macron-Liberal alliance to be named Renew Europe". POLITICO. Retrieved 2019-06-12.
8. https://euobserver.com/tickers/145134
9. "Composition of the Common Assembly (10–13 September 1952)". CVCE. Retrieved 2013-04-28.
10. "UFE on Europe Politique". Europe-politique.eu. Retrieved 2010-06-18.
11. "Political Groups of the European Parliament". Kas.de. Archived from the original on 2011-05-17. Retrieved 2010-06-18.
12. European Parliament archive entry for Simone Veil (incl. Membership)
13. "Group names 1999". Europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2010-06-18.
14. "Frenzy in Firenze: 4 takeaways from EU lead candidate debate". Politico. 2019-05-03. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
15. "Directorate-General for the Presidency - CARDOC unit and archives - Description of the main holdings and collections" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-06-18.
16. "Position of the political groups in mid-September 1953". CVCE. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
17. "ALDE website article "Bureau"". Alde.eu. Retrieved 2010-06-18.
18. "Archived article 003730_1" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-09-11. from the Archive of European Integration
19. European Parliament archive entry for Cornelis Berkhouwer (incl. Membership)
20. European Parliament archive entry for Jean-François Pintat (incl. Membership)
21. European Parliament archive entry for Martin Bangemann (incl. Membership)
22. "ALDE Group press release "ALDE Group backs Watson to continue as Leader", dated 29 November 2006". Alde.eu. 2006-11-29. Retrieved 2010-06-18.
23. European Parliament archive entry for Valery Giscard d'Estaing (incl. Membership)
24. European Parliament archive entry for Yves Galland (incl. Membership)
25. European Parliament archive entry for Gijs de Vries (incl. Membership)
26. European Parliament archive entry for Pat Cox (incl. Membership)
27. European Parliament archive entry for Graham Watson (incl. Membership)
28. "ALDE Group in the European Parliament : Guy Verhofstadt elected unopposed as new ALDE group leader". 17 July 2009. Archived from the original on 17 July 2009.

External links

• ALDE Group in the European Parliament (official website)
• ALDE Group in the European Parliament's channel on YouTube