1. History

2. Membership
    Membership by party in Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Parliaments  Membership at formation 

3. Structure
    Subgroups  Organisation 

4. Academic analysis

5. References

6. External links

The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group (ALDE) is the liberal–centrist^[4][5] political group of the European Parliament. It is made up of MEPs from two European political parties, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (formerly the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party) and the European Democratic Party, which collectively form the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.

ALDE is one of the three oldest Groups, dating 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 has expanded its remit to cover the different centrist traditions of each new Member State as they acceded to the Union, progressively changing its name in the process.

It is the fourth-largest Group in the Parliament and did participate in the Grand Coalition (the coalition designed to provide a majority) for the Sixth Parliament (2004–2009).

The pro-European platform of ALDE supports free market economics and pushes for European integration and the European single market.^[6]

History

The ALDE Group can trace 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,^[7] but the Group was officially founded as the Group of Liberals and Allies^[8] on 23 June 1953.^[8]

As the Assembly grew into the Parliament, the French Gaullists split from the Group on 21 January 1965^[9] 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^[8][10] in 1976,^[8] then to the Liberal and Democratic Reformist Group^[11] on 13 December 1985,^[8] then to the Group of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party^[8][10][12] on 19 July 1994^[8] 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 and social-liberal 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^[8] (ALDE) on 20 July 2004,^[8] 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.

Membership

Membership by party in Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Parliaments

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

Membership at formation

In September 1952, the third-largest grouping in the Common Assembly was the Liberal grouping with 11 members.^[24] The Group of Liberals and Allies was officially founded on 23 June 1953.^[8] By mid-September 1953, it was again the third-largest Group with 10 members.^[13]

Structure

Subgroups

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

Organisation

The Bureau is 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.^[14] The Bureau oversees the ALDE Group's main strategy and policies and is headed by a chair (referred to as the Leader). The day-to-day running of the Group is performed by its secretariat, led by its Secretary-General.

The senior staff of ALDE as of July 2012 are as follows:^[14]

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

Academic analysis

Along with the other political groups, ALDE has been analysed by academics on its positions regarding various issues. Those positions are summarized in this article. That article characterizes ALDE as 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

External links

• ALDE Group in the European Parliament (official website)
• {{YouTube|user=aldeadle|title=ALDE Group in the European Parliament}}

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