{{Infobox political party

| colorcode =

| name =

| abbreviation =

| logo = ALDE Party logo.svg

| logo_size = 300px

| president = Svenja Hahn (DE)

| secretary_general = Didrik de Schaetzen (BE)

| foundation =

| headquarters = Rue d'Idalie 11 - box 2,1050 Brussels, Belgium

| think_tank = European Liberal Forum

| youth_wing = European Liberal Youth

| membership_year =

| membership =

| ideology = LiberalismPro-Europeanism

| position = Centre to centre-right

| international = Liberal International

| europarl = {{plainlist|class=nowrap|

  • Renew (2019–present)
  • ALDE Group (2004–2019)
  • ELDR Group (1976–2004)

}}

| colours = Blue Magenta Yellow (customary)

| seats1_title = European Parliament

| seats1 =

| seats2_title =

| seats2 =

| seats3_title = European Council

| seats3 =

| seats4_title = EuropeanLower Houses

| seats4 =

| seats5_title = EuropeanUpper Houses

| seats5 =

| website =

| country = the European Union

}}

The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE Party) is a liberal European political party composed of national 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.

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).

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.

, 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.

Structure

Bureau

The day-to-day management of the ALDE Party is handled by the Bureau, the members of which are:

{|class=wikitable

!Office

!Name

!State member

!Party member

|-

|President

|Svenja Hahn MEP

|

|FDP

|-

| rowspan="10" |Vice-presidents

|-

|Yoko Alender

|

|Reform

|-

|Malik Azmani MEP

|

|VVD

|-

|Dan Barna MEP

|

|USR

|-

|Sal Brinton

|

|Lib Dem

|-

|Rik Daems

|

|Open VLD

|-

|Eva Kjer Hansen

|

|Venstre

|-

|Yevheniia Kravchuk MP

|

|Servant of the People

|-

|-

|Jouni Ovaska MP

|

|Keskusta

|-

|-

|Lucia Plaváková MP

|

|Progressive Slovakia

|-

|-

|Treasurer

|David Burke

|

|FF

|}

{|class=wikitable

|+Ex officio members

!Office

!Name

!State member

!Party member

|-

|ALDE Party Secretary-General

|Didrik de Schaetzen

|

|MR- Open VLD - DP

|-

|President of Liberal International

|Karl-Heinz Paqué

|

|FDP

|-

|ALDE Group Chair in the PACE

|Iulian Bulai

|

|USR

|-

|President of the Renew Europe Group in the European Parliament

|Valérie Hayer MEP

|

|Renaissance

|-

|Leader of the Renew Europe Group in the European Committee of the Regions

|François Decoster

|

||Renaissance

|-

|President of the European Liberal Forum

|Jan-Christoph Oetjen

|

|FDP

|-

|President of the European Liberal Youth

|Ines Holzegger

|

|NEOS

|}

Presidents

  • 1978–1981: Gaston Thorn
  • 1981–1985: Willy De Clercq
  • 1985–1990: Colette Flesch
  • 1990–1995: Willy De Clercq
  • 1995–2000: Uffe Ellemann-Jensen
  • 2000–2005: Werner Hoyer
  • 2005–2011: Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck
  • 2011–2015: Graham Watson
  • 2015–2021: Hans van Baalen
  • 2021–2024: Timmy Dooley Ilhan Kyuchyuk co-presidents
  • 2024–present: Svenja Hahn

History of pan-European liberalism

thumb|150px|right|ELDR Party logo (2009–2012)

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. 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. 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).

Funding

As a registered European political party, ALDE is entitled to European public funding, which it has received continuously since 2004.

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.

Below is the evolution of contributions and donations received by the ALDE.

{{#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:

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|-

!State

!Commissioner

!Portfolio

!Political party

! class="unsortable" style="width:100px;"|Portrait

|-

|{{flagicon|Estonia

}} Estonia

|Kaja Kallas

|High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy,

Vice President

|ER

|frameless|147x147px

|-

|{{flagicon|Ireland

}} Ireland

|Michael McGrath

|Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection

Commissioner

|FF

|frameless|165x165px

|-

| Slovenia

|Marta Kos

|Enlargement,

Commissioner

|Ind.

|frameless|165x165px

|-

| Belgium

|Hadja Lahbib

|Equality,Preparedness and Crisis Management

Commissioner

|MR

|frameless|165x165px

|}

Elected representatives of member parties

European institutions

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Organisation !! Institution !! Number of seats

|-

|rowspan=5 | || European Parliament ||

|-

| European Commission ||

|-

| European Council(Heads of Government) ||

|-

| Council of the European Union(Participation in Government) ||

|-

| Committee of the Regions ||

|-

| (as part of ) || Parliamentary Assembly ||

|}

European Council

{| class="wikitable sortable" width=100% style="border-collapse:collapse; border:#555"

|-

!Member State

!Title

!Representative

!Political party

!Member of the Council since

! class="unsortable" style="width:100px;"|Portrait

|-

| Estonia

|Prime Minister

|Kristen Michal

|Estonian Reform Party

|

|frameless|100px

|-

| Ireland

|Taoiseach

|Micheál Martin

|Fianna Fáil

|

|frameless|100px

|-

| Slovenia

|Prime Minister

|Robert Golob

|Freedom Movement

|

|frameless|100px

|}

In third countries

Through its associate and observer parties ALDE has two heads of state or government in non-EU countries:

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="background:white; width:100%;"

|-

!align=left|State

!align=left|Title

!align=left|Representative

!align=left|Political party

!align=left|In power since

! class="unsortable" style="width:100px;"|Portrait

|-

|rowspan=2 |

|President

|Karin Keller-Sutter

|rowspan=2 |FDP.The Liberals

|

|100px

|-

|Federal Councillor

|Ignazio Cassis

|

|100px

|}

National parliaments of European Union member states

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|-

! Country !! Institution !! Number of seats !! colspan="2" | Member parties

!Status

|-

| rowspan="2" |||National Council|||| colspan="2" |NEOS

|

|-

|Federal Council

|

| colspan="2" |NEOS

|

|-

| rowspan="4" ||| rowspan="2" |Chamber of Representatives|| rowspan="2" |||MR

|

|

|-

|Open Vld

|

|

|-

| rowspan="2"|Senate|| rowspan="2" |||MR

|

|

|-

|Open Vld

|

|

|-

||||National Assembly

|

| colspan="2" |PP

|

|-

| rowspan="6" ||| rowspan="6" |Sabor|| rowspan="6" |||HNS

|

|

|-

|HSLS

|

|

|-

|Glas

|

|

|-

|IDS-DDI

|

|

|-

|Centre

|

|

|-

|Focus

|

|

|-

||||House of Representatives

|

| colspan="2" |Democratic Alignment

|

|-

| rowspan="3" |

| rowspan="3" |Folketing

| rowspan="3" |

|RV

|

|

|-

|V

|

|

|-

|M

|

|

|-

| || Riigikogu|| ||colspan="2" |Reform ||

|-

| rowspan="2" ||| rowspan="2" |Parliament|| rowspan="2" |||Kesk

|

|

|-

|SFP

|

|

|-

| rowspan="4" ||| rowspan="2" |National Assembly|| rowspan="2" |||UDI

|

|

|-

|PR

|

|

|-

| rowspan="2"|Senate|| rowspan="2" |||UDI

|

|

|-

|PR

|

|

|-

|||Bundestag|||| colspan="2" |FDP

|

|-

|||Országgyűlés|||| colspan="2" |Momentum

|

|-

| rowspan="2" |||Dáil|||| colspan="2" |FF

|

|-

||Seanad|||| colspan="2" |FF

|

|-

| rowspan="3" ||| rowspan="2" |Chamber of Deputies|| rowspan="2" |||A

|

|

|-

|RI, +E

|

|

|-

||Senate of the Republic|||| colspan="2" |A

|

|-

| rowspan="2" ||| rowspan="2" |Seimas|| rowspan="2" |||LRLS

|

|

|-

|LP

|

|

|-

|||Saeima|||| colspan="2" |A/Par!

|

|-

|||Chamber of Deputies|||| colspan="2" |DP

|

|-

| rowspan="4" ||| rowspan="2" |House of Representatives|| rowspan="2" |||D66

|

|

|-

|VVD

|

|

|-

| rowspan="2"|Senate|| rowspan="2" |||D66

|

|

|-

|VVD

|

|

|-

|||Assembly of the Republic|||| colspan="2" |IL

|

|-

| rowspan="2" |||Chamber of Deputies|||| colspan="2" |USR

|

|-

|Senate|||| colspan="2" |USR

|

|-

|||National Council|||| colspan="2" |PS

|

|-

|||National Assembly|||| colspan="2" |Freedom Movement

|

|-

| rowspan="2" |||Congress of Deputies|||| colspan="2" |Cs

| rowspan="2"

|-

||Senate|||| colspan="2" |Cs

|-

| rowspan="2" ||| rowspan="2" |Riksdag|| rowspan="2" |||C

|

|

|-

|L

|

|

|}

National parliaments outside the European Union

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Country !! Institution !! Number of seats !! Member parties

|-

| || General Council || || DA, LA

|-

| || National Assembly || ||ANC, Bright Armenia

|-

| || National Assembly || || Musavat

|-

| || House of Representatives || || Our Party

|-

| || Parliament || || Lelo, SA, Republicans, Girchi MF, FD

|-

| || Althing || || Viðreisn

|-

| || Parliament || || PL

|-

| || Assembly || || LPCG

|-

| || Storting || || Venstre

|-

| || National Assembly || || PSG

|-

| rowspan=2| || National Council || || FDP, GLP

|-

|| Council of States || || FDP

|-

| || Verkhovna Rada || || Servant of the People, Voice

|-

| rowspan="3" |||House of Commons||||Liberal Democrats, Alliance

|-

||House of Lords||||Liberal Democrats

|-

||Gibraltar Parliament||||Libs

|}

Membership

thumb|300px|European states with parties associated with ALDE as full member or affiliate

As of January 2026 ALDE party had 55 full member and ten affiliated parties from EU and non-EU countries. 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.

Full members

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|- "

! Country or Region

! Party

! MEPs

|-

|rowspan="2"| ||Action for Andorra||rowspan="2"| Not in EU

|-

|Liberals of Andorra

|-

|||NEOS – The New Austria and Liberal Forum||

|-

|rowspan=2 | ||Reformist Movement||

|-

|Different||

|-

|||Our Party||Not in EU

|-

|||We Continue the Change||

|-

|rowspan=3 | ||Centre||

|-

|Focus||

|-

|Istrian Democratic Assembly||

|-

|||Democratic Alignment||

|-

|rowspan=3 |||Social Liberal Party||

|-

|Venstre||

|-

|Moderates||

|-

|||Estonian Reform Party||

|-

|rowspan=2 |||Centre Party||

|-

|Swedish People's Party of Finland||

|-

|rowspan=2 |||Radical Party||

|-

|Union of Democrats and Independents||

|-

|rowspan=3 | ||Lelo for Georgia||rowspan="3"|Not in EU

|-

|Strategy Aghmashenebeli

|-

|Girchi — More Freedom

|-

|||Free Democratic Party||

|-

| ||Momentum Movement||

|-

|||Viðreisn||Not in EU

|-

|||Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party||

|-

|rowspan=4 |||Action||

|-

|European Liberal Democrats||

|-

|Italian Radicals||

|-

|More Europe||

|-

|||Democratic Party of Kosovo||Not in EU

|-

|rowspan=2 |||For Latvia's Development||

|-

|Movement For!||

|-

|rowspan=2 |||Freedom Party||

|-

|Liberals' Movement||

|-

|||Democratic Party||

|-

|||Liberal Party of Montenegro||Not in EU

|-

|||Liberal Democratic Party||Not in EU

|-

|rowspan=2 |||Democrats 66||

|-

|People's Party for Freedom and Democracy||

|-

|||Liberal Party||Not in EU

|-

|||Liberal Initiative||

|-

|||Save Romania Union||

|-

|||Movement of Free Citizens||Not in EU

|-

|||Progressive Slovakia||

|-

|||Freedom Movement||

|-

|||Citizens||

|-

|rowspan=2 |||Centre Party||

|-

|Liberals||

|-

|rowspan=2 |||FDP.The Liberals||rowspan="2" |Not in EU

|-

|Green Liberal Party of Switzerland

|-

|rowspan=3 | ||Servant of the People||rowspan="3" |Not in EU

|-

|Voice

|-

|European Party of Ukraine

|-

|||Liberal Democrats||Not in EU

|}

Affiliated members

{{columns-list|colwidth=15em|

  • Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats
  • Civic Liberal Alliance
  • Croatian Social Liberal Party
  • Republican Party of Georgia
  • Droa
  • Team K
  • Civil Position
  • Power of the People
  • Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
  • Liberal Party of Gibraltar

}}

Former members

{{columns-list|colwidth=15em|

  • Armenian National Congress (2016-2025)
  • Bright Armenia (2019-2025)
  • Musavat (2007-2025)
  • Party of Freedom and Progress (2013-2024)
  • National Movement for Stability and Progress
  • Movement for Rights and Freedoms (2001–2024)
  • ANO 2011 (2014–2024)
  • Liberal Party
  • Party of Liberal Democrats
  • United Democrats (1996-2025)
  • Estonian Centre Party (2004–2024)
  • Free Democrats (2012-2025)
  • Drassi (2013–2014)
  • Alliance of Free Democrats (2004–2009)
  • Hungarian Liberal Party (2013-2025)
  • Bright Future
  • Progressive Democrats
  • Italian Liberal Party (1976–1994)
  • Italian Republican Party (1976–2010)
  • Italy of Values
  • New Kosovo Alliance (2009-2025)
  • Labour Party (2004–2021)
  • Liberal and Centre Union
  • Coalition for Unity and Welfare (2023-2025)
  • Liberal Party (2010-2025)
  • Democratic Party (2017–2020)
  • Liberal Alliance of Montenegro (1994–2005)
  • Social Democratic Party (until 1996)
  • Earth Party
  • National Liberal Party (2007–2014)
  • Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (2015–2019)
  • Yabloko (2004–2025)
  • People's Freedom Party
  • Party of Alenka Bratušek (2014–2022)
  • List of Marjan Šarec (2018–2022)
  • Modern Centre Party (2014–2021)
  • Zares
  • Liberal Democracy of Slovenia
  • Catalan European Democratic Party (until 2018)

}}

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.

Below is the evolution of individual membership of ALDE since 2019.

{{#chart:Individual members of European political parties.Line.chart

|arg:cols=year,ALDE

}}

Election results

European Parliament

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right"

! colspan=2| Year

! Lead Candidate

! % Seats

! Seats

! Status

! Ref

|-

! colspan=2| 2024

| Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann

| 7.2 (#4)

|

|

|

|}

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