Welcome to Liberal Democrat Voice’s coverage of the Annual Congress of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe, or ALDE for short. The Congress, which was officially opened yesterday evening, continues until Saturday.

As at many similar events, scheduling anything for 9 a.m. tends to signify a less exciting part of the business or, for the more cynical, things that the leadership hope to sneak through relatively unnoticed. ALDE Council meetings tend to into the former category… And yet, because most, if not all, of the key figures are present, it offers an opportunity to see how Bureau candidates perform in an organisational context.

The first key item on the agenda was applications for observer membership from three new emerging liberal parties, Drassi from Greece, Bright Future from Iceland and the Party of Freedom and Progress from Belarus.

Drassi has emerged from the wreckage of the shortlived Democratic Alliance, and has a policy platform based on cutting taxes and the size of government. Normally, that would place them on the centre-right of European liberalism, but given the state of Greece’s economy, it might just be common sense.

Bright Future is another new player on the Icelandic political scene, led by a former Progressive Party MP. Their leadership includes former artists and poets, and they describe themselves as a green, pro-European liberal group, and are strong on equal opportunities and individual rights. They have six MP’s (out of sixty-three), and are now the largest party in Reykjavik.

The Party of Freedom and Progress has a particularly hard road to travel, having formed in 2003, but is yet to be officially recognised, one of many ways in which the ruling dictatorship deny participation to their opponents. Activists face state-sponsored harassment, including arrest and physical violence, yet continue to organise and campaign. They stand for human and property rights, and have recently launched a programme on gender equality to highlight the lack of women in Belarussian politics.

Happily, all three applications were approved with at least 94% support, with 100% support for the Belarus application.

The next item was perhaps the most important, the procedure to nominate an ALDE Party for EU Commission President. It is intended to hold an extraordinary meeting in Brussels on 1 February to do this, with nominations opening after this Congress. There was some disagreement over the timing of the Congress, but given that the Socialists have already nominated Martin Schulz (SPD, Germany) – who was the only candidate – Council felt that the proposed timing was for the best.

ALDE finances remain healthy, and the European Parliament grant has been increased for 2014. Those funds will be used to enhance communication, particularly social media, and to support educational and policy initiatives – support for direct campaigning is not permitted.

The Bureau report noted that ALDE is leaner and more efficient in the run-up to next year’s elections, and that the aim for the coming year is to significantly increase corporate and private donations in the face of the financial might of the Socialists and the Christian Democrats. Issues of liberalism in France, where efforts to gather together liberal MP’s under a common banner continue, were discussed.

Finally, ALDE Party Council will next meet in late-April or early-May to launch the campaign, and an invitation has been received from Liberales Forum and NEOS (the Campaign for a New Austria). So, springtime in Vienna beckons…