Tag Archives: ALDE

Larry Ngan

Championing stronger AI resilience: Take-away from ALDE Congress 2026

By Larry Ngan | Thu 9th July 2026 - 10:04 am

ALDE Congress is the largest gathering of our party members alongside our European sister parties. The Liberal Democrats delegation was at the heart of Europe in Vienna last weekend. First, we got most of the resolutions we had cooperated on in the previous months passed. Moreover, Baroness Smith was elected as the ALDE Vice President.

While interacting with our European sister parties as the chairs of both the Liberal International British Group and the Lib Dems Friends of Hong Kong, I brought up interesting discussions on AI and especially how younger generations use such technology to engage in politics. AI and digital technologies have been used to challenge authoritarian regimes while allowing democracy activists to reduce their physical exposure in countries such as Belarus and Russia.

But given democracy campaigns have now engaged the use of AI, what is our commitment to AI resilience?

What shifts are needed in the EU’s economic model to create a more favourable environment for the AI industry to grow? You can read my summary of the resolution – ‘Building European Technology Sovereignty for Democratic Resilience’ here.

This is the resolution European governments need. I have long advocated that the EU needs to build up its resilience in the IT sector under the current chaotic geopolitical environment. The vulnerabilities posed by a potential US ‘kill switch’, geographically concentrated AI infrastructure, and reliance on US-led payment systems have been exposed by the Trump administration. Worse, Trump has used Europe’s vulnerabilities as leverage in negotiations, often to Putin’s advantage.

However, while I am glad to see the overwhelming support among our European sister parties, I am frustrated because our party lacks momentum on policy on AI and Cloud infrastructure, and other technical details.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 1 Comment
Caron Lindsay

Yi-Pei Chou Turvey MSP first UK “rising star”

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 5th July 2026 - 11:15 am

Hi-Pei Chou Turvey speaks after receiving ALDE’s Rising Star AwardI had a tear or too yesterday when I saw Yi-Pei Chou Turvey MSP become the first British politician to receive the European Liberal Forum’s “Rising star” award.

It is fantastic to see her recognised for her work on Aberdeenshire Council at the start of her term as the North East’s Lib Dem MSP.

Sal Brinton was there and sent me this video of the event and Yi-Pei’s speech.

Yi-Pei said:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 2 Comments
Merlene Emerson

Reporting back on the ALDE conference in Stockholm

By Merlene Emerson | Tue 30th May 2023 - 10:46 am

The ALDE Party Congress in Stockholm 26-28 May 2023

Merlene Emerson, one of the 10 LibDem Council delegates to ALDE Party reporting back

Who?
ALDE Party (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe) is an umbrella membership party of liberal leaning and social democratic parties in Europe. There are currently 77 members across 44 countries in Europe, both in EU as well as non-EU countries. Sadly, the LibDems have now fallen into the 2nd category but it remains a lifeline that keeps us connected with others in the liberal and democratic family in Europe.

What?
So what was the recent Congress all about and how do I encapsulate in a short blog the spirit and substance of the annual gathering? There were Policy resolutions passed (ranging from Restoration of a pro-active Trade Policy, to supporting Introduction of Civil Partnerships in Ukraine), election of new Bureau members and important amendments to internal regulations, but it was the first session, a fireside chat with Vice-President Margrethe Vestager and Commissioner Vera Jourova that I found hugely inspiring.

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International and Party policy and internal matters | 20 Comments
David Chalmers

Liberal Democrat European Group visit to Berlin

By David Chalmers | Tue 14th March 2023 - 10:01 am

Last week Liberal Democrat European Group LDEG made its first study trip overseas since the pandemic to brave Berlin’s wintery weather. In the past, regular visits to Brussels helped to foster a greater understanding of European politics and develop relations with our sister parties. Germany was chosen as this year’s destination, because of its pivotal role in European affairs and because, post Brexit, we are going to need allies within the EU like our German sister party the FDP – who currently form part of the ‘traffic light’ coalition with the Social Democrats and Greens.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 3 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Kira Rudik: The fuel we are living on is hope

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 10th February 2023 - 7:00 am

Editor’s Note: Updated with video on 12 February. 

Last night the Lib Dem European Group hosted an event with the leader of Ukraine’s Holos Party, Kira Rudik. Holos is one of five parties now in ALDE and was the first liberal party to gain seats in the Ukrainian Parliament.

LDEG have now put the video on their You Tube channel.

If you haven’t got time to watch it now, here are some of the highlights of Kira’s conversation with former Lib Dem President and vice President of ALDE, Sal Brinton. But do go back and watch it when you can.

Kira first appeared at Lib Dem Spring Conference last year, just 18 days after the invasion. She talked then about how she would never have expected to be learning how to fire a rifle and described her 2 hour daily Kalashnikov training as “a hell of a workout.” At that point she was wanting the international community to give Ukraine a chance against the Russian invaders.

Almost a year later, she talked about what life was like in Ukraine. Certainly they had held off the Russians and had even taken ground back off them, but they had lost 50 % of their energy infrastructure.

They can produce enough energy but can’t distribute it. They make sure that critical infrastructure like hospitals have what they need – the rest, she says, they figure it out as the go along. They  have electricity outages which have impact on water supplies and heating. In Ukraine’s freezing Winter, the  priority is heating, then running water then electricity. She said that when you wake up, you check if your phone is charged, if you have heat, it’s 50/50 if you have running water. You need water stored everywhere at home as you may not have it for 2-3 days at a time.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , , and | Leave a comment
Paul Reynolds

Lib Dem internationalism in practice – a member’s perspective

By Paul Reynolds | Thu 9th July 2020 - 4:44 pm

Liberal Democrats stand for an open society receptive to new ideas, international trade, law-law rather than war-war, cooperation amongst nations, and universal human rights. Whilst proud to be British, we oppose isolationism, nationalism, protectionism and xenophobia for political gain. We recognise the difficulties of Britain’s colonial past and support making amends.

How do sentiments such as these translate into practice, internationally, and how can members become involved?

It’s a question which is often asked in all kinds of meetups.

The coordination of international activity is undertaken by the Federal International Relations Committee, (FIRC) which is one of the party’s governing, constitutional institutions.  FIRC has a sub-committee on EU exit, known by the acronym CEUB.

There is also a foreign policy group in parliament, and a foreign policy adviser to the Party Leader.

Policy Working Groups established by the Federal Policy Committee also frequently consider UK international policy – on economics, defence, Europe, international development and other dimensions. Such work frequently involves presenting policy motions for voting at party conferences.

Cooperation with other liberal-democratic parties in Europe and the rest of the world, including policy coordination, is mostly undertaken via Brussels-based ALDE, and Liberal International.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , , and | 3 Comments
Mark Valladares

28 May 2019 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Tue 28th May 2019 - 11:00 pm

Winning is, it has to be admitted, so much better than losing, but the ramifications of the European Parliamentary elections keep coming. A block of sixteen MEPs are a significant factor in choosing who leads Europe for the next five years, and Liberal Democrats have an opportunity to be heard at the top table, with seven Liberal members of the European Council.

And today’s press releases give you a flavour of the possibilities…

  • Corbyn remains a block to Labour support for a People’s Vote
  • Catherine Bearder elected to lead Lib Dem MEPs
  • Prime Ministers meet to discuss election result

Corbyn remains a block to Labour …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , , and | 7 Comments
Mark Valladares

European Elections 2019: results from across the sea… (part 2)

By Mark Valladares | Mon 27th May 2019 - 8:53 pm

For earlier results, check out part 1…

First, an update. The BBC have got the Latvian result wrong, and our sister Party, Attistibai, have retained their seat. Unexpected that, the BBC getting it wrong…

Time to look at some of the bigger stories, and we start with Romania, where the USR have gained eight seats as the main element of the Coalition Alliance 2020. The collapse of the ruling Social Democrats has been followed almost immediately by the news that the Prime Minister, Liviu Dragnea, has lost his appeal against a prison sentence for corruption. He’s already been transferred into captivity…

In France, …

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged and | 5 Comments
Mark Valladares

European Elections 2019: results from across the sea… (part 1)

By Mark Valladares | Mon 27th May 2019 - 3:29 pm

Overnight, we’ve had some of the results come in, and we’ll start with the bad news first, with none of our ALDE sister parties gaining seats in Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Malta or Portugal. We had only held seats in Portugal (two), but the combined vote of the three liberal parties totalled just 2.41%.

Little change in the Baltics thus far, although in Estonia, the opposition Reform Party gained voting share and won overall, retaining their two seats, whilst the Centre Party lost significant voting share having gone into coalition with the far-right and nationalists. They retained their solitary seat in …

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged | 6 Comments
Mark Valladares

European Elections 2019: meanwhile, on a continent far away…

By Mark Valladares | Sun 26th May 2019 - 8:27 pm

Welcome to Liberal Democrat Voice’s coverage of the results from the other 678 seats in the European Parliament. I’m your host, Mark Valladares, a member of the Party’s Federal International Relations Committee, and I’ll be highlighting some of the interesting results from across Europe. Stay tuned for the drama to come… I’ll be adding to the piece at the top, i.e. read upwards from the bottom…

01.00 We’re still awaiting final results from across most of Europe, given that they mostly voted today. But we can summarise thus. It’s been a good night for liberals, Greens and, unfortunately, the disruptive right. …

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged | 3 Comments
Mark Valladares

What European liberals have done over the past five years – EU budget and defence

By Mark Valladares | Wed 15th May 2019 - 1:30 pm

Having taken a day off, I’m back with more ALDE achievements…

Reform of the European Union’s system of own resources

ALDE has sought to increase the transparency of the current financing system of the EU budget, in order to reduce national contributions by EU Member States, by introducing new own resources income streams and ending rebates and corrections, without increasing tax burden on the citizens.

Following the Parliament’s position and the recommendations of the High Level Group on Own Resources, the Commission proposed a basket of new own resources, structured around European public goods linked to EU’s strategic policy objectives. This basket thus includes new resources based on the EU Emission Trading System and on plastic waste, reinforcing the climate action priority, and a simplified VAT based resource as well as new corporate tax-based resource, consolidating the Single Market and reducing financial speculation.

A greener, modernised and more flexible EU budget

ALDE were successful in focusing the 2019 EU budget on resources for research, innovation, competitiveness and SMEs. ALDE initiated the Parliament’s call for doubling the budget of Erasmus+ to enhance opportunities for young people, which was an instrumental step in obtaining a substantial partial increase in the 2019 budget. ALDE also pushed for substantial allocation to climate spending to meet the EU’s long-term climate goals of 20% climate spending target in the current Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2014-2020. Specifically, ALDE increased the ambition for EU-funded cross-border projects in the field of renewable energy within the MFF Connecting Europe Facility. Our Group made a distinctive contribution especially in the areas of internal security and investment in managing borders, fighting terrorism, radicalisation and organised crime and called on Member States to take responsibility for the management of migration in accordance with the principle of burden-sharing and the Geneva Conventions. On the initiative of our shadow rapporteur, the relevant Parliament’s budgetary reports call on the Commission to present a proposal, which would provide for the expression of financial solidarity at EU level to victims of acts of terrorism and their families.

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged , and | 2 Comments
Mark Valladares

What European liberals have achieved over the past five years – consumer protection

By Mark Valladares | Mon 13th May 2019 - 2:36 pm

Ensuring that consumers are protected is at the heart of the Single Market, and ALDE have played a central role in building upon it during the last Parliament.

Roaming Charges consigned to the history books

ALDE played a key role in ending wholesale roaming charges in the European Union. Legislation adopted in 2015 provided for the abolition of retail roaming charges on voice calls, data and SMS as of 15 June 2017, a victory for mobility and consumer rights.

Safer food for EU consumers

ALDE has supported efforts to harmonise the EU’s legal framework for official hygiene controls. We also strongly supported new laws, …

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged , , , and | Leave a comment
Mark Valladares

What European liberals have achieved over the past five years – the environment (part 2)

By Mark Valladares | Mon 13th May 2019 - 12:06 pm

Environmental protection is one of those fields where international collaboration is key, and so it shouldn’t come as a surprise to see so much being done at a European level…

Tackling single use plastics

ALDE successfully steered legislation through the European Parliament to limit the negative effects of single-use plastics, in particular marine litter. Single-use plastic products for which alternatives are readily available, such as cutlery, cotton bud sticks, plates, straws and beverage stirrers, will be banned from the EU market from 2021 so that they can be replaced by more sustainable alternatives. The consumption of several other items, for which no …

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged , , and | Leave a comment
Mark Valladares

What European liberals have achieved over the past five years – the environment (part 1)

By Mark Valladares | Mon 13th May 2019 - 10:23 am

You would expect liberals to take a key role in fighting climate change and protecting our environment, and here are some of the highlights in that field…

Climate action to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement

ALDE was a driving force in strengthening the system for national greenhouse gas emission reductions to meet the EU’s target under the Paris Agreement. ALDE steered the legislation that determines the binding national 2030 climate targets through Parliament and introduced changes to make sure that the Member States’ annual emissions ceilings are set in a way that does not overshoot the EU’s ‘carbon …

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged , and | Leave a comment
Mark Valladares

What European liberals have achieved over the past five years – the economy

By Mark Valladares | Mon 13th May 2019 - 8:28 am

Given how little coverage there has been in the British media of the work of the European Parliament, it comes as no surprise that few voters know what it does. Luckily, the ALDE Group in the Parliament have produced a guide to their achievements since the last European election in 2014, and I’m going to take the opportunity to highlight some of them today.

More stable financial markets

Scandals around the manipulation of the LIBOR and foreign exchange benchmarks, as well as the alleged manipulation of other indices, has highlighted the importance of benchmarks and their vulnerabilities. ALDE led negotiations …

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged , , , and | 28 Comments
The Voice

ALDE Party expel Catalan member party

By The Voice | Mon 29th October 2018 - 2:30 pm

At an Extraordinary Council Meeting, held in Brussels, the ALDE Party announced the expulsion of its Catalan member party, PDeCAT, issuing the following press release;

Delegates from more than one third of the ALDE Party full members convened in Brussels on 27 October 2018 for an extraordinary Council Meeting.

With a majority of 2/3 of the votes cast, the Council took the decision to expel PDeCAT (Parti Democratica, Catalonia) from ALDE Party membership, effective immediately.

This decision does not imply any position of the ALDE Party on internal Spanish political affairs.

The ALDE Party keeps its door open to any new liberal and democratic

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged | 9 Comments
Mark Valladares

@ALDEParty Council Report: and now, the end is near?…

By Mark Valladares | Mon 30th April 2018 - 9:51 pm

The sun was beating down in Sofia, the sky was blue, there wasn’t a cloud to spoil the view. But there was Brexit in our hearts…

Yes, it was time for the Spring Council meeting of the ALDE Party, hosted by our Bulgarian sister party, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms. The key items of business were the continuing work towards the 2019 European Parliamentary election manifesto and the adoption of the 2017 audit. In truth, the latter was never going to be an issue – finances are healthy, and likely to become …

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged , and | 1 Comment
Mark Valladares

Ros Scott to run for re-election as Vice President of the ALDE Party

By Mark Valladares | Mon 13th November 2017 - 6:53 pm

Two years ago, in Budapest, saw the election of six ALDE Party Vice Presidents and, after a tough nine-way contest, Baroness Ros Scott was safely elected. And, after a successful first term, she is seeking re-election.

Her manifesto spells out what she’s been up to;

  • chaired pre-Council meetings of liberal ministers at AGRIFISH, helping to form shared positions as part of our work to bring together liberals from across Europe
  • worked to get more women in politics, personally leading a fund raising campaign to support the ALDE Party’s European Women’s Academy
  • met with a potential new

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged and | 1 Comment
Martin Bennett

Theresa May must face up to hard facts – Charles Goerens MEP

By Martin Bennett | Mon 12th June 2017 - 9:08 am

“It is crucial to remain ambitious when it comes to citizens’ rights; citizens remain at the heart of the EU” declared Charles Goerens, Demokratesch Partei and ALDE MEP, in an address to a meeting that formally established a branch of Liberal Democrats in Luxembourg.  This is the Liberal conviction that underlies Charles Goerens’ proposal of ‘associate EU citizenship’ for those who feel and wish to remain part of the European project, but who are nationals of a former Member State. “Putting the interests of citizens first is among the prime concerns of the EU Parliament, which has a decisive say on any outcome.”

“Theresa May has learned that Brexit is a little more difficult than she expected at the beginning” he commented with typically Luxembourgish understatement. He believes that Theresa May thought that an election and strong words could strengthen her negotiating position but said that she cannot continue to hide behind elections and crowd pleasing gestures.  Theresa May has to face up to hard and very complicated issues.  At the top of the agenda is finding solutions for the borders between Northern Ireland and Ireland and between Gibraltar and Spain.  Further urgent priorities are the interests and status of UK nationals living in the 27 EU states and of EU citizens in the UK.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | Leave a comment
Mark Valladares

ALDE Party Council review: meanwhile, in Europe…

By Mark Valladares | Mon 5th June 2017 - 2:18 pm

On Saturday, the European liberal family gathered in the Slovene capital, Ljubljana, to compare notes and to start the process of preparation for the 2019 European Parliamentary elections. It offers your correspondent an opportunity for reflection and, if you’ll excuse me, more than a hint of regret.

But first, what will be happening? The ALDE Party Bureau have appointed Taavi Roivas, the former Prime Minister of Estonia, to chair a ten member Manifesto Committee, whose task it will be to gather evidence and ideas from across Europe and beyond the narrow confines of …

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged | 4 Comments
NewsHound

WATCH: Ros Scott talk about the Article 50 Bill, Brexit, the Lib Dems & local elections

By NewsHound | Sun 12th February 2017 - 2:30 pm

This week, Lib Dem Peer and ALDE Vice President Ros Scott was interviewed live on Facebook. Listen to her talk about the “constitutional nonsense” that is the House of Lords, explain the Lib Dem position on Brexit and encourage people to get involved in the Lib Dems.

What was particularly brilliant was to hear her talk up the importance of the local elections. As a former councillor, she really gets how important they are in themselves, but she also adds that commentators will be watching to see how well we do.

She also predicts a “sensible and rational” agreement on reciprocal rights for EU and UK citizens.

Here is the interview in full.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged and | Leave a comment
NewsHound

Ros Scott on the Article 50 Bill and how Brexit has affected the Liberal Democrats

By NewsHound | Sun 29th January 2017 - 8:55 am

Liberal Democrat Peer Ros Scott has been talking to FNF Europe about the Article 50 judgement this week, the progress of the Bill through Parliament and the effect Brexit has had on the Liberal Democrats.

First of all, she spoke about the significance of the Supreme Court judgement:

is mixed news for the Government; Parliament may well now be more confident in asserting its rights as the negotiating process unfolds and issues such as access to the Single Market, the acquired rights of citizens and membership of EU bodies will be hotly contested. If the impacts of triggering Article 50

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 9 Comments
Mark Valladares

ALDE Party Congress preview – day 1: a gentle warm-up before the drama commences

By Mark Valladares | Thu 1st December 2016 - 10:26 am

alde-congress-2016Welcome to Warsaw, where the cranes are busy bringing new skyscrapers to the city’s skyscape (don’t try to say that quickly…), and a thousand liberals from across Europe are meeting over the next three days.

To some extent, the event is dominated by Brexit – our sister parties are keen to adopt a common position on a European negotiating position, whilst simultaneously showing their support for pro-European forces in the United Kingdom (that would appear, given the Labour Party’s dithering on the subject, to be us). The welcome so far appears to be …

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged | 1 Comment
Mark Valladares

ALDE Party Council preview – rewriting the rules, but not in triplicate…

By Mark Valladares | Wed 30th November 2016 - 1:10 pm

Yes, it’s that time once again, when liberals gather from across Europe to renew old acquaintances, make policy and debate the burning issues of the day. Hang on, wrong introduction, that’s the one I meant to write for the Congress taking place alongside it.

It is fair to say that the Council meeting isn’t as exciting, focussing as it does on rule changes and membership applications.

First, the rule changes. There have been some concerns expressed that the way that individual parties are represented in the ALDE Party is not as fair as it might be. Accordingly, a small group of crack diplomats has been assigned the task of coming up with a new system. Needless to say, it combines a complexity that makes it hard to explain with a lack of salience to our readers that makes trying to do so fairly futile. I’ll give you a summary though…

The new system rewards successful parties and national influence, whilst rebalancing the membership dues system to ease the burden on small parties from small countries, something that, as a member of the Financial Advisory Committee, I had attempted to do a few years ago. Obviously, I support that. Whether or not the new allocations of Council and Congress delegates achieves the stated aim is another matter.

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International and News | 1 Comment
Jonathan Fryer

Europe’s Liberal family grows

By Jonathan Fryer | Thu 9th June 2016 - 11:55 am

aldeLiberal Democrats campaigning hard to keep the United Kingdom in the European Union can perhaps take heart from the fact that the European Liberal family, as represented by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE Party), continues to attract new member parties, showing that European and Liberal Democrat messages still resonate on the Continent.

At the ALDE Council meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania, the other day, hosted by the city’s Liberal Mayor,Remigijus Šimašius, no fewer than four newbies were welcomed into the fold: three as full members and one as an associate member (a stepping stone to full membership).

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 5 Comments
Suzanne Fletcher

A lifetime achievement, but still much to be done

By Suzanne Fletcher | Wed 27th April 2016 - 1:50 pm

Suzanne Fletcher 2

Suzanne Fletcher with Guy Verhofstadt

Our visit to Brussels has been one of terrific highs and awful low points.  The only thing that was consistent was the pouring rain, and the lovely welcoming help from people wherever we went.

I was there at the invitation of the committee of the regions for the ALDE-LeaDeR Awards.  I had been taken aback by being shortlisted for the Lifetime Achievement Award for long service as a councillor, for my work on environmental issues long before everyone woke up to it ( I got the first bottle – and then can – bank in Stockton in 1982), and more recently as founder member and chair of LD4SOS, an organisation within the Liberal Democrats that stands up for and campaigns on issues around asylum seekers and refugees.

The room filled with those nominated from throughout the EU for a range of different awards. There was only one other from the UK, Ray Georgeson from Otley, up for a different award from me.  I didn’t want to win; what I wanted more than anything was for the amendments from the Lords to be agreed in the House of Commons in the immigration debate that afternoon.  I silently prayed for 3,000 unaccompanied children to be given safety in the UK.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | 1 Comment
The Voice

Congratulations to Suzanne Fletcher for winning ALDE’s Lifetime Achievement Award!

By The Voice | Mon 25th April 2016 - 4:38 pm

Suzanne Fletcher

In a ceremony earlier today Suzanne Fletcher was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).

Suzanne is known nationally amongst Liberal Democrats for her tireless campaigns in support of refugees and asylum seekers, and in particular for setting up Liberal Democrats for Seekers of Sanctuary (LD4SOS).

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged and | 2 Comments
Belinda Brooks Gordon

The ALDE Party Celebrates 40th Birthday

By Belinda Brooks Gordon | Tue 29th March 2016 - 8:35 am

The Easter weekend marked the 40th Anniversary of formation of the Alliance of Liberal Democrats in Europe (ALDE). ALDE is a political party is formed of an alliance many of the liberal and democrat parties in Europe.

BBG ALDE

The ALDE party was founded on 26 March 1976 in Stuttgart in Germany. It was the first cross border political family. More can be read on the Stuttgart declaration at the ALDE party site but suffice to say it is based on the Oxford Manifesto of 1947 and was was formed from fourteen parties from Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom as well as the International Liberal Youth Organisation and the Liberal Group in the European Parliament.

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International | 9 Comments
The Voice

Tim Farron in Brussels: “Britain is better in Europe, and Europe is better with Britain in it”

By The Voice | Thu 18th February 2016 - 5:00 pm

 

Tim Farron has been over to Brussels today, meeting our partners in the European Parliament. He discussed Britain’s place in Europe with them and with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged and | 4 Comments
Catherine Bearder

Catherine Bearder MEP writes…Nominate a hard-working local activist or councillor for a Europe leader award

By Catherine Bearder | Sun 13th December 2015 - 8:57 am

I am encouraging Lib Dem members to help me nominate a hard-working local activist or councillor for the Europe-wide Local Leader award.

Last year I was delighted when two of my nominations, Andrew Nesbitt from Scotland and David Tutt from Eastbourne made it through to the final round. I was hugely proud that David went on to win the prize for “Achievement in Government”.  I know that we have lots of talented people working hard on their communities, so do let me know so I can nominate them.

The Liberal group in Europe (ALDE) are offering a variety of awards for exceptional local representatives of European liberal parties. The award categories on offer are:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Leave a comment
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Chloe
    Mark; If a Nigerian care worker in her early twenties can travel 4000 miles to work for just above the minimum wage, & reside in an HMO locally near the hos...
  • Jana
    @Mark Valladares “ The hospitality industry in the South East struggles to find staff, yet housing is so expensive that nobody could credibly be expected to ...
  • Pawel Urbanski
    @Nonconformistradical - I think that's a big part of it. Everything in schools points at university, and those not heading that way get remarkably little attent...
  • Nonconformistradical
    @Pawel Urbanski "That is the disconnect nobody talks about: the jobs are there, the young people are there, and the pipeline between them barely functions. Bef...
  • Pawel Urbanski
    A real-world data point. I recently recruited for an apprenticeship in my business - £25k, four days' work plus one day's training, salary part-subsidised by t...