Political parties Elections
The European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (founded in 1993) is a liberal party, mainly active in the European Union, composed of 49 national liberal and centrist parties from across Europe.
Having developed from a loose confederation of national political parties in the 1970s, the ELDR is now a recognised European political party incorporated as a non-profit association under Belgian law. Despite this legal status, the ELDR Party has yet to achieve significant grassroots involvement and retains much of the character of a mere confederation of national political parties.
As of 2006, the ELDR is the third-largest political party represented in EU institutions, with 62 MEPs and 8 members of the European Commission.
The Party is politically represented in the European Parliament by the ALDE Group, formed in conjunction with the centrist European Democratic Party, which is dominated by ELDR MEPs and led by Graham Watson, a British Liberal Democrat and former leader of the separate ELDR Parliamentary Group.
Nationally, ELDR member parties participate in the national governments of 11 out of the 27 EU Member States, contributing five prime ministers:
The youth wing of the ELDR Party is the European Liberal Youth, which is predominantly based upon youth and student liberal organisations from across Europe but also contains a small number of individual members. LYMEC is led by Spanish politician Roger Alibinyana i Saigi, who was elected to a two-year term as LYMEC President in April 2004, and has a collective membership of over 170,000 young liberal Europeans.

Andrus Ansip (ERP, Estonia)
Anders Fogh Rasmussen (Venstre, Denmark)
Matti Vanhanen (Keskusta, Finland)
Guy Verhofstadt (VLD, Belgium)
Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu (PNL, Romania) Leadership

Structure
The day to day management of the ELDR Party is handled by the Bureau, the members of which are:
President
Vice-Presidents
Treasurer
ALDE Group Leaders
Other Party Officials

Annemie Neyts MEP (VLD, Belgium): ELDR Party President
Sharon Bowles MEP (Lib Dem, UK)
Wilfried Derksen (D66, Netherlands)
Katarina Gloncakova-Golev (ANO, Slovakia) (ANO Vice-President)
Johannes Lebech (RV, Denmark)
Markus Löning MP (FDP, Germany)
Calin Popescu Tariceanu MP (PNL, Romania) (Prime Minister of Romania)
Vesna Pusić MP (HNS, Croatia)
Bas Eenhoorn (VVD, Netherlands)
Graham Watson MEP (Lib Dem, UK): ALDE Group Leader, European Parliament
Matyas Eörsi MP (SZDSZ, Hungary): ALDE Group Leader, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
Ivo Opstelten (VVD, Netherlands): ALDE Group Leader, EU Committee of the Regions
Willy De Clercq MEP (VLD, Belgium): Honorary President
Federica Sabatini (Italy): ELDR Party Secretary-General
Alexander Beels (VVD, Netherlands): ALDE Group Secretary-General
Roger Albinyana i Saigi (Convergencia, Spain): President, European Liberal Youth (LYMEC) Bureau
The ELDR Congress is the sovereign body of the ELDR aisbl, usually meeting on an annual basis, and as such its primary purposes are to:
The voting members of the ELDR Congress number around 600-700, and are composed of:
In addition to the voting members of the ELDR Congress, the following are entitled to attend as non-voting members:

Elect members of the ELDR Bureau
Debate, and adopt, resolutions on matters of policy;
Adopt the ELDR Party's electoral manifesto for European Parliament elections
Make amendments to the ELDR Party Statutes
Members of the ELDR Council
A number of representatives nominated by each of the Member Parties based on the number of votes that Party received at the last set of European Parliament elections,
2 representatives nominated by each of the Affiliate Parties, and
10 representatives nominated by the European Liberal Youth.
ELDR members of the European Parliament,
ELDR members of the EU Committee of the Regions,
One delegate nominated by each of the liberal democrat groupings in other European parliamentary assemblies, and
One delegate nominated by Liberal International ELDR Congress
The ELDR Council acts as the ELDR Party's de facto executive committee, meeting in between meetings of the ELDR Congress, and is empowered to:
The voting members of the ELDR Council number around 100-150 members and are composed of:
In addition to the voting members of the ELDR Council, the following are entitled to attend as non-voting members:

Approve the budget of the ELDR Party;
Approve ELDR membership applications; and
Speak and act on behalf of the ELDR Party in between meetings of the ELDR Congress.
Voting members of the Bureau,
Two or more representatives nominated by each of the Member Parties based on the number of votes that Party received at the last set of European Parliament elections, and
One representative nominated by each of the Affiliate Parties, and
One representative nominated by the European Liberal Youth
Non-voting members of the Bureau,
One representative nominated by each of the liberal democrat groups in European parliamentary assemblies (including the European Parliament and the Committee of the Regions), and
One representative nominated by Liberal International ELDR Council
In addition to the formal structure of the ELDR Party, there are convened at least two meetings a year of the Political Leaders Meeting in order to exchange views on the items on the agenda of the European Council and more general views on the European political situation.
The members of the Political Leaders Meeting are:

The President and Vice-Presidents of the ELDR Party,
ELDR Members of the European Commission,
ELDR Heads of Government,
The political leaders of ELDR Member Parties,
Other ELDR Ministers,
The President of the European Liberal Youth ELDR Political Leaders Meeting
See also: History of pan-European liberalism
Pan-European liberalism has a long history dating back to the foundation of Liberal International in April 1947. In March 1976, the Federation of Liberal and Democrat Parties in Europe was established, which gradually evolved into the ELDR Party with a group in the European Parliament
At an extraordinary Congress in Brussels held on April 30, 2004 the day before the enlargement of the European Union, the ELDR Party incorporated itself under Belgian law, being the first step towards legal recognition as a European political party.
It originated as the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform party grouping with seats in the European Parliament, but on April 30, 2004 (the day before the enlargement of the European Union) reformed itself as a pan-European political party, although it has yet to organise itself at a grassroots level.
This was followed later that year by the establishment of the ALDE political group in the European Parliament, in collaboration with the newly established EDP Party.

Member Parties

Political parties of the world
Liberal International
European Liberal Youth