Posted on 21 November 2018
The Alliance for Liberals and Democrats for Europe, a political group in the European Parliament deposited their fonds in the Historical Archives of the European Union in 2013. From the 1December 2018, 1,417 files from the ALDE fonds will be open for consultation in the reading room of the HAEU.
The files cover the period 1953 to 2004 and consist of various types of documents, such as correspondence, notes, minutes of meetings, speeches, press cuttings, reports and publications. They illustrate the activities of the Group, its work and its political positions notably by means of the governing bodies (the Presidency, the Secretary Generals, the Party Bureau, the deputies) and its parliamentary undertakings (in the commissions and delegations).
The Groupe des libéraux et apparentés (LIB) was conceived on the 20 June 1953, following the decision of ECSC parliamentarians on the 16 June 1953 to constitute political groups. Amongst the eleven deputies that made up the group between 1953 and 1975, were eminent personalities such as René Pleven, French Prime Minister and author of the plan for a European Defence Community; Walter Scheel, former President of the FRG; Gaston Thorn, Prime Minister of Luxembourg and President of the European Commission and Gaetano Martino, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and the pioneer behind the Messina Conference.
Over the years, the Group has changed names several times. In 1976 it became the Liberal and Democratic Group, then in 1985 it became the Liberal and Democratic Reformist Group (LDR), then in 1994 to the Group of the Liberal, Democratic and Reform Party (ELDR), and finally after the elections in 2004, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).
At present the ALDE Party is composed of two parties, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in conjunction with the European Democratic Party (EDP)
Comprising 68 deputies from 21 Member States of the European Union, it is the fourth most powerful political group in the European Parliament.