European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party Group

European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party Group
European Parliament group
NameEuropean Liberal Democrat and Reform Party Group
English abbr.ELDR (1994–2004)
LDR (1985–1994)
LD (1976–1985)
L (1953–1976)
Formal nameGroup of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party[1]
(19 July 1994 to 20 July 2004)[2]
Liberal and Democratic Reformist Group (13 December 1985 to 18 July 1994)[2]
Liberal and Democratic Group[2]
(1976 to 12 December 1985)
Liberals and Allies Group
(23 June 1953 to 1976)
IdeologyLiberalism
Political positionCentre
European partiesEuropean Liberal Democrat and Reform Party
From23 June 1953[3]
To20 July 2004
Preceded bynew establishment
Succeeded byAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe

The Group of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (French: Groupe du parti européen des libéraux, démocrates et réformateurs, ELDR)[4] was a liberal[5] political group of the European Parliament between 1976 and 2004. The group comprised the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party and its constituent national-level parties, variously of liberal, centrist and agrarian orientation.[6]

Its predecessors have existed since 23 June 1953, then under the name of Liberals and Allies Group. In 1976, the name was changed to Liberal and Democratic Group (LD), and on 13 December 1985 to Liberal and Democratic Reformist Group (LDR). The addition of "Reformist" was a concession to the Social Democratic Party of Portugal, which did not identify as a liberal party.[7]

The ELDR group partnered with the European People's Party – European Democrats (EPP-ED) to form the majority-forming coalition for the 5th Parliament, during which time it elected its sole President of the European Parliament, Pat Cox during the second half of the term.[8][9]

Following the 2004 European elections the ELDR was expanded and renamed the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group.[10]

  1. ^ "1994 Constitutive session | 2019 European election results | European Parliament".
  2. ^ a b c "Your MEPs : Gijs M. De VRIES". Archived from the original on 20 May 2011. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
  3. ^ "Alliance des Démocrates et des Libéraux pour l'Europe ADLE".
  4. ^ "INFO".
  5. ^ Lori Thorlakson (2013). "Federalism and the European party system". In Alexander H. Trechsel (ed.). Towards a Federal Europe. Taylor & Francis. p. 72. ISBN 978-1-317-99818-1.
  6. ^ Matthew Gabel; Simon Hix (2004). "Defining the EU political space: an empirical study of European election manifestos 1979–1999". In Gary Marks; Marco R. Steenbergen (eds.). European Integration and Political Conflict. Cambridge University Press. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-521-53505-2.
  7. ^ Michael Steed; Peter Humphreys (1988), "Identifying liberal parties", Liberal Parties in Western Europe, Cambridge University Press, p. 432
  8. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. ^ Jean-Pierre Hombach. The Secret About Acta. Lulu.com. p. 217. ISBN 978-1-4716-3083-5.
  10. ^ Tapio Raunio (2017). "European parties: a powerful caucus in the European Parliament and beyond". In John Peterson; Dermot Hodson (eds.). Institutions of the European Union 4th ed. Oxford University Press. p. 360. ISBN 978-0-19-873741-4.