Liberalism By Country - Europe

Europe

In general, liberalism in Europe is a political movement that supports a broad tradition of individual liberties and constitutionally-limited and democratically accountable government. This usually encompasses the belief that government should act to alleviate poverty and other social problems, but not through radical changes to the structure of society. European liberals are divided on the degree of government intervention in economy, but generally they favor limited intervention.

In most European countries, particularly in northern European countries, Liberalism refers to somebody who emphasizes individual liberty in economical, social, cultural and ethical topics and a free market policy with some degree of government intervention. It generally does not have the particular connotations of radicalism that the word carries in the United States, though it does not exclude them either.

In France and in some southern European countries, the word is used either to refer to the traditional liberal anti-clericalism or to economic liberalism. However, in recent years in France, the word is being increasingly used by proponents of laissez-faire capitalism and minarchists to describe themselves; in reaction, ultra-libéral is a pejorative term aimed by a large section of the French left-wing against those whom they regard as having extreme capitalist views. The more moderate form of political liberalism in France was long associated more with the Radical Party, leading to the use of the term radicals to refer to political liberals. The French Radicals tend to be more statist than most European liberals, but share the liberal values on other issues.

In France and in some southern European countries, the word liberal does not always include the suggestion of general support for individual rights that it carries in northern Europe due to its historic matters. More, in those countries liberalism is associated with the right-wing, as it is also in Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland, while it is more closely associated with the left-wing in the United Kingdom, which has a political history in some ways similar with that of the United States, and in some Scandinavian countries. Anyway it is to remember that, before the rise of democratic socialism and of social democracy, liberals were the left-wing opposed to the right-wing conservatives. In many countries liberals were replaced by social-democrats or pulled towards the centre or the right-wing. Liberal ideas were absorbed by the conservatives concerning the economy and the individualist vision of men and society, especially in those countries in which liberals disappeared as an independent political force.

In general European liberals are divided between conservative liberals, social liberals and liberals combining both elements of conservative liberalism (especially on economic issues) and social liberalism (especially on moral issues). In European countries, liberals tend to label themselves either as liberals, or as radicals, centrists or democrats (though some would dispute the liberal character of the Northern European centrist parties). The European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR) is a mixture of all these brands of liberalism.

• In Albania, liberalism is weak. Two parties could be considered to embrace liberal values: the Democratic Alliance Party (Partia Aleanca Demokratike, member LI, ELDR) and the Unity for Human Rights Party (Partia Bashkimi për të Drejtat e Njeriut), which is the party of the ethnic minorities. (Main article: Liberalism in Albania.)
• In Andorra, the Liberal Party of Andorra (Partit Liberal d'Andorra, member LI, ELDR) is a right of center liberal party and became the dominant political party.
• In Armenia, traditional liberalism does not play a role any more, but the Republican Party of Armenia (Hayastani Hanrapetakan Kusaktsutyun) joined the ELDR group in the Council of Europe. (Main article: Liberalism in Armenia.)
• In Austria, liberalism almost disappeared, when the Liberal Forum (Liberales Forum, member LI, ELDR) became a micro-party. Sometimes the name of the main right-wing populist party, the Freedom Party of Austria, a former member of the LI until 1993, is wrongly translated as Liberal party of Austria. (Main article: Liberalism in Austria.)
• In Belarus, one of the main opposition parties is the liberal United Civil Party of Belarus (Abjadnanaja Hramadzianskaja Partyja Biełarusi).
• The Belgian party system is divided by language. In Flanders the liberal Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (member LI, ELDR), comprising both market and social liberals, is one of the dominant parties. Smaller liberal parties are the Social Liberal Party, now part of Groen!, and the recent more populist right List Dedecker. In the French speaking part of the country the nowadays center-liberal Reformist Movement (member LI, ELDR) is one of the mayor parties. Affiliated with this party is the German speaking Party for Freedom and Progress. (Main article: Liberalism in Belgium.)
• In Bosnia-Herzegovina, liberalism is weak, because of the domination by ethnic parties. A small and rather unsuccessful liberal party is the Liberal Democratic Party (Liberalno demokratska stranka, member ELDR).
• In Bulgaria, organized liberalism was initially quite unsuccessful. Liberalism is now represented by the mainly Turkish minority party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (Dviženie za prava i svobodi, observer LI, member ELDR) and the National Movement for Stability and Progress (Nacionalno Dviženie za Stabilnost i Vazhod, member LI, ELDR), both taking a more or less liberal position. (Main article: Liberalism and radicalism in Bulgaria.)
• In Croatia, liberalism is very divided. One could distinguish three parties: the center Croatian People's Party-Liberal Democrats (Croatian Hrvatska narodna stranka - Liberalni Demokrati, member ELDR), the left of center Liberal Party (Liberalna stranka, member ELDR, observer LI) and the right of center Croatian Social Liberal Party (Hrvatska socijalno liberalna stranka, member LI, ELDR). (Main article: Liberalism in Croatia).
• In Cyprus, the United Democrats (Enomeni Dimokrates, member ELDR) are a left of center liberal party. In North Cyprus the left of center Peace and Democracy Movement (Bariş ve Demokrasi Hareketi), might be considered a liberal party, but it exact profile is not available. See also Liberalism in Cyprus.
• In the Czech Republic, liberalism is clearly unsuccessful. . Four parliamentary liberal parties work together, the Civic Democratic Alliance (Obcanska demokraticka alliance, member ELDR), the Freedom Union-Democratic Union (Unie Svobody - Demokratická unie) and the Liberal Reform Party (Liberální Reformní Strana) and the Path of Change (Cesta zmeny, member of EDP). They were unsuccessful at the last European elections, obtained only 1,69%. At these elections the European Democrats (Evropští demokraté) proved to be a liberal alternative, but it joined the EPP. (Main article: Liberalism in the Czech lands).
• In Denmark, all major parties support liberalism in one form or another, and three parties market themselves as liberal: The left of center Danish Social Liberal Party (Det Radikale Venstre, member LI, ELDR), the right of center social liberal/market liberal Venstre and the right-wing market liberals Liberal Alliance (member LI, ELDR). (Main article: Liberalism and radicalism in Denmark).
• In Estonia, the Estonian Reform Party (Eesti Reformierakond, member LI), ELDR is a free market liberal party. The liberal character of the centrist (centre-left) Estonian Centre Party (Eesti Keskerakond, member LI), ELDR) can be disputed. (Main article: Liberalism in Estonia).
• In Faroe Islands, the Union Party (Sambandsflokkurin) and the Self-Government Party (Sjálvstýrisflokkurin) were or are aligned with the Danish liberal parties.
• In Finland, the dominant LI and ELDR member party is the original agrarian Finnish Center (Suomen Keskusta), however the liberal character of this party is questioned. In actuality, the Centre Party has long since become socially more conservative than the traditional conservative, but currently liberalised, National Coalition Party, since it has opted not to support same-sex marriage. The Swedish minority party Swedish People's Party (Svenska Folkpartiet i Finland, member LI, ELDR) has a more clear liberal profile. The original liberal current is now organized in the Liberals (Liberaalit), a very small extra-parliamentary party. At the autonomous islands of Åland the Liberals for Åland (Liberalerna på Åland) are a dominant force.(Main article: Liberalism and centrism in Finland).
• In France, the Radical Party of the Left (Parti radical de gauche) is a member of ELDR but not of LI. Anyway France had an important liberal tradition, generally associated to Republicanism, from which the right and the left of the political spectrum were generated. On the right-wing there were the Republicans, which organized themselves in 1901-03 in the moderate-liberal Democratic Republican Alliance and in the liberal-conservative Republican Federation; on the left-wing the Radicals, which founded the Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party in 1901. After World War II, the Republicans gathered in the liberal-conservative National Center of Independents and Peasants, from which the conservative-liberal Independent Republicans seceded in 1962. The original centre-left Radical Party was a declining force in French politics until 1972 when it joined the centre-right, causing the split of Radical-Socialist faction and the foundation of the Left Radical Party, closely associated to the Socialist Party. In 1978 both the Republican Party (successor of the Independent Republicans) and the Radical Party were founding components, alongside with Centre of Social Democrats, of the Union for French Democracy, an alliance of liberal and Christian-democratic forces. The Republican Party, re-founded as Liberal Democracy in 1997 and re-shaped as a free-market libertarian party, left UDF in 1998 and merged in the conservative Union for a Popular Movement, of which it represents the libertarian wing. Also the Radical Party left UDF in 2002 in order to join UMP, of which it is the main social-liberal component, as an associate party. In some ways we can say that the Republican tradition and the Radical one are now re-composed in UMP. Anyway the lack of a true liberal and libertarian force in France led to the creation in 2006 of Liberal Alternative, whose chances of success are unclear. (Main article: Liberalism and radicalism in France).
• In Georgia, the United National Movement (Nacionaluri Modraoba) is a liberal pro-western party oriented on North-Atlantic integration.
• In Germany, the Free Democratic Party (Freie Demokratische Partei, member LI, ELDR) is a center and market liberal party. (Main article: Liberalism in Germany).
• In Gibraltar, the Liberal Party of Gibraltar (member LI) is a liberal party.
• In Greece, the liberal current disappeared, leading to liberals joining the right-of-center New Democracy and the left wing PASOK parties. Meanwhile new liberal initiatives have been taken, like e.g. Recreate Greece (Greek: Δημιουργία, Ξανά!, Dimiourgia Xana) and the Liberal Alliance (Greek: Φιλελεύθερη Συμμαχία Fileleftheri Simmakhia ). (Main article: Liberalism in Greece).
• In Hungary, the Alliance of Free Democrats (Szabad Demokratak Szövetsege, member LI), ELDR) is a center market liberal party. (Main article: Liberalism and radicalism in Hungary).
• In Iceland, the Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn, member LI) is an agrarian liberal party. The newly founded Liberal Party (Frjáslyndi Flokkurin) seems to be a liberal party. (Main article: Liberalism and centrism in Iceland).
• In Ireland, the centre-right Progressive Democrats (member ELDR) were a liberal party on social and economic issues.
• In Italy, liberalism became strongly divided after the shake up of the political system. Liberals are now divided over the centre-right Forza Italia (a merger of liberal and Christian-democratic forces), the centre-left Democracy is Freedom - Daisy (a merger Christian-democratic and social-liberal forces, including a split from the Federation of Italian Liberals, only observer member of LI), the centre-left European Republican Movement (member ELDR), the old centre-left - nowadays centre-right - Italian Republican Party (member ELDR), the alternative liberal Italian Radicals (observer member ELDR) and their most recent split, the libertarian Liberal Reformers, which joined the centre-right. Also the populist-centrist Italy of Values is a member of ELDR, although it is very difficult to classify it as a liberal party in whichever sense. Most members of the late Italian Liberal Party (refounded as a very small party in 2004) and many former Republicans have joined Forza Italia, which is often presented and defined in Italy as a liberal party, and the other parties of the House of Freedoms coalition. This is the reason why the term 'liberals' is more often used when speaking of the Centre-Right coalition, dominated by Forza Italia, which combines economic liberalism with freedom of conscience on ethical matters. (Main article: Liberalism and radicalism in Italy).
• In Latvia, the Latvian Way (Latvian Way, member LI, ELDR) is a right of center market liberal party. (Main article: Liberalism in Latvia).
• In Lithuania, the Liberal and Centre Union (Liberalų ir centro sąjunga, member LI), ELDR) is a center liberal party and the New Union Social Liberals (Naujoji Sąjunga (socialliberalai), observer LI), member ELDR) is a left of center liberal party. (Main article: Liberalism in Lithuania).
• In Luxembourg, the Democratic Party (Demokratesch Partei//Parti Démocratique, member LI, ELDR) is the traditional liberal party. (Main article: Liberalism in Luxembourg).
• In Malta there are two liberal parties: Alleanza Liberal-Demokratika Malta and Alpha Liberal Democratic Party.
• In Moldova, liberalism is divided over the social liberal Party Alliance Our Moldova (Partidul Alianţa «Moldova Noastră»), a merger of liberal and social democrat forces and the market liberal Social Liberal Party (Partidul Social-Liberal). (Main article: Liberalism in Moldova).
• In Montenegro, liberalism is organized in the Liberal Party of Montenegro(Liberalna Partija Crne Gore), more or less a liberal party. (Main article: Liberalism in Montenegro).
• In the Netherlands, liberalism is divided over two parties. The center social-liberal Democrats 66 (Democraten 66, member LI, ELDR) and the right-of-center conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie, member LI, ELDR). Furthermore, in 2004 the Green Left started profiling itself as a 'leftist liberal' party, thus possibly breaking with its socialist roots. (Main article: Liberalism in the Netherlands).
• In Norway, Venstre (litt. Left, member LI) is a centrist liberal party. (Main article: Liberalism in Norway).
• In Poland, the Democratic Party (member ELDR) is a centre-liberal party. It did not succeed in entering parliament in the 2005 election. Civic Platform is economically liberal. (Main article: Liberalism in Poland).
• In Portugal, liberalism was a strong force in history. The Social Democratic Party was once an International Liberal member, but left the organisation in 1996, and has taken a more conservative orientation since then. However, many observers still see it as a conservative-liberal party. Currently there is small movement called Movimento Liberal Social trying to achieve the status of political party.(Main article: Liberalism in Portugal).
• In the Republic of Macedonia, the liberals are divided over the Liberal Democratic Party (Liberalna Demokraticka Partija, member LI), part of the left of center government coalition and the Liberal Party of Macedonia (Liberalna Partija na Makedonija, member ELDR), part of the right of center opposition coalition. (Main article: Liberalism in the Republic of Macedonia).
• In Romania, the National Liberal Party (Partidul Naţional Liberal, member LI and ELDR) is a right-wing liberal party.(Main article: Liberalism in Romania).
• In Russia, there is no actual liberal party. Yabloko (Yabloko, Russian Democratic Party, Jabloko - Rossijskaja Demokratičeskaja Partija, member LI) and the Right Cause (Pravoye Delo, member IDU) are more or less sharing the ideas of liberalism. While Yabloko is social liberal party, the Right Cause can be seen as a democratic conservative market party, but still both of them would be rather called socialist parties when compared to the parties of Western Europe or United States of America. The so-called Liberal Democratic Party of Russia is not at all liberal; it is a nationalist, right-wing populist party. (Main article Liberalism in Russia).
• In the small country of San Marino, the Popular Alliance of Sammarinese Democrats for the Republic (Alleanza Popolare dei Democratici Sammarinesi per la Repubblica) is a center liberal party.
• In Serbia, the Liberal Democratic Party is the only functioning liberal party with parliamentary representation. The liberal character of the Liberals of Serbia (Liberali Srbije, observer LI, member ELDR) is disputed due to their campaign for the 2003 election, in which it lost parliamentary representation. (Main article: Liberalism in Serbia).
• In Slovakia, the Alliance of the New Citizen (Aliancia Nového Občana, observer LI, member ELDR) is a right of center market liberal party. (Main article: Liberalism in Slovakia).
• In Slovenia, the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia (Liberalna demokracija Slovenije) member LI, ELDR) is a left of center liberal party. Zares is a social liberal party, and also an ELDR member. The Civic List is a classical liberal party. (Main article: Liberalism in Slovenia).
• In Spain, there is a long tradition of liberalism. This ended with the Franco dictatorship. On a national level there were attempts to establish liberal parties, but they did not succeed. On a regional level, the Canarian Coalition (Coalición Canaria) and the Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (Convergència Democrática de Catalunya) are regionalist liberal parties, but also nationalist. (Main article: Liberalism and radicalism in Spain).
• In Sweden, the Liberal People's Party (Folkpartiet Liberalerna, member LI, ELDR) is a center-right liberal party. The Center Party (Centerpartiet, member ELDR) is an agrarian party that gradually developed into a more or less liberal party. (Main article: Liberalism and centrism in Sweden).
• In Switzerland, both the Free Democratic Party of Switzerland (Freisinnig-Demokratische Partei der Schweiz//Parti Radical-Démocratique Suisse, member LI), ELDR and the Liberal Party of Switzerland (Liberale Partei der Schweiz//Parti Libéral Suisse, member LI) are right of center liberal parties. (Main article: Liberalism and radicalism in Switzerland).
• In Turkey, liberalism was never a strong force, though there were some significant liberal parties. Today only active liberal party is Liberal Democratic Party (Main article: Liberalism in Turkey).
• In Ukraine, the position of liberalism is unclear. The Liberal Party (Liberalna Partia, observer LI) is a small liberal party and the Electoral Blok Juli Tymoshenko (Viborcyj Blok Julii Tymošenko) seems to develop into a more or less liberal party. A clear liberal party is the Our Ukraine (Naša Ukrajina), which should be distinguished from the People's Union Our Ukraine. (Main article: Liberalism in Ukraine).
• In United Kingdom, liberalism is now organized mainly in the centre-left Liberal Democrats (member LI, ELDR). The Liberal Democrats in Great Britain generally support social liberalism, while taking a centrist to centre-left, largely pragmatic view on economics, supporting economic freedom and market competition in principle but often advocating more state/government provision or regulation to support particular policy objectives. Generally identified with the term 'Liberal' in current UK politics, they are the third largest political party, taking 23% of the vote in the last election, but due to the First Past the Post electoral system their representation in parliament is much smaller; it has around 10% of the seats at Westminster. Generally therefore, in the contemporary UK, 'Liberal' refers to an ideology advocating broad social freedoms, but less attached to economic liberalism. The Liberal Democrats, like the British Labour Party, do not contest elections in Northern Ireland, but instead urge their supporters to vote for the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (member LI, ELDR), which was formed in 1970 as a non-ideological cross-community party but has since come to regard itself as Northern Ireland's liberal party, and like the Liberal Democrats tends toward social liberalism. The Liberal Democrats, sometimes shortened to Lib Dems, are currently the junior party in a governing coalition with the Conservative Party (UK). Their leader, Nick Clegg is the current Deputy Prime Minister with other Lib Dems taking up other cabinet and ministerial positions There is a small splinter group of the Liberal Democrats, the Liberal Party, which consists of those Liberals who objected to the merger of the old Liberal Party to the Social Democrats in 1988. (Main article Liberalism in the United Kingdom)