History
In 1971, the Party for Freedom and Progress (PVV-PLP), inheritor to the historical Liberal Party of Belgium, split into a Flemish and a Francophone party, anticipating the political devolution bill of 1980. Initially keeping the French version of the old party name (Parti de la liberté et du progrès), the party relaunched as the Party of Reforms and Freedom of Wallonia (Parti des réformes et de la liberté de Wallonie, PRLW) after taking over the Walloon Rally. In Brussels, the French-speaking Liberals co-operated intensively with the Democratic Front of the Francophones (FDF). In 1979, the Francophone liberals of the capital merged into the PRLW, which took the new name of Liberal Reformist Party (PRL).
The Walloon liberals participated in the federal government from 1973 to 1977 (Leburton governments I-II, Tindemans governments I-III), in 1980 (Martens government III), from 1981 to 1988 (Martens governments V-VII), and from 1999 to 2003 (Verhofstadt I Government).
In 1993, the PRL formed an alliance with the Democratic Front of the Francophones (FDF), a party standing up for the rights of French-speakers in and around Brussels. In 1998, the Citizens' Movement for Change, a split-off from the Christian Social Party, joined the alliance, making it the PRL-FDF-MCC Federation. On a congress in 2002, the German-speaking liberals of the Party for Freedom and Progress also joined and the alliance took the name of Reformist Movement (MR). After this congress, the PRL completely merged in the MR.
Read more about this topic: Liberal Reformist Party
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Racism is an ism to which everyone in the world today is exposed; for or against, we must take sides. And the history of the future will differ according to the decision which we make.”
—Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)
“The history of reform is always identical; it is the comparison of the idea with the fact. Our modes of living are not agreeable to our imagination. We suspect they are unworthy. We arraign our daily employments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I believe that history might be, and ought to be, taught in a new fashion so as to make the meaning of it as a process of evolution intelligible to the young.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)