Liberalism in Europe

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A general overview and comprehensive discussion of this topic may be found in the article Liberalism.

In general, liberalism in Europe is a political movement that supports a broad tradition of individual liberties and constitutionally-limited and democratically accountable government. These European derivatives of classical liberalism are found in centrist movements and parties as well as some parties on the centre-right and the centre-left.

Liberalism in Europe has a different meaning from the signification it has in contemporary politics in the US.^[1] In America, liberals might be confused with leftists which advocate for a larger government, some forms of protectionism and more economic interventionism;^[2] whereas European liberals usually favor limited government, free trade and adhere to economic liberalism.^[1]

European liberals also usually support the federalisation of the EU.^[3]

Liberal practices[]

Emmanuel Macron, President of France, is often described as the strongest advocate for liberalism in Europe^[4]

Liberal political parties have specific policies, which the social scientist can either read from party manifestos, or infer from actual actions and laws passed by ostensibly liberal parties. The sources listed below serve to illustrate some of the current liberal attitudes in Europe.

• the policies of liberal parties in government, including those in coalition arrangements (taking into mind that coalition partners make compromises), since they show what liberals are prepared to accept as well as the policies of liberal parties in opposition
• the positions of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe faction in the European Parliament^[5] and the Electoral Manifestos of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party.^[6]
• the forum of the German FDP,^[7] which is relatively unmoderated, and illustrates grassroots liberal concerns. Sites of other Liberal parties, e.g. the British Liberal Democrats^[8] and the Netherlands' Democrats 66,^[9] are more heavily moderated and therefore more representative for the policy of liberal parties.
• the Belgian website / think tank Liberales.be^[10] which has longer essays on new liberal policies
• the views and policies of the Open Society Institute, since they explicitly claim to derive from the principles of a major liberal philosopher, Karl Popper.
• the Lisbon Strategy of the European Union, since it is strongly supported by the liberal parties, and sets out a vision of a future Europe.

Additionally, liberal value preferences can be inferred from the liberalisation programmes and policies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The liberalism visible in these sources emphasizes in comparison with other ideologies more belief in individual development as a motor for society and the state providing a social safety net. The liberal policies differ from country to country and from party to party.

Ideology[]

European Union[]

European liberalists tend to support the European Union^{[11][12][13][14][15][16]} such as Emmanuel Macron, President of France who campaigned against Marine Le Pen a National Rally candidate a far right nationalist anti EU party.^[17][18][19] Some European liberalists support Federalisation of the European Union such as prominent European Liberalist politicians such as Guy Verhofstadt (Prime Minister of Belgium 1999 to 2008)^[20][21] , Viviane Reading (Vice-President of the European Commission),^[22] and Matteo Renzi (Prime Minister of Italy 2014 to 2016).^[23]

Social Issues[]

Parties[]

Government[]

Country	Symbol	Parties	Head of State/Head of Government	Upper/ Lower House	Founded	Leader/Founder	Former Party	Eupoean/ International Affliction	Ideology/ Political Position
Belgium		Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats Flemish Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten	Prime Minister Alexander De Croo	Chamber of Representatives (Lower House) 12 / 87 Senate (Upper House) 5 / 60 Coalition Open Vld MR sp.a PS CD&V Ecolo Groen	1992 (VLD) 2007 (Open VLD)	Leader Egbert Lachaert	Preceded By Party for Freedom and Progress	Eupoean Renew Europe Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) International Liberal International (LI)	Ideology Liberalism[24][25] Conservative liberalism[26][27] Social liberalism[11] Pro-Europeanism[11] Political Position Centre
		Reformist Movement French Mouvement Réformateur	N/A	Chamber of Representatives (Lower House) 14 / 87 Senate (Upper House) 8 / 60 Coalition Open Vld MR sp.a PS CD&V Ecolo Groen	21 March 2002	Leader Georges-Louis Bouchez	Preceded By Liberal Reformist Party Citizens' Movement for Change	Eupoean Renew Europe Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) International Liberal International (LI)	Ideology Liberalism[25][28] Conservative liberalism[26][27] Social liberalism[29] Pro-Europeanism Political Position Centre-right[30][31]
Croatia		Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats (HNS – LD) Croatian Hrvatska narodna stranka – Liberalni demokrati (HNS – LD)	N/A	Sabor 1 / 151 Coalition Croatian Democratic Union Independent Democratic Serb Party with support from HSLS, HDS, HDSSB, HNS, Reformists, Democratic Union of Hungarians, Kali Sara, Union of Albanians and Independents	13 October 1990	Leader Predrag Štromar Founder Savka Dabčević-Kučar	Preceded By Coalition of People's Accord	Regional Liberal South East European Network Eupoean Renew Europe Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE)	Ideology Social liberalism[32] Pro-Europeanism[12] Political Position Centre[33] to centre-left[34]
Finland		Centre Party Finnish Suomen Keskusta, Kesk Swedish Centern i Finland	Deputy Prime Minister Annika Saarikko	Parliament 31 / 200 European Parliament 2 / 14 Coalition Social Democratic Party Centre Party Green League Left Alliance Swedish People's Party	1906	Leader Annika Saarikko	Preceded by Annika Saarikko	Eupoean Renew Europe International Liberal International (LI)	Ideology Agrarianism[35] Liberal conservatism[36] Social liberalism[37] Political Position Centre[35][36][38][39]
		Swedish People's Party of Finland Swedish Svenska folkpartiet i Finland Finnish Suomen ruotsalainen kansanpuolue	N/A	Parliament 10 / 200 European Parliament 1 / 14 Coalition Social Democratic Party Centre Party Green League Left Alliance Swedish People's Party	1906	Leader Anna-Maja Henriksson Founder Axel Lille Axel Olof Freudenthal	Preceded by Svecoman movement	Eupoean Renew Europe Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) International Liberal International (LI)	Ideology Swedish-speaking minority interests[40] Social liberalism[40][41] Pro-Europeanism[13] Political Position Centre[42]
France		La République En Marche!	President Emmanuel Macron Prime Minister Jean Castex	National Assembly (Lower House) 280 / 577 Senate (Upper House) 23 / 348 European Parliament 11 / 79 Coalition LREM MoDem MR Agir TDP	6 April 2016	Leader Stanislas Guerini Founder Emmanuel Macron		Eupoean Renew Europe	Ideology Liberalism[43] Pro-Europeanism[14] Political Position Centre[44]

See also[]

• Liberalism by country for discussion of individual states of Europe
• Classical liberalism
• Economic liberalism
• Social liberalism

Notes[]