background and historical development

International co-operation of political parties belonging to the same political-ideological ‘family’ in the framework of ‘Internationals’ is a well-known phenomenon. Parties understand such organisations primarily as round tables for exchanging views and discussing ideas in a rather general manner. In 1947, liberals established the Liberal World Union, now renamed as the ‘Liberal International’, as such a forum for mutual information and communication. It has to be regarded as a loose grouping, since the participating parties did represent the whole broad spectrum of liberal positions. The Liberal Manifesto of Oxford, adopted at the founding convention in 1947 – amended in 1967 with the Liberal Declaration of Oxford – did reflect the political heterogeneity of the member parties; it was too general to serve as a basis and programmatic guideline for common activities. The members regarded the organisation as a loose but useful forum.

In 1952 the ‘Mouvement Libéral pour l'Europe Unie’ (MLEU) was founded as an organisation which should concentrate its activities on issues of European unification; the MLEU was independent from the Liberal International. In 1961 membership in this specialised organisation was restricted to parties and politicians from EC countries only. In 1972 the MLEU was incorporated as a regional organisation into the Liberal International, which since 1969 had started to promote the establishment of closer links and more intense co-operation amongst liberal parties from EC countries, adding to the consolidation of the community.