Liberalism in Europe

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-left and the centre-right.

Liberalism in Europe is broadly divided into two groups, "social" and "conservative". This differs from the American method of dividing liberalism into "modern" (simply liberal) and "classical" (or libertarian), although the two groups are very similar to their European counterparts.

Most liberalism in Europe is conservative or classical, whilst European social liberalism and progressivism is rooted in radicalism, a left-wing classical liberal idea.)

Liberal practices

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 and the Electoral Manifestos of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party.
• the forum of the German FDP, which is relatively unmoderated, and illustrates grassroots liberal concerns. Sites of other Liberal parties, e.g. the British Liberal Democrats and the Netherlands' Democrats 66, are more heavily moderated and therefore more representative for the policy of liberal parties.
• the Belgian website / think tank Liberales.be 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 liberalism is largely divided into classical (in practical terms, liberalism as it is applied to the economy), social, and conservative–liberalism.

Liberalism in the European context is distinct from what liberalism denotes in contemporary US politics. In the US, people who are called "liberals" generally advocate for a larger government, some forms of protectionism, and more economic interventionism, and are sometimes also called social democrats, or even leftists. In contrast, European liberals usually favor limited government, free trade and adhere to economic liberalism.

In the context of European politics, a liberal (i.e., when the word is used without a modifier) is generally understood to refer to a classical liberal, who may be either centre-left or centre-right. As a result, a European classical liberal usually refers to a centre-right person with prominent economically liberal tendencies. (Germany's Free Democratic Party, for example, follows classical liberalism in this sense.) Under one interpretation, a European mainstream conservative liberal (e.g., a proponent of ordoliberalism or Christian democracy) usually has weaker economically liberal tendencies than a social liberal. However, some consider classical liberals (= economic liberals) to be conservative liberals as well.

European Union

European liberalists tend to support the European Union. One example is Emmanuel Macron, the current President of France, who campaigned against Marine Le Pen, a candidate from the far-right, nationalist, anti-EU party known as the National Rally. Some prominent European liberalists, such as Guy Verhofstadt (former Prime Minister of Belgium), Viviane Reading (current Vice-President of the European Commission), and Matteo Renzi (former Prime Minister of Italy), are proponents of a future federalisation of the European Union.

Social issues

Among European liberals, "classical liberals" and "social liberals" support cultural liberalism (ex. LGBT rights issues including same-sex marriage, legalization of some drugs, opening immigration, etc.), but most "conservative liberals", including ordoliberals, Christian democrats and some agrarians, take a moderate-to-conservative stance on cultural issues. (For example, Finland's Keskusta, or "Centre Party", a Nordic agrarian party, follows conservative liberalism in this sense.)

Parties

Government

See also

• Liberalism by country for discussion of individual states of Europe
• Classical liberalism (mainly economic liberalism)
• Conservative liberalism (right-liberalism)
  • Liberal conservatism
• Social liberalism (left-liberalism)
  • Liberal socialism
• Libertarianism
• Ordoliberalism
• Radicalism (historical)

Notes