WEST EUROPEAN LIBERAL PARTIES AND TRANSNATIONAL COOPERATION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85T00287R000501620001-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 19, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: June 16, 1983
• Content Type: MEMO

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Memorandum for: Mr. Richard Haass
Department of State
Subject: West European Liberal Parties and
Transnational Cooperation
Attached, for your information, is a
typescript memorandum on Liberal transnational
groupings.
Pease let us know if we may be of
further help.
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16 June 1983
= Director, =
EURA
Office of European Analysis
Identical note sent to all. external
recipients.
~~~ l1 93 ~0/G3
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Distribution: West European Liberal Parties and Transnational
Cooperation
Orig - Ambassador Gerald Helman, Deputy Undersecretary for
Political Affairs, State Dept.
2 - G. Philip Hughes, Office of the Vice President, EOB
1 - Luigi Einaudi, ARA/PPC, State Dept.
1 - Richard Haas, Bureau of European Affairs, State Dept.
1 - Robert Gelbard, Bureau of European Affairs, State Dept.
5 - David Lowenfeld, Office of the Undersecretary of Political
Affairs, State Dept.
1 - Edward Derwinski, Counselor-, State Dept.
1 - Phil Kaplan, S/P, State Dept.
1 - John Kelly, Bureau of Public Affairs, State Dept.
1 - Steve Steiner, EUR/P, State Dept.
1 - Michael Marks, Office of the Undersecretary for Science
and Technology, State Dept.
1 - Mark Palmer, EUR, State Dept.
1 - Scooter Libby, EA, State Dept.
10 - John Hamilton, Bureau of Inter-American Affairs,
State Dept.
1 - DDI
1 - ADDI
1 - DDI Registry
1 - ExDir
1 - NIO/WE
1 - ALA
1 - OEA
1-OGI
4 - IMC/CB
1 - D/EURA
2 - EURA Prod
.1 - EURA/EI
2 - EURA/EI/PS
DDI/EURA/EI/PS (16June83)
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Central Intftenoe Ageng'
DIRECTORATE OF INTELLIGENCE
16 June 1983
West European Liberal Parties and
Transnational Cooperation
Summary
Liberal parties with few exceptions are
small, out of government, or play only a junior
role, but most have tried to magnify their
influence by joining together in two principal
transnational organizations--the Liberal
International (LI) and the Federation of European
Liberals and Democrats (ELD). Neither
organization is as influential as the socialist or
even Christian Democratic transnational
groupings. The LI, which consists primarily of
West European political parties and organizations,
is essentially a debating forum for such issues as
European integration, human rights, and North-
South economic matters. While it is critical of
US policy in Central America, the LI generally
favors a close US-West European relationship and
looks askance at Soviet behavior. The ELD--which
is supposed to set policy for the Liberal group in
the European Parliament--has had limited success
because of the diversity and parochialism of its
member parties. The LI and ELD are likely to
This memorandum was prepared by the Office
of European Analysis. It was requested by Gerald Helman, Deputy
Undersecretary for Political Affairs at the Department of
State. It was coordinated with the Office of African and Latin
American Analysis and the Office of Global Issues. Research was
completed on 14 June 1983. Questions and comments may be
addressed to Chief, European Issues Division,
EUR M 83-10183
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continue to be generally supportive of US
policies, but their political influence in West
European and world affairs will probably remain
relatively inconsequential.
The Liberal International
The London-based Liberal International (LI)--also known as
the World Liberal Union--was founded in Oxford, England in 1947
and consists of political parties and organizations from 19
countries. The LI is mainly a European organization, although
since the early 1970s it has emphasized establishing contacts
with liberals in other parts of the world, particularly in the
Western Hemisphere and Asia. With the help of the ruling Liberal
Party of Canada, the LI recently began promoting a dialogue
between liberal parties in Western Europe and prominent liberals
The LI has had less of a political impact than the Socialist
International or even the various Christian Democratic
groupings. This owes partly to the fact that it is more
heterogeneous and more loosely organized than the other two. In
our judgment, however, it is mainly due to the decline of
liberalism as a political force, at least in Western Europe where
many principles that liberals have espoused are now the law and
no longer evoke controversy or enthusiasm. Except for the ruling
Canadian Liberal Party, LI members generally are minor forces in
their national political contexts and presumably do not have the
financial means to mount a stronger transnational effort.
Moreover, the West German Free Democratic Party, which has played
a pivotal role in national politics, did not join the LI until
1975,* while the French Republican Party still has not sought
membership. Despite the organization's limitations as a
policymaking forum, influential liberal leaders--such as Italian
senator Giovanni Malagodi, EC Commission President Gaston Thorn,
and West German Free Democratic Party leader Hans-Dietrich
Genscher--are active in the organization and enhance its
prestige.
Although the LI has generally found it difficult to agree on
a comprehensive political program, it does take positions on
several international issues at its annual congresses. The
organization strongly supports European unity, for instance,
The Friedrich Naumann Foundation, which is associated with
the Free Democrats, plays a major role in financing liberal
causes and projects in Third World countries, but this is done
independently of the LI.
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despite some disagreement among members about the desired level
of integration. Liberal parties and organizations in the Benelux
countries are more in favor of transferring national powers to
supranational institutions than those in Denmark, Italy, West
Germany, and Britain. The LI also favors EC enlargement in the
hope that membership in the Community will reinforce democracy in
Greece, Spain, and Portugal.
On East-West relations, the LI in its resolutions has urged
Western countries to uphold the human rights provisions of the
Helsinki Final Act. While it advocates disarmament negotiations,
the LI has stated repeatedly in its published declarations that
balanced military strength is a prerequisite for detente. In
Brussels in 1981, Liberal leaders declared that the West must
strengthen its defense capabilities to counter the steady
expansion of Soviet military power. At the LI congress in Vienna
last April, Genscher reaffirmed Bonn's commitment to deploy INF
missiles if negotiations in Geneva fail.
In the Third World, the LI concentrates on issues of
political and civil rights and on economic development. Italian
Senator Malagodi--the organization's president--two months ago
called for a meeting of the LI, the Christian Democratic
International (CDI), and the Socialist International (SI) to
discuss plans for building and strengthening democratic systems
in Latin America.
doubttul, owever, that such a motley group would be able to
agree on much more than the broad outlines of an approach toward
the region. F_ I
While the LI generally is favorably disposed toward the
United States, it has criticized recent US policies in Central
America. Urs Schoettli--the organization's secretary general--
has stated in a forthcoming book and in public addresses that US
policies are endangering democratic advances in Latin America.
He has argued, moreover, that the social unrest in many Latin
American countries results from severe income disparities and
economic underdevelopment, as well as East-West tensions and
Communist subversion. Schoettli maintains that Nicaragua, for
instance, needs Western development aid to resist Cuban and
Soviet influence. In his opinion, economic collapse in Nicaragua
would reduce the chances for political pluralism and accelerate
the transformation of the Sandinista regime into a Soviet
puppet.
The belief that economic deprivation is a main cause of
social upheaval in the Third World has prompted the LI to call
for a New International Economic Order. The organization's
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secretary general has suggested in his many public statements
that growing global interdependence requires a restructuring of
the world's financial and trade systems to keep the problems of
.the poor nations from spreading to the industrialized states.
While the LI advocates a more just distribution of global wealth
in its resolutions, it also admonishes the developing countries
to increase their own resources through population control,
elimination of corruption, and government efficiency.
The LI maintains that freedom of trade is a precondition for
stable liberal democracy and economic development. Liberals warn
that protectionist measures. by industrialized nations will have
disastrous consequences both for developing countries and for
economically advanced states. Members of the LI, however, have
had difficulty reaching a consensus on economic planning. At the
LI Congress in Ottawa in 1979, some participants argued that
government planning and coordination may benefit national and
international markets, while others maintained that an expanded
role of the state in the private sector produces destabilizing
The Federation of European Liberals and Democrats
The EC members' decision to hold direct elections to the
European Parliament made liberal leaders realize that the LI,
because of its loose structure and world-wide focus, was not an
appropriate organization for influencing Community policies and
elections. Thus, to coordinate policies better, a grouping of
liberal parties in Community countries founded the Federation of
European Liberals and Democrats (ELD) in 1976.
The main problem in building the ELD, whose president is
Willy De Clercq of Luxembourg, has been the heterogeneity of
Liberal viewpoints in the Community. Liberal ideology ranges
from left-liberal (the British Liberal Party favors a substantial
government role in the economy) to strongly conservative-liberal
(the Italian Liberal Party and the French Republican Party take a
dim view of state intervention). The difficulty of reaching a
consensus is reflected in the ELD's Electoral Program for the
European Parliament and its current political manifesto, which
are replete with platitudes about pluralism, a European
economic growth, and equal opportunity for all.
union.
In theory, the ELD makes policy recommendations to the
Liberal and Democratic Group in the European Parliament. In
practice, according to several scholarly studies, the ELD merely
receives reports on the parliamentary group's activities. There
are several reasons for the Federation's failure to establish
itself as the coordinating body for the liberal parties in the
Parliament:
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The Liberal and Democratic Group controls the ELD's
finances.*
The range of ideological viewpoints in the
parliamentary group is just as great as in the ELD.
The parties still tend to think in national parochial
Outlook
The LI and the ELD in our judgment are likely to continue to
play a marginal role even in Western Europe. Except for the
British Liberals, who are experiencing a resurgence, it is
unlikely that domestic political realignments will make liberal
parties any stronger than they are now. Ideological diversity
and parochialism, moreover, will continue to hamper
cooperation. Liberal parties are likely to agree more easily on
human rights policy than on economic policy, particularly the
i
ssue of state economic planning.
Liberal transnational organizations probably will continue
to be pro-United States and strongly support the Atlantic
Alliance. In the security area, they are likely to emphasize
military balance between East and West, but also call for arms
reductions on both sides. Liberal groupings probably will
continue to criticize US policy in Central America and express
some support for the revolutionary regime in Nicaragua. They are
also likely to continue to urge the industrialized nations to
further economic development in the Third World through expanded
foreign assistance programs. easier credit terms, and special
trade arrangements.
* The ELD is normally financed from two sources: member
parties' contributions paid in accordance with the size of their
contingent at annual congresses as well as contributions from the
Liberal and Democratic Group in the European Parliament. In
theory, national parties are supposed to receive from the ELD at
least as much as they contribute, but we doubt that this takes
place in practice.
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Countries With Liberal Parties, Groups, or
Individuals Represented in the Liberal International
Liberal Political Parties or Groups
Austria
Belgium
Denmark
Finland
France
West Germany
Italy
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Norway
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
UK
Canada
Hong Kong
India
Israel
Sri Lanka
Individual Delegates
South Africa
Zambia
Chile
Mexico
Panama
U.S.A.
Japan
New Zealand
Portugal
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Members of the ELD
Belgium:
France:
Italy:
Luxembourg :
Netherlands:
United Kingdom:
EC:
Partij voor Vrijheid en Vooruitgang (PVV)
Parti des Reformes et de la Liberte (PRL)
Venstre (V)
Parti Republicain (PR)
Parti Radical Socialiste (PRS)
Partito Repubblicano Italian (PRI)
Partito Liberale Italiano (PLI)
Parti Democratique (PD)
Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (VVD)
Liberal Party (LIB)
Liberal Youth Movement of EC (LYMEC)
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