Anders (political party)

Different

Template:Langx
Different Template:Langx
	Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:InfoboxImage/data' not found.
President	Frédéric De Gucht
Vice President	Eva De Bleeker
Founded	1992; 34 years ago (VLD); 2007; 19 years ago (Open Vld); January 19, 2026; 6 months ago (Anders)
Merger of	VLD, LA, Vivant (Open Vld)
Preceded by	Party for Freedom and Progress
Headquarters	Melsensstraat 34 Brussels
Membership Page Template:Nobold/styles.css has no content.(2018)	60,000
Ideology	Page Template:Plainlist/styles.css has no content. Liberalism (Belgian); Pro-Europeanism;
Political position	Centre-right
Regional affiliation	Liberal Group
European affiliation	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
European Parliament group	Renew Europe
International affiliation	Liberal International
Francophone counterpart	Reformist Movement
Germanophone counterpart	Perspectives. Freedom. Progress.
Colours	Page Template:Legend/styles.css has no content. Blue
Chamber of Representatives	Template:Political party data (Flemish seats)
Senate	Template:Political party data (Flemish seats)
Flemish Parliament	9 / 124
Brussels Parliament	2 / 17 (Flemish seats)
European Parliament	Template:Political party data (Flemish seats)
Flemish Provincial Councils	13 / 175
Benelux Parliament	2 / 21
Website
	Template:Political party data
	Page Template:Hlist/styles.css has no content. Politics of Belgium; Political parties; Elections;

Template:Short description Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Hatnote list' not found. Template:DMCA

Page Module:Infobox/styles.css has no content.

Anders (Script error: No such module "IPA"., Template:Lit),^[2] formerly known as the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Template:Langx, Script error: No such module "IPA"., Open VLD),^[3]^[4]^[5] is a Flemish liberal political party in Belgium.^[6] Politically liberal,^[7]^[8]^[9] the party has been described as centre-right,^[10] and has smaller factions within the party that have conservative liberal,^[7]^[8]^[11] as well as social liberal views.^{[citation needed]} The party is a member of the Liberal Group,^[12] Renew Europe, and Liberal International. On 19 January 2026, its current name was adopted.^[2]

The party was created in 1992 from the former bilingual Party for Freedom and Progress (PVV) and politicians from other parties after Belgium was reconstituted as a federal state based on language, with the French-speaking faction forming the Reformist Movement (MR) in Wallonia. The party led the government for three cabinets under Guy Verhofstadt from 1999 until March 2008. Open VLD then formed the federal government (the "Swedish government") with the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V), and MR.

In the Flemish Parliament, the VLD formed a coalition government with sp.a-Spirit and CD&V from after the 2004 Belgian regional elections until the 2009 Belgian regional elections. Open Vld was a member of the Leterme I Government formed on 22 March 2008, the Van Rompuy I Government formed on 2 January 2009, the Leterme II Government formed on 24 November 2009, and the Di Rupo Government formed on 6 December 2011.

Ideologically, Open VLD started as an economically liberal,^[13] in the mold of Thatcherism, which mirrored some of the original ideology of the PVV. The VLD rapidly became more centrist and gave up much of its free-market approach, partly under the influence of Verhofstadt's political scientist brother Dirk Verhofstadt. The VLD continued to contain conservative-libertarian and classical liberal wings with ties to think-tanks like Nova Civitas. Party chairman Bart Somers called in November 2006 for a "revolution" within the party, saying that "a liberal party", like the VLD, "can be only progressive and social".^[14]

From 2000 to 2004, during the second period of its participation in the Belgian federal government and under Belgian Prime Minister Verhofstadt, the VLD allegedly lost most of its ideological appeal. Several of its thinkers such as former member and Nova Civitas president Boudewijn Bouckaert heavily criticized the party. Many others, particularly from the party's conservative and Flemish autonomist wing, resented the priority it placed on the "Belgian compromise", which enabled the Socialist Party (PS) of the French Community of Belgium to gain a dominant position in the formulation of Belgian federal government policy.

In 2004, the VLD teamed up with the minority social-liberal party Vivant for both the Flemish and European elections. VLD-Vivant lost the elections to arch rivals CD&V and the Flemish Bloc. The VLD fell from second to third place among the Flemish political parties, slipping narrowly behind the sp.a-Spirit cartel. Internal feuds, the support for electoral rights for immigrants, and an unsuccessful economic policy were seen as the main reasons for its election defeat. From 2007, the party kept having electoral difficulties, first due to competition from split-off List Dedecker and after 2010 from the liberal-conservative Flemish nationalist party N-VA.

History

The VLD has its origins in the Party for Freedom and Progress (which in turn was a successor to the Liberal Party), a bilingual party which stood in both the Flemish and Walloon regions of Belgium. As such the liberal party is the oldest political party of Belgium. In 1846, Walthère Frère-Orban succeeded in creating a political program which could unite several liberal groups into one party. Before 1960, the Liberal Party of Belgium was barely organised. The school pact of 1958, as a result of which the most important argument for the traditional anti-clericalism was removed, gave the necessary impetus for a thorough renewal. During the liberal party congress of 1961, the Liberal Party was reformed into the bilingual Party for Freedom and Progress (PVV-PLP), and Omer Vanaudenhove became the chairman of the new party. The new liberal party, which struggled with an anti-clerical image, opened for believers, but was not too concerned about the situation of workers and primarily defended the interests of employers. It is a central principle of Classical Liberalism that employers and employees do not have opposed long term interests.

In the late 1960s and the early 1970s, the tensions between the different communities in Belgium rose and there were disagreements within the liberal movement as well. In 1972, the unitary PVV-PLP was split into separate a Flemish and a Francophone parties. On Flemish side, under the guidance of Frans Grootjans, Herman Vanderpoorten and Willy De Clercq, the PVV was created, on Walloon side Milou Jeunehomme became the head of the PLP and Brussels got its own but totally disintegrated liberal party landscape. Willy De Clercq became the first chairman of the independent Party of Freedom and Progress (Template:Langx, PVV). De Clercq, together with Frans Grootjans and Herman Vanderpoorten, set out the lines for the new party. This reform was coupled an Ethical Congress, on which the PVV adopted progressive and tolerant stances regarding abortion, euthanasia, adultery, homosexuality, and gender equality.

In 1982, the 29-year-old reformer Guy Verhofstadt became the chairman of the party, and even was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Budget from 1986 to 1988. Annemie Neyts succeeded him as chairman, becoming the first female party chairman. In 1989, Verhofstadt once more became the chairman of the PVV, after his party had been condemned to the opposition by the Christian People's Party (CVP) in 1987. In 1992, the PVV was reformed into the Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten, VLD) under the impulse of Verhofstadt. Although the VLD was the successor of the PVV, many politicians with democratic nationalist or socialist roots joined the new party. Notable examples are Jaak Gabriëls, then-president of the Flemish People's Union, and Hugo Coveliers. From the early 1990s, the VLD advanced in every election, only to get in government following the 1999 Belgian federal election when the VLD became the largest party. Verhofstadt became Prime Minister of Belgium and Patrick Dewael became Minister-President of Flanders. They were both at the head of a coalition of liberals, social democrats, and greens.