The Liberal Democratic Party ( ro, Partidul Liberal Democrat, PLD) was a political party in Romania, formed in December 2006 as a breakaway/splinter group from the National Liberal Party (PNL). The Liberal Democratic Party was headed by

Theodor Stolojan Theodor Dumitru Stolojan (; born 24 October 1943) is a Romanian politician who was Prime Minister of Romania from September 1991 to November 1992. An economist by training, he was also one of the presidents of the National Liberal Party (PNL) bef ...

, a former PNL leader, and included a series of prominent former National Liberals, such as

Gheorghe Flutur Gheorghe Flutur (born 8 July 1960 in Botoșana, Suceava County, Romania) is a Romanian politician, member of the National Liberal Party (PNL). He was also a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) as vice-president, since December 2006 u ...

, Mona Muscă, and Valeriu Stoica, who were opposed to the leadership of the PNL, then headed by former

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu Călin Constantin Anton Popescu-Tăriceanu (; born 14 January 1952) is a Romanian politician who was Prime Minister of Romania from 29 December 2004 to 22 December 2008. He was also president of the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the vice-pre ...

. The Liberal Democrats also advocated a closer co-operation with the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

(PD) and President Traian Băsescu. The PNL and the PD were part of the Justice and Truth governing alliance until Popescu-Tăriceanu dismissed the PD ministers in April 2007 and formed a minority government with the

Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania The Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (DAHR; hu, Romániai Magyar Demokrata Szövetség, RMDSZ; ro, Uniunea Democrată Maghiară din România, UDMR) is a political party in Romania which aims to represent the significant Hungarian m ...

(UDMR), formally marking the end of the alliance. The members of the PLD had initially grouped themselves in an informal organization known as the Liberal Platform (''Platforma Liberală''). The slogan of the PLD was ''Progress, Liberty, Dignity''. The PLD merged with the

(PD) to form the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) in January 2008. The merger was approved in a party congress on 15 December 2007 with 933 votes in favour, six abstentions, and one against.

Ideology

On 22 January 2007, the vice-president of the PLD,

, stated that the new party will forge a close relationship with the

Romanian Orthodox Church The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; ro, Biserica Ortodoxă Română, ), or Patriarchate of Romania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian churches, and one of ...

, the country's largest religious denomination. Flutur declared that, "We believe that we must fight for the protection of urnational identity, especially now, when Romania has entered the European Union. Here, we consider that we must have a very good relationship with the institution of the

and I think that

he church He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

must play a much more important role in the promotion of our traditions and customs."Vicepresedintele PLD a luat calea Bisericii
(''The Vice-President of the PLD has gone the Church's way''), ''

Gândul ''Gândul'' (, "The Thought") is a Romanian online newspaper published in Bucharest. It was founded in May 2005 by Mircea Dinescu, who used to write a daily editorial called "Vorba lu' Dinescu", and Cristian Tudor Popescu, who was also the editor- ...

'', January 22, 2007

Merger with PD

The Liberal Democratic Party intended to join the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Ch ...

at EU level. In a televised show however, Vasile Blaga put an end to this rumor, stating PD will go alone at the European parliamentary elections. In January 2008, however, the party merged with the Democratic Party (PD) to form the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL), which became a member of the European People's Party (EPP).

Electoral history

European elections

Notes

External links

Official site of the Liberal Platform
{{Romanian political parties Conservative parties in Romania Liberal parties in Romania Political parties established in 2006 Political parties disestablished in 2008