From the 10 to the 12 September 1997 the ELDR Party Congress was in session in Brussels, gathering almost 300 delegates from app. 30 liberal parties. On the basis of a resolution drafted by the Programme Committee, which was chaired by Pat Cox, Vice-President of the ELDR Group, prominent party leaders and congress delegates debated the best way of creating employment.

The resolution "Creating Employment - The Future of Work" marked the liberal principles for fighting unemployment.

In addition, Working Groups were set up on the following issues:

- "50 years of Liberal International: the new manifesto"

- "Individual membership in the ELDR Party"

- "ELDR: Preparing for the European elections 1999. A state of play"

- "Social Policy in the Member States: a liberal approach to common problems"

- "How Europe can help fighting crime, terrorism and drugs"

- "ELDR building bridges: preparing for the forthcoming enlargement".

The Congress also elected a new Bureau:

President: Uffe Ellemann-Jensen; Vice-Presidents: Werner Hoyer, Heide Schmidt and Kalman Petöcz, Vice-President of the Hungarian Civic Party of Slovakia; Treasurer: Lord John Alderdice.

The Bureau of the ELDR Party accepted a change of article 16 (2) of the Statutes, so as to include as non-voting member of the ELDR Party Bureau the President of the Liberal and Radical Youth Movement of the European Union.