The provisional Bureau was confirmed in office at the first electoral congress. Congress also elected twelve members of the Executive Committee.

The seven working parties submitted their political statements to the plenary on the following subjects:

- human and civil rights

- European institutions

- food and agriculture

- Economic and Monetary Union

- regional policy

- external relations and security

- the environment and the quality of life.

Three more working parties were added to the existing seven. To co-ordinate the work a drafting committee was set up and Dr. Martin Bangemann - Member of the German Bundestag and of the European Parliament - was elected to chair it.

The draft programme, adopted by the Executive Committee, was forwarded for rank and file discussion to the member parties of the Federation in the six working languages.

The text of the draft was discussed and adopted in the parties, after the tabling of amendments, either at extraordinary conferences or by their central committees.

They were translated for the following congress, which was given over to the programme and was convened for 18/20 November 1977 in Brussels. The machine for creating policy thus moved into top gear.

Organisation and Administration

Meanwhile, on 19 December 1976 in London, the Bureau had taken a decision on the creation of a secretariat. Florus Wijsenbeek (V.V.D.), an assistant to the Liberal Group in the EP, was appointed Secretary General. The seat of the secretariat was established in Brussels.

In addition, various working parties had started preparing the campaign for the direct European elections which, at that time, were expected to take place in the Spring of 1978. During discussions on the preparation of the electoral campaign, the leaders recognised the need to find a shorter, handier name. On 18 July 1977 the Bureau of the Liberal Federation announced in a press release that the Federation would go into the European electoral campaign under the title "European Liberal Democrats" (ELD) and would be using the colours yellow and blue.