Meeting in Bucharest on 12 October, delegates to the Council of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR) approved the accession of four new parties to the European Liberal Democrat political family. Social liberal HSLS (Croatia), Venstre (Norway), Lithuanian Republic Liberal movement (Lithuania) joined as full ELDR members and Yabloko (Russian Federation) as an affiliate member, putting the total number of ELDR member parties at 51. The ELDR Party brings together political parties with common liberal, democratic and reform ideals and is the forum for member parties to develop a co-ordinated policy. “I am looking forward to a close cooperation with the new parties. ELDR has been constantly enlarging during the past years. This proves the attractiveness of the work undertaken by our European political family and the growing reach of liberalism across Europe”, stated ELDR Party President Annemie Neyts following the Council’s decision. The ELDR Party receives its day-to-day guidance from its Bureau, which consists of nine members - a President, seven Vice-Presidents and a Treasurer. Representatives to the ELDR Congress elected three Vice-Presidents for a two-year mandate on 13 October. While HNS Party Leader Vesna Pusic, MP (Croatia) makes her entry on the ELDR Party Bureau, Liberal Democrat MEP Sharon Bowles (United-Kingdom) and Johannes Lebech (det Radikale venstre, Denmark) were re-elected.Other people sitting on the Bureau of the ELDR are:- President:  Annemie Neyts (MEP, VLD, Belgium)- Vice Presidents: Markus Löning (MP, FDP, Germany), Katarina Gloncakova-Golev (Slovakia), Calin Popescu Tariceanu (Prime Minister, PNL, Romania), Wilfried Derksen(D66, The Netherlands)- Treasurer: Bas Eenhoorn (VVD, The Netherlands)HNS Party Leader Vesna Pusic (Croatia) was also approved as the new chair of the European Liberal Women Network.To consult the adopted resolutions please click here