Liberal leaders try to rebuild influence

Liberals are aiming to make their presence bigger across Europe and their voices more relevant, as members of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) gather in Budapest for their annual congress on Thursday (19 November) to elect a new president.

Liberals suffered a serious blow in Germany two years ago, when the FDP stumbled out of the Bundestag, and in the UK elections earlier this year the Liberal Democrats were trounced.

Liberals also lost seats in the 2014 E...