Profile of Liberala Ungdomsförbundet - LUF

We are... LUF is the Swedish liberal youth organisation. LUF was founded in 1934 as the youth organisation of Folkpartiet, a party with its roots in the liberal struggle for democracy in late 19th early 20th century. Today LUF has branches all over Sweden and is an organisation where young liberals meet, discuss freely and break new ground. We believe... LUF's main activity is to promote liberal ideas. We do this mainly in Sweden but also in the rest of the world, as we don't put much importance to imaginary lines that some people make a lot of fuss about. Our core ideas include freedom, democracy, tolerance, capitalism and internatio-nalism. We look upon society from the perspective of the individual and try to let the society be a framework where it's possible to create a life of one's own. In order to achieve this, every individual needs to be given equal opportunities, hence the necessity of welfare and educational programs that reach everybody. Internationally LUF has a long tradition of international co-operation. We have been actively participating in the four international organisations for young liberals where LUF is a full member: IFLRY, LYMEC, LYBS and NLRU. LUF co-operates since 1997 with young liberals in the West African region. Ever since 1995 LUF has established ties with the newly created liberal parties and youth organisations of former Yugoslavia and to the somewhat older organisa-tions in the surrounding countries such as Bulgaria. We have also a long cooperation with young liberals in the Baltic region.