European Democrats

The European Democrats are a conservative party group (but not European political party ) in Europe. At European Union level, they were from 1979 to 1992 in the European Parliament their own group from 1992 to 2009 they were part of the Group of European People's Party - European Democrats ( EPP- ED). In 2009, the European Democrats in the newly formed European Conservatives and Reformists. In the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, however, there is still a European Democratic Group.

European Democrats in the European Parliament

After its election victory in the European elections in 1979, the British Conservative Party and the Danish Conservative People's Party formed along with other MEPs, the European Democratic Group in the European Parliament, which replaced the previously existing Conservative Group. The ED positioned slightly to the right of the Christian Democratic European People's Party (EPP ) and were contrary to this set clearly Eurosceptic.

During the early eighties the ED were the third largest group in the European Parliament. After that, however, many member parties left the group and joined instead of the EPP, so the ED were now almost exclusively from the British Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher. To avoid complete isolation, then examined these an agreement with the EPP, which eventually led to the establishment of a parliamentary group in May 1992.

In the new EPP -ED Group, the European democracies now formed nurmehr own working group, they lost as a separate group but of growing importance. Due to the small number of member parties they could also ( unlike, say, the EPP) found no independent European political party. Members of the European Democrats in the European Parliament were to 2009, the Conservative Party and the Ulster Unionist Party from the United Kingdom, the Czech ODS, Italian Partito Pensionati and Portuguese CDS -PP.

In July 2006, Conservative Party and ODS founded the Movement for European Reform ( Movement for European Reform, MER ), with the particular form that is independent of the EPP European political party, the British Conservative Party after the 2009 European elections and with this again own faction in wanted to ask the European Parliament. The MER saw himself as a conservative, Eurosceptic Association. The goal was a reformed EU, in which the national interests should be given more attention.

While starting your own Europe party at the missing number failed to member parties, the establishment of their own group under the name of European Conservatives and Reformists (European Conservatives and Reformists, ECR) took place on 22 June 2009. With involved the Polish PiS were and more parties that previously / had belonged to the European Parliament in the national-conservative faction UEN or the Eurosceptic Ind.

Of the other members of the European Democrats, the Italian Partito Pensionati 2009 could not win more seats in the European elections in Italy. The Portuguese CDS -PP joined the European People's Party.

European Democrats in the Euro Europe

While the European Democrats in the European Parliament dissolved, exists in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe continues to be a stand-alone European Democratic Group ( European Democrat Group, EDG). Its members include 96 of the total 636 members of the Parliamentary Assembly (as of April 2010), derived from a total of 22 member states of the Council of Europe. Group Chairman is Brit David Wilshire ( Conservative), strongest national party is the Russian government United Russia party. The member parties in detail are: