Ideologically, the group is broadly eurosceptic, anti-federalist and right-wing, with centre-right and far-right factions.[7] The main objective of the ECR is to oppose unchecked European integration, enlargement and potential evolution of the European Union (EU) into a Federal European Superstate on the basis of Eurorealism, and to ensure the EU does not heavily encroach on matters of state and domestic and regional decision making within EU member countries.[22] It also advocates for stricter controls on immigration. The ECR contains factions of socially conservative, right-wing populist, liberal conservative, Christian democratic, far-right, and national conservative parties who all subscribe to an anti-federalist and a eurorealist or euro-critical stance.
Within the ECR, some parties and MEPs promote soft Eurosceptic, as opposed to a total rejection of the existence of the EU characterized by anti-EU-ism or hard euroscepticism, by calling for democratic reform of the EU, more transparency, changes to the Eurozone and EU migration/asylum policies, and the curbing some of the EU's powers and bureaucracy whilst maintaining unrestricted free trade and cooperation between nations.[23][24] Other parties and individual MEPs within the group support complete withdrawal from the block, referendums on EU membership and opposition to the Eurozone.[25]
During the tenth European Parliament, the largest party in the group by number of MEPs is Brothers of Italy (FdI), followed by Polish Law and Justice (PiS).
In June 2006, Cameron ordered Shadow Foreign SecretaryWilliam Hague to ensure the new group was created by 13 July 2006.[26] However, when that date arrived, it was announced that the launch of the new European Parliament group was delayed until after the 2009 elections.[28]
In the interim, a pan-European alliance, called the Movement for European Reform (MER), was founded and functioned outside of the European Parliament.[29] The same day, the Law and Justice and Civic Platform parties of Poland were identified as potential members of the new group: However, Civic Platform stated that it would not leave the EPP, and the Law and Justice stated that it planned to stay aligned to UEN.[30] The next day, Sir Reg Empey, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), suggested that the UUP could join the new group after the 2009 election.[31] In the event of the election, the UUP ran under the banner of the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists, an electoral alliance between the Conservative Party and the Ulster Unionists.
The Czech Civic Democratic Party (ODS) was part of MER but its leader, Mirek Topolánek, did not rule out staying in EPP-ED.[32] Topolánek then attended the EPP Summit (a meeting of heads of state and government of the European People's Party) of 21 June 2007, adding speculation about the fragility of the new group.[33]
Later in 2007, the relations between the EPP and the Conservative Party further deteriorated when the EPP voiced its opposition to the UK holding a referendum of the Treaty of Lisbon, something the Conservatives had campaigned for.[27]
In July 2008, the European Parliament raised the 2009 threshold for forming a group to 25 members and representing 7 member states.[34] Topolánek, after being re-elected Leader of the ODS on 7 December 2008, attended yet another EPP Summit, on 11 December 2008.[35]
2009 European Parliament elections
As the 2009 European elections approached, Cameron, Topolánek, and Conservative MEP Geoffrey Van Orden (a 'point-man' for the new group)[36] were looking for partners. The list of possible partners was kept secret.[37]
The new group was provisionally named the European Conservatives,[40] (echoing the 1970s group of the same name), which was then changed to European Conservatives and Reformists.[51] The original estimates were firmed up to 84 MEPs,[38] then to approximately 60.[49] Frictions surfaced, as the ODS wanted the new group to have as many MEPs as possible, whilst the Conservatives wanted to disbar anti-immigrant parties in the new group, including the Danish People's Party and Lega Nord.[41]
On 22 June 2009, the first official list of the new group's members was released.[21] On 24 June, the group held its inaugural meeting, in which Conservative MEP Timothy Kirkhope was named interim leader.[52]Adam Bielan of PiS and Jan Zahradil of the ODS were named interim vice-chairmen.
At the first sitting of the Seventh European Parliament, on 14 July 2009, outgoing Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering announced that applications from all new and returning groups had been received and approved, including ECR. The group then became eligible for EU funding, office space, and committee places.
The first election for the group leadership was also scheduled for 14 July 2009, pitting interim leader Kirkhope against fellow Briton Geoffrey Van Orden.[53] However, both Conservative leadership candidates were forced to forfeit the leadership to prevent it from falling apart, when Conservative MEP Edward McMillan-Scott defied his party whip and stood for one of the vice-presidency posts despite pledges the previous week that Polish MEP Michał Kamiński would be backed for it. Kamiński's bid for Vice-President of the European Parliament subsequently failed, and the Polish MEPs threatened to abandon the new caucus unless Kamiński was made the group leader in the parliament.[54] Kirkhope went to an emergency meeting with Polish MEPs in Strasbourg and proposed sharing the group leadership with the Kamiński; however, this was not accepted, and he had to step down as coalition leader, withdrawing in favour of Kamiński. McMillan-Scott, who alleged that the Conservative's new allies in Poland are 'racist and homophobic', had the Conservative whip withdrawn in the European Parliament.[55][56] In March 2010, McMillan-Scott joined the British Liberal Democrats and the ALDE group.[57]
Leadership changes and upheavals in membership
Group chairman Kamiński left Law and Justice (PiS) in November 2010, saying that the party had been taken over by the far-right. Kamiński and other Law and Justice MPs and MEPs formed a new Polish party, Poland Comes First, formed as a breakaway from Law and Justice following dissatisfaction with the direction and leadership of Jarosław Kaczyński. Kamiński initially remained chairman of the group, but other Law and Justice MEPs argued he should step down.[58] On 15 December, rumours emerged that the eleven remaining PiS MEPs might leave the ECR and join the right-wing Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) group instead.[59]
In February 2011, Kamiński announced he would resign his chairmanship, effective 8 March, when a replacement would be elected. Former interim leader Timothy Kirkhope was said to be the front runner,[60] but lost the election to Jan Zahradil of the Czech Republic's ODS.[61] Zahradil has been in talks with other parties about joining the ECR.[62] In late March, David Cameron invited the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) to join the group.[63]
The May 2011 resignation of Silvana Koch-Mehrin, one of the fourteen Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament, led to the ECR considering putting another candidate forward to take the position they were denied through McMillan-Scott's defection.[64] Conservative Party MEP Giles Chichester was nominated on 31 May, and was elected unopposed by the Parliament on 5 July 2011,[65] after the ALDE group to which Koch-Mehrin belongs failed to find a willing and suitable candidate.[66]
The ECR's unanimous decision to admit the Danish People's Party and Finns Party as members was criticised because one MEP from each party has a criminal conviction.[77][78]Morten Messerschmidt, lead candidate for the Danish People's Party, was convicted in 2002 for publishing material that appeared to suggest that there is a link between a multiethnic society and rape, violence and forced marriages.[79]Jussi Halla-aho, a Finns Party MEP, was convicted in 2012 after writing a 2008 blog entry which claimed that Islam "reveres paedophilia".[79] However, Syed Kamall, the ECR's chairman, who is a practising Muslim, defended the new members.[79]
On 8 March 2016, the bureau of the ECR Group began motions to exclude the two remaining MEPs of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) from their group due to the AfD's links with the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and controversial remarks about immigration, inviting the MEPs to voluntarily leave the group by 31 March, with a motion of exclusion to be tabled on 12 April otherwise.[81][82]
Changes in membership 2014–2019
On 2 October 2014, the leader of the Slovak party Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), Richard Sulík, left the ALDE group to join the ECR,[83] and was formally accepted six days later.
During the 2019 elections, the British Conservative Party sustained losses, including that of former ECR chairman Syed Kamall. The ECR also saw its total number of MEPs reduced to 62 MEPs and was overtaken in number by Identity and Democracy, the other predominant eurosceptic grouping. However, the FvD and the new Spanish Vox party gained seats for the first time and were formally admitted into the group.
In 2020, all MEPs of the Forum for Democracy party resigned to sit as independents before co-founding a new party, JA21. In 2022, Forum for Democracy switched its affiliation to the Identity and Democracy group.
In 2023, the Finns Party switched back its affiliation from the Identity and Democracy group to the ECR group citing the war in Ukraine and their change in policy regarding NATO membership.[95]
For the 2024 European Parliament election the ECR campaigned for revisions to the European Green New Deal and for stronger border control measures. The group increased its number of MEPs to 84 and became the third largest group in the European Parliament, overtaking Renew Europe.[98] After the election, the Alternative Democratic Reform Party of Luxembourg, the Cypriot National People's Front and the Romanian National Conservative Party were formally admitted into the group along with Reconquête (which had stood on a joint ticket with the Mouvement Conservateur) and the Denmark Democrats.[99]
In June 2024, four out of the five newly elected Reconquête MEPs were expelled or resigned to sit as independents within the group after lead candidate Marion Marechal called on members of the party to support the National Rally during the French legislative election.[100]
On 5 July, the Spanish Vox, with 6 MEPs, announced its intention to leave the ECR to join the new prospective Patriots for Europe group.[104]
Ideology
The Prague Declaration was first proposed in 2003.
The constituent declaration of the ECR stating the principles to which each group member is expected to adhere is known as the Prague Declaration. The Prague Declaration outlines the following principles:[105]
Free enterprise, free and fair trade and competition, minimal regulation, lower taxation, and small government as the ultimate catalysts for individual freedom and personal and national prosperity.
Freedom of the individual, more personal responsibility and greater democratic accountability.
Efficient and modern public services and sensitivity to the needs of both rural and urban communities.
An end to waste and excessive bureaucracy and a commitment to greater transparency and probity in the EU institutions and use of EU funds.
Respect and equitable treatment for all EU countries, new and old, large and small.
Ideologically, the founder members of the ECR traditionally sat on the centre-right[106] to right-wing[107] of the political spectrum with an economically liberal and anti-federalist outlook and an initial reluctance from the Conservative Party to include hardline anti-immigration and ultra-nationalist parties. Like the centre-right European People's Party (EPP), the founding members of the ECR mostly support pro-free market ideas with some of its MEPs maintaining ties to think-tanks such as The Cobden Centre and Open Europe,[108] as opposed to the more economic nationalist and anti-globalization approach of other euro-critical groups such as the EFDD and Identity and Democracy. However, the EPP generally favours EU integration and enlargement whereas the ECR opposes it.
In a statement issued on 11 November 2021, two core political documents were cited by the Group's Co-Chairmen, Ryszard Legutko and Raffaele Fitto, to define the ECR's ideological basis when they reaffirmed the Group's "commitment to the Prague Declaration and the ECR Statement on the Reform of the European Union".[110][111]
During the 2022 Ukraine invasion, the group has come to comprise generally pro-Ukrainian and anti-Russian parties, whereas Identity and Democracy mainly consists of pro-Russian parties. In February 2023, the group's chairman Legutko stated that the group shall stand by Ukraine until Russia is defeated and beyond.[112][113][114] Following the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election, the Finns Party, having previously moved to ID, rejoined ECR citing their change in policy to endorse Finnish NATO membership as the reason for the move.[115] Members of the ECR tend to be pro-NATO and support Atlanticism, including more coordination between Europe and the United States, while taking a more critical view on the influence of China and Russia in Europe.[116][117][118]
European Conservatives and Reformists MEPs (2019–2024) has MEPs in 15 member states. Dark blue indicates member states sending multiple MEPs, light blue indicates member states sending a single MEP.
^Bernd Lucke left AfD with 4 more MEPs after losing leadership of his party in 2015. The remaining two AfD members, Beatrix von Storch and Marcus Pretzell were expelled from the ECR group in 2016.
According to calculations by Vote Watch Europe, the ECR group had a cohesion rate of 86.65% in parliamentary votes during the 7th session (2009–14). This is slightly lower than in the four pro-European groups, but higher than in the European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) and far higher than in the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) groups. Internal cohesion was highest in votes on constitutional and inter-institutional affairs (94.79%), international trade, and industry, research & energy. The greatest divergence within the group was in decisions on regional development (70.53% cohesion), agriculture, and development (cooperation).[126] The parties that were most loyal to the group (meaning that they voted with the majority of ECR members the most often) were the UK Conservatives (97.51%), the Ulster Unionist Party and the Czech Civic Democratic Party. The members who deviated from the ECR majority the most often were the individual MEPs Andreasen from the UK (who had switched over from EFD group only in 2013; 61.20% loyalty), Muscardini from Italy, and Rosbach (who had crossed over from EFD in 2011).[127]
See also
European Conservatives, an earlier political group of Conservatives in the European Parliament
^"Ursula von der Leyen makes final pledges to secure EU's top job". The Guardian. 15 July 2019. Von der Leyen says in her letters that she hopes the "snapshot" on her positions, some of which are retreads of previous proposals from the commission, will reassure her critics, although there is a risk of putting off MEPs within the more Eurosceptic and rightwing European Conservatives and Reformists group, in which Poland's Law and Justice is the largest party.
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