| Union for Europe of the Nations European Parliament group |
|
|---|---|
| UEN logo | |
| Name | Union for Europe of the Nations |
| English abbr. | UEN[1][2] |
| French abbr. | n/a |
| Formal name | Union for Europe of the Nations Group[3] |
| Ideology | National conservatism |
| European parties | AEN |
| From | July 20, 1999[4][5] |
| To | 1 July 2009 (de facto) |
| Preceded by | Group Union for Europe |
| Succeeded by | ALDE, ECR, EFD |
| Chaired by | Charles Pasqua,[3] (99-04) Brian Crowley,[6] (04-09) Cristiana Muscardini,[7] (04-09) |
| MEP(s) | 31[8] (July 20, 1999) 30[9] (July 22, 1999) 23[10] (April 30, 2004) 30[11] (May 5, 2004) 27[12][13] (June 4, 2004) 27[8][14] (July 20, 2004) 44[15][16] (10 February 2008) 35[17][18] (11 June 2009) |
| Website | http://www.uengroup.org/ |
Union for Europe of the Nations was a political group of the European Parliament between 1999 and 2009.
Contents |
UEN was formed on 20 July 1999,[4] supplanting the earlier Union for Europe. Its member parties Fianna Fáil (FF) and National Alliance (AN) were the driving forces behind the group, despite their being alone in their support for the proposed European Constitution. Gianfranco Fini, leader of AN, was a member of the Convention which drafted the Constitution, while Bertie Ahern, leader of FF, negotiated the treaty as President of the European Council in 2004.
UEN was a heterogeneous group: broadly national conservative, it included some parties which were either uncomfortable with this characterization or eventually evolved into something different. More specifically, FF was a centrist party and later joined the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party, AN was a moderate-conservative party and eventually joined the European People's Party through The People of Freedom, and Lega Nord was supportive of a "Europe of Regions".[19]
After the 2009 European elections the group officially had 35 members but this figure included parties such as AN and FF, which had already committed to leave.[20] UEN members migrated to other groups after the elections in June 2009 and before the Seventh European Parliament term started on 14 July 2009. FF had already left for the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, TB/LNNK and Law and Justice MEPs went to the European Conservatives and Reformists, and Lega Nord, the Danish People's Party and Order and Justice MEPs went to Europe of Freedom and Democracy. With this loss of members, the group dissolved.
On 11 June 2009, UEN had 35[17][18] MEPs as follows:
| Member state | MEPs |
|---|---|
| Denmark | 2[17] |
| Ireland | 3[17] |
| Italy | 9[17] |
| Latvia | 3[17] |
| Lithuania | 2[17] |
| Poland | 15[17] |
| Slovakia | 1[17] |
On 10 February 2008, UEN had 44[15][16] MEPs as follows:
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||