Union for Europe of the Nations

Union for Europe of the Nations
European parliamentary group

UEN logo
Name Union for Europe of the Nations
English abbr. UEN[1][2]
French abbr. UEN
Formal name Union for Europe of the Nations Group[3]
Ideology National conservatism
Conservatism[4]
Euroscepticism
European parties Alliance for Europe of the Nations
From 20 July 1999[5][6]
To 1 July 2009
(de facto)
Preceded by Union for Europe
Chaired by Charles Pasqua,[3] (99-04)
Brian Crowley,[7] (04-09)
Cristiana Muscardini,[8] (04-09)
MEP(s) 31[9] (20 July 1999)
30[10] (22 July 1999)
23[11] (30 April 2004)
30[12] (5 May 2004)
27[13][14] (June 4, 2004)
27[9][15] (July 20, 2004)
44[16][17] (10 February 2008)
35[18][19] (11 June 2009)
Website http://www.uengroup.org/

Union for Europe of the Nations (UEN) was a national–conservative[20][21][22] and Eurosceptic[23][24] political group of the European Parliament active between 1999 and 2009.

History

UEN was formed on 20 July 1999[5] for the 5th European Parliament, supplanting the earlier Union for Europe.[4] Its member parties Fianna Fáil (FF) and the National Alliance (AN) were the driving forces behind the group, despite their being alone in the group 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 Eurosceptic and national-conservative, it included some parties which were either uncomfortable with this characterisation or eventually evolved into something different. More specifically, FF was a "catch all" centre-right party and later joined the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, AN was a conservative party which eventually joined the European People's Party through The People of Freedom, and Lega Nord was supportive of a "Europe of Regions".[25]

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.[26] 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 (ALDE) Group, For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK and Law and Justice MEPs went to the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group, and Lega Nord, the Danish People's Party and Order and Justice MEPs went to Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) Group. With this loss of members, the UEN group was dissolved by default.

Membership

Membership by member state at 11 June 2009

On 11 June 2009, UEN had 35[18][19] MEPs as follows:

Member state MEPs
Denmark 2[18]
Ireland 3[18]
Italy 9[18]
Latvia 3[18]
Lithuania 2[18]
Poland 15[18]
Slovakia 1[18]

Membership by party at 10 February 2008

On 10 February 2008, UEN had 44[16][17] MEPs as follows:

Member state Party MEPs
Denmark Danish People's Party 1
Ireland Fianna Fáil 4
Italy National Alliance 8
Italy Lega Nord 4
Italy The Right 1
Latvia For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK 4
Lithuania Lithuanian Peasant Popular Union 1
Lithuania Order and Justice 1
Poland Law and Justice 7
Poland League of Polish Families 5[nb 1]
Poland Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland 5[nb 2]
Poland Polish People's Party "Piast" 3

Membership after 1999 election

Notes

  1. Three LPR MEPs remained in the Ind/Dem group (which encompassed all LPR MEPs at the outset of the legislature) and two others sat as Non-Inscrits
  2. One Samoobrona MEP sat apart from his colleagues in the Socialist group.

References

  1. "Democracy in the European Parliament" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-12-30.
  2. "Development of Political Groups in the European Parliament". CVCE. Retrieved 2015-01-16.
  3. 3.0 3.1 "European Parliament profile of Charles Pasqua". Europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Neill Nugent (2006). The Government and Politics of the European Union. Duke University Press. p. 265–. ISBN 0-8223-3870-X.
  5. 5.0 5.1 "UFE on Europe Politique". Europe-politique.eu. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
  6. "UEN on Europe Politique". Europe-politique.eu. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
  7. "European Parliament profile of Brian Crowley". Europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
  8. "European Parliament profile of Cristiana Muscardini". Europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
  9. 9.0 9.1 Unie pro Evropu národů/Union for Europe of Nations, 2005 article by Pavla Papírníková, in the Central European Political Studies Review, from the International Institute of Political Science, Masaryk University.
  10. "Seats in the EP 22 July 1999 has UEN with 30 seats". Europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
  11. "Seats in the EP 30 April 2004 has UEN with 23 seats". Europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
  12. "Seats in the EP 5 May 2004 has UEN with 30 seats". Europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
  13. "Seats in the EP 30 June 2004 has UEN with 27 seats". Europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
  14. "Seats in the EP 30 June 2004 by party has UEN with 27 seats". Europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
  15. "Europe Politique Seats in the EP 20 July 2004 by party has UEN with 27 seats". Europe-politique.eu. 2007-02-17. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
  16. 16.0 16.1 "http://files.epp-ed.eu/Activities/docs/year2008/leaflet-group-en.pdf" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-12-30.
  17. 17.0 17.1 http://www.uengroup.org/about_uen_meps.html
  18. 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 18.5 18.6 18.7 18.8 "Seats by political group in each Member State" 11 June 2009, from http://www.elections2009-results.eu/
  19. 19.0 19.1 "Make-up of new EU parliament and turnout rates", from http://www.eubusiness.com
  20. Daniela Pîrvu (13 August 2012). Corporate Income Tax Harmonization in the European Union. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 168–. ISBN 978-1-137-00092-7.
  21. Alexander H. Trechsel (13 September 2013). Towards a Federal Europe. Taylor & Francis. p. 72–. ISBN 978-1-317-99818-1.
  22. Christophe Gillissen (2010). Ireland: Looking East. Peter Lang. p. 157–. ISBN 978-90-5201-652-8.
  23. Christina Schori Liang (1 January 2007). Europe for the Europeans: The Foreign and Security Policy of the Populist Radical Right. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 205–. ISBN 978-0-7546-4851-2.
  24. Senem Aydin-Düzgit (2012). Constructions of European Identity: Debates and Discourses on Turkey and the EU. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 135–. ISBN 978-0-230-34838-7.
  25. "Sintesi posizioni Lega Nord sull'Unione Europea" (PDF). Lega Nord. 2004-03-10.
  26. "Full Text: Taoiseach Brian Cowen at the official Opening of 72nd Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis - Part 1", Fianna Fáil website, posted 27 February 2009

External links