Global InformationEuropean Conservatives and Reformists information
| European Conservatives and Reformists | |
|---|---|
| European Parliament group | |
 | |
| English abbr. | ECR[1] |
| French abbr. | CRE |
| Formal name | European Conservatives and Reformists Group |
| Ideology |
|
| Political position |
|
| European parties | ECR Party ECPM EFA EAFD |
| Associated organisations | New Direction |
| From | 22 June 2009[11] |
| Chaired by | Nicola Procaccini Ryszard Legutko |
| MEP(s) | 68 / 705 |
| Website | www |
The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR)[1] is a soft Eurosceptic,[12][13][14][15][16] anti-federalist[11][12][17] political group of the European Parliament. The ECR is the parliamentary group of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR Party) European political party (formerly known as the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe (2016–2019) or Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists (2009–2016), but also includes MEPs from four other European parties and thirteen MEPs without European party affiliation.
Ideologically, the group is broadly eurosceptic, anti-federalist and right-wing, with centre-right and far-right factions.[5] 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.[18] 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 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.[19][20] Other parties and individual MEPs within the group support complete withdrawal from the block, referendums on EU membership and opposition to the Eurozone.[21]
The ECR was founded around the Movement for European Reform following the 2009 European elections at the behest of British Conservative Party leader David Cameron. Currently it is the fifth-largest group in the European Parliament with 66 MEPs from 16 countries.
Presently, the largest party in the group by number of MEPs is the Law and Justice (PiS) of Poland.
- ^ a b "ECR formation – Press release june 22 2009". 22 June 2009. Retrieved 14 May 2015 – via Scribd.
- ^ a b Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "European Union". Parties and Elections in Europe. Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
- ^ Alan Siaroff (2019). Comparative European Party Systems: An Analysis of Parliamentary Elections Since 1945. Taylor & Francis. p. 469. ISBN 978-1-317-49876-6.
- ^ Tim Bale; Seán Hanley; Aleks Szczerbiak (March 2010). "'May Contain Nuts'? The Reality behind the Rhetoric Surrounding the British Conservatives' New Group in the European Parliament". The Political Quarterly. 81 (1): 85–98. doi:10.1111/j.1467-923X.2009.02067.x.
when taken together they form not so much a coherent whole as a mix of liberal conservatives (the Conservatives, ODS, LDD and MDF) and conservative nationalists (PiS and TB-LNNK).
- ^ a b
- Ingeborg Toemmel (2014). The European Union: What it is and how it Works. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 158. ISBN 978-1-137-42754-0.
- "EU parliament sees birth of new right-wing group". EUobserver. 22 June 2009. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
- "Tory minders gag right-wing allies in the ECR". The Times. London. 8 November 2009. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
- "New-look European Parliament". BBC News. 3 September 2009. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Explainer: Von der Leyen's rocky path to confirmation as EU Commission chief". Reuters. 12 July 2019.
The right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), will decide just ahead of the vote whether to support von der Leyen, but officials say the group is divided over the issue.
- ^ "Dutch and Greek far-right parties join ECR Group". European Interest. 6 June 2019.
- ^ McDonnell, Duncan; Werner, Annika (4 May 2018). "Respectable radicals: why some radical right parties in the European Parliament forsake policy congruence". Journal of European Public Policy. 25 (5): 747–763. doi:10.1080/13501763.2017.1298659. ISSN 1350-1763. S2CID 157162610.
- ^ Falkner, Gerda; Plattner, Georg (2018). "Populist Radical Right Parties and EU Policies: How coherent are their claims?" (PDF). EUI Working Paper RSCAS (38): 5.
- ^ a b François Foret (2015). Religion and Politics in the European Union: The Secular Canopy. Cambridge University Press. p. 103. ISBN 978-1-107-08271-7.
- ^ a b Christophe Gillissen (2010). Ireland: Looking East. Peter Lang. p. 157. ISBN 978-90-5201-652-8.
- ^ Jørn Holm-Hansen (2011). "Continuity and Change in Polish Party Politics Since 1989". In Ingo Peters; Elisabeth Bakke (eds.). 20 Years Since the Fall of the Berlin Wall: Transitions, State Break-Up and Democratic Politics in Central Europe and Germany. BWV Verlag. p. 277. ISBN 978-3-8305-1975-1. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
- ^ Senem Aydin-Düzgit (2012). Constructions of European Identity: Debates and Discourses on Turkey and the EU. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 16. ISBN 978-1-137-28351-1.
- ^ Hans Slomp (2011). Europe, A Political Profile: An American Companion to European Politics [2 volumes]: An American Companion to European Politics. ABC-CLIO. p. 245. ISBN 978-0-313-39182-8.
- ^ Matt Cole; Helen Deighan (2012). Political Parties in Britain. Oxford University Press. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-7486-6903-5.
- ^ "Conservative MEPs form new group". BBC. 22 June 2009. Retrieved 22 June 2009.
- ^ Reformists, European Conservatives and. "ECR Group – European Conservatives and Reformists Group". ecrgroup.eu. Archived from the original on 19 February 2018. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
- ^ Erkanor Saka (2009). Mediating the EU: Deciphering the Transformation of Turkish Elites (PhD Thesis). p. 202. ISBN 978-1-109-21663-9. Retrieved 9 March 2016.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Matthew (26 October 2011). "Why anti-EUism is not left-wing". Workers' Liberty. Alliance for Workers Liberty. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
- ^ "Senior Tory MEP urged to quit over Brexit support". Politico. 14 March 2016. Retrieved 24 May 2020.