Global InformationEuropeans United for Democracy information
Europeans United for Democracy EUDemokraten – Allianz für ein Europa der Demokratien UEDémocrates – Alliance pour une Europe des Démocraties | |
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| President | Patricia McKenna |
| Founded | 8 November 2005 |
| Dissolved | 2017 |
| Headquarters | 113-115, rue du Trône/Troonlaan, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium |
| Ideology | Euroscepticism[1] Eurorealism[2] |
| Political position | Left-wing[3][4] |
| Colours | Orange Delft blue |
| Website | |
| www | |
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Europeans United for Democracy – Alliance for a Europe of Democracies, formerly known as EUDemocrats, was a Eurosceptic[5][6][7] and self-described Eurorealist alliance of parties[8] and movements from 15 European countries. It operated as a transnational party at the European level (European political party),[9] according to Regulation (EC) No 2004/2003.[10] It incorporated members from both the left and right of the political spectrum.
The party was set up under Danish law on 7 November 2005 and founded as a European Party in Brussels on 8 November 2005. Its first congress was held on 24 February 2006. Former Danish MEPs Jens-Peter Bonde and Hanne Dahl inspired the EUD's creation and first years. In January 2009, Swedish economist and former MEP Sören Wibe succeeded Bonde as President of the EUD. Following Wibe's sudden death in December 2010, former Irish Green MEP Patricia McKenna was named president of the EUD and Lave Knud Broch from People's Movement against the EU as vice president.
The founding parties of the party included the Danish June Movement from Jens-Peter Bonde (who also became the first president of the party), the Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland, the June List from Sweden and the Danish People's Movement Against the EU. The party had to rely on the assistance of individual Members of Parliament in order to reach the representational threshold of seven member states — these members included Roger Helmer, UK Conservative Daniel Hannan, Igor Grazin from the Estonian Reform Party, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan from Arise the Republic, Sandor Leszak and Andras Ptiski from FIDESZ, Irish independent Kathy Sinnott, Klaus Buchner from the German Ecological Democratic Party and Iveta Grigule from the Latvian Farmers' Union.[11] These parties and members came from all sides of the political spectrum and were united in their criticism of the EU, although in varying degrees.[12]
Although the EUD's platform was not concerned with specific ideological matters, as it believed that such issues were best dealt with by national and regional parliaments under the democratic control of the people, the party itself was considered left-wing; David Hanley, head of the School of European Studies at Cardiff University, called it a "core statement of left-wing Euroscepticism".[3] The EUD cooperated with other left-wing European parties.[4] The party was committed to increasing transparency, subsidiarity, diversity and budgetary control in the European Union, wanting to limit the Union to a free-trade zone and a safeguard of social and environmentalist standards, with integration efforts being only optional and limited to the minimum. The EU was to be prohibited from dictating a common foreign, economic and security policy to all members, and elements of membership were to be elective, with member states able to choose to participate in the free-trade zone only, without partaking in other elements of the European Union.[11]
In 2009, four of its affiliated MEPs were members of the Independence and Democracy group in the European Parliament. Also, two affiliated MEPs - Roger Helmer and Daniel Hannan, both British Conservatives - sat as independents. Hannan left EUD in October 2009 to join the newly formed Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists, while Helmer defected from the British Conservatives to British party UKIP. From 2010 to 2014 EUD had one member in the European Parliament: Rina Ronja Kari (replaced Søren Søndergaard 5 February 2014), who sits as an associate member of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left Group. In the 2014 European Parliament elections two EUD members Rina Ronja Kari and Iveta Grigule were elected.
Ten members of national and regional parliaments from ten countries were also members of the EUD (as of 2014).
- ^ Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "European Union". Parties and Elections in Europe. Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
- ^ Calossi, Enrico (2016). Anti-Austerity Left Parties in the European Union. Competition, Coordination, Integration. Pisa: Pisa University Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-886741-6653.
- ^ a b Hanley, David (2008). Beyond the Nation State: Parties in the Era of European Integration. Palgrave MacMillan. p. 190. ISBN 978-1-4039-0795-0.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
groenwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Rafal Pankowski (25 February 2010). The Populist Radical Right in Poland: The Patriots. Routledge. p. 149. ISBN 978-1-135-15097-6.
- ^ Elizabeth Bomberg; John Peterson; Richard Corbett (2012). The European Union: How Does it Work?. Oxford University Press. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-19-957080-5.
- ^ Oskar Niedermayer (1 May 2013). Handbuch Parteienforschung. Springer. p. 831. ISBN 978-3-531-18932-1.
- ^ Article by Géraud de Ville in Politeia (10/2007): Eurosceptics are Eurocritics or Eurorealists;
- ^ "Political parties at European level". Europarl.europa.eu. 29 March 2004. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
- ^ http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSLEG:2003R2004:20071227:EN:PDF [bare URL PDF]
- ^ a b Hanley, David (2008). Beyond the Nation State: Parties in the Era of European Integration. Palgrave MacMillan. pp. 188–190. ISBN 978-1-4039-0795-0.
- ^ Wolfs, Wouter (2022). European Political Parties and Party Finance Reform. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 238. ISBN 978-3030951740.