European Right (1989–1994) Explained

Technical Group of the European Right
Technical Group of the European Right
From:25 July 1989
To:18 July 1994
Precededby:Group of the European Right
Englishabbr:ER
Frenchabbr:DR
Formalname:Technical Group of the European Right
Position:Far-right
Chairs:Jean-Marie Le Pen
Meps:17 (25 July 1989)

The Technical Group of the European Right (French: Groupe technique des droites européennes, abbr. ER) was a far-right[1] political group that operated in the European Parliament between 1989 and 1994. It was led by the neo-fascist National Front of Jean-Marie Le Pen. Its members also were The Republicans and Vlaams Blok. In the aftermath of the 1994 European Parliament election, ER was dissolved due to not obtaining enough seats to continue as a group.

History

Following the 1989 elections, the Group of the European Right lost its Ulster Unionist and Greek EPEN MEPs. The situation was further complicated when the perennial problem of the European far-right, its inability to form transnational alliances, reasserted itself when MEPs from the German Republikaner party refused to ally themselves with the Italian MSI due to disagreements over the status of South Tyrol. Eventually, the "Technical Group of the European Right" was formed from MEPs from the French Front National, German Republikaner and Belgian Vlaams Blok parties.

In the 1994 elections, the Republikaners failed to reach the 5% cutoff point for German elections and lost all its MEPs. The Technical Group of the European Right no longer had enough MEPs to qualify as a Group and its MEPs returned to the ranks of the independents.

Members

CountryNameIdeologyMEPs
FranceNational FrontFNNeo-fascism
Right-wing populism
GermanyThe RepublicansREPNational conservatism
Right-wing populism
BelgiumVlaams BlokVBFlemish nationalism
Right-wing populism

Sources

Notes and References

  1. News: 2007-01-10 . L'extrême droite est en passe de former un groupe au Parlement européen . 2024-06-13 . Le Monde.fr . fr.
  2. http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/index.php?link=template&story=191 "Far right forms new group in European Parliament", Searchlight, February 2007
  3. http://home.alphalink.com.au/~radnat/theories-right/theory1.html Europe For The Europeans:Fascist Myths Of The New Order 1922 - 1992, Roger Griffin, 1993
  4. http://home.alphalink.com.au/~radnat/theories-right/theory3.html The French And European Extreme Right And Globalization, Harvey G. Simmons
  5. http://www.essex.ac.uk/ECPR/events/generalconference/marburg/papers/12/3/McElroy.pdf Party Switching in the European Parliament: why bother?
  6. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/world/europe/6249513.stm Who's who in EU's new far-right group
  7. http://www.europe-politique.eu/elections-europeennes-1989.htm 1989 European Parliament election results at July 25, 1989
  8. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/archive/term2/view.do?language=EN&id=1023 European Parliament profile of Jean-Marie Le Pen