The European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR Group or simply ECR) is a national conservative, soft eurosceptic, and anti-federalist political group of the European Parliament. The ECR is the parliamentary group of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR Party) European political party, but also includes MEPs from other European parties and MEPs without European party affiliation.
Ideologically, the group is broadly eurosceptic, anti-federalist, and right-wing, with far-right factions. The stated 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. 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 a eurorealist or euro-critical stance.
The ECR promotes soft euroscepticism, as opposed to a total rejection of the existence of the EU characterised 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. Other parties and individual MEPs within the group support complete withdrawal from the block, referendums on EU membership and opposition to the Eurozone.
The ECR was founded around the Movement for European Reform following the 2009 European Parliament elections in the United Kingdom at the behest of the British Conservative Party leader David Cameron. During the tenth European Parliament, the largest party in the group by number of MEPs is Brothers of Italy (FdI), followed by Polish Law and Justice (PiS).
History Origins (2005–2006) In 2005, the British Conservative Party held a leadership contest. During the sixth term of the European Parliament, Conservative Party MEPs sat in the European Democrats (ED), a subgroup of the European People's Party–European Democrats (EPP-ED) group, which is dominated by the European People's Party (EPP). Leadership contender David Cameron argued for withdrawal of the Conservatives from EPP-ED and the formation of a new group. Upon taking office as Conservative leader in December 2005, Cameron indicated that the launch of a new group would be undertaken immediately. The motives for forming this group was the EPP-ED was too federalist, while the Conservatives opposed stronger European integration. In June 2006, Cameron ordered Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague to ensure the new group was created by 13 July 2006. When that date arrived, it was announced that the launch of the new European Parliament group was delayed until after the 2009 elections.
Movement for European Reform
In the interim, a pan-European alliance, called the Movement for European Reform (MER), was founded and functioned outside of the European Parliament. The same day, the Law and Justice and Civic Platform parties of Poland were identified as potential members of the new group: However, Civic Platform stated that it would not leave the EPP, and the Law and Justice stated that it planned to stay aligned to UEN. The next day, Sir Reg Empey, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), suggested that the UUP could join the new group after the 2009 election.
In the event of the election, the UUP ran under the banner of the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists, an electoral alliance between the Conservative Party and the Ulster Unionists. The Czech Civic Democratic Party (ODS) was part of MER but its leader, Mirek Topolánek, did not rule out staying in EPP-ED. Topolánek then attended the EPP Summit (a meeting of heads of state and government of the European People's Party) of 21 June 2007, adding speculation about the fragility of the new group. Later in 2007, the relations between the EPP and the Conservative Party further deteriorated when the EPP voiced its opposition to the UK holding a referendum of the Treaty of Lisbon, something the Conservatives had campaigned for. In July 2008, the European Parliament raised the 2009 threshold for forming a group to 25 members and representing 7 member states. Topolánek, after being re-elected Leader of the ODS on 7 December 2008, attended yet another EPP Summit, on 11 December 2008.
2009 European Parliament elections As the 2009 European elections approached, Cameron, Topolánek, and Conservative MEP Geoffrey Van Orden, who was a "point-man" for the new group, were looking for partners. The list of possible partners was kept secret. People or parties that were rumoured to be possible partners in the new group included Law and Justice; Lega Nord; the Danish People's Party; For Fatherland and Freedom, Order and Justice, the Pensioners' Party; Order, Law and Justice; Libertas; Civic Union; Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania, ChristianUnion-SGP; the independent Indrek Tarand; and Lijst Dedecker's Derk Jan Eppink; from member states such as the Czech Republic, Poland, Italy, Sweden, the Baltic and Balkan states, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
Speculation considered the remnants of the Union for Europe of the Nations (UEN) group, which was thought to be on the verge of collapse after the decision of Fianna Fáil to join the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), and the Italian National Alliance merging with EPP member party Forza Italia. Lajos Bokros, elected on the list of the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) joined the group as the EPP did not want to accept him on pressure of the rival Fidesz. The new group was provisionally named the European Conservatives, (echoing the 1970s group of the same name), which was then changed to European Conservatives and Reformists. The original estimates were firmed up to 84 MEPs, then to approximately 60. Frictions surfaced, as the ODS wanted the new group to have as many MEPs as possible, whilst the Conservatives wanted to disbar anti-immigrant parties in the new group, including the Danish People's Party and Lega Nord.
Formation
On 22 June 2009, the first official list of the new group's members was released. On 24 June, the group held its inaugural meeting, in which Conservative MEP Timothy Kirkhope was named interim leader. Adam Bielan of PiS and Jan Zahradil of the ODS were named interim vice-chairmen. At the first sitting of the Seventh European Parliament, on 14 July 2009, outgoing Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering announced that applications from all new and returning groups had been received and approved, including ECR. The group then became eligible for EU funding, office space, and committee places. The first election for the group leadership was also scheduled for 14 July 2009, pitting interim leader Kirkhope against fellow Briton Geoffrey Van Orden.
Both Conservative leadership candidates were forced to forfeit the leadership to prevent it from falling apart, when Conservative MEP Edward McMillan-Scott defied his party whip and stood for one of the vice-presidency posts despite pledges the previous week that Polish MEP Michał Kamiński would be backed for it. Kamiński's bid for Vice-President of the European Parliament subsequently failed, and the Polish MEPs threatened to abandon the new caucus unless Kamiński was made the group leader in the parliament. Kirkhope went to an emergency meeting with Polish MEPs in Strasbourg and proposed sharing the group leadership with the Kamiński; however, this was not accepted, and he had to step down as coalition leader, withdrawing in favour of Kamiński. McMillan-Scott, who alleged that the Conservative's new allies in Poland are "racist and homophobic", had the Conservative whip withdrawn in the European Parliament. In March 2010, McMillan-Scott joined the British Liberal Democrats and the ALDE group.
Leadership and membership changes (2009–2014) Group chairman Kamiński left Law and Justice (PiS) in November 2010, saying that the party had been taken over by the far-right. Kamiński and other Law and Justice MPs and MEPs formed a new Polish party, Poland Comes First, formed as a breakaway from Law and Justice following dissatisfaction with the direction and leadership of Jarosław Kaczyński. Kamiński initially remained chairman of the group, but other Law and Justice MEPs argued he should step down.Conservatives' EU alliance in turmoil as Michał Kamiński leaves 'far right' party, The Guardian, 22 November 2010 On 15 December, rumours emerged that the eleven remaining PiS MEPs might leave the ECR and join the right-wing Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) group instead. In February 2011, Kamiński announced he would resign his chairmanship, effective 8 March, when a replacement would be elected. Former interim leader Timothy Kirkhope was said to be the front runner, but lost the election to Jan Zahradil of the Czech Republic's ODS. In late March, David Cameron invited the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) to join the group.
The May 2011 resignation of Silvana Koch-Mehrin, one of the fourteen Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament, led to the ECR considering putting another candidate forward to take the position they were denied through McMillan-Scott's defection. Conservative Party MEP Giles Chichester was nominated on 31 May, and was elected unopposed by the Parliament on 5 July 2011, after the ALDE group to which Koch-Mehrin belongs failed to find a willing and suitable candidate. On 14 December 2011, a new leadership was elected, with Martin Callanan as chairman and Jan Zahradil, Geoffrey Van Orden, Ryszard Legutko, and Derk Jan Eppink as Vice-Chairmen. On 26 December 2011, four members of United Poland – who had split from Law and Justice in November – left the ECR to join the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) group. On 17 January 2012, Czech Oldřich Vlasák replaced Chichester as the ECR's Vice-President of the Parliament.
2014 European Parliament elections
The 2014 European elections were held on 22–25 May 2014. In the weeks following the election, several parties joined the ECR, including the Danish People's Party and the Finns Party (both of which switched from the EFD group), Alternative for Germany, the Family Party of Germany, Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO) and New Majority (NOVA) from Slovakia, the Independent Greeks, Bulgaria Without Censorship, the Dutch Reformed Political Party, and the Belgian New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) (previously attached to the Greens/EFA group). As a result of these additions, the ECR overtook ALDE to become the third biggest group in the European parliament, assuming the role of "kingmakers" in the new Parliament.