EU Democrats
| EU Democrats | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Party leader | Patricia McKenna |
| Deputy Chairman | Lave Broch |
| founding | November 8, 2005 |
| Place of foundation | Brussels |
| Headquarters | Allingaabro |
| Affiliate foundation | Organization for European Interstate Cooperation |
| Alignment | Critical to the EU |
| Colours) | orange and blue |
| Parliament seats | - |
| Government grants | - (2018) |
| EP Group | GUE / NGL , ALDE , Greens / EFA |
| Website | europeansunitedfordemocracy.org |
The EU Democrats , from January 1, 2014 Europeans United for Democracy ( German Europeans united for democracy , EUD ), nickname Alliance for a Europa of Democracies ( German Alliance for a Europe of Democracies ) were a European political party . Its members included national parties as well as other organizations and individuals who, in turn, also belonged to parties that were not themselves part of the EUD. The EUD included members of both the political left and the political right.
The aim of the party, which was founded in 2005, was a fundamental reform of the European Union , through which the member states would be given sovereignty rights back and decisions would be made locally as possible. The EUD was therefore seen as Eurosceptic , but it described itself as “Eurorealistic”.
history
The party was founded on November 7, 2005 under Danish law and on November 8, 2005 as a political party at European level in Brussels . Their first members' congress took place on February 24, 2006. The former Danish MEP Jens-Peter Bonde played a key role in founding the EUD and shaped the first few years of its development. In January 2009 he was succeeded by the Swede Sören Wibe as President of the EUD. After his death in December 2010, Patricia McKenna from Ireland was elected as the new chairwoman.
Until 2009 the EUD was represented by six members in the European Parliament . Four deputies were together with the now defunct Alliance of Independent Democrats in Europe and the British UKIP the fraction independence and democracy of the other two were attached member . Furthermore, in March 2009 seven members of national or regional parliaments in six European countries were members of the EUD. In the 2009 European elections , however, the EUD lost all seats in the European Parliament. Of the leading member parties, Junilistan in Sweden fell from 14.4% to 3.6%; the JuniBevægelsen that in Denmark fell from 9.1% to 2.4%, broke up a few months after the election.
Even so, the party remained active. With the accession of the popular movement against the EU ( Folkebevægelsen mod EU ), the EUD is again represented in the European Parliament by Søren Søndergaard and, since February 2014, by his successor Rina Ronja Kari . In addition, some members are represented in national and regional parliaments. After the 2014 election, the Lithuanian MEP Iveta Grigule joined the EUD, and at the beginning of 2015 the German ÖDP MEP Klaus Buchner .
The EUD waived the registration of the party with the newly established authority for European political parties and foundations , which was necessary in 2017 . During the year she stopped working.
President
- 2005–2009: Jens-Peter Bonde ( Denmark )
- 2009–2010: Sören Wibe ( Sweden )
- 2010–2017: Patricia McKenna ( Ireland )
Political program
The EUD's political program does not deal with ideological issues between the political right and left, as it believes that these should be debated and decided by the national and regional parliaments, which are under the democratic control of their citizens. Instead, the EUD's program focuses on the institutions of the European Union, for which they demand more transparency , subsidiarity , closeness to the citizens and democracy . To this end, the EU system is to be fundamentally reformed and a new form of cooperation between its member states introduced, based on a flexible and intergovernmental approach. These reforms of the European project should be recorded in a new, simple basic agreement, which clearly regulates the competences and structures of the cooperation of the European Union of its members.
According to their political program, the EU democrats believe that decisions should always be made at the most suitable lowest political level ( principle of subsidiarity ), which gives the citizens of the member states, regions and national minorities more effective codecision options. The party wants to unite those forces that are critical of the EU because of its undemocratic development and its centralized political style.
The EUD rejects the centralization of powers by EU institutions and in particular criticizes their ability to ascribe competences to themselves, as the EUD believes, for example, through the integration-friendly jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice . Although the EU democrats use the European Parliament as a political arena and support candidates in European elections , they see democratic control best given by the national and regional parliaments and therefore demand a veto right for them against all legislative decisions of the EU. This would end the previous principle of supranational integration.
In addition, the EUD calls for, among other things, an improvement in the EU's transparency by giving citizens access to all documents and access to all events, as well as increasing democratic accountability for the EU institutions and defending diversity in the EU with the help of a freer system Implementation of EU decisions by the member states and with the help of more flexible intergovernmental cooperation instead of harmonizing all members.
The Lisbon Treaty of Lisbon was rejected by the EUD. They campaigned for national referendums on it and supported the Irish campaigns against the treaty in 2008 and 2009.
organization
The main party organs of the EU Democrats are the Congress, the Executive Board and the Secretariat.
The congress consists of the representatives of the member organizations and movements, the individual members and all members of the board. It meets at least once a year. Unless otherwise decided, every member organization and every MEP or MEP who is a member of the EUD has one vote. The congress appoints and calls off the board members, changes the statutes, determines and decides the political direction of the association. Decisions are made in Congress with a simple majority of the votes cast.
The board is elected by the annual congress and consists of a president and two co-presidents. In addition, members of any state can elect or appoint a vice president. The campaign budget and the implementation of political decisions are decided by the board.
The secretariat , headed by the general secretary, supports the bodies of the association in their political work. The general secretary can attend all board meetings, but has no voting rights.
Members
The following overview of the members 2017 names the member organizations and the individual members of the EUD. In the case of member parties with national or European MPs, these are noted after the party name; For individual members, if known, their national party affiliation is also indicated (as of October 2016).
- Vivant parliamentary group in the Parliament of the German-speaking Community ( MP Michael Balter )
Denmark :
- Folkebevægelsen mod EU (a member of the European Parliament: Rina Ronja Kari )
- Obunden Samling ( Danne Sundman , member of the Lagting )
- Mouvement republicain et citoyen
- Jean-Louis Masson (Independent Senator )
Ireland :
- National Platform / People's Movement ( National Platform / People's Movement )
- Thomas Pringle (independent member of the Dáil Éireann )
- Croatian Academic Association
- Čovjek nadasve ( Don Ivan Grubišić , independent MP in the Sabor )
Latvia :
- Iveta Grigule (MEP, Latvijas Zemnieku savienība , Farmers Union of Latvia )
Portugal :
- Partido da Nova Democracia * ( New Democracy Party , a member of the Madeira Regional Parliament : Gil Da Silva Canha )
Slovakia :
- Priama Demokracia - Hnutie Domova ( Direct Democracy )
- Rudolf Kusy (independent member of the regional parliament of Bratislava )
Slovenia :
- Junijska lista ( June list , Gorazd Drevensek)
Sweden :
- Junilistan * ( June List )
- Ingvar Niilimaa , Joe Eriksson-Gladh (Sjukvårdspartiets)
- Jenny Jones, Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (House of Lords, Greens )
Former members
-
Denmark : Junibevægelsen (dissolved in 2009), whose party leader is Hanne Dahl (formerly MEP , from 2009 non-party)
-
Germany : Juan Manuel Ghersinich (at times General Secretary, later switched to MELD ); Thomas Rupp ; Klaus Buchner (MEP, Ecological Democratic Party ) supported the EUD in autumn 2014 -
Estonia : Igor Gräzin (MEP, Estonian Reform Party ), Liikumine ei Euroopa liidule ("No to the EU" movement) -
Estonia : Jaan Kundla (Member of the Estonian Parliament )
-
France : Debout la République (Cheers to the Republic, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan , Member of the National Assembly ), switched to ADDE in 2014
-
Italy : Partito Animalista Italiano (Italian Animal Welfare Party ); Euro Scettici (Eurosceptic) -
Ireland : Kathy Sinnott (non-party, formerly MEP )
-
Latvia : Eiroskeptiķi , Ricibas Partija ( Party of Action ); Normunds Grostins and Karlis Serzants (both Members of Parliament, LZP ); Jaunie Demokrāti (New Democracy)
-
Malta : Sharon Ellul Bonici (formerly MLP , moved to EAF ); EUD Malta
-
Poland : Samoobrona (self-defense, until 2008) -
Romania : Partidul Initiativa Nationala (National Initiative Party) -
Slovenia : EUD Slovenia; Gorazd Drevensek
-
Hungary : National Forum -
United Kingdom : David Heathcoat-Amory ( Conservative Party , then a member of the House of Commons ); Roger Helmer and Daniel Hannan (both at the time Conservative Party, non-attached MEPs, until 2009)
Affiliate foundations
From 2008 to 2010 the Foundation for EU Democracy was the party-affiliated foundation of the EUD. It was replaced in 2011 by the Organization for European Interstate Cooperation . This stopped work in 2016.
swell
- ↑ eudemocrats.org ( Memento of the original from March 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ europarl.europa.eu
- ↑ politeia.net
- ↑ euobserver.com
- ↑ europeansunitedfordemocracy.org ( Memento of the original from April 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b asktheeu.org
- ↑ folkebevaegelsen.dk ( Memento of the original from January 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ klausbuchner.eu ( Memento of the original from January 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
literature
- Laure Neumayer: Euroscepticism as a political label; in: European Journal of Political Research 2/2007.
- Géraud de Ville: EUDemocrats - Eurosceptics are Eurocritics or Eurorealists; in: Politeia 10/2007.
Web links
- Europeans United for Democracy Official Website (in English)
