Jim Nicholson (politician, 1945)

Jim Nicholson (2014)

James Frederick "Jim" Nicholson (born January 29, 1945 in Armagh ) is a Northern Irish politician of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). He is a member of the European Parliament .

Political career

Nicholson first worked as a farmer on his family's farm and later devoted himself entirely to politics. In the early 1970s he joined the UUP, for which he was elected to Armagh City Council in 1976, to which he was a member until 1997. From 1996 he was also Mayor of Armagh.

From 1982 to 1986 Nicholson was a member of the Northern Irish Congregation . In the British general election in 1983 , he moved into the House of Commons . Here he was a member of the Agriculture Committee. However, together with all other members of the UUP, he resigned in 1985 in protest of the Anglo-Irish Treaty . In 1986, therefore, new elections were held in the constituencies of the UUP MPs, with Nicholson being the only one who could not win back his seat, so he had to leave parliament. In 1987 he started again, but was again unsuccessful.

In the European elections in 1989 Nicholson won a seat in the European Parliament , which he was able to confirm in the elections in 1994 , 1999 , 2004 and 2009 . He initially belonged to the Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats (EPP-ED), but in 1997 he joined the Eurosceptic Group Independents for Europe of Nations , of which he was Vice-Chairman. In 1999 he returned to the EPP-ED, in 2009 he joined - together with the MEPs of the British Conservative Party - the newly founded conservative-Eurosceptic group of European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR).

Since 2004, Nicholson has been one of the six Quaestors who represent MEPs' interests on the Bureau of the European Parliament , for example in the settlement of administrative and financial matters. He sees himself as a “ Eurorealist ” and rejects a European federal state , as does the possible introduction of the euro in the United Kingdom . However, he emphasizes the financial and infrastructural benefits Northern Ireland has drawn from membership of the European Union .

Nicholson is married with six sons and one daughter.

Web links

• Website by Jim Nicholson (English)
• Entry on Jim Nicholson in the European Parliament 's database of MEPs
• VoteWatch.eu: voting by Jim Nicholson in the European Parliament (English)