The UK's Conservative Party has confirmed to the European People's Party - the main centre-right grouping in the European Parliament - that it intends to leave and form a new political grouping in the chamber. According to the BBC, the party's critic on Europe, Mark Francois, said that he, opposition foreign affairs critic William Hague and the leader of the Tories in the European Parliament, Timothy Kirkhope, on Wednesday (11 March) visited the chairman of the EPP, Joseph Daul, in Strasbourg to inform him of their intentions. 'European Conservatives' may be the name of the new group Tory leader David Cameron in 2005 during his leadership campaign had pledged to leave the parliament's centre-right political family due to his party's disagreement with its support for the Lisbon Treaty and, more generally, for its euro-federalist orientation. Though the British Tories are committed to remaining in the European Union, euroscepticism has long flourished amongst their members of parliament, their voters and the conservative press in the UK.
The UK's Conservative Party has confirmed to the European People's Party - the main centre-right grouping in the European Parliament - that it intends to leave and form a new political grouping in the chamber.
According to the BBC, the party's critic on Europe, Mark Francois, said that he, opposition foreign affairs critic William Hague and the leader of the Tories in the European Parliament, Timothy Kirkhope, on Wednesday (11 March) visited the chairman of the EPP, Joseph Daul, in Strasbourg to inform him of their intentions.
'European Conservatives' may be the name of the new group
Tory leader David Cameron in 2005 during his leadership campaign had pledged to leave the parliament's centre-right political family due to his party's disagreement with its support for the Lisbon Treaty and, more generally, for its euro-federalist orientation.
Though the British Tories are committed to remaining in the European Union, euroscepticism has long flourished amongst their members of parliament, their voters and the conservative press in the UK.
The Tories' departure from the centre-right EPP has been brought a step closer today, with William Hague and Tim Kirkhope holding a meeting with Joseph Daul to officially serve notice of their intention to form a new group after the elections in June. The meeting will no doubt have been difficult for Tim, who has always been in favour of remaining within the EPP-ED.However, the Tories are still no clearer about who will join them in this new right-wing group. Apart from some of the Czech ODS members, takers are a bit thin on the ground. Under the rule change which I piloted through the Parliament last summer, political groups must consist of at least 25 members from at least seven Member States. The number of Members is unlikely to be a problem, but finding MEPs from at least six other countries to join could still prove difficult.Leaving the largest group in the European Parliament to sit in isolation (or with some pretty odd characters) is in any case throwing away power and influence.Why do it? Because the EPP has some federalists! Yet, it also has many non-federalists, and anyway it is national governments and parliaments that decide on the degree of integration - the European Parliament decides on the content of EU legislation in areas that the EU is already responsible for. On most of this, the Conservatives and other centre-right parties agree.
Sounds all good to me. I wonder if the PES is throwing a party.
I wonder if the PES is throwing a party.
I said yesterday that the launch of Libertas in the UK would confuse the anti-EU vote. It turns out, according to a short piece in Le Monde today, that this has already happened in France.
Chasse, pêche, nature et traditions (CPNT)
Wait, you mean this is really a party? The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
A hard-right movement, it pretends to be apolitical to catch votes from good ol' boys in country areas who might otherwise vote left. "Nature" is likewise a figleaf.
