European Right (1984–1989)

The Group of the European Right (French: Groupe des droites européennes, abbr. ER) was a far-right^[7] political group that operated in the European Parliament between 1984 and 1989. It was led by the neo-fascist National Front of Jean-Marie Le Pen. Its members also were the Italian Social Movement and Greek National Political Union. The Ulster Unionist Party was also a member of ER after 1985. ER was succeeded by the Technical Group of the European Right after the 1989 European Parliament election.

Group of the European Right
European Parliament group
Name	Group of the European Right
English abbr.	ER[1][2]
French abbr.	DR[3]
Formal name	Group of the European Right[4][2][5]
Ideology	Neo-fascism Euroscepticism
Political position	Far-right
From	24 July 1984[4]
To	24 July 1989[4]
Preceded by	Eurodroite
Succeeded by	Technical Group of the European Right
Chaired by	Jean-Marie Le Pen[4]
MEP(s)	16 (24 July 1984)[6]

History

Following the 1984 elections, MEPs from the Italian Social Movement (MSI),^[6][8] Greek National Political Union (EPEN)^[6][8] and French National Front^[6][8] were elected. They formed the first formally far-right Group in the Parliament. They were later joined by John Taylor of the Ulster Unionist Party.^[8][9][10] In the 1989 elections, the Ulster Unionist^[10] retired and his successor sat in a different group while the EPEN members lost their seats, and the new MEPs from the German party The Republicans refused to ally themselves with the MSI due to disagreements over the status of South Tyrol.^[10][11] The Group collapsed and was succeeded by the Technical Group of the European Right.

Members

Country	Name			Ideology	MEPs[6][8]
France		National Front	FN	Neo-fascism[12][13] Right-wing populism	10 / 434
Italy		Italian Social Movement	MSI	Neo-fascism Italian nationalism	5 / 434
Greece		National Political Union	EPEN	Metaxism Greek nationalism	1 / 434
United Kingdom		Ulster Unionist Party[a]	UUP	British nationalism Conservatism	1 / 434

See also

• Eurodroite

Sources

• Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley^[1]
• Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l'Europe (CVCE) via European NAvigator^[2]
• Searchlight^[11]
• Australian Nationalist Ideological, Historical, and Legal Archive: Theories Of The Right: A Collection Of Articles^[8][10]
• BBC News^[5]
• Europe Politique^[6]
• European Parliament MEP Archives^[4]

Notes

1. After 1985