European Right (1989–1994)

The Technical Group of the European Right (French: Groupe technique des droites européennes, abbr. ER) was a far-right^[5] political group that operated in the European Parliament between 1989 and 1994. It was led by the neo-fascist National Front of Jean-Marie Le Pen. Its members also were The Republicans and Vlaams Blok. In the aftermath of the 1994 European Parliament election, ER was dissolved due to not obtaining enough seats to continue as a group.

Technical Group of the European Right
European Parliament group
Name	Technical Group of the European Right
English abbr.	ER
French abbr.	DR[1]
Formal name	Technical Group of the European Right[2][1][3]
Ideology	Right-wing populism Euroscepticism
Political position	Far-right
From	25 July 1989[2]
To	18 July 1994[2]
Preceded by	Group of the European Right
Chaired by	Jean-Marie Le Pen[2]
MEP(s)	17 (25 July 1989)[4]

History

Following the 1989 elections, the Group of the European Right lost its Ulster Unionist^[6] and Greek EPEN MEPs. The situation was further complicated when the perennial problem of the European far-right, its inability to form transnational alliances,^[7] reasserted itself when MEPs from the German Republikaner party refused to ally themselves with the Italian MSI due to disagreements over the status of South Tyrol.^[6][8] Eventually, the "Technical Group of the European Right" was formed from MEPs from the French Front National,^[7] German Republikaner^[6][7] and Belgian Vlaams Blok^[6][7] parties.

In the 1994 elections, the Republikaners failed to reach the 5% cutoff point for German elections and lost all its MEPs. The Technical Group of the European Right no longer had enough MEPs to qualify as a Group^[8] and its MEPs returned to the ranks of the independents.

Members

Country	Name			Ideology	MEPs[4]
France		National Front	FN	Neo-fascism Right-wing populism	10 / 518
Germany		The Republicans	REP	National conservatism Right-wing populism	6 / 518
Belgium		Vlaams Blok	VB	Flemish nationalism Right-wing populism	1 / 434

Sources

• Searchlight^[8]
• Australian Nationalist Ideological, Historical, and Legal Archive: Theories Of The Right: A Collection Of Articles^[6][7]
• European Consortium for Political Research, University of Essex^[1]
• BBC News^[3]
• Europe Politique^[4]
• European Parliament MEP Archives^[2]

See also

• Euronat (1997-2009)
• Alliance of European National Movements (2009–2019)
• Alliance for Peace and Freedom (2015–present)
• Europe of Sovereign Nations Group (2024–present)