European Conservatives and Reformists Party
The European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR Party), formerly known as Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists (AECR) (2009–2016) and Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe (ACRE) (2016–2019), is a conservative,[14][15] soft Eurosceptic[16] European political party with a main focus on reforming the European Union (EU) on the basis of Eurorealism,[17] as opposed to total rejection of the EU (anti-EU-ism).[18][19]
This article is about the European political party. For the group in the European Parliament, see European Conservatives and Reformists.
European Conservatives and Reformists Party
1 October 2009
The political movement was founded on 1 October 2009,[20] after the creation of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) political group of the European Parliament. It was officially recognised by the European Parliament in January 2010.
ECR Party is governed by a board of directors who are elected by the Council, which represents all ECR member parties.[21] The executive board is composed of the President Giorgia Meloni (Prime Minister of Italy), Vicepresident Jorge Buxadé (Spanish Member of the European Parliament), and Vicepresident Radosław Fogiel (Polish member of the Parliament).[22][23]
The party is affiliated with the European Conservatives and Reformists Group in the European Parliament, the pan-European think tank New Direction – The Foundation for European Reform, and the youth organisation the European Young Conservatives. It is also formally associated with the European Conservatives and Reformists Group in the Committee of the Regions, in the Congress of the Council of Europe, and in the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.[24] In the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the ECR Party forms the European Conservatives Group and Democratic Alliance with the Identity and Democracy Party.
History[edit]
Foundation[edit]
The European Conservatives and Reformists Party was founded as the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists on 1 October 2009,[25] after the ECR political group was founded in the wake of the 2009 European Parliament election, and was officially recognised by the European Parliament in January 2010. Amongst ACRE's eight founding members the largest were the UK Conservative Party, the Polish PiS and the Czech ODS.
ECR Party was formally constituted under the chairmanship of Belgian MEP Derk Jan Eppink, who was succeeded by Czech MEP Jan Zahradil. ACRE's first congress took place in Warsaw on 8 June 2010, attended by its founding members, including UK Conservative Party Chairman and Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek. On 25 March 2011, the Civic Conservative Party from Slovakia joined; Iceland's Independence Party in November 2011 (the party's first member from outside the European Union); Georgia's Christian-Democratic Movement in August 2012; Italy's Conservatives and Social Reformers in October 2012; the Conservative Party of Canada became the ACRE's first associate member (later renamed 'regional partners') in November 2012; Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party in November 2013; and the Faroe Islands' People's Party, and Romania's New Republic; and in July 2014, Prosperous Armenia.[26] The Conservative Party of Georgia and New Majority joined on 1 November 2014. At the same time, the ACRE formally affiliated to the European Conservatives Group in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.[27] In November 2015, the Conservatives and Reformists of Italy were admitted as ECR Party members,[28] followed by the Alliance for Progress and Renewal (ALFA) of Germany and M10 party of Romania in March 2016.[29] The Liberal Party of Australia, Istiqlal Party of Morocco, National Party of New Zealand, and Republican Party of the United States joined as further regional partners in 2014, followed by Afek Tounes and Likud Movement in 2015 and 2016.
The Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists officially changed its name to the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe (ACRE) on 6 October 2016.[30]
In December 2018, ACRE was ordered to repay more than half a million euros of EU funds, following an investigation into their spending. This included €250,000 for a three-day conference in Miami and €90,000 for a trade meeting in Kampala. ACRE had previously been asked to return €121,000 given to the Prosperous Armenia party.[31]
More recently, the ECR has seen a shift further towards the conservative right with the acceptance of the Brothers of Italy, Forum for Democracy, Vox and Sweden Democrats as members in 2019.[32][33] In April 2023 Finns Party joined as most recent member of the ECR's European Parliament group.[34]
Leadership[edit]
The ECR Party has had two Presidents:
: For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK (2009–11; merged in 2011 into National Alliance, which became a member in 2014)
Latvia
ECRP adopted the Reykjavík Declaration at its Council Meeting on 21 March 2014. The declaration defines the principles that underpin ECR.[38]
The Reykjavík Declaration
