Members
Members of MER were:
- United Kingdom - Conservative Party
- Czech Republic - Civic Democratic Party
In the first week of March 2007, under Petar Stoyanov, the Bulgarian Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) decided to join. A day after the UDF's announcement, the Presidency of the European People's Party (EPP) recommended that UDF be suspended from the EPP. The President of the EPP Wilfried Martens justified the suspension, arguing that:
...It is not compatible for a member party of the EPP to join such an initiative and at the same time remain in our party. The EPP is committed to reforming the European Union (EU) and we are open for constructive dialogue with our non-EPP allies but, at the same time, we expect UDF to be loyal and committed to its membership obligations...In mid April 2007, the UDF backtracked and stated that it remained loyal to the EPP and that it would never leave the EPP section of the EPP-ED Group to join another Group. A month later, in the first-ever elections for the European Parliament in Bulgaria (20 May 2007) the UDF failed to elect any seats. As a result, Petar Stoyanov - who was accused by his critics of making poor decisions during the campaign, including the MER choice - resigned as UDF leader. In September 2007, the UDF formally withdrew from the MER and re-affirmed its membership with the EPP.
Read more about this topic: Movement For European Reform
Famous quotes containing the word members:
“I weep for the liberty of my country when I see at this early day of its “successful experiment” that corruption has been imputed to many members of the House of Representatives, and the rights of the people have been bartered for promises of office.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)
“A multitude of little superfluous precautions engender here a population of deputies and sub-officials, each of whom acquits himself with an air of importance and a rigorous precision, which seemed to say, though everything is done with much silence, “Make way, I am one of the members of the grand machine of state.””
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“For let our finger ache, and it endues
Our other healthful members even to a sense
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