Union For Europe of The Nations - History

History

UEN was formed on 20 July 1999, supplanting the earlier Union for Europe. Its member parties Fianna Fáil (FF) and National Alliance (AN) were the driving forces behind the group, despite their being alone in their support for the proposed European Constitution. Gianfranco Fini, leader of AN, was a member of the Convention which drafted the Constitution, while Bertie Ahern, leader of FF, negotiated the treaty as President of the European Council in 2004.

UEN was a heterogeneous group: broadly national conservative, it included some parties which were either uncomfortable with this characterization or eventually evolved into something different. More specifically, FF was a centre right "catch all" party and later joined the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party, AN was a moderate-conservative party and eventually joined the European People's Party through The People of Freedom, and Lega Nord was supportive of a "Europe of Regions".

After the 2009 European elections the group officially had 35 members but this figure included parties such as AN and FF, which had already committed to leave. UEN members migrated to other groups after the elections in June 2009 and before the Seventh European Parliament term started on 14 July 2009. FF had already left for the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, TB/LNNK and Law and Justice MEPs went to the European Conservatives and Reformists, and Lega Nord, the Danish People's Party and Order and Justice MEPs went to Europe of Freedom and Democracy. With this loss of members, the group dissolved.

Read more about this topic:  Union For Europe Of The Nations

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    No one is ahead of his time, it is only that the particular variety of creating his time is the one that his contemporaries who are also creating their own time refuse to accept.... For a very long time everybody refuses and then almost without a pause almost everybody accepts. In the history of the refused in the arts and literature the rapidity of the change is always startling.
    Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)

    It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature.
    Henry James (1843–1916)

    All objects, all phases of culture are alive. They have voices. They speak of their history and interrelatedness. And they are all talking at once!
    Camille Paglia (b. 1947)