The European Democrats (ED) are a conservative and eurosceptic party grouping with seats in the European Parliament as part of the larger EPP-ED group. (They are not be confused with the European Democratic Party, a newer centrist europhillic organization.)
In the late seventies and early eighties, ED was the third-largest party grouping in the Parliament. By 1994, however, they had slid to the sixth-largest bloc, and negotiated a coalition with the much larger European People's Party (EPP) to form a joint grouping, EPP-ED. ED had been somewhat further from the political centre and less europhilic than the EPP. Today, ED remains a more eurosceptic subgroup within the broader EPP-ED bloc that contributes slightly more than 10% of its total MEPs. It has thus far resisted the trend of incorporating as a European political party.
Member parties
Historical results
- 1979: 63 MEPs (14.5% of Parl)
- 1984: 67 MEPs (12.9% of Parl)
- 1989: 34 MEPs (6.6% of Parl)
- 1994: 24 MEPs (3.8% of Parl)
- 1999: 38 MEPs (6.1% of Parl)
- 2004: 29 MEPs (4.0% of Parl)
Source.
See also: Political parties of the world.
