Union for Europe of the Nations (UEN) was a

national-conservative National conservatism is a nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding national and cultural identity. National conservatives usually combine nationalism with conservative stances promoting traditional cultural values, ...

Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek reform ...

political group A political group is a group consisting of political parties or legislators of aligned ideologies. A technical group is similar to a political group, but with members of differing ideologies. International terms Equivalent terms are used differ ...

that operated in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

between 1999 and 2009. At its height in February 2008, it had 44

MEPs A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

. UEN was affiliated with the

Alliance for Europe of the Nations The Alliance for Europe of the Nations was a pan-European political party that gathered conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practic ...

political party. UEN was formed as the successor of the

Union for Europe The Union for Europe (UFE) was a conservative political group in the European Parliament that existed from 1995 to 1999. The group was formed during the 4th European Parliament term in July 1995 from a merger of the European Democratic Alliance a ...

group. Its members were parties such as the

Rally for France The Rally for France (french: Rassemblement pour la France (RPF); also briefly known in 2003 as Rally for France and European Independence or ) was a political party in France of the right. It was founded in 1999 by the Gaullist and former Interi ...

, Italian National Alliance and

Lega Nord Lega Nord (; acronym: LN), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing, federalist, populist and conservative political party in Italy. In the run-up of the 2018 general election, the party was rebranded as (), without changing its official n ...

, Irish

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christian- ...

, and Polish

Law and Justice Law and Justice ( pl, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość , PiS) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Poland. Its chairman is Jarosław Kaczyński. It was founded in 2001 by Jarosław and Lech Kaczyński as a direct su ...

. After the

2009 European Parliament election The 2009 European Parliament election was held in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making th ...

, UEN was dissolved due to its member parties opting to switch to other groups.

History

UEN was formed on 20 July 1999 for the

5th European Parliament The fifth European Parliament is the fifth five-year term of the elected European Parliament. It began following the June 1999 elections and ended after the June 2004 elections. The constitutive session was held on Tuesday 20 July 1999. Nicole ...

, supplanting the earlier

. Its member parties

(FF) and the National Alliance (AN) were the driving forces behind the group, despite their being alone in the group in their support for the proposed

European Constitution The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE; commonly referred to as the European Constitution or as the Constitutional Treaty) was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European U ...

Gianfranco Fini Gianfranco Fini (born 3 January 1952) is an Italian politician who served as the president of the Italian Chamber of Deputies from 2008 to 2013. He is the former leader of the far-right Italian Social Movement, the conservative National Allianc ...

, leader of AN, was a member of the Convention which drafted the Constitution, while

Bertie Ahern Bartholomew Patrick "Bertie" Ahern (born 12 September 1951) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1997 to 2008, Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1994 to 2008, Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997, Tánaiste a ...

, leader of FF, negotiated the treaty as

President of the European Council The president of the European Council is the person presiding over and driving forward the work of the European Council on the world stage. This institution comprises the college of heads of state or government of EU member states as well as t ...

in 2004. UEN was a heterogeneous group: broadly Eurosceptic and

, it included some parties which were either uncomfortable with this characterisation or eventually evolved into something different. More specifically, FF was a " catch all" centre-right party and later joined the

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE; french: Alliance des Démocrates et des Libéraux pour l'Europe, ADLE) is a transnational alliance between two European political parties, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Euro ...

, AN was a conservative party which eventually joined the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Ch ...

through

The People of Freedom The People of Freedom ( it, Il Popolo della Libertà, PdL) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The PdL, launched by Silvio Berlusconi on 18 November 2007, was initially a federation of political parties, notably including Forza Italia a ...

, and

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."Full Text: Taoiseach Brian Cowen at the official Opening of 72nd Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis - Part 1"
, Fianna Fáil website, posted 27 February 2009 UEN members migrated to other groups after the elections in June 2009 and before the

Seventh European Parliament The seventh European Parliament was elected in the 2009 elections and lasted until the 2014 elections. Major events * 4–7 June 2009 ** Elections to the Seventh Parliament. * 14 July 2009 ** First meeting (constitutive session) of the Seve ...

term started on 14 July 2009. FF had already left for the

(ALDE) Group,

For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK ( lv, Tēvzemei un Brīvībai/LNNK, abbreviated to TB/LNNK) was a free-market, national conservative political party in Latvia. In 2011, it dissolved and merged into the National Alliance. The party was founded ...

and

MEPs went to the

European Conservatives and Reformists The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) is a soft Eurosceptic, anti- federalist political group of the European Parliament. The ECR is the parliamentary group of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR Party) European pol ...

(ECR) Group, and

, the

Danish People's Party The Danish People's Party ( da, Dansk Folkeparti, DPP/DF) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Denmark. It was formed in 1995 by former members of the Progress Party (FrP). The DPP lent its support to the Venstre– C ...

and

Order and Justice Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

MEPs went to

Europe of Freedom and Democracy Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) was a Eurosceptic political group in the European Parliament. The group was formed following the 2009 European parliamentary election, mostly composed of elements of the Independence/Democracy (IND/DEM) and ...

(EFD) Group. With this loss of members, the UEN group was dissolved by default.

Membership

1999–2004

2004–2009

2009

References

External links

Table of all groups and the number of MEPs from countriesUEN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Union For Europe Of The Nations 1999 establishments in the European Union 2009 disestablishments in the European Union Conservative parties in Europe Eurosceptic parties Former European Parliament party groups National conservative parties Nationalist parties in Europe Political parties disestablished in 2009 Political parties established in 1999 Right-wing parties in Europe