The Rainbow Group in the European Parliament was a
regionalist 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 ...
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 ...
from 1989 to 1994.
History
In
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...
the previous
Rainbow Group split. For the
third term of the European Parliament, the
green parties formed
The Green Group, whilst the regionalist parties stayed in the remaining Rainbow Group.
This second Rainbow Group was the highpoint of the
European Free Alliance
The European Free Alliance (EFA) is a European political party that consists of various regionalist, separatist and ethnic minority political parties in Europe. Member parties advocate either for full political independence and sovereignty, ...
(EFA) to that date.
But the
1994 elections
The following elections occurred in the year 1994.
Africa
* 1994 Botswana general election
* 1994 Guinea-Bissau general election
* 1994 Malawian general election
* 1994 Mozambican general election
* 1994 Namibian general election
* 1994 South Af ...
saw a considerable reduction in Regionalist representation in the Parliament, with only the
Canarian Coalition
The Canarian Coalition ( es, Coalición Canaria, CC) is a regionalist, Canarian nationalist political party in Spain operating in the Canary Islands. The party's aim is for greater autonomy for the islands but not independence. It has been label ...
,
Lega Nord,
Scottish National Party and
People's Union keeping their MEPs.
But Lega Nord had been suspended from the EFA following its decision to join the
Italian coalition government alongside the right-wing
National Alliance.
The weakened EFA was no longer able to maintain their own group, and instead allied with members of the French ''
Energie Radicale'' to form the Group of the
European Radical Alliance.
Sources
*"Regionalist Parties in Western Europe", , de Winter & Türsan 1998
ref name="t1s3
Development of Political Groups in the European Parliament/ref>
Europe Politiqueref name="t1s11
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Democracy in the European Parliament
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Democracy in the European Parliament
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European Parliament MEP Archives
ref name="t1s58
European Parliament profile of Jaak Vandemeulebroucke
/ref>
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rainbow Group (1989-1994)
Former European Parliament party groups
Regionalism (politics)