The Technical Group of Independents was a heterogenous

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...

technical group In politics, a technical group or mixed group is a heterogenous parliamentary group composed of elected officials from political parties of differing ideologies (or independent of any party) who are not numerous enough to form groups on their own. ...

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 ...

operating between 1979 and 1984.

History

The Technical Group of Independents was formed in 1979. The group was officially called "Group for the Technical Coordination and the Defence of Independent Groups and Members" and it used the abbreviation "CDI". It was a coalition of parties ranging from the

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...

to the radical left, which were not aligned with any of the major international party federations. In 1984 most of the CDI members later joined the "Rainbow Group". The group was a rather diverse alliance, and this was reflected in its chairs which included the Italian Radical

Marco Pannella Marco Pannella (born Giacinto Pannella; 2 May 1930 – 19 May 2016) was an Italian politician, journalist and activist. He was well known in his country for his nonviolence and civil rights' campaigns, like the right to divorce, the right to ab ...

, the hardline Irish Republican

Neil Blaney Neil Terence Columba Blaney (1 October 1922 – 8 November 1995) was an Irish politician. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann in 1948 as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) representing Donegal East. A high-profile member of the party, Blane ...

and Danish left-wing Eurosceptic

Jens-Peter Bonde Jens-Peter Rossen Bonde (27 March 1948 – 4 April 2021) was a Danish politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) with the June Movement. He resigned as an MEP in May 2008. Bonde was elected to the European Parliament in the ...

. On 13 December 1983, the group was joined by British MEP Michael Gallagher of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

, who was previously member of the Labour Party and

Socialist Group The Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group (french: Groupe Socialiste, SOC) is a primarily social-democratic political grouping in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. It was known as the Socialist Group prior to August 2017. The ...

MEPs at 13 December 1983

Sources

Europe Politique
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European Parliament MEP Archives
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European Parliament profile of Neil Blaney
/ref>European Parliament profile of Marco Pannella
/ref>European Parliament profile of Jens-Peter Bonde
/ref>European Parliament profile of Maurits P.-A. Coppieters
/ref>European Parliament profile of Else Hammerich
/ref>European Parliament profile of Sven Skovmand
/ref>European Parliament profile of Jørgen Bøgh
/ref>European Parliament profile of Luciana Castellina
/ref>European Parliament profile of Mario Capanna
/ref>European Parliament profile of Emma Bonino
/ref>European Parliament profile of Leonardo Sciascia
/ref>
CVCE- Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l'Europe
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Technical Group of Independents (1979-1984) Former European Parliament party groups Technical parliamentary groups