The Technical Group of the European Right (, abbr. ER) was a
far-right
Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...
political group
A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller political parties, who a ...
that operated in the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two 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 ...
between 1989 and 1994. It was led by the neo-fascist
National Front of
Jean-Marie Le Pen
Jean Louis Marie Le Pen (20 June 1928 – 7 January 2025), commonly known as Jean-Marie Le Pen (), was a French politician, lawyer and activist. He founded the far-right National Front (now National Rally) party and served as the party's presi ...
. Its members also were
The Republicans and
Vlaams Blok
Vlaams Blok (, VB; ) was the name of a Belgian far-right and secessionist political party with an anti-immigration platform.Erk, 2005, pp. 493-502. Its ideologies embraced Flemish nationalism, calling for the independence of Flanders.
The part ...
. In the aftermath of the
1994 European Parliament election
The 1994 European Parliamentary election was a European election held across the 12 European Union member states in June 1994.
This election saw the merge of the European People's Party and European Democrats, an increase in the overall numbe ...
, ER was dissolved due to not obtaining enough seats to continue as a group.
History
Following the
1989 elections, the
Group of the European Right lost its
Ulster Unionist
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded as the Ulster Unionist Council in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist oppositi ...
and
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
EPEN MEPs. The situation was further complicated when the perennial problem of the European far-right, its inability to form transnational alliances,
reasserted itself when
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 European Coal and Steel Comm ...
from the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
Republikaner party refused to ally themselves with the
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
MSI due to disagreements over the
status of South Tyrol.
Eventually, the "Technical Group of the European Right" was formed from MEPs from the French
Front National,
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
Republikaner and
Belgian Vlaams Blok
Vlaams Blok (, VB; ) was the name of a Belgian far-right and secessionist political party with an anti-immigration platform.Erk, 2005, pp. 493-502. Its ideologies embraced Flemish nationalism, calling for the independence of Flanders.
The part ...
parties.
In 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 Afr ...
, the Republikaners failed to reach the 5% cutoff point for German elections and lost all its MEPs. The Technical Group of the European Right no longer had enough MEPs to qualify as a Group
and its MEPs returned to the ranks of the
independents.
Members
Sources
Searchlightref name="searchlight070201
"Far right forms new group in European Parliament", Searchlight, February 2007/ref>
Australian Nationalist Ideological, Historical, and Legal Archive: Theories Of The Right: A Collection Of Articlesref name="anihl01
/ref>
[ ttps://archive.today/20121128183204/http://home.alphalink.com.au/~radnat/theories-right/theory3.html The French And European Extreme Right And Globalization, Harvey G. Simmons/ref>]
European Consortium for Political Research, University of Essex
ref name="t1s15
Party Switching in the European Parliament: why bother?
BBC Newsref name="t1s16
Who's who in EU's new far-right group/ref>
Europe Politiqueref name="EuropePolitique1989Results
/ref>
European Parliament MEP Archivesref name="t1s54
European Parliament profile of Jean-Marie Le Pen/ref>
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:European Right (1989-1994)
1989 establishments in Europe
1994 disestablishments in the European Union
Eurosceptic parties
Far-right parties in Europe
Former European Parliament party groups
Nationalist parties in Europe
Political parties disestablished in 1994
Political parties established in 1989
Right-wing populist parties
Technical parliamentary groups