European Democrats
| European Democrats | |
|---|---|
| European Parliament group | |
| Name | European Democrats |
| English abbr. | ED |
| French abbr. | DE |
| Formal name | European Democratic Group |
| Ideology | Conservatism Economic liberalism Euroscepticism |
| Political position | Centre-right to right-wing |
| From | 17 July 1979 |
| To | 1 May 1992 |
| Preceded by | European Conservative Group |
| Succeeded by | European People's Party–European Democrats |
| Chaired by | James Scott-Hopkins, Henry Plumb, Christopher Prout |
| MEP(s) | 63 (17 July 1979) 50 (23 July 1984) 34 (25 July 1989) |
| Part of a series on |
| Conservatism in Europe |
|---|
The European Democratic Group, more commonly known as European Democrats, was a conservative political group that operated in the European Parliament between 1979 and 1992. At its height in July 1979, it had 63 MEPs.
Ideologically, ED was more Eurosceptic and right-wing than its centre-right rival European People's Party (EPP). Its members included parties such as the UK Conservative Party of Margaret Thatcher, Danish Conservative People's Party, and Spanish People's Alliance. In 1992, ED became a subgroup of EPP, now the European People's Party–European Democrats. ED split from EPP in 2009 to re-create the group as the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists.