The European Conservative Group was a

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

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 1973 and 1979. At its height in July 1979, it had 63

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 ...

History

On 1 January 1973 the Community enlarged for the first time to include

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The British Conservative Party and Danish Conservative People's Party formed their own group called the European Conservative Group on 16 January 1973.Political Groups of the European Parliament
In the ensuing years, the group collected additional

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

members, and on 17 July 1979 it changed its name to the "European Democratic Group". In March 2009 it was reported that the European Conservatives could be re-created as a group in the European Parliament, led by the British Conservative Party if they withdraw from the European People's Party–European Democrats (EPP-ED) group and succeed in meeting the minimum requirements for a political group in the Parliament. On 22 June 2009, the British Conservative Party with their colleagues launched the

European Conservatives and Reformists European Conservatives and Reformists may refer to: *European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR Party), a soft Eurosceptic European political party *European Conservatives and Reformists Group The European Conservatives and Reformists ...

(ECR) group.

Members

References

{{European Parliament groups 1973 establishments in Europe 1979 disestablishments in Europe Centre-right parties in Europe Conservative parties in Europe Former European Parliament party groups Political parties disestablished in 1979 Political parties established in 1973