Brussels, 25/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - In Strasbourg in a couple of days, the European People's Party and the European Democrats (EPP-ED) will adopt changes to their rules, to pave the way for a large, disparate right-wing group.
After the European elections, the group will welcome, as it was already in the process of doing, all MEPs belonging to parties which are members of the EPP Party. It will also open its doors to all MEPs who do not belong to member parties, but who individually subscribe to the EPP's political programme. These two categories of member will be obliged, under the new rules, to promote the process of federal unification and integration in Europe. The British Conservatives and all those, some of them considerably more radical, from central Europe, will be associated members under the banner European Democrats (ED). As such, they have "the duty to promote and develop their own separate views on issues of a constitutional or institutional nature on the future of Europe". The European Democrats will also be entitled to a Vice-President.