Brussels, 30/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - Danish MEP Jens-Peter Bonde told reporters on Tuesday that the Europe of Democracies and Differences (EDD) he chaired in the outgoing EP would disappear and form a new group called Independence and Democracy (ID). The main objective of the new group will be to oppose any form of European Constitution.
Bigger than the current EDD - 31 MEPs as opposed to 17 - the new party is currently made up of six national delegations, but hopes to gain more. The figure of 40 MEPs was quoted at the press conference but no details were given.
Alongside the June Movement of Jens-Peter Bonde, there will be the UK Independence Party, the Mouvement pour la France (MPF), the ChristenUnie of the Netherlands and two new parties, the League of Polish Families (LPF) and the June List, plus another 13 MEPs.
Boosted by the recent success of the UK Independence Party (gaining 9 MEPs), Nigel Farage said he was delighted with the name of the new group. Paul-Marie Coûteaux, of the MPF, highlighted the clarity of the programme and called for multilingualism. Representing the Dutch MEPs of ChristenUnie, Bastiaan Belder said the institutions had to be at the service of states and people. Pole Maciej Giertych opposed the idea of a European super-state which would jeopardise the sovereignty of every nation, while Swede Nils Lundgren called for an end of the transfer of powers to Brussels.
To comments that the party would see the cohabitation of a party wanting to leave the EU (the UK Independence Party) and other parties wanting to see a Europe of the nations, Jens-Peter Bonde said he didn't see any problems in this combination of forces since the important thing is to win the upcoming referendums and hence to move closer to all people who will vote no.
The leadership of the group will most likely be formed of a Co-Presidency of Nigel Farage and Jens-Peter Bonde in the first part of the parliamentary term, with Nils Lundgren and Maciej Giertych taking over in January 2007.