People's Movement against the EU

People's Movement against the EU
Leader Collective leadership
Founded 1972
Headquarters Tordenskjoldsgade 21, st.th.
DK-1055 København K
Newspaper Folk i Bevægelse
Youth wing Youth of the Popular Movement against EU
Ideology Euroscepticism
Sovereignty
Nonpartisan
European affiliation TEAM, EUdemocrats
European Parliament group European United Left - Nordic Green Left
Colours Green
European Parliament:
1 / 13
Website
www.folkebevaegelsen.dk

The People's Movement against the EU (Danish: Folkebevægelsen mod EU) is a political association in Denmark against the European Union. It was founded in 1972 as a cross-party campaign platform for a 'no' vote in Denmark's referendum on EEC membership. It currently has one member in the European Parliament.

The movement has approximately 3500 personal members, as well as collective members such as political parties, NGOs and trade unions (mostly local branches). The individual members are organised in about 100 local branches.[1]

Policies

The primary objective of the movement is to withdraw the country from the EU and rejoin the European Free Trade Association, unlike some other euro-sceptic organisations which hope to be able to reform or downgrade the EU. According to the movement, it supports democracy, sustainable development and increased cooperation in organisations like the United Nations, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Council of Europe and the Nordic Council.[2] It strongly opposes the Lisbon treaty and has campaigned for a Danish referendum on the EU Constitution.

The People's Movement against the EU is a cross-party movement. It does not regard itself a political party and claims to be non-affiliated to the traditional left/right-scale, hence it does not contest national parliamentary or local elections. Its traditional base is found among left-wingers and trade union members, but there are also non-partisans and non-socialist members, e.g., from the Social Liberal Party, the Social Democrats, the Conservative Party, the Green Party and the small georgeist liberal Justice Party. The movement aims at a cooperation with other political forces, although it has distanced itself from the right-wing eurosceptical Danish People's Party.

The term People's Movement (another possible translation is Popular Movement) is common in Denmark and does not hint at socialism, but rather means 'broad movement for a common cause'. Several Danish parties label themselves popular parties (folkeparti).

European Parliament

In the 2004 election it gained 5.2% of the national vote, electing one MEP. It has been represented in the European Parliament since 1979 when direct elections were introduced. In every election since 1994, it has been part of an electoral coalition with the euro-sceptic June Movement.

Car showing People's Movement against the EU election sticker

Its current MEP, Rina Ronja Kari, (replaced Søren Søndergaard 5 February 2014), is an associate member of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left group. Søndergaard was formerly a member of the Parliament of Denmark for Enhedslisten. Søndergaard replaced MEP Ole Krarup on 1 January 2007 when Krarup resigned after a traffic accident.

Until 2002, they were part of the EDD group in the European Parliament, but then switched to being associate members of the GUE-NGL group. Ole Krarup stated that the other Danish subgroup of EDD, Jens-Peter Bonde from the June Movement, increasingly aimed at "democratising" or "improving" the EU, according to Krarup making it impossible for the People's Movement to pursue their policies within the group. Krarup claimed that the group membership was a primarily technical matter, and that only the GUE-NGL group could secure full political autonomy of the People's Movement. He stated that the movement's political cross-spectrum position was not affected.[3]

The People's Movement is a member of EUdemocrats and TEAM (the European Alliance of EU-critical Movements) and the coordinator of TEAM is currently Jesper Morville from the People's Movement.

Election results

Election year # of overall votes % of overall vote % of Danish vote # of overall seats won # of Danish seats won +/-
1979 365,760 20.9 (#2)
4 / 16
1984 413.808 20.6 (#2)
4 / 16
 Steady 0
1989 338,953 18.9 (#2)
4 / 16
 Steady 0
1994 214,735 10.3 (#5)
2 / 16
 Decrease 2
1999 143,709 7.3 (#6)
1 / 16
 Decrease 1
2004 97,986 5.2 (#8)
1 / 14
 Steady 0
2009 168,555 7.2 (#6)
1 / 13
 Steady 0
2014 183,724 8.1 (#6)
1 / 13
 Steady 0

Members of the European Parliament

Election to the European Parliament May 2014

The People's Movement elected the following candidates at its congress in Aalborg 26-27 October 2013[4]

The first five candidates

Youth wing

The movement's youth wing is the Youth of the Popular Movement against EU.

See also

References

  1. ↑ The Organization, People's Movement
  2. ↑ Our goals and the Danish situation, People's Movement (in English)
  3. ↑ Ole Krarup: Change of group, 2002-07-01 (in Danish)
  4. ↑ http://www.folkebevaegelsen.dk/organisation/landsmode-2013/article/kandidater-pa-liste-n
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