{{Short description|Political group in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe}} The '''European Conservatives, Patriots & Affiliates''' (ECPA) group is a conservative group in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. It was founded as the '''Group of Independent Representatives''' in 1970 by British and Scandinavian members of PACE. It has 76 members from countries including the United Kingdom, Austria, Norway, Denmark, Poland, Sweden and Italy. It was known as the '''European Democrat Group''' until its renaming in 2014, the '''European Conservatives Group''' until 2019, and the '''European Conservatives Group and Democratic Alliance''' (EC/DA) until 2025.
While it was only the third group to be founded in PACE (after the Socialist Group and the Christian Democrat Group), it was the first to have an official secretariat, which was established in 1977. On 6 July 1978, a proposal to rename the group was submitted, leading to the new name in September 1980.
The Group gathers mainly members from the European Conservatives and Reformists Party, Patriots.eu and Europe of Sovereign Nations (party).
For many years the Russian political party United Russia was a member of the European Democrat Group.<ref>{{Cite news|work=Foreign Policy|title=The Corleones of the Caspian|date=10 June 2014|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2014/06/10/the-corleones-of-the-caspian/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|work=The Guardian|title=How Kremlin got diplomats to woo Tories|date=30 November 2012|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/nov/30/kremlin-orders-diplomats-cooperation-conservatives}}</ref>
==Membership==
===2022=== As of October 2022, the European Conservatives Group and Democratic Alliance has the following members:
{| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! rowspan=2| Country ! rowspan=2| Party name ! rowspan=2| Members ! colspan=3| Other affiliations |- ! European party ! EU Parliament ! International |- | {{flag|Armenia}} | Republican Party of Armenia | 1 | EPP | ''None'' | ''None'' |- | {{flag|Austria}} | Freedom Party of Austria | 2 | ID Party | Patriots for Europe | ''None'' |- |rowspan=4 | {{flag|Azerbaijan}} | New Azerbaijan Party | 4 | ''None'' | ''N/A'' | CDI |- | Republican Alternative Party | 1 | ''None'' | ''N/A'' | ''None'' |- | Democratic Reforms Party | 1 | ''None'' | ''N/A'' | ''None'' |- | Independents | 3 | ''N/A'' | ''N/A'' | ''N/A'' |- | {{flag|Belgium}} | Vlaams Belang | 2 | ID Party | Patriots for Europe | ''None'' |- |rowspan=2| {{flag|Croatia}} | Bridge of Independent Lists | 1 | ''None'' | ''None'' | ''None'' |- | Homeland Movement | 1 | ''None'' | ''None'' | ''None'' |- | {{flag|Czech Republic}} | Civic Democratic Party | 3 | ECR Party | ECR | IDU |- | {{flag|Denmark}} | Danish People's Party | 1 | ''None'' | Patriots for Europe | ''None'' |- | {{flag|Estonia}} | Conservative People's Party of Estonia | 1 | ID Party | ''None'' | ''None'' |- | {{flag|Finland}} | Finns Party | 2 | ''None'' | ECR | ''None'' |- | {{flag|France}} | National Rally | 4 | ID Party | Patriots for Europe | ''None'' |- | {{flag|Germany}} | Alternative for Germany | 4 | ''None'' | Europe of Sovereign Nations | ''None'' |- | {{flag|Greece}} | Greek Solution | 1 | ''None'' | ECR | ''None'' |- | {{flag|Hungary}} | Fidesz | 8 | ''None'' | Patriots for Europe | CDI |- | rowspan=3|{{flag|Italy}} | Brothers of Italy | 2 | ECR Party | ECR | IDU<ref>{{Cite web |last=W |first=Webops |date=2024-09-23 |title=The IDU Welcomes New Members From Italy {{!}} International Democracy Union |url=https://idu.org/the-idu-welcomes-new-members-from-italy/ |access-date=2026-01-19 |language=en-US}}</ref> |- | Lega per Salvini Premier | 7 | ID Party | Patriots for Europe | ''None'' |- | Independent | 1 | ''N/A'' | ''N/A'' | ''N/A'' |- | {{flag|Lithuania}} | Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania – Christian Families Alliance | 1 | ECR Party | ECR | ''None'' |- | {{flag|Moldova}} | Șor Party | 1 | ECR | ''N/A'' | ''None'' |- | {{flag|Netherlands}} | JA21 | 1 | ECR Party | ECR | ''None'' |- | {{flag|Norway}} | Progress Party | 1 | ''None'' | ''N/A'' | ''None'' |- | {{flag|Poland}} | Law and Justice | 12 | ECR Party | ECR | ''None'' |- | {{flag|Romania}} | Alliance for the Union of Romanians | 2 | ''None'' | ECR | ''None'' |- | {{flag|Serbia}} | Movement for the Restoration of the Kingdom of Serbia | 1 | ''None'' | ''None'' | ''None'' |- | {{flag|Slovakia}} | Freedom and Solidarity | 1 | ECR Party | ECR | ''None'' |- | {{flag|Spain}} | Vox | 1 | ECR Party | Patriots for Europe | ''None'' |- | {{flag|Sweden}} | Sweden Democrats | 2 | ECR Party | ECR | ''None'' |- | rowspan=3 | {{flag|Ukraine}} | Servant of the People | 5 | ALDE Party | ''N/A'' | ''None'' |- | For the Future | 1 | ''None'' | ''N/A'' | ''None'' |- | European Solidarity | 1 | EPP | ''N/A'' | IDU |- | rowspan=3| {{flag|United Kingdom}} | Conservative Party | 20 | ''None'' | ''N/A'' | IDU |- | Democratic Unionist Party | 1 | ''None'' | ''N/A'' | ''None'' |- | Crossbench | 1 | ''N/A'' | ''N/A'' | ''N/A'' |}
===2014===
As of 23 October 2014, the European Conservatives had the following members:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/AssemblyList/AL-XML2HTML-EN.asp?lang=en&XmlId=PoliticalGroup-EC|title=European Conservatives Group|date=23 October 2014|publisher=Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! rowspan=2| Country ! rowspan=2| Party name ! rowspan=2| Members ! colspan=3| Other affiliations |- ! European party ! EU Parliament ! International |- | rowspan="2" | {{flag|Armenia}} | Prosperous Armenia | 2 | AECR | ''N/A'' | ''None'' |- | ''Republican Party of Armenia'' (part){{ref label|Membership|A|A}} | 1 | ''None'' | ''N/A'' | ''None'' |- | {{flag|Azerbaijan}} | New Azerbaijan Party | 4 | ''None'' | ''N/A'' | ''None'' |- | {{flag|Czech Republic}} | Civic Democratic Party | 2 | AECR | ECR | IDU |- | {{flag|Denmark}} | Danish People's Party | 1 | ''None'' | ECR | ''None'' |- | {{flag|Greece}} | Independent Greeks | 1 | ''None'' | ECR | ''None'' |- | {{flag|Iceland}} | Independence Party | 2 | AECR | ''N/A'' | IDU |- | {{flag|Norway}} | Progress Party | 2 | ''None'' | ''N/A'' | ''None'' |- | rowspan="2" | {{flag|Poland}} | Law and Justice | 7 | AECR | ECR | ''None'' |- | United Poland | 1 | MELD | ''No MEPs'' | ''None'' |- | rowspan="2" | {{flag|Turkey}} | ''Justice and Development Party'' (part){{ref label|Membership|B|B}} | 13 | AECR | ''N/A'' | ''None'' |- | ''Nationalist Movement Party''{{ref label|Membership|C|C}} | 1 | ''None'' | ''N/A'' | ''None'' |- | rowspan="2" | {{flag|Ukraine}} | ''Party of Regions'' (part){{ref label|Membership|D|D}} | 4 | ''None'' | ''N/A'' | ''None'' |- | Sovereign European Ukraine | 1 | ''None'' | ''N/A'' | ''None'' |- | rowspan="2" | {{flag|United Kingdom}} | Conservative Party | 17 | AECR | ECR | IDU |- | Democratic Unionist Party | 1 | ''None'' | ''NI'' | ''None'' |- | colspan=8| <small>{{note|Membership|A}} One of the three members of the Republican Party of Armenia sit with the EC Group. The other two members sit with the European People's Party. <br> {{note|Membership|B}} Eleven of the thirteen members of the Justice and Development Party sit with the EC Group. One sits with the European People's Party and one sits with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. <br> {{note|Membership|C}} One of the two members of the Nationalist Movement Party sits with the EC Group. <br> {{note|Membership|D}} Four of the seven members of Party of Regions sit with the EC Group. Two sit with the Socialist Group and one sits with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.</small> |}
Unaffiliated members: Ganira Pashayeva, Yuliya Lyovochkina
==See also== * European Democrats
==Footnotes== {{reflist}}
==References== *[https://pace.coe.int/en/aplist/polgroups/14/European-Conservatives-Patriots-Affiliates Page on the PACE website]
{{Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists}}
Category:Political groups in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Category:Political organizations based in Europe Category:Conservatism in Europe
de:Europäische Demokraten#Europäische Demokraten im Europarat