The Rainbow Group, officially the Rainbow Group: Federation of the Green Alternative European Links, Agalev-Ecolo, the Danish People's Movement against Membership of the European Community, and the European Free Alliance, in the European Parliament was a green and regionalist political group with seats in the European Parliament between 1984 and 1989.
| Rainbow Group (1984–1989) | |
|---|---|
| European Parliament group | |
| Name | Rainbow Group (1984–1989) |
| English abbr. | RBW[1] |
| French abbr. | ARC[2] |
| Formal name | Rainbow Group: Federation of the Green Alternative European Links, Agalev-Ecolo, the Danish People's Movement against Membership of the European Community, and the European Free Alliance, in the European Parliament[3][4] |
| Ideology | Green politics, Regionalism |
| Associated organisations | |
| From | 24 July 1984[3] |
| To | 1989[2][5] |
| Preceded by | Technical Group of Independents |
| Succeeded by | Rainbow Group |
| Chaired by | |
| MEP(s) | 20 (24 July 1984) |
History
editThe Rainbow Group[5] was formed in 1984[2] as a coalition of Greens, Regionalists and other parties of the left unaffiliated with any of the international organizations.
The German Greens and the Dutch Green Progressive Alliance were used a principle of rotation used by the Germany and Dutch parties, requiring its MEPs to sit for half their five-year term.
In 1989[2][5] the Rainbow Group split. The green parties formed the Green Group, whilst the regionalist parties stayed a continuing Rainbow group, with the shorter official name of the Rainbow Group in the European Parliament.
Member parties
edit| Country | Party | MEPs | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | The Greens | 7 | MEPs served for 2.5 years (half of a regular 5-year term) |
| Netherlands | Political Party of Radicals | 1 | Member of an electoral alliance and common delegation with PSP and CPN. MEP served between 1984 and 1987 |
| Netherlands | Pacifist Socialist Party | 1 | Member of an electoral alliance and common delegation with PPR and CPN |
| Netherlands | Communist Party of the Netherlands | 1 | Member of an electoral alliance and common delegation with PSP and PPR. MEP served between 1987 and 1989 |
| Belgium | Agalev | 1 | Common delegation with Ecolo |
| Belgium | Ecolo | 1 | Common delegation with Agalev |
| Belgium | People's Union | 2 | Member of the European Free Alliance |
| Denmark | People's Movement against the European Community | 4 | |
| Italy | Proletarian Unity Party | 1 | Member of electoral alliance with Proletarian Democracy |
| Italy | Proletarian Democracy | 1 | Member of electoral alliance with Proletarian Unity Party |
| Italy | Sardinian Action Party | 1 | Member of the European Free Alliance |
Nomenclature
editThe formal name of the 1984–1989 Rainbow was "Rainbow Group: Federation of the Green Alternative European Links, Agalev-Ecolo, the Danish People's Movement against Membership of the European Community, and the European Free Alliance, in the European Parliament".[3][4] This is the longest name of any European Parliament Group to date.