Newropeans

Newropeans was a European political party that contested the 2009 European Parliament elections in the Netherlands, Germany and five regions of France on a platform of European federalism and reform. They received a total of 36,871 votes, an average of 0.1% in the constituencies they stood.

History

The party was founded by Franck Biancheri in June 2005 when the referendum on the constitution failed. Biancheri had previously founded the European Students' Forum (AEGEE) in 1985, who had been a key driver behind the Erasmus student exchange programme, and a thinktank called Leap2020 in 1998. Biancheri died in 2012 and the party did not run in the subsequent elections in 2014.

Policies

Newropeans call for increased democratisation of the EU. They want an elected Union government, the ratification of changes to EU treaties by referendum and a unified immigration policy. Its programme is also in favour of decentralisation and restructuring of the institutions which are mainly concentrated in Brussels, but also spread among Strasbourg and Luxembourg. The party wants to ground the European Union Budget on a direct tax instead of contributions by the treasuries of member states, and opposes the lifelong judicial immunity granted to EU officials. According to the official website, the party focuses mainly on reform of the EU system, and has currently little agenda beyond that.