Parliamentary groups and political traditions in the debates on EU institutional reform (1979-1999)

The chapter deals with the views expressed on the issue of institutional reforms of the European Community / European Union by the two main political groups at the European Parliament (EP), the European People’s Party and the European Socialists, from the first direct elections of the EP to the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam. Debates could revolve around the prospect of a more integrated (even federal) Europe, as much as provide criticism towards an increase in the European institutions’ competences. The phase we cover is of great interest because it extends over four legislations, in a period of intense transformations and initiatives, in which the Socialist Group gradually evolves towards a larger cohesion on institutional issues, partly overcoming the initial attitude by some eurocritics in the French, Dutch, Greek socialist parties, among the Danish Social Democrats and, to a lesser extent, in the British Labour Party. The European People’s Party, instead, whose core is made up of the tradition of the Christian Democratic parties, tends to fade the original European Federalist attitude, while leaning towards a political strategy of enlarging the parliamentary groups to the Conservative parties, in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The language of the political debate thus changes accordingly