The Spinelli Group is an initiative founded with a view to reinvigorate the endeavour for federalisation of the European Union (EU), by creating a network of citizens, think tanks, NGOs, academics, writers and politicians who support the idea of a federal and united Europe. Among other goals, the Group aims to "find a federal majority [among members of the European Parliament] on important subjects." Founded on 15 September 2010 in the European Parliament (EP) in Brussels, the group is named after Altiero Spinelli (1907–1986), founder of the Union of European Federalists (UEF) and a founding father of the European integration.
The group was founded by Guy Verhofstadt, former head of the liberal Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group in the Parliament and honorary president of the Union of European Federalists (UEF) in Belgium, former co-chair of the Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) group Daniel Cohn-Bendit, French MEP Sylvie Goulard (ALDE) and former EP Vice President Isabelle Durant (Greens/EFA), with the support of the Union of European Federalists.
Federalists' movements The Spinelli Group is not the first initiative launched in the European Parliament, gathering together followers of European federalism ideas. On 9 July 1980, the Crocodile Club a group of MEPs was founded by Altiero Spinelli himself. For more than 60 years, the Union of European Federalists (UEF) and its youth organisation Young European Federalists (JEF), with a "belief that only a European Federation, based on the idea of unity in diversity, could overcome the division of the European continent", have been actively working to promote the idea of European federalism. MEP Andrew Duff and president of UEF has welcomed the launching of the Spinelli Group saying, that "existing federalist forces and organisations, such as the UEF and the Intergroup, welcome this new initiative".
Manifesto With a manifesto online, recalling the Ventotene Manifesto written by Altiero Spinelli, Group activists call members of the European Parliament and Europe's citizens to sign it and add their names to the list of those fighting against nationalism and intergovernmentalism. By supporting the aims and principles laid out in the manifesto, Spinelli group followers try to speed up the process of European integration and promote a federal Europe.
Members The Spinelli Group is organised in three sections.
The Steering Group gathers the 33 founding members and newcomers—politicians and thinkers dedicated to building a federal Europe. The MEP Spinelli Group gathers 108 MEPs who signed the manifesto. They look for strategies and majorities in the European Parliament to push the pro-European, federal, and post-national agenda. The Spinelli Network Group is made of every citizen who signed the manifesto of the Spinelli Group. As of 8 May 2017, they are 7,327. They participate in debates and fora.
This pro-European initiative is supported by prominent political leaders such as former Commission President Jacques Delors, former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, former competition commissioner Mario Monti and MEP Andrew Duff, President of the Union of European Federalists (UEF), and other well known public bodies. It is also enthusiastically supported by such European Union promoters as former European Parliament President Pat Cox and current Parliament Vice-President Isabelle Durant (Greens/EFA; Belgium).
The 35 members of the Steering Group in 2010 were: Jacques Delors Mario Monti Joschka Fischer Pat Cox Róża Thun Kalypso Nicolaïdis Danuta Hübner Gesine Schwan Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa Élie Barnavi Jean-Marc Ferry Ulrich Beck Amartya Sen Andrew Duff Elmar Brok Tibor Dessewffy Sandro Gozi Pawel Swieboda Kurt Vandenberghe
Anna Triandafyllidou Diogo Pinto Heather Grabbe Imola Streho
Guy Verhofstadt Daniel Cohn Bendit Sylvie Goulard Isabelle Durant Koert Debeuf Edouard Gaudot Guillaume McLaughlin Mychelle Rieu Monica Frassoni Pier-Virgilio Dastoli
After the 2024 European Parliament election the Spinelli Group has 81 members of which 79 are MEPs. + All Members Name Party affiliation Sandro Gozi Renew Europe Guy Verhofstadt(Former MEP Renew Europe Domènec Ruiz Devesa(Former MEP) S&D Petras Auštrevičius Renew Europe Raquel Garcia Hermida-Van Der Walle Renew Europe Ľubica Karvašová Renew Europe Reinier van Lanschot Greens/EFA Benedetta Scuderi Greens/EFA Daniel Freund Greens/EFA Anna Strolenberg Greens/EFA Gabriele Bischoff S&D Brando Benifei S&D Vivien Costanzo S&D Klara Dobrev S&D Markus Ferber EPP Lukas Mandl EPP Nikolas Farantouris The Left Ignacio Sánchez Amor S&D Rasmus Andresen Greens/EFA Marc Angel S&D Laura Ballarin Cereza S&D Damian Boeselager Greens/EFA Delara Burkhardt S&D Pascal Canfin Renew Europe Benoît Cassart Renew Europe Olivier Chastel Renew Europe Estelle Ceulemans S&D Salvatore De Meo EPP Laurence Farreng Renew Europe Jonás Fernández S&D Lina Gálvez Muñoz S&D Raphaël Glucksmann S&D Nicolás González Casares S&D Giorgio Gori S&D Markéta Gregorová Greens/EFA Christophe Grudler Renew Europe Cristina Guarda Greens/EFA Elisabetta Gualmini Renew Europe Bernard Guetta Renew Europe María Rosa Estaràs EPP Radan Kanev EPP Manolis Kefalogiannis EPP Moritz Körner Renew Europe Andrey Kovatchev EPP Andrius Kubilius EPP Murielle Laurent S&D Camilla Laureti S&D Javier López S&D Juan Fernando López Aguilar S&D César Luena S&D Cristina Maestre S&D Pierfrancesco Maran S&D Eva Maydell EPP Carolina Morace The Left Javier Moreno Sánchez S&D Alessandra Moretti S&D Jan-Christoph Oetjen Renew Europe Leoluca Orlando Greens/EFA Nikos Papandreou S&D Thomas Pellerin-Carlin S&D Pina Picierno Renew Europe Sabrina Repp S&D Thijs Reuten S&D René Repasi S&D Matteo Ricci S&D Nela Riehl Greens/EFA Cecilia Strada S&D Sven Simon EPP Marco Tarquinio S&D Carla Tavares S&D Kai Tegethoff Greens/EFA Irene Tinagli S&D Jana Toom Renew Europe Flavio Tosi EPP Pasquale Tridico The Left Dimitris Tsiodras EPP Marie-Pierre Vedrenne Renew Europe Nicola Zingaretti S&D
See also Union of European Federalists Crocodile Club Young European Federalists Federal Europe European Movement Centre for Studies on Federalism World Federalist Movement/Institute for Global Policy
References
External links
Union of European Federalists website