With the issuing of this press release, the European People's Party group in the European Parliament has finally conceded, after seventeen acrimonious years and numerous rearguard actions to keep the party in the group, that its formal association with the Conservative Party is over.
A press release from Joseph Daul MEP, the President of EPP said:
"Today, [the group] went back to its roots as the Group of the European People's Party (EPP), following the departure of the British Conservative and Czech ODS MEPs... The EPP Group has proposed that Mr Barroso commits to a 5-year legislative pact based on the main priorities of the EPP Warsaw Manifesto".
Given that the EPP's Warsaw Manifesto commits the group to pushing for "the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty", maintaining Europe's bloated "Social Market Economy" and rejecting the "ideas of market fundamentalists", it strikes me as an ideal time to get out.
The new Conservative group in the European Parliament - one characterized by a belief in market liberalism, institutional reform and an Atlanticist approach to foreign policy - will sit formally for the first time on July 14th.