Talk:Movement for European Reform
Ideology
I've noticed an edit war between two users on here and I think we need to be careful what we list as the ideology of the grouping. Just because the two parties currently involved share certain extra ideologies does not mean that is the ideology of the grouping.
I have looked at their website and I think the current listings can all be clearly sourced.
Economic Liberalism: "[We] share a commitment to open markets." Euroscepticism: "...a Europe of nation states" Atlanticism: "...and the importance of the Atlantic relationship."
I think that's all pretty uncontested. The two argued over are:
Enviromentalism: The wikipedia article states "Environmentalism is a concern for the preservation, restoration, or improvement of the natural environment." The main page of the MER website states: "a flexible, outward-looking EU should focus on new priorities such as: ...Climate change, energy & the environment." I think this means the MER qualifies as environmentalist as they don't just "believe in global warming" - they think dealing with these issues should be one of three main priorities of the EU.
Conservatism: Tom says "Conservatism, inasmuch as the British Conservative Party and ODS define it, includes economic liberalism." Perhaps, but this will not be clear to readers unfamiliar with the various definitions of conservatism - in some contexts conservatism is actually against reducing trade barriers (thus US Republicans committing themselves to farm subsidies in Iowa at the moment). Also, there are other, more important, aspects of Conservatism not espoused by the MER - religion, "family values", protecting historic instutions, maintaining traditional culture etc. Thus it makes sense just to reference the specific belief of the MER: economic liberalism.