It was mostly composed of French Gaullists and Irish Fianna Fáil.
The Gaullists had split from the Liberal Group on 21 January 1965,[4] creating a new Group called the "European Democratic Union".
[1][2] The Group was renamed on 16 January 1973[4] as the "Group of European Progressive Democrats"[5] when the Gaullists were joined by the Irish Fianna Fáil until 24 July 1984[4] when they became the "Group of the European Democratic Alliance".
Fianna Fáil, an Irish nationalist party, was reluctant to identify too closely with the Gaullists, who also had an alliance with the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom at the time.
[7] The EPD ceased to exist once the European Parliament groupings were established following the 1984 election, as the party changed into the European Democratic Alliance.