 Founded on 13 July 2006, MER was created as a precursor to the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists (AECR) and European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), a political group in the European Parliament that was launched in June 2009 following European elections.Its operations folded into the ECR and the AECR later that year.MER was formed as an interim measure to function outside the European Parliament until a new group could be formed within it after the 2009 elections.