ABSTRACT
European Union but is less strident in its opposition. The UUP, which provided no concrete advice to its voters in the 1975 referendum, is more prepared than the DUP to accept the reality of the EU and work constructively within it. The less strident and often nuanced UUP stance on Europe is perhaps explained by reference to party supporters such as the Ulster farmers enjoying the benefits of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and business interests anxious to compete in and exploit the Single European Market. The party's current MEP, Jim Nicholson, is a member of the pro-integrationist European Peoples' Party (EPP) at Strasbourg, despite the UUP's reservations about the EU. The party's 1994 Euro-election manifesto confirmed the sympathy for a Thatcherite Europe of nation-states with national sovereignties firmly intact. Also, a strong majority of UUP Members of Parliament voted initially against membership of the EC in the 1971 Westminster (free) vote on entry. More recently, the UUP has opposed in principle the Maastricht Treaty - except where tactical considerations dictated otherwise.
