Green party to their charismatic leader Petra Kelly, a German who was of interest to the American media because she had an American step-father. Since its foundation in 1980 and merger with Alliance 90 after the German reunification, Kelly's party, now named Alliance '90/The Greens, has become one of Europe's most important Green parties. It played an important role in the formation of national-level Green parties in other countries such as Spain as well. The forerunner of the Green Party in the United Kingdom was the PEOPLE Party, formed in Coventry in 1972. It changed its name to the Ecology Party in
Article 50 (political party) July 2014, causing the party's councillor in Weesp to split off. Later, Van der Stoep stepped down as party leader. On 27 January 2015, Article 50 merged with the party For the Netherlands, which had been founded by two other former PVV members the year before. Article 50 (political party) Article 50 () was a Eurosceptic political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded by MEP Daniël van der Stoep in 2012. The name refers to article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, of which the first sentence is ""Any Member State may decide to withdraw from the Union in