Political groups of the European Parliament
Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Politics of the European Union mini The political groups of the European Parliament are the officially recognised parliamentary groups consisting of legislators of aligned ideologies in the European Parliament.
The European Parliament is unique among supranational assemblies in that its members (MEPs) organise themselves into ideological groups, rather than national cleavages.<ref name="Hines2003"/> Each political group is assumed to have a set of core principles, and political groups that cannot demonstrate this may be disbanded (see below).
A political group of the EP usually constitutes the formal parliamentary representation of one or two of the European political parties (Europarty), sometimes supplemented by members from other national political parties or independent politicians. In contrast to the European political parties, it is strictly forbidden for political groups to organise or finance the political campaign during the European elections since this is the exclusive responsibility of the parties.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> But there are other incentives for MEPs to organise in parliamentary Groups: besides the political advantages of working together with like-minded colleagues, Groups have some procedural privileges within the Parliament (such as Group spokespersons speaking first in debates, Group leaders representing the Group in the Parliament's Conference of Presidents), and Groups receive a staff allocation and financial subsidies.<ref name="IHT ITS"/> Majorities in the Parliament depend on how Groups vote and what deals are negotiated among them.
Status
Although most of the political groups in the European Parliament correlate to a corresponding political party, there are cases where members from two political parties come together in a shared political group: for example, the European Free Alliance (half a dozen MEPs in the ninth Parliament) and the European Green Party (over 50 MEPs in the ninth Parliament) have, since 1999, felt they are stronger by working together in the European Greens–European Free Alliance Group than they would have as stand-alone groups (especially for the EFA, which would not otherwise have enough members to constitute a group). The same is true of the Renew Europe Group, most of whose members are from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party, but also includes a dozen from the small European Democratic Party. Both have also had independents and MEPs from minor parties also join their Group.
For a Group to be formally recognised in the Parliament, it must fulfil the conditions laid down in the relevant European Parliament Rule of Procedure.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This lays down the minimum criteria a Group must meet to qualify as a Group. The numerical criteria are 23 MEPs (at 3.3 percent, a lower threshold than in most national parliaments)Template:Cn but they must come from at least one-quarter of Member States (so currently at least seven). They must also share a political affinity and submit a political declaration, setting out the purpose of the group, the values that it stands for and the main political objectives which its members intend to pursue together. While 23 MEPs from one-quarter of Member States would also be sufficient to register a European political party, forming a European party is not a requirement to form a group, as long as the criteria of political affinity is met.
The requirement of political affinity was put to the test in July 1999, when a varied group of non-attached members, ranging from the liberal Bonino List in Italy to the French National Front, tried to create a new “Technical Group”, but Parliament decided that the new Group did not, by its own admission, meet the requirement for political affinity. This decision was challenged at the CJEU, which found in Parliament's favour.
Further questions were asked when MEPs attempted to create a far-right Group called "Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty" (ITS). This generated controversy and there were concerns about public funds going towards a far-right Group.<ref name="IHT ITS">Template:Cite web</ref> Attempts to block the formation of ITS were unsuccessful, but ITS were blocked from leading positions on committees, when members from other Groups declined to vote for their candidates, despite a previous tradition of sharing such posts among members from all Groups.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
These events spurred MEPs, mainly from the largest two groups, to approve a rise in the threshold for groups to its current levels, having previously been even lower. This was opposed by many MEPs, notably from smaller Groups but also from the Liberal Group, arguing that it would be detrimental to democracy, whilst supporters argued that the change made it harder for a small number of members, possibly on the extremes (including the far right), to claim public funds.<ref name="EUO rise">Template:Cite web</ref>
Internal structure
Groups are often based around a single European political party (e.g. the European People's Party, the Party of European Socialists), joined by other national parties and independent MEPs. Others Groups include more than one European party, such as the Greens–European Free Alliance group.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> While there is currently no Group not centred on at least one European party, the presence of a European party is not a requirement.
Each group appoints a leader, referred to as a "president", "coordinator" or "chair". The chairs of each Group meet in the Conference of Presidents to decide what issues will be dealt with at the plenary session of the European Parliament. Groups can table motions for resolutions and table amendments to reports.
Spectrum
Composition of the 10th European Parliament
Template:See also {{#section-h:Tenth European Parliament|Current composition}}
Positions
Analyses
National media focus on the MEPs and national parties of their own member state, neglecting the group's activities and poorly understanding their structure or even existence. Transnational media coverage of the groups per se is limited to those organs such as the Parliament itself, or those news media (e.g. EUObserver or theParliament.com) that specialise in the Parliament. These organs cover the groups in detail but with little overarching analysis. So although such organs make it easy to find out how a group acted on a specific vote, they provide little information on the voting patterns of a specific group. As a result, the only bodies providing analysis of the voting patterns and Weltanschauung of the groups are academics.Template:Citation needed Academics analysing the European political groups include Simon Hix (London School of Economics and Political Science), Amie Kreppel University of Florida, Abdul Noury (Free University of Brussels), Gérard Roland, (University of California, Berkeley), Gail McElroy (Trinity College Dublin, Department of Political Science), Kenneth Benoit (Trinity College Dublin – Institute for International Integration Studies (IIIS)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>), Friedrich Heinemann, Philipp Mohl, and Steffen Osterloh (University of Mannheim – Centre for European Economic Research).
Groups cohesion
Cohesion is the term used to define whether a Group is united or divided amongst itself. Figure 1<ref name="EIOP200200201">"Why Do MEPs Defect? An Analysis of Party Group Cohesion in the 5th European Parliament" by Thorsten Faas, 12 March 2002 original figure estimated from "Figure 1: Cohesion in the EP by Party Groups"</ref> of a 2002 paper from European Integration online Papers (EIoP) by Thorsten Faas analysed the Groups as they stood in 2002. The results for each Group are given in the adjacent diagram with the horizontal scale scaled so that 0% = totally split, 100% = totally united. The results are also given in the table below.
| Group | Cohesion | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|
| PES | approx 90% | <ref name="EIOP200200201"/> | |
| ELDR | approx 90% | <ref name="EIOP200200201"/> | |
| G/EFA | approx 90% | <ref name="EIOP200200201"/> | |
| EPP-ED | approx 80% | <ref name="EIOP200200201"/> | |
| UEN | approx 70% | <ref name="EIOP200200201"/> | |
| EUL/NGL | approx 65% | <ref name="EIOP200200201"/> | |
| TGI | approx 50% | <ref name="EIOP200200201"/> | |
| NI | approx 45% | <ref name="EIOP200200201"/> | |
| EDD | approx 35% | <ref name="EIOP200200201"/> | |
G/EFA, PES and ELDR were the most united groups, with EDD the most disunited.
- REDIRECT Template:Clear
Template:Redirect category shell
Proportion of female MEPs
The March 2006 edition of Social Europe: the Journal of the European Left<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> included a chapter called "Women and Social Democratic Politics" by Wendy Stokes. That chapter<ref name="SE200603">"Social Europe: the journal of the European Left", issue 4, March 2006 Template:Webarchive original figure taken from chapter "Women and Social Democratic Politics" by Wendy Stokes, Senior Lecturer in Politics, London Metropolitan University</ref> gave the proportion of female MEPs in each Group in the European Parliament. The results for each Group are given in the adjacent diagram. The horizontal scale denotes gender balance (0% = totally male, 100% = totally female, but no Group has a female majority, so the scale stops at 50%). The results are also given in the table below.
| Group | Percentage female | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|
| G/EFA | 47.6% | <ref name="SE200603"/> | |
| ALDE | 41% | <ref name="SE200603"/> | |
| PES | 38% | <ref name="SE200603"/> | |
| EUL/NGL | 29% | <ref name="SE200603"/> | |
| EPP-ED | 23% | <ref name="SE200603"/> | |
| UEN | 16.8% | <ref name="SE200603"/> | |
| IND/DEM | 9% | <ref name="SE200603"/> | |
G/EFA, PES and ALDE were the most balanced groups in terms of gender, with IND/DEM being the most unbalanced.
- REDIRECT Template:Clear
Template:Redirect category shell
Party relations
The Parliament does not form a government in the traditional sense and its politics have developed over consensual rather than adversarial lines as a form of consociationalism.<ref name="Settembri"/> No single group has ever held a majority in Parliament.<ref name="Kreppel">Template:Cite web</ref> Historically, the two largest parliamentary formations have been the EPP Group and the PES Group, which are affiliated to their respective European political parties, the European People's Party (EPP) and the Party of European Socialists (PES). These two groups have dominated the Parliament for much of its life, continuously holding between 50 and 70 per cent of the seats together. The PES were the largest single party grouping up to 1999, when they were overtaken by the centre-right EPP.<ref name="SOC history">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="EPP history">Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1987 the Single European Act came into force and, under the new cooperation procedure, the Parliament needed to obtain large majorities to make the most impact. So the EPP and PES came to an agreement to cooperate in the Parliament.<ref name="EPP History">Template:Cite web</ref> This agreement became known as the "grand coalition" and, aside from a break in the fifth Parliament,<ref name="Watson interview"/> it has dominated the Parliament for much of its life, regardless of necessity. The grand coalition is visible in the agreement between the two Groups to divide the five-year term of the President of the European Parliament equally between them, with an EPP president for half the term and a PES president for the other half, regardless of the actual election result.<ref name="Settembri">Template:Cite web</ref>
Group cooperation
Table 3<ref name="HN2008082103">"After Enlargement: Voting Patterns in the Sixth European Parliament", by Simon Hix and Abdul Noury, LSE/ULB, 21 August 2008 Template:Webarchive original figure taken from "Table 3. Party Competition and Coalition Patterns"</ref> of 21 August 2008 version of working paper by Hix and Noury<ref>[1] Template:Webarchive</ref> gave figures for the level of cooperation between each group (how many times they vote with a group, and how many times they vote against) for the Fifth and Sixth Parliaments. The results are given in the tables below, where 0% = never votes with, 100% = always votes with.
| Group | Number of times voted with (%) | Sources | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EUL/NGL | G/EFA | PES | ALDE | EPP-ED | UEN | IND/DEM | NI | |||
| EUL/NGL | n/a | 75.4 | 62.0 | 48.0 | 39.6 | 42.2 | 45.5 | 48.6 | <ref name="HN2008082103"/> | |
| G/EFA | 75.4 | n/a | 70.3 | 59.2 | 47.4 | 45.1 | 40.3 | 43.0 | <ref name="HN2008082103"/> | |
| PES | 62.0 | 70.3 | n/a | 75.3 | 68.4 | 62.8 | 42.9 | 52.3 | <ref name="HN2008082103"/> | |
| ALDE | 48.0 | 59.2 | 75.3 | n/a | 78.0 | 72.4 | 48.0 | 53.7 | <ref name="HN2008082103"/> | |
| EPP-ED | 39.6 | 47.4 | 68.4 | 78.0 | n/a | 84.3 | 54.0 | 64.1 | <ref name="HN2008082103"/> | |
| UEN | 42.2 | 45.1 | 62.8 | 72.4 | 84.3 | n/a | 56.8 | 64.7 | <ref name="HN2008082103"/> | |
| IND/DEM | 45.5 | 40.3 | 42.9 | 48.0 | 54.0 | 56.8 | n/a | 68.1 | <ref name="HN2008082103"/> | |
| NI | 48.6 | 43.0 | 52.3 | 53.7 | 64.1 | 64.7 | 68.1 | n/a | <ref name="HN2008082103"/> | |
| Group | Number of times voted with (%) | Sources | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EUL/NGL | G/EFA | PES | ELDR | EPP-ED | UEN | EDD | NI | |||
| EUL/NGL | n/a | 79.3 | 69.1 | 55.4 | 42.4 | 45.9 | 59.2 | 52.4 | <ref name="HN2008082103"/> | |
| G/EFA | 79.3 | n/a | 72.0 | 62.3 | 47.1 | 45.2 | 55.5 | 51.0 | <ref name="HN2008082103"/> | |
| PES | 69.1 | 72.0 | n/a | 72.9 | 64.5 | 52.6 | 52.6 | 56.8 | <ref name="HN2008082103"/> | |
| ELDR | 55.4 | 62.3 | 72.9 | n/a | 67.9 | 55.0 | 52.3 | 60.0 | <ref name="HN2008082103"/> | |
| EPP-ED | 42.4 | 47.1 | 64.5 | 67.9 | n/a | 71.2 | 52.0 | 68.2 | <ref name="HN2008082103"/> | |
| UEN | 45.9 | 45.2 | 52.6 | 55.0 | 71.2 | n/a | 62.6 | 73.8 | <ref name="HN2008082103"/> | |
| EDD | 59.2 | 55.5 | 52.6 | 52.3 | 52.0 | 62.6 | n/a | 63.8 | <ref name="HN2008082103"/> | |
| NI | 52.4 | 51.0 | 56.8 | 60.0 | 68.2 | 73.8 | 63.8 | n/a | <ref name="HN2008082103"/> | |
EUL/NGL and G/EFA voted closely together, as did PES and ALDE, and EPP-ED and UEN. Surprisingly, given that PES and EPP-ED are partners in the Grand Coalition, they were not each other's closest allies, although they did vote with each other about two-thirds of the time. IND/DEM did not have close allies within the political groups, preferring instead to cooperate most closely with the Non-Inscrits.
Breaking coalitions
During the fifth term the ELDR Group were involved in a break in the grand coalition when they entered into an alliance with the European People's Party, to the exclusion of the Party of European Socialists.<ref name="Watson interview">Template:Cite web</ref> This was reflected in the Presidency of the Parliament with the terms being shared between the EPP and the ELDR, rather than the EPP and PES as before.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
However, ELDR intervention was not the only cause for a break in the grand coalition. There have been specific occasions where real left-right party politics have emerged, notably the resignation of the Santer Commission. When the initial allegations against the Commission Budget emerged, they were directed primarily against the PES Édith Cresson and Manuel Marín. PES supported the commission and saw the issue as an attempt by the EPP to discredit their party ahead of the 1999 elections. EPP disagreed. Whilst the Parliament was considering rejecting the Community budget, President Jacques Santer argued that a "No" vote would be tantamount to a vote of no confidence. PES leader Pauline Green MEP attempted a vote of confidence and the EPP put forward countermotions. During this period the two Groups adopted a government-opposition dynamic, with PES supporting the executive and EPP renouncing its previous coalition support and voting it down.<ref name="Ringe">Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2004 there was another notable break in the grand coalition. It occurred over the nomination of Rocco Buttiglione as European Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security. The EPP supported the appointment of Buttiglione, while the PES, who were also critics of the President-designate Jose Manuel Barroso, led the parties seeking Buttiglione's removal following his rejection (the first in EU history) by a Parliamentary committee. Barroso initially stood by his team and offered only small concessions, which were rejected by the PES. The EPP demanded that if Buttiglione were to go, then a PES commissioner must also be sacrificed for balance.<ref name="B reject">Template:Cite web</ref> In the end, Italy withdrew Buttiglione and put forward Franco Frattini instead. Frattini won the support of the PES and the Barroso Commission was finally approved, albeit behind schedule.<ref name="F instead">Template:Cite web</ref> Politicisation such as the above has been increasing, with Simon Hix of the London School of Economics noting in 2007 that<ref name="Farrell Powerful">Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Cquote
The dynamical coalitions in the European Parliament show year-to-year changes.<ref>European Parliament: Is the grand coalition really a thing of the past?, Awenig Marié, 2019</ref>
Group switching
Party group switching in the European Parliament is the phenomenon where parliamentarians individually or collectively switch from one party group to the other. The phenomenon of EP party group switching is a well-known contributor to the volatility of the EP party system and highlights the fluidity that characterizes the composition of European political groups. On average 9% of MEPs switch during legislative terms. Party group switching is a phenomenon that gained force especially in the legislatures during the 1990s, up to a maximum of 18% for the 1989–1994 term, with strong prevalence among representatives from France and Italy, though by no means limited to those two countries. There is a clear tendency of party group switches from the ideological extremes, both left and right, toward the center. Most switching takes place at the outset of legislative terms, with another peak around the half-term moment, when responsibilities rotate within the EP hierarchy.<ref>Evans, A.M. and M. Vink (2012). Measuring Group Switching in the European Parliament: Methodology, Data and Trends (1979–2009). Análise Social, XLVII (202), 92–112. See also McElroy, G. (2008), "Intra-Party politics at the trans-national level: Party switching in the European Parliament". In D. Giannetti and K. Benoit (eds.), Intra-Party Politics and Coalition Governments in Parliamentary Democracies, London, Routledge, pp. 205–226.</ref>
History
Template:Improve images Template:EP election results graph (percentage)
The political groups of the European Parliament have been around in one form or another since September 1952 and the first meeting of the Parliament's predecessor, the Common Assembly. The groups are coalitions of MEPs and the European parties and national parties that those MEPs belong to. The groups have coalesced into representations of the dominant schools of European political thought and are the primary actors in the Parliament.
The first three Groups were established in the earliest days of the Parliament. They were the "Socialist Group" (which eventually became the S&D group), the "Christian Democrat Group" (later EPP group) and the "Liberals and Allies Group" (later Renew Europe).
As the Parliament developed, other Groups emerged. Gaullists from France founded the European Democratic Union Group.<ref name="t1s3"/> When Conservatives from Denmark and the United Kingdom joined, they created the European Conservatives Group, which (after some name changes) eventually merged with the Group of the European People's Party.<ref name="t1s7"/>
The 1979 first direct election established further groups and strengthened the role of their corresponding European political parties such as the European People's Party.<ref name="t1s34"/>
The five political Groups on the left, the centre and the moderate right have, since even before the first elections, had continuous existence for over 50 years (or 1989 in the case of the Greens), by contrast, on the right and far-right of the political spectrum (i.e. to the right of the EPP), there has been an unstable and frequently changing situation. Some 18 Groups have been created to the right of the EPP, some very short-lived. Even when a Group has existed for several years, its composition has often varied as their member parties or individual MEPs leave to join another Group. The trajectories of some national parties has been striking. Lega, from Italy, has been in no fewer than 8 political Groups (plus 4 years when they were “non-attached”, not in any Group). The AfD from Germany, only in the EP since 2014, has already been in 4 different Groups. The “Finns” have been in 4. The PiS from Poland in 2. The FN from France in 5 (and a long spell as non-attached). This instability "reflects major differences on many key issues and on strategy".<ref>https://encompass-europe.com/comment/the-far-right-in-the-european-parliament-fragmented-and-divided</ref>
Compositions of past European Parliaments
Fifth European Parliament
| Group | Issue on which position was analysed | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Left-Right | Tax | Deeper Europe | Federal Europe | Deregulation | Common Foreign and Security Policy | Fortress Europe (immigration) | Green issues | Homosexual equality, abortion, euthanasia | ||
| EUL/NGL | 18.0% | 75.5% | 52.5% | 46.0% | 20.0% | 39.0% | 30.5% | 65.5% | 78.5% | |
| G/EFA | 25.5% | 71.5% | 63.5% | 58.0% | 33.5% | 44.0% | 32.5% | 85.5% | 80.0% | |
| PES | 37.0% | 68.0% | 68.5% | 69.5% | 37.0% | 71.5% | 36.5% | 57.0% | 72.0% | |
| Renew | 59.0% | 34.5% | 62.5% | 68.5% | 71.0% | 68.5% | 37.0% | 45.5% | 78.0% | |
| EPP-ED | 63.0% | 33.0% | 63.0% | 63.0% | 67.5% | 70.0% | 60.0% | 39.5% | 30.5% | |
| UEN | 82.5% | 30.5% | 11.5% | 17.0% | 65.0% | 16.0% | 87.5% | 36.0% | 24.5% | |
| EDD | 85.5% | 29.5% | 5.5% | 5.5% | 73.0% | 7.5% | 87.5% | 35.5% | 24.5% | |
| Source | <ref name="IIIS92225301"/> | <ref name="IIIS92225302"/> | <ref name="IIIS92225302"/> | <ref name="IIIS92225302"/> | <ref name="IIIS92225301"/> | <ref name="IIIS92225302"/> | <ref name="IIIS92225301"/> | <ref name="IIIS92225302"/> | <ref name="IIIS92225302"/> | |
Sixth European Parliament
Template:See also The mandate of the previous European Parliament ran from 2004 and 2009. It was composed of the following political groups. Template:European Parliament standings (6th)
_by_roll-call_votes.png){kind=link}
_by_roll-call_votes.png&action=edit&redlink=1){kind=link}
Table 3<ref name="HN2008010303">"After Enlargement: Voting Patterns in the Sixth European Parliament", by Simon Hix and Abdul Noury, LSE/ULB, 3 January 2008 original figure estimated from "Figure 3. Spatial Map of EP6"</ref> of the 3 January 2008 version of a working paper<ref>[2]Template:Dead link</ref> from the London School of Economics/Free University of Brussels by Hix and Noury considered the positions of the groups in the Sixth Parliament (2004–2009) by analysing their roll-call votes. The results for each group are shown in the adjacent diagram. The vertical scale is the anti-pro Europe spectrum, (0% = extremely anti-Europe, 100% = extremely pro), and the horizontal scale is the economic left-right spectrum, (0% = extremely economically left-wing, 100% = extremely economically right-wing). The results are also shown in the table below.
| Group | Left-right spectrum | Eurosceptic spectrum | Sources | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EUL/NGL | very left-wing | Eurosceptic | <ref name="HN2008010303"/> | |
| PES | centre-left | very Europhile | <ref name="HN2008010303"/> | |
| G/EFA | left-wing | Europhile | <ref name="HN2008010303"/> | |
| Renew | centre | Europhile | <ref name="HN2008010303"/> | |
| EPP-ED (EPP subgroup) | centre-right | Europhile | <ref name="HN2008010303"/> | |
| EPP-ED (ED subgroup) | right-wing | Eurosceptic | <ref name="HN2008010303"/> | |
| IND/DEM (reformist subgroup) | centre | very Eurosceptic | <ref name="HN2008010303"/> | |
| IND/DEM (secessionist subgroup) | very right-wing | Secessionist | <ref name="HN2008010303"/> | |
| UEN | centre-right | Eurosceptic | <ref name="HN2008010303"/> | |
Two of the groups (EPP-ED and IND/DEM) were split. EPP-ED are split on Euroscepticism: the EPP subgroup ( Template:Legend2) were centre-right Europhiles, whereas the ED subgroup ( Template:Legend2) were right-wing Eurosceptics.
IND/DEM was also split along its subgroups: the reformist subgroup ( Template:Legend2, bottom-center) voted as centrist Eurosceptics, and the secessionist subgroup ( Template:Legend2, middle-right) voted as right-wing Euroneutrals. The reformist subgroup was able to pursue a reformist agenda via the Parliament. The secessionist subgroup was unable to pursue a secessionist agenda there (it's out of the Parliament's purview) and pursued a right-wing agenda instead. This resulted in the secessionist subgroup being less Eurosceptic in terms of roll-call votes than other, non-eurosceptic parties. UKIP (the major component of the secessionist subgroup) was criticised for this seeming abandonment of its Eurosceptic core principles.<ref name="Times1845227">Leader of the UKIP accused of selling out, The Sunday Times, May 27, 2007 Template:Webarchive</ref>
Table 2<ref name="IIIS92225301">"Party Groups and Policy Positions in the European Parliament" by Gail McElroy and Kenneth Benoit, Trinity College, Dublin, 10 March 2005" original figure taken from "Table 2. Policy Positions of European Party Groups", figure converted from 0 to 20 scale to 0% to 100% scale</ref><ref name="IIIS92225302">"Party Groups and Policy Positions in the European Parliament" by Gail McElroy and Kenneth Benoit, Trinity College, Dublin, 10 March 2005 original figure taken from "Table 2. Policy Positions of European Party Groups", figure converted from 0 to 20 scale to 0% to 100% scale and subtracted from 100% to have scale start at "extremely against"</ref> of a 2005 discussion paper<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> from the Institute for International Integration Studies by Gail McElroy and Kenneth Benoit analysed the group positions between April and June 2004, at the end of the Fifth Parliament and immediately before the 2004 elections. The results are given below, with 0% = extremely against, 100% = extremely for (except for the left-right spectrum, where 0% = extremely left-wing, 100% = extremely right-wing)
Seventh European Parliament
Template:See also Template:European Parliament standings (7th)
Eighth European Parliament
Major changes compared to the period 2004–2009 were:
- The formation of a new political group, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This conservative, Eurosceptic group was headed by 26 MEPs from the UK's Conservative Party.
- The Eurosceptic Independence/Democracy (IND/DEM) and Union for Europe of the Nations (UEN) groups suffered heavy losses in the election. On their own, they no longer had enough MEPs to form a separate group. MEPs formerly from these groups formed the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) group on 1 July 2009.
- The centre-right European People's Party now formed its own political group in its entirety, as the former members of the European Democrats left the group to join the ECR.
- The political group of the Party of European Socialists renamed itself to the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats or Socialists and Democrats (S&D) to accommodate the Democratic Party of Italy.<ref name="Viola2015">Template:Cite book</ref> The Democratic Party did not become member of the Party of European Socialists until February 2014.
Template:European Parliament standings (8th)
Ninth European Parliament
History according to group
Some of the groups (such as the PES and S&D Group) have become homogeneous units coterminous with their European political party, some (such as IND/DEM) have not. But they are still coalitions, not parties in their own right, and do not issue manifestos of their own. It may therefore be difficult to discern how the groups intend to vote without first inspecting the party platforms of their constituent parties, and then with limited certainty.
Christian democrats and conservatives
In European politics, the centre-right is usually occupied by Christian democrats and conservatives. These two ideological strands have had a tangled relationship in the Parliament. The first Christian Democrat Group was founded in 1953<ref name="t1s2"/> and stayed with that name for a quarter of a century. Meanwhile, outside the Parliament, local Christian-democratic parties were organising and eventually formed the pan-national political party called the "European People's Party" on 29 April 1976. Since all the Christian-democratic MEPs were members of this pan-European party, the Group's name was changed to indicate this: first to the "Christian-Democratic Group (Group of the European People's Party)"<ref name="t1s34"/><ref name="t1s50"/> on 14 March 1978,<ref name="t1s34"/> then to "Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats)"<ref name="t1s34"/><ref name="t1s50"/><ref name="t1s6"/> on 17 July 1979.<ref name="t1s34"/> Meanwhile, on 16 January 1973,<ref name="t1s7"/> the "European Conservative Group"<ref name="t1s2"/> was formed by the British and Danish Conservative parties, which had recently joined the EEC. This group was renamed to the "European Democratic Group"<ref name="t1s3"/><ref name="t1s49"/> on 17 July 1979.<ref name="t1s7"/> The EPP Group grew during the 1980s, with conservative parties such as New Democracy of Greece and the People's Party of Spain joining the Group. In contrast, the number of MEPs in the European Democratic Group fell over the same period and it eventually merged with the EPP Group on 1 May 1992.<ref name="t1s7"/> This consolidation of the centre-right continued during the 1990s, with MEPs from the Italian centre-right party Template:Lang being admitted into the EPP Group on 15 June 1998,<ref name="t1s8"/> after spending nearly a year (19 July 1994<ref name="t1s8"/> to 6 July 1995<ref name="t1s8"/>) in their own Group, self-referentially called "Forza Europa", and nearly three years (6 July 1995<ref name="t1s8"/> to 15 June 1998<ref name="t1s8"/>) in the national-conservative Group called "Union for Europe". But the Conservatives were growing restless and on 20 July 1999<ref name="t1s2"/> the EPP Group was renamed<ref name="t1s2"/> to the "Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats"<ref name="t1s5"/> (EPP-ED) to identify the Conservative parties within the Group. The Group remained under that name until after the 2009 European elections, when it reverted to the title "Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats)" upon the exit of the European Democrats subgroup and the formation of the "European Conservatives and Reformists" group in June 2009.
| Group name |
English abbr. |
French abbr. |
Formal European Parliament name |
From | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christian Democratic Group | CD<ref name="t1s2"/> | DC<ref name="t1s34"/> | Christian Democratic Group<ref name="t1s2"/><ref name="t1s50"/> | 23 June 1953<ref name="t1s34"/> | 14 March 1978<ref name="t1s34"/> |
| Christian Democratic Group | CD<ref name="t1s2"/> | DC<ref name="t1s34"/> | Christian Democratic Group (Group of the European People's Party)<ref name="t1s34"/><ref name="t1s50"/> | 14 March 1978<ref name="t1s34"/> | 17 July 1979<ref name="t1s34"/> |
| European Conservatives | C<ref name="t1s2"/> | n/a | European Conservative Group<ref name="t1s2"/><ref name="t1s49"/> | 16 January 1973<ref name="t1s7"/> | 17 July 1979<ref name="t1s7"/> |
| European Democrats | ED<ref name="t1s3"/><ref name="t1s2"/><ref name="t1s1"/> | DE<ref name="t1s7"/> | European Democratic Group<ref name="t1s3"/><ref name="t1s49"/> | 17 July 1979<ref name="t1s7"/> | 1 May 1992<ref name="t1s7"/> |
| European People's Party | EPP<ref name="t1s1"/> | PPE<ref name="t1s34"/> | Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats)<ref name="t1s34"/><ref name="t1s50"/><ref name="t1s6"/> | 17 July 1979<ref name="t1s34"/> | 1 May 1999<ref name="t1s34"/> |
| Forza Europa | FE<ref name="t1s3"/><ref name="t1s1"/><ref name="t1s26"/> | n/a | Forza Europa | 19 July 1994<ref name="t1s8"/> | 6 July 1995<ref name="t1s8"/> |
| European People's Party–European Democrats | EPP-ED<ref name="t1s1"/> | PPE-DE<ref name="t1s5"/> | Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats<ref name="t1s5"/><ref name="t1s51"/> | 20 July 1999<ref name="t1s2"/> | 22 June 2009 |
| European People's Party | EPP | PPE | Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) | 22 June 2009 | present |
Social democrats
In Western Europe, social-democratic parties have been the dominant centre-left force since the dawn of modern European cooperation. The Socialist Group was one of the first Groups to be founded when it was created on 23 June 1953<ref name="t1s28"/> in the European Parliament's predecessor, the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community, and continued through the creation of the appointed Parliament in 1958 and the elected Parliament in 1979. Meanwhile, the national parties making up the Group were also organising themselves on a European level outside the Parliament, with the parties creating the "Confederation of Socialist Parties of the European Community" in 1974<ref name="t1s2"/><ref name="t1s29"/><ref name="t1s30"/> and its successor, the "Party of European Socialists", in 1992.<ref name="t1s29"/><ref name="t1s30"/> As a result, the Group (which had kept its "Socialist Group" name all along) was renamed to the "Group of the Party of European Socialists" on 21 April 1993<ref name="t1s28"/> and it became difficult to distinguish between the Party of European Socialists party and the political group. The Group reverted to (approximately) its former name of the "Socialist Group in the European Parliament".<ref name="t1s5"/> on 20 July 2004<ref name="t1s28"/> Despite all this, the Group was still universally referred to as "PES", notwithstanding the 2009 name change to the "Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats" to accommodate the Democratic Party of Italy.<ref>European socialists change name to accommodate Italian lawmakers. Monsters and Critics (23 June 2009). Retrieved on 2016-01-22.</ref>
| Group name |
English abbr. |
French abbr. |
Formal European Parliament name |
From | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Socialist Group | S<ref name="t1s2"/> | n/a | Group of the Socialists<ref name="t1s2"/> | 23 June 1953<ref name="t1s28"/> | 1958<ref name="t1s29"/> |
| Socialist Group | SOC<ref name="t1s1"/> | n/a | Socialist Group<ref name="t1s29"/><ref name="t1s41"/> | 1958<ref name="t1s29"/> | 21 April 1993<ref name="t1s28"/> |
| Party of European Socialists | PES<ref name="t1s1"/> | PSE<ref name="t1s5"/> | "Group of the Party of European Socialists"<ref name="t1s2"/><ref name="t1s42"/> (until 20 July 2004)<ref name="t1s28"/> "Socialist Group in the European Parliament"<ref name="t1s5"/><ref name="t1s43"/> (since 20 July 2004<ref name="t1s28"/>) |
21 April 1993<ref name="t1s28"/> | 23 June 2009 |
| Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats | S&D | S&D | Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament | 23 June 2009 | present |
Liberals and centrists
In European politics, liberalism tends to be associated with ideas inspired by classical and economic liberalism, which advocates limited government intervention in society. However, the Liberal Group contains diverse parties, including conservative-liberal, social-liberal and Nordic agrarian parties. It has previously been home to parties such as the minor French Gaullist party Union for the New Republic and the Social Democratic Party of Portugal, which were not explicitly liberal parties, but who were not aligned with either the Socialist or the Christian Democratic Groups. The Liberal Group was founded on 23 June 1953<ref name="t1s9"/> under the name of the "Group of Liberals and Allies".<ref name="t1s9"/> As the Parliament grew, it changed its name to the "Liberal and Democratic Group"<ref name="t1s2"/><ref name="t1s9"/> (1976<ref name="t1s9"/>), then to the "Liberal and Democratic Reformist Group"<ref name="t1s45"/> (13 December 1985<ref name="t1s9"/>), then to the "Group of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party"<ref name="t1s2"/><ref name="t1s6"/><ref name="t1s9"/> (19 July 1994<ref name="t1s9"/>) before settling on the name of the "Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe"<ref name="t1s9"/> on 20 July 2004,<ref name="t1s9"/> when the Group was joined by the centrist parties that formed the European Democratic Party.
ELDR Group leader Graham Watson MEP denounced the grand coalition in 2007 and expressed a desire to ensure that the posts of Commission President, Council President, Parliament President and High Representative were not divided based on agreement between the two largest groups to the exclusion of third parties.<ref name="ALDE formed">Template:Cite web Template:Dead link</ref>
Between 1994 and 1999 there was a separate "European Radical Alliance", which consisted of MEPs of the French Energie Radicale, the Italian Bonino List, and regionalists aligned with the European Free Alliance.<ref name="t1s10"/>
The current name as of 2020 is "Renew Europe".
| Group name |
English abbr. |
French abbr. |
Formal European Parliament name |
From | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Group | L<ref name="t1s9"/> | n/a | Group of Liberals and Allies<ref name="t1s9"/> | 23 June 1953<ref name="t1s9"/> | 1976<ref name="t1s9"/> |
| Liberal and Democratic Group | LD<ref name="t1s9"/> | n/a | Liberal and Democratic Group<ref name="t1s2"/><ref name="t1s9"/><ref name="t1s44"/> | 1976<ref name="t1s9"/> | 13 December 1985<ref name="t1s9"/> |
| Liberal and Democratic Reformist Group | LDR<ref name="t1s3"/><ref name="t1s9"/> | n/a | Liberal and Democratic Reformist Group<ref name="t1s45"/> | 13 December 1985<ref name="t1s9"/> | 19 July 1994<ref name="t1s9"/> |
| European Liberal Democratic and Reform Party | ELDR<ref name="t1s1"/><ref name="t1s9"/> | n/a | Group of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party<ref name="t1s2"/><ref name="t1s6"/><ref name="t1s9"/><ref name="t1s46"/> | 19 July 1994<ref name="t1s9"/> | 20 July 2004<ref name="t1s9"/> |
| European Radical Alliance | ERA<ref name="t1s1"/> | ARE<ref name="t1s11"/> | Group of the European Radical Alliance<ref name="t1s6"/><ref name="t1s58"/> | 1994<ref name="t1s3"/> | 1999<ref name="t1s11"/> |
| Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe | ALDE<ref name="t1s1"/> | ADLE<ref name="t1s48"/> | Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe<ref name="t1s9"/><ref name="t1s47"/> | 20 July 2004<ref name="t1s9"/> | June 2019 |
| Renew Europe | RE | RE | Renew Europe group | 20 June 2019 | present |
Eurosceptic conservatives
Parties from certain European countries have been unwilling to join the centre-right European People's Party Group. These parties generally have a liberal conservative but eurosceptic agenda. The first such Group was formed when the French Gaullists split from the Liberal Group on 21 January 1965<ref name="t1s8"/> and created a new Group called the "European Democratic Union"<ref name="t1s3"/><ref name="t1s2"/> (not to be confused with the association of conservative and Christian-democratic parties founded in 1978 called the European Democrat Union nor the Conservative Group called the "European Democratic Group" founded in 1979). The Group was renamed on 16 January 1973<ref name="t1s8"/> to the "Group of European Progressive Democrats"<ref name="t1s31"/><ref name="t1s33"/> when the Gaullists were joined by the Irish Fianna Fáil and Scottish National Party, and renamed itself again on 24 July 1984<ref name="t1s8"/> to the "Group of the European Democratic Alliance".<ref name="t1s3"/><ref name="t1s33"/> The European Democratic Alliance joined with MEPs from Template:Lang to become the "Union for Europe"<ref name="t1s6"/><ref name="t1s52"/> on 6 July 1995,<ref name="t1s8"/> but it did not last and the Template:Lang MEPs left on 15 June 1998 to join the EPP,<ref name="t1s8"/> leaving Union for Europe to struggle on until it split on 20 July 1999.<ref name="t1s8"/> The French Rally for the Republic members joined the EPP,<ref name="t1s8"/> but Fianna Fáil and the Portuguese CDS–PP members joined a new group called the "Union for Europe of the Nations".<ref name="t1s53"/> After the 2009 Parliament elections the Union for Europe of Nations was disbanded due to a lack of members, with the remaining members splitting into factions, with some joining with the remaining members of Independence/Democracy to form Europe of Freedom and Democracy, a new Eurosceptic group, and the remaining members joining with the former members of the European Democrat subgroup of the EPP-ED to form the European Conservatives and Reformists.
| Group name |
English abbr. |
French abbr. |
Formal European Parliament name |
From | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| European Democratic Union<ref name="t1s3"/><ref name="t1s2"/> | n/a | UDE<ref name="t1s8"/> | European Democratic Union Group<ref name="t1s33"/> | 21 January 1965<ref name="t1s8"/> | 16 January 1973<ref name="t1s8"/> |
| European Progressive Democrats<ref name="t1s3"/><ref name="t1s2"/> | EPD<ref name="PolDatHandOECD1997"/> | DEP<ref name="t1s8"/> | Group of European Progressive Democrats<ref name="t1s31"/><ref name="t1s33"/> | 16 January 1973<ref name="t1s8"/> | 24 July 1984<ref name="t1s8"/> |
| European Democratic Alliance<ref name="t1s1"/> | EDA<ref name="t1s3"/><ref name="t1s1"/> | RDE<ref name="t1s8"/> | Group of the European Democratic Alliance<ref name="t1s3"/><ref name="t1s33"/><ref name="t1s52"/> | 24 July 1984<ref name="t1s8"/> | 6 July 1995<ref name="t1s8"/> |
| Union for Europe | UFE<ref name="t1s1"/> | UPE<ref name="t1s8"/> | "Group Union for Europe"<ref name="t1s6"/><ref name="t1s52"/> | 6 July 1995<ref name="t1s8"/> | 20 July 1999<ref name="t1s8"/> |
| Union for Europe of the Nations | UEN<ref name="t1s3"/><ref name="t1s1"/> | n/a | Union for Europe of the Nations Group<ref name="t1s53"/> | 20 July 1999<ref name="t1s8"/><ref name="t1s27"/> | 11 June 2009 |
| European Conservatives and Reformists | ECR | CRE | European Conservatives and Reformists Group | 24 June 2009 | present |
Greens and regionalists
In European politics, there has been a coalition between the greens and the stateless nationalists or regionalists (who also support devolution). In 1984<ref name="t1s11"/> Greens and regionalists gathered into the "Rainbow Group",<ref name="t1s3"/> a coalition of Greens, regionalists and other parties of the left unaffiliated with any of the international organisations. In 1989,<ref name="t1s3"/><ref name="t1s11"/> the group split: the Greens went off to form the "Green Group", whilst the regionalists stayed in Rainbow. Rainbow collapsed in 1994<ref name="t1s11"/> and its members joined the "European Radical Alliance" under the French Energie Radicale. The Greens and regionalists stayed separate until 1999,<ref name="t1s2"/><ref name="t1s11"/> when they reunited under the "Greens/European Free Alliance"<ref name="t1s2"/><ref name="t1s5"/> banner.
| Group name |
English abbr. |
French abbr. |
Formal European Parliament name |
From | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rainbow Group | RBW<ref name="t1s1"/> | ARC<ref name="t1s11"/> | Rainbow Group: Federation of the Green Alternative European Left, Agalev-Ecolo, the Danish People's Movement against Membership of the European Community and the European Free Alliance in the European Parliament<ref name="t1s58"/><ref name="t1s57"/> | 1984<ref name="t1s11"/> | 1989<ref name="t1s3"/><ref name="t1s11"/> |
| Rainbow Group | RBW<ref name="t1s1"/> | ARC<ref name="t1s11"/> | Rainbow Group in the European Parliament<ref name="t1s11"/><ref name="t1s58"/> | 1989<ref name="t1s3"/><ref name="t1s11"/> | 1994<ref name="t1s11"/> |
| The Green Group | G<ref name="t1s1"/> | V<ref name="t1s63"/> | The Green Group in the European Parliament<ref name="t1s6"/><ref name="t1s59"/> | 1989<ref name="t1s3"/><ref name="t1s2"/><ref name="t1s11"/> | 1999<ref name="t1s2"/><ref name="t1s11"/> |
| The Greens–European Free Alliance | G/EFA,<ref name="t1s1"/> | Verts/ALE<ref name="t1s5"/> | Group of the Greens–European Free Alliance<ref name="t1s2"/><ref name="t1s5"/><ref name="t1s60"/> | 1999<ref name="t1s2"/> | present |
Communists and socialists
The first communist group in the European Parliament was the "Communist and Allies Group"<ref name="t1s3"/> founded on 16 October 1973.<ref name="t1s4"/> It stayed together until 25 July 1989<ref name="t1s4"/> when it split into two groups, the "Left Unity" Group<ref name="t1s3"/> with 14<ref name="t1s3"/> members and the "Group of the European United Left"<ref name="t1s4"/> (EUL) with 28<ref name="t1s3"/> members. EUL collapsed in January 1993<ref name="t1s35"/> after the Italian Communist Party became the Democratic Party of the Left and its MEPs joined the PES Group, leaving Left Unity as the only leftist group before the 1994 elections.<ref name="t1s35"/> The name was resurrected immediately after the elections when the "Confederal Group of the European United Left"<ref name="t1s4"/> was formed on 19 July 1994.<ref name="t1s4"/> On 6 January 1995,<ref name="t1s4"/> when parties from Sweden and Finland joined, the Group was further renamed to the "Confederal Group of the European United Left–Nordic Green Left" and it has stayed that way to the present.
| Group name |
English abbr. |
French abbr. |
Formal European Parliament name |
From | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Communists and Allies | COM<ref name="t1s1"/> | n/a | Communist and Allies Group<ref name="t1s3"/><ref name="t1s37"/> | 16 October 1973<ref name="t1s4"/> | 25 July 1989<ref name="t1s4"/> |
| European United Left | EUL<ref name="t1s1"/> | GUE<ref name="t1s3"/><ref name="t1s2"/> | Group for the European United Left<ref name="t1s39"/> | 25 July 1989<ref name="t1s4"/> | January 1993<ref name="t1s35"/> |
| Left Unity | LU<ref name="t1s1"/> | CG<ref name="t1s3"/><ref name="t1s4"/> | Left Unity<ref name="t1s3"/><ref name="t1s38"/> | 25 July 1989<ref name="t1s4"/> | 19 July 1994<ref name="t1s4"/> |
| European United Left | EUL<ref name="t1s1"/> | GUE<ref name="t1s3"/><ref name="t1s2"/> | Confederal Group of the European United Left<ref name="t1s4"/><ref name="t1s40"/> | 19 July 1994<ref name="t1s4"/> | 6 January 1995<ref name="t1s4"/> |
| The Left in the European Parliament | EUL/NGL<ref name="t1s1"/> | GUE/NGL<ref name="t1s2"/><ref name="t1s5"/> | Confederal Group of the European United Left–Nordic Green Left<ref name="t1s6"/><ref name="t1s5"/><ref name="t1s40"/> | 6 January 1995<ref name="t1s4"/><ref name="t1s40"/> | present |
Right-wing nationalists
In European politics, a grouping of nationalists has thus far found it difficult to cohere in a continuous Group. The first nationalist Group was founded by the French National Front and the Italian Social Movement in 1984<ref name="t1s3"/><ref name="t1s16"/> under the name of the "Group of the European Right",<ref name="t1s3"/><ref name="t1s16"/> and it lasted until 1989.<ref name="t1s16"/><ref name="t1s36"/> Its successor, the "Technical Group of the European Right",<ref name="t1s16"/><ref name="t1s15"/> existed from 1989<ref name="t1s16"/> to 1994.<ref name="t1s16"/> There was then a gap of thirteen years until "Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty"<ref name="t1s17"/> was founded on 15 January 2007,<ref name="t1s17"/> which lasted for nearly eleven months until it fell apart on 14 November 2007 due to in-fighting.<ref name="t1s18"/><ref name="Laible2008">Template:Cite book</ref>
A new radical right group was formed during the 8th parliament on 16 June 2015 under the name "Europe of Nations and Freedom".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
| Group name |
English abbr. |
French abbr. |
Formal European Parliament name |
From | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| European Right | ER<ref name="t1s3"/><ref name="t1s1"/> | n/a | Group of the European Right<ref name="t1s3"/><ref name="t1s16"/><ref name="t1s55"/> | 24 July 1984<ref name="t1s55"/> | 24 July 1989<ref name="t1s55"/> |
| European Right | DR<ref name="t1s15"/> | n/a | Technical Group of the European Right<ref name="t1s16"/><ref name="t1s15"/><ref name="t1s55"/> | 25 July 1989<ref name="t1s55"/> | 18 July 1994<ref name="t1s55"/> |
| Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty | ITS<ref name="t1s17"/> | n/a | Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty Group<ref name="t1s55"/> | 15 January 2007<ref name="t1s17"/> | 14 November 2007<ref name="t1s18"/> |
| Europe of Nations and Freedom | ENF<ref name="le pen2"/> | ENL | Europe of Nations and Freedom Group<ref name="le pen2">Template:Cite web</ref> | 16 June 2015<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 13 June 2019 |
| Identity and Democracy | ID | ID | Identity and Democracy Group | 13 June 2019 | 8 July 2024<ref>The date when the last member joined Patriots for Europe</ref> |
| Patriots for Europe | PfE | PfE | Patriots for Europe Group | 8 July 2024 | Present |
| Europe of Sovereign Nations | ESN | ENS | Europe of Sovereign Nations Group | 10 July 2024 | Present |
Eurosceptics
The school of political thought that states that the competences of the European Union should be reduced or prevented from expanding further, is represented in the European Parliament by the eurosceptics. The first Eurosceptic group in the European Parliament was founded on 19 July 1994.<ref name="t1s12"/> It was called the "European Nations Group"<ref name="t1s12"/> and it lasted until 10 November 1996.<ref name="t1s12"/> Its successor was the "Group of Independents for a Europe of Nations",<ref name="t1s6"/><ref name="t1s13"/> founded on 20 December 1996.<ref name="t1s12"/> Following the 1999 European elections, the Group was reorganised into the "Group for a Europe of Democracies and Diversities"<ref name="t1s2"/><ref name="t1s5"/> on 20 July 1999,<ref name="t1s12"/> and similarly reorganised after the 2004 election into the "Independence/Democracy Group"<ref name="t1s14"/> on 20 July 2004.<ref name="t1s12"/> The group's leaders were Nigel Farage (UKIP) and Kathy Sinnott (Independent, Ireland). After the 2009 European elections, a significant proportion of the IND/DEM members joined the "Europe of Freedom and Democracy", which included parties formerly part of the Union for a Europe of Nations. The EFD group's leaders were Farage and Francesco Speroni of the Lega Nord (Italy). With significant changes in membership after the 2014 European elections, the group was re-formed as "Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy", led by Farage and David Borrelli (Five Star Movement, Italy).
| Group name |
English abbr. |
French abbr. |
Formal European Parliament name |
From | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Europe of Nations | EN<ref name="t1s1"/> | EDN<ref name="t1s63"/> | Europe of Nations Group (Coordination Group)<ref name="t1s61"/> | 19 July 1994<ref name="t1s12"/><ref name="t1s61"/> | 10 November 1996<ref name="t1s12"/><ref name="t1s61"/> |
| Independents for a Europe of Nations | I-EN<ref name="t1s13"/> | I-EDN<ref name="t1s12"/> | Group of Independents for a Europe of Nations<ref name="t1s6"/><ref name="t1s13"/><ref name="t1s61"/><ref name="t1s62"/> | 20 December 1996<ref name="t1s12"/> | 20 July 1999<ref name="t1s12"/> |
| Europe of Democracies and Diversities | EDD<ref name="t1s2"/><ref name="t1s5"/> | n/a | Group for a Europe of Democracies and Diversities<ref name="t1s2"/><ref name="t1s5"/><ref name="t1s62"/> | 20 July 1999<ref name="t1s12"/> | 20 July 2004<ref name="t1s12"/> |
| Independence/Democracy | IND/DEM<ref name="t1s1"/> | n/a | Independence/Democracy Group<ref name="t1s14"/><ref name="t1s62"/> | 20 July 2004<ref name="t1s12"/> | 11 June 2009 |
| Europe of Freedom and Democracy | EFD | ELD | Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 1 July 2009 | 24 June 2014 |
| Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy | EFDD | ELDD | Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy Group | 24 June 2014 | 26 June 2019 |
Heterogeneous
Template:Expand section A Group is assumed to have a set of core principles ("affinities" or "complexion") to which the full members are expected to adhere. This throws up an anomaly: Groups get money and seats on Committees which Independent members do not get, but the total number of Independent members may be greater than the members of the smaller Groups. In 1979, MEPs got around this by forming a technical group (formally called the "Group for the Technical Coordination and Defence of Independent Groups and Members",<ref name="t1s56"/> or "CDI"<ref name="t1s10"/> for short) as a coalition of parties ranging from centre-left to far-left, which were not aligned with any of the major international organizations.<ref>On 17 July 1979, CDI consisted of 11 MEPs: specifically Maurits P.-A. Coppieters of the Flemish People's Union, Else Hammerich, Jens-Peter Bonde, Sven Skovmand, and Jørgen Bøgh of the Danish People's Movement against the EEC, the Irish independent MEP Neil Blaney, Luciana Castellina from the Italian Proletarian Unity Party, Mario Capanna from the Italian Proletarian Democracy, and Marco Pannella, Emma Bonino and Leonardo Sciascia of the Radical Party</ref> CDI lasted until 1984.<ref name="t1s11"/> On 20 July 1999,<ref name="t1s19"/> another technical group was formed, (formally called the "Technical Group of Independent Members – mixed group"<ref name="t1s64"/> or "TGI"<ref name="t1s1"/><ref name="t1s19"/> for short). Since it contained far-right MEPs and centre-left MEPs, it could not possibly be depicted as having a common outlook. The Committee on Constitutional Affairs ruled<ref name="t1s20"/> that TGI did not have a coherent political complexion, Parliament upheld (412 to 56 with 36 abstentions) the ruling,<ref name="t1s21"/> and TGI was thus disbanded on 13 September 1999,<ref name="t1s21"/> the first Group to be forcibly dissolved. However, the ruling was appealed to the European Court of First Instance<ref name="t1s21"/> and the Group was temporarily resurrected on 1 December 1999<ref name="t1s22"/> until the Court came to a decision.<ref name="t1s22"/> On 3 October 2001, president Fontaine announced that the Court of First Instance had declared against the appeal<ref name="t1s23"/> and that the disbandment was back in effect from 2 October 2001, the date of the declaration.<ref name="t1s24"/> TGI appeared on the list of Political Groups in the European Parliament for the last time on 4 October 2001.<ref name="t1s25"/> Since then the requirement that Groups have a coherent political complexion has been enforced (as ITS later found out), and "mixed" Groups are not expected to appear again.
| Group name |
English abbr. |
French abbr. |
Formal European Parliament name |
From | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Technical Group of Independents | n/a | CDI<ref name="t1s10"/> | "Group for the Technical Coordination and Defence of Independent Groups and Members"<ref name="t1s56"/> | 20 July 1979<ref name="t1s19"/> | 24 July 1984<ref name="t1s21"/> |
| Technical Group of Independents | TGI<ref name="t1s1"/><ref name="t1s19"/> | TDI<ref name="t1s2"/><ref name="t1s5"/> | "Technical Group of Independent Members – mixed group"<ref name="t1s64"/> | 20 July 1999<ref name="t1s19"/> | 4 October 2001<ref name="t1s25"/> |
Independents
Independent MEPs that are not in a Group are categorised as "Non-Inscrits" (the French term is universally used, even in English translations). This non-group has no group privileges or funding and is included here solely for completeness.
<ref name="Hines2003">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s3">Development of Political Groups in the European Parliament</ref><ref name="t1s7">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s34">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s2">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s50">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s6">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s49">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s8">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s5">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s1">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s26">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s51">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s28">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s29">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s30">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s41">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s42">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s43">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s9">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s45">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s10">Political groups in the European Parliament (1979)</ref><ref name="t1s44">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s46">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s11">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s58">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s48">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s47">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s31">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s33">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s52">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s53">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="PolDatHandOECD1997">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="t1s27">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s57">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s63">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s59">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s60">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s4">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s35">"European Union: Power and Policy-Making" second edition, Template:ISBN Published 2001 by Routledge, edited by Jeremy John Richardson, Chapter 6 "Parliaments and policy-making in the European Union", esp. page 125, "Table 6.2 Party Groups in the European Parliament, 1979–2000"</ref><ref name="t1s37">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s39">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s38">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s40">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s16">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="t1s36">Searchlight article on collapse of ER</ref><ref name="t1s15">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s17">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s18">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s55">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s12">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s13">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s14">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s61">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s62">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s56">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s19">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s64">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s20">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s21">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s22">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s23">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s24">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s25">Template:Cite web</ref>
See also
Notes
References
External links
- European Parliament political groups
- Lists of MEPs by political group
- The Party System of the European Parliament: Collusive or Competitive? (includes groups and how they evolved since 1952/3)
- The European Parliament and Supranational Party System Cambridge University Press 2002 (PDF)
- Party Groups and Policy Positions in the European Parliament (PDF)
- Josep M. Colomer. "How Political Parties, Rather than Member-States, Are Building the European Union" (proof copy), (via Google Books) in Widening the European Union: The Politics of Institutional Change, ed. Bernard Steunenberg. London: Routledge, 2002, Template:ISBN.
Template:European Parliament groups Template:European Union topics