Political groups of the European Parliament
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The European Parliament is unique among supranational assemblies because it organizes itself around ideological, rather than national, groups.[1] These political groups of the European Parliament are groups of MEPs. In some cases a Group is the formal representation of a European political party in the Parliament, in others it is a political coalition of a number of European parties, national parties and independent politicians. Groups are not parties, but looser coalitions. But each Group is assumed to have a set of core principles, and Groups that cannot demonstrate this may be disbanded (see below). These core principles fall into distinct categories, and those categories encompass the whole range of political thought.
Requirements and privilegesWorking together in Groups benefits European political parties: for example, the European Free Alliance (5 MEPs) and the European Greens (37 MEPs) have more power by working together in the European Greens - European Free Alliance Group (42 MEPs) than they would have as stand-alone parties, bringing their causes much-needed additional support. Further incentives for co-operating in Groups include financial subsidies from the Parliament and guaranteed seats on committees[2] which are not afforded to Independent MEPs. For a Group to be formally recognised in the Parliament, it must fulfil the conditions laid down in Rule 29 of the European Parliament's Rules of Procedure. That Rule states that a Group must have MEPs elected in at least one-fifth of the Member States, must have at least twenty MEPs, must contain no MEP that is a member of another Group, and its MEPs must have a common political affinity. Provided these conditions are met, MEPs can theoretically create any Group they like. This was put to the test 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.[2] Attempts to block the formation of ITS were unsuccessful, but they were blocked from gaining leading positions on committees, a right meant to be afforded to all Groups.[3] OrganisationGroups may be based around a single European political party (e.g. the Socialist Group) or they can include more than one European party as well as national parties and independents[4] (e.g. the Liberal Group). Each Group appoints a leader, referred to as a "president", "co-ordinator" or "chair", who decides which way the Group should vote in Parliament. 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. CurrentParty relationsThe Parliament does not form a government in the traditional sense and its politics have developed over consensual rather than adversarial lines.[5] No single group has ever held a majority in Parliament.[6] The two largest Groups are the Conservative and Christian Democrat Group (EPP-ED) and the Socialist Group (PES), which are based around the European political parties called the European People's Party (EPP) and the Party of European Socialists (also called PES). These two Groups have dominated the Parliament for much of its life, continuously holding between 50 and 70 percent of the seats together. The Socialists were the largest single party up to 1999, when they were overtaken by the People's Party.[7][8] 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 People's Party and the Socialists came to an agreement to cooperate in the Parliament.[9] This agreement became known as the "grand coalition" and, aside from a break in the fifth Parliament,[10] 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 a Socialist President for half the term and a People's President for the other half, regardless of the actual election result.[5] Position of the liberalsLiberal Group leader Graham Watson MEP has denounced the grand coalition and has described the aim for the liberals in the following terms: "the challenge for us is not only to break the inherent conservatism of the grand coalition, where a failing EPP Europe is propped up by a Socialist poodle pinching the crumbs from the table" also expressing a desire to ensure that the posts of Commission President, Council President, Parliament President and High Representative are not carved up in an agreement between a the two groups to the exclusion of third parties.[11] During the fifth term it was the liberals who were involved in a break in the grand coalition when they entered into an alliance with the People's Party, to the exclusion of the Socialists.[10] 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[12] as before. In the following term the liberals grew to 88 seats becoming the "Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe". This was the largest number of seats held by any third party in Parliament.[11] Break in the coalitionHowever liberal intervention has not been 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 Socialists 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 counter motions. 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.[13] 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 People's Party supported the appointment of Buttiglione, while the Socialists, 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 Socialists. The People's Party demanded that if Buttiglione were to go, then a Socialist commissioner must also be sacrificed for balance.[14] In the end, Italy withdrew Buttiglione and put forward Franco Frattini instead. Frattini won the support of the Socialists and the Barroso Commission was finally approved, albeit behind schedule.[15] Politicisation such as the above has been increasing, with Simon Hix of the London School of Economics noting in 2007 that[16]
HistoryImage:PE1979e.png
Results of the first election;
OverviewThe first three Groups were established in the earliest days of the Parliament. They were the "Socialist Group" (who eventually became PES), the "Christian Democrat Group" (later EPP-ED) and a "Liberal and Allies Group" (later ALDE). As the Parliament developed, other Groups emerged. Non-liberal members of the Liberal Group left to found the "European Democratic Union" Group (later UEN).[17] When Conservatives from Denmark and the United Kingdom joined, they created the "European Conservative Group", which (after some name changes) eventually merged with the Christian Democrat Group.[18] The first elections in 1979 established further groups and the establishment of European political parties such as the European People's Party.[19] A full breakdown of Groups by complexion and timeline is given below. Communists and the Far LeftIn Europe, the extreme left denotes parties that advocate radical or revolutionary change of what they see as the capitalist system towards a socialist or communist system. The first extreme left Group in the European Parliament was the "Communist and Allies Group"[17] founded on 16 October 1973.[20] It stayed together until 25 July 1989[20] when it split into two groups, the "Left Unity" Group[17] with 14[17] members and the "Group of the European United Left"[20] (EUL) with 28[17] members. EUL collapsed in January 1993[21] after the Italian Communist Party changed its name to Democratic Party of the Left and its MEPs joined the Socialist Group, leaving Left Unity as the only far-left group before the 1994 elections.[21] The name was resurrected immediately after the elections when the "Confederal Group of the European United Left"[20] was formed on 19 July 1994.[20] On 6 January 1995,[20] 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.
Socialists and Social DemocratsIn Europe, the left and centre-left denotes parties that advocate government intervention in the economy. The Socialist Group was one of the first Groups to be founded when it was created on 23 June 1953[30] 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 orgainizing themselves on a European level outside the Parliament, with the parties creating the "Confederation of Socialist Parties of the European Community" in 1974[25][31][32] and its successor, the "Party of European Socialists", in 1992.[31][32] 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[30] and it became difficult to distinguish between PES (the group) and PES (the party). The Group reverted to (approximately) its former name of the "Socialist Group in the European Parliament"[28] on 20 July 2004[30] and was given a different logo, making it easier to distinguish the Group from the party. Despite all this, the Group is still universally referred to as "PES".
Liberals and Liberal DemocratsIn Europe, liberalism tends to be associated with classical liberalism, which advocates limited government intervention in society in general. However, the Liberal Group contains parties ranging from centre-right conservative liberalism to centre-left progressive liberalism. It has also been home to parties such as the Gaullist Union for the New Republic and the centre-right Portuguese Social-Democrats that were not explicitly liberal, but who were not aligned with either the Socialist or the Christian Democratic Groups. The Liberal Group was founded on June 23 1953[36] under the name of the "Group of Liberals and Allies".[36] As the Parliament grew, it changed its name to the "Liberal and Democratic Group"[25][36] (1976[36]), then to the "Liberal and Democratic Reformist Group "[37] (December 13 1985[36]), then to the "Group of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party"[29][25][36] (July 19 1994[36]) before settling on its present name of the "Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe"[36] on July 20 2004,[36] when the Group was joined by the centrist, social-liberal and christian-democratic parties that formed the European Democratic Party.
Conservatives and Christian DemocratsIn Europe, the centre-right is usually occupied by Christian Democracy or by Conservatives. The two strands have had a tangled relationship in the Parliament. The first Christian Democrat Group was founded in 1953[25] and stayed with that name for a quarter of a century. Meanwhile outside the Parliament, local Christian Democrat parties were organising and eventually formed the pan-national political party called the "European People's Party" on April 29 1976. Since all the Christian Democrat 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)"[19][42] on March 14 1978,[19] then to "Group of the European People's Party (Christian-Democratic Group)"[29][19][42] on July 17 1979.[19] Meanwhile, on January 16 1973,[18] the "European Conservative Group"[25] was formed by the British and Danish Conservative parties, which had recently joined the EEC. This group was renamed to the "European Democratic Group"[17][43] on July 17 1979.[18] The EPP Group grew during the '80s, with parties such as the Greek New Democracy and Spanish Partido Popular that were not explicitly Christian Democratic 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.[18] This consolidation of the centre-right continued during the '90s, with MEPs from the highly heterogeneous centre-right Italian Forza Italia eventually settling down into the EPP Group on 15 June 1998,[44] after spending nearly a year (19 July 1994[44] to July 6 1995[44]) in their own Group, self-referentially called "Forza Europa", and nearly three years (July 6 1995[44] to 15 June 1998[44]) in the National Conservative Group called "Union for Europe". But the Conservatives were growing restless and on July 20 1999[25] the EPP Group was renamed[25] to the "Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats"[28] in order to identify the Conservative parties within the Group. The Group remains under that name to this day. Although for the sake of brevity, it's usually called "People's" or "EPP-ED".
National ConservativesIn Europe, the gap between the established centre-right and the nationalist far right is usually filled by National Conservatives or similar parties. The first such Group was formed when the French Gaullist UDR split from the Liberal Group on 21 January 1965[44] and created a new Group called the "European Democratic Union"[25][17] (not to be confused with the association of Conservative and Christian Democrat parties founded in 1978 called the "European Democrat Union" or "EDU", nor the Conservative and Christian Democrat Group called the "European Democratic Group" founded in 1979). The Group was renamed on 16 January 1973[44] to the "Group of European Progressive Democrats"[47][48] when the Gaullists were joined by the Irish Fianna Fáil, and renamed itself again on July 24 1984[44] to the "Group of the European Democratic Alliance".[17][48] The European Democratic Alliance joined with MEPs from Forza Italia to became the "Group Union for Europe"[29][49] on July 6 1995,[44] but it didn't last and the Forza Italia MEPs left on 15 June 1998 to join EPP,[44] leaving Union for Europe to struggle on until it split on July 20 1999.[44] The RPR members joined EPP,[44] but Fianna Fáil and the Portuguese Democratic and Social Center / People's Party members joined a new group called "Union for Europe of the Nations Group".[50]
Fascists and the Far RightIn Europe, the extreme right denotes those that advocate xenophobic and ultranationalist policies. They have found it difficult to cohere in a continuous Group: their distaste for other countries and the European Union make it difficult for them to form and maintain pan-European coalitions; their distaste of other MEPs for them make it difficult for them to translate any coalitions into a Group. The first far-right Group was founded by the French National Front and the Italian Social Movement in 1984[17][53] under the name of the "Group of the European Right",[17][53] and it lasted until 1989.[53][54] Its successor, the "Technical Group of the European Right",[55][53] existed from 1989[53] to 1994.[53] There was then a gap of thirteen years until "Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty"[56] was founded on 15 January 2007,[56] which lasted for nearly eleven months until it self-destructed and fell apart on 14 November 2007.[57] In January 2008, leaders of far-right parties across four countries announced another attempt at a pan-European self-styled "patriotic" group, which may take the name "European Patriotic Party" [58][59]
Greens and RegionalistsIn Europe, there has been a coalition between the Greens (who support grassroots democracy) and the stateless nationalists or Regionalists (who also support devolution). In 1979 a Technical Group (formally called the "Group for the Technical Coordination and the Defence of Independent Groups and Members"[62], or "CDI"[62] for short) was formed as a coalition of parties ranging from centre-left to far left, which were not aligned with any of the major international organizations.[63] In 1984[64] CDI became the "Rainbow Group",[17] a coalition of Greens, Regionalists and other parties of the left unaffiliated with any of the international organizations. In 1989[64][17] Rainbow split. The Greens went off to form the "Green Group", whilst the Regionalists stayed in Rainbow. Rainbow was renamed in 1994[64] to the "European Radical Alliance", when they were joined by members of the centre-left French Left Radical Party. The Greens and Regionalists stayed separate until 1999,[25][64] when the two Groups reunited under the "Greens/European Free Alliance"[28][25] banner.
EuroscepticsThe specifically European 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 July 19 1994.[71] It was called the "European Nations Group"[71] and it lasted until November 10 1996.[71] Its successor was the "Group of Independents for a Europe of Nations",[29][72] founded on December 20 1996.[71] Following the 1999 elections, the Group was reorganised into the "Group for a Europe of Democracies and Diversities"[28][25] on July 20 1999,[71] and similarly reorganised after the 2004 elections into the "Independence/Democracy Group"[73] on July 20 2004.[71]
MixedA 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 amount of Independent members may be greater than the members of the smaller Groups. MEPs got round this in the past by forming Technical Groups, but since the Groups thus formed had members with (broadly) similar outlooks, nobody particularly minded. The crunch point arrived on 20 July 1999,[76] when TGI was formed. 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 promptly ruled[77] that TGI did not have a coherent political complexion, Parliament upheld (412 to 56 with 36 abstentions) the ruling,[78] and TGI was promptly disbanded on 13 September 1999,[78] the first Group to be forcibly dissolved. But it didn't end there: The ruling was appealed to the European Court of First Instance[78] (not the French Court of First Instance, whose acronym is also, confusingly, "TGI") and the Group was temporarily resurrected on December 1 1999[79] until the Court came to a decision.[79] On October 3 2001, President Fontaine announced that the Court of First Instance had declared against the appeal[80]and that the disbandment was back in effect from October 2 2001, the date of the declaration.[81] TGI appeared on the list of Political Groups in the European Parliament for the last time on October 4 2001.[82] 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.
Non-InscritsIndependent MEPs that are not in a Group are categorised as "Non-Inscrits" (the French term is universally used, even in English translations). This null-Group has no Group privileges or funding, and is included here solely for completion. Sources[22] [25] [17] [20] [28] [29] [18] [44] [36] [62] [64] [71] [72] [73] [55] [53] [56] [57] [76] [77] [78] [79] [80] [81] [82] [45] [52] [30] [31] [32] [47] [51] [48] [19] [21] [54] [23] [24] [26] [27] [33] [34] [35] [38] [37] [39] [41] [40] [43] [42] [46] [49] [50] [60] [61] [65] [66] [67] [69] [70] [74] [75] [68] [83] [1] References
See alsoExternal links
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