Political parties vs political groups in the European

Parliament
Korole
va Elena

What is a European political party?

A European political party is an organization following a political program. This party is composed of
national parties and / or individuals as members, represented in several Member States and is registered
with the Authority for European political parties and European political foundations (‘Authority’).

As mentioned in the Treaties, "political parties at European level contribute to forming European political
awareness and to expressing the will of citizens of the Union."

Its name and logo must be clearly distinguishable from those of any existing European political party and
European political foundation.

Registration and control of European political parties and foundations will be ensured by an independent
European authority set up for the purpose. It will check regularly that the rules relating to registration are
respected.

According to Parliament rules, a political party must be composed of at least 25 MEPs from at least one-
quarter of member states (at the moment that would mean from at least seven countries). MEPs can belong
to only one political party but may choose not to belong to any; they are then called non-attached. Currently,
29 MEPs have opted not to join a political party. With Europarties required to become separate legal entities
with their own funding sources and staff 

What is a European political group?

After elections, MEPs will most often join a political group or create new ones. These groups bring together
MEPs from different Member States on the basis of their political affinities. Groups can also be formed at a
later point in the parliamentary mandate.

Political groups can employ staff and are given offices funded through the Parliament's budget. The
Parliament’s Bureau sets rules on how these funds and facilities are managed and audited. The funds made
available to groups are intended to cover group staff administrative and operational costs, as well as
expenses incurred due to EU-related political and information campaigns.

The budget may not be used to finance any form of European, national, regional, or local electoral
campaign or to finance political parties at national and European level or their dependent bodies.

Not all MEPs sit in groups. Those who do not, are called “non-attached" members. They also are entitled
to staff and have rights under the rules set out by the Bureau.

The majority of political groups in the European Parliament work closely with their corresponding
Europarties.

Each group must consist of no less than 19 MEPs from at least 5 different EU Member States. Each group
appoints a "group co-ordinator", in charge with the task of deciding which way the group should vote in the
Parliament, although no member is bound by this decision. The Groups decide which issues will be dealt
with at the Plenary session of the European Parliament and can propose amendments to reports that are to be
voted on.

Following Brexit the European Parliament counts 705 members. Read on to find out in which of the
seven political groups your MEP sits.

One of the seats allocated to Spain has yet to be filled, so there are currently 704 sitting MEPs.

There are seven groups – collections of MEPs with over 25 members – in the 2019-24 European
Parliament. The largest group is the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), which brings together
most mainstream centre-right parties, such as the German Christian Democrats and the Spanish Partido
Popular. The second largest group is the centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D), which brings together
the socialist, social democratic and labour parties. The next biggest group is Renew Europe (Renew) –
dominated by French MEP supporters of President Macron. The other groups in descending order of size are
the far-right Identity and Democracy Group (ID), the environmentalist Greens/European Free Alliance
(G/EFA), the right-wing Conservative and Reformist group (ECR) and, finally, the left-wing European
United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL). There are also 29 independent, or non-aligned, MEPs

What is the difference between a European party and a political group?

Europarties are transnational, meaning they operate across Europe, and they can campaign during European
elections.

The political groups are the formal representation of the Europarties in the European Parliament. Sometimes
political groups represent just one Europarty, while other political groups represent a mix of Europarties,
national parties, and Independents.

You do not need to be a member of a Europarty in order to be part of a political group.

The political groups of the European Parliament are the parliamentary groups of the European

Parliament.

The political groups of the European Parliament are strictly forbidden to campaign during the European
elections since this is the exclusive responsibility of the European political parties. Each political group is
assumed to have a set of core principles, and political groups that cannot demonstrate this may be disbanded.
SOURCES
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/summary/glossary/eu_parties_status.html

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/contracts-and-grants/en/political-parties-and-foundations/european-
political-parties

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/faq/1/what-are-political-groups-and-how-are-they-formed

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.europarl.europa.eu%2Fnews%2Fen
%2Fheadlines%2Feu-affairs%2F20190612STO54311%2Fparliament-s-seven-political-
groups&psig=AOvVaw2Ik9TV0xnyeeYsqYtN9CQb&ust=1602843448470000&source=images&cd=vf
e&ved=0CAMQjB1qFwoTCOCNg6evtuwCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_political_party

https://spunout.ie/news/article/political-groups-in-the-european-parliament

https://ukandeu.ac.uk/explainers/the-european-parliament/