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A European political alliance is an entity operating transnationally in Europe, especially across the member states of the European Union. [note 1] European political alliances differ by their level of integration, their role, and their membership. European political alliances encompass European political parties, Political groups of the European Parliament, other party groups, as well as various entities informally referred to as "political organisations", "political movements", or "transnational parties", and sometimes erroneously as "European parties".
A European political party is a type of political party operating transnationally in Europe and within EU institutions. They are regulated and funded by EU Regulation 1141/2014 on the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations, and their operations are supervised by the Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations (APPF), with which they are required to register.
European political parties – mostly consisting of national member parties, and few individual members – have the right to campaign during the European elections, for which they often adopt manifestos outlining their positions and ambitions.
European parties influence the decision-making process of the European Council through coordination meetings with their affiliated heads of state and government. [1] They also work closely with their members in the European Commission.
As of October 2024 [update] , there are twelve European political parties registered with the APPF: [2]
The entities below were formerly registered with the APPF. [20]
European political party | Timeline | Politics | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Abbr. | Founded | Removed from register | Position | Ideology | European integration | Political Group | |
Alliance of European National Movements | AENM | 2009 | 2018 [21] | Far-right [22] | Ultranationalism Right-wing populism | Hard Euroscepticism | NI | |
Alliance for Peace and Freedom | APF | 2015 | 2018 [23] | Far-right [24] | Ultranationalism, [25] Neo-fascism [26] | Hard Euroscepticism [5] | NI |
The entities below qualified at some point for European public funding; however, they were never registered with the APPF. [27]
The political groups of the European Parliament are the officially recognised parliamentary groups consisting of legislators of aligned ideologies in the European Parliament. Each political group is assumed to have a set of core principles, and political groups that cannot demonstrate this may be disbanded.
A political group of the EP usually constitutes the formal parliamentary representation of one or two of the European political parties, sometimes supplemented by members from other national political parties or independent politicians. It is strictly forbidden for political groups to organise or finance political campaigns during European elections, since this is the exclusive responsibility of the parties. [33]
Political groups and affiliated European political parties | MEPs | ||
---|---|---|---|
EPP Group | Group of the European People's Party European People's Party | 188 / 720 (26%) | |
S&D | Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament Party of European Socialists | 136 / 720 (19%) | |
PfE | Patriots for Europe Patriots.eu European Christian Political Movement | 86 / 720 (12%) | |
ECR | European Conservatives and Reformists Group European Conservatives and Reformists Party European Christian Political Movement | 78 / 720 (11%) | |
Renew | Renew Europe Group Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party European Democratic Party | 77 / 720 (11%) | |
Greens/EFA | Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance European Green Party European Free Alliance | 53 / 720 (7%) | |
The Left | The Left group in the European Parliament - GUE/NGL Party of the European Left | 46 / 720 (6%) | |
ESN | Europe of Sovereign Nations Group Europe of Sovereign Nations | 25 / 720 (3%) | |
NI | Non-attached Members | 30 / 720 (4%) | |
Vacant | 1 / 720 |
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
The Assembly has six political groups. [34]
Group | Chairman | Seats |
---|---|---|
Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group (SOC) | Frank Schwabe (Germany) | 153 / 612 |
European People's Party (EPP/CD) | Davor Ivo Stier (Croatia) | 141 / 612 |
European Conservatives Group and Democratic Alliance (EC/DA) | Ian Liddell-Grainger (United Kingdom) | 104 / 612 |
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) | Iulian Bulai (Romania) | 91 / 612 |
Unified European Left Group (UEL) | Andrej Hunko (Germany) Anne Stambach-Terrenoir (France) | 33 / 612 |
Members not belonging to any group | 71 / 612 |
The Nordic Council is the official body for formal inter-parliamentary Nordic cooperation among the Nordic countries. Formed in 1952, it has 87 representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden as well as from the autonomous areas of the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Åland. The representatives are members of parliament in their respective countries or areas and are elected by those parliaments.
The Nordic Council comprises the following party groups:
Name | Abbr. | Founded | Ideology | Political Group | Nordic Council |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Centre Group | MG | 1983 | Liberalism Christian democracy Green politics (Nordic) Agrarianism | Renew, Greens/EFA, EPP Group | 24 / 87 |
Conservative Group | Conservatism Liberal conservatism Economic liberalism | EPP Group | 13 / 87 | ||
Nordic Freedom | NF | 2012 | Right-wing populism National conservatism Euroscepticism | ECR, ID | 8 / 87 |
Nordic Green Left Alliance | NGLA | 2004 | Democratic socialism Eco-socialism Popular socialism Socialism Environmentalism Feminism Progressivism | GUE/NGL, Greens/EFA | 11 / 87 |
The Social Democratic Group | S-Norden | Social democracy | S&D | 26 / 87 |
The Benelux Parliament (officially known as the Benelux Interparliamentary Assembly) is one of the institutions of the Benelux economic union. The Parliament was established by an agreement signed by Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg in 1955, and provides the governments with advice on economic and cross-frontier cooperation.
The Benelux Parliament comprises the following party groups:
Name | Ideology | Political Group | Benelux Parliament |
---|---|---|---|
Christian Group | Christian democracy Liberal conservatism Conservatism Centrism | EPP Group, ECR | 14 / 49 |
Liberal Group | Liberalism Conservative liberalism Classical liberalism Social liberalism | Renew | 11 / 49 |
Socialists, Greens and Democrats | Social democracy Green politics Democratic socialism | GUE/NGL, Greens/EFA, S&D | 13 / 49 |
The entities below are alliances or networks of national entities and operate across borders. Some of them refer to themselves as European parties, but they are not European political parties in the sense of Regulation 1141/2014 and never qualified for European public funding.
Name | Abbr. | Founded | Ideology | Political Group | Seats | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Animal Politics EU | APEU | 2014 | Animal rights Animal welfare | The Left | 2 / 720 | Electoral platform of animal rights parties |
European Communist Action | ECA | 2023 | Communism Marxism–Leninism Anti-capitalism Euroscepticism Anti-imperialism | Non-Inscrits | 2 / 720 | Alliance of Marxist–Leninist parties, successor to the Initiative of Communist and Workers' Parties |
European Pirate Party | PPEU | 2014 | Pirate politics Freedom of information Participatory democracy Pro-Europeanism | Greens/EFA | 1 / 720 | Organisation of Pirate Parties |
Volt Europa | Volt | 2017 | European federalism Social liberalism Progressivism Pro-Europeanism | Greens/EFA | 5 / 720 | Organisation of pro-European and European federalist political organisations and parties using the same name and branding in all EU member states and several non-EU states |
Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek reform, to those who oppose EU membership and see the EU as unreformable. The opposite of Euroscepticism is known as pro-Europeanism.
A European political party, formerly known as a political party at European level and informally as a Europarty, is a type of European political alliance recognised as a political party operating transnationally in Europe and within the institutions of the European Union (EU). They are regulated and funded by EU Regulation 1141/2014 on the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations, and their operations are supervised by the Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations (APPF).
The European Democratic Party, also known as the European Democrats, is a centrist European political party in favour of European integration.
The majority of major local or national political parties in Europe have aligned themselves with one of the European political alliances. Some of these are registered as European political parties, while others are political alliances with varying degrees of centralisation.
Europeans United for Democracy – Alliance for a Europe of Democracies, formerly known as EUDemocrats, was a Eurosceptic and self-described Eurorealist European political party. It sought a radical decentralization or a complete abolition of the EU. It incorporated members from both the right and the left political spectrum; however, it was dominated by left-wing parties and represented ideologically left-wing faction of Euroscepticism. It functioned between 2005 and 2017.
A European political foundation, formerly known as a political foundation at European level, is a type of political foundation affiliated to, but independent from, a European political party, and operating transnationally in Europe and within the institutions of the European Union (EU).
The European Conservatives and Reformists Group is a soft Eurosceptic, anti-federalist political group of the European Parliament. The ECR is the parliamentary group of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party European political party, but also includes MEPs from other European parties and MEPs without European party affiliation.
The European Conservatives and Reformists Party, formerly known as Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists and Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe, is a conservative, soft Eurosceptic European political party with a main focus on reforming the European Union (EU) on the basis of Eurorealism, as opposed to total rejection of the EU (anti-EU-ism).
The European Alliance for Freedom (EAF) was a right-wing and Eurosceptic European political party founded 2010 and recognised by the European Parliament in 2011. In 2016, it did not seek registration as a European party with the new Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations and was dissolved.
The Alliance of European National Movements (AENM) was a European political party that was formed in Budapest on 24 October 2009 by a number of ultranationalist and far-right parties from countries in Europe.
Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy was a Eurosceptic and populist political group in the European Parliament. The EFDD group was a continuation for the Eighth European Parliament of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) group that existed during the Seventh European Parliament, with significant changes to group membership.
Robert Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz is a Polish politician of the KORWiN who was elected in May 2014 as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP).
The Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe, abbreviated to ADDE, was a European political party founded in 2014. It was composed of parties belonging to the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) group in the European Parliament (EP). The dominant national party in the ADDE was the UK Independence Party (UKIP), providing 21 of the party's 27 members of the European Parliament (MEPs) elected in 2014. A further three UKIP MEPs chose not to participate in the ADDE. In 2015, the ADDE was recognised by the European Parliament and its grant maximum from the EP was set at €1,241,725, with an additional €730,053 for its affiliated political foundation, the Initiative for Direct Democracy. ADDE was closed down in 2016 after an auditors' inquiry found misspending of EU funds. The party was legally dissolved on 24 May 2017.
Patriots.eu, formerly known as the Identity and Democracy Party and the Movement for a Europe of Nations and Freedom (MENF), is a nationalist, right-wing populist and Eurosceptic European political party founded in 2014. Its Members of the European Parliament sat in the Europe of Nations and Freedom group from 2015 to 2019, then in the Identity and Democracy group between 2019 and 2024; following the 2024 European Parliament election, most of its MEPs sit within the Patriots for Europe group.
Alliance of Patriots of Georgia is a right-wing to far-right political party in Georgia. It was founded in 2012 by leaders from the Resistance Movement, which opposed the pro-Western government of Mikheil Saakashvili. Davit Tarkhan Mouravi has served as the party's chairman, while Irma Inashvili serves as its secretary general.
Marco Affronte is an Italian politician and former Member of the European Parliament from Italy. Formerly a member of Five Star Movement, he is also part of the Greens–European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament. He is an individual member of the European Green Party.
The European Research Group (ERG) is a research support group and caucus of Eurosceptic Conservative Members of Parliament of the United Kingdom. In a Financial Times article in 2020, the journalist Sebastian Payne described the ERG as "the most influential [research group] in recent political history".
Laure Ferrari is a French politician who has worked for several right-wing political organisations and parties, including the French nationalist party Debout la France.
The Funding of European political parties deals with public funding, political donations, and other forms of funding received by political parties operating transnationally in the European Union (EU) to pay for their activities. Parties operating transnationally in the EU are registered with the EU's Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations (APPF). European political parties are publicly funded, both to actively support their operations and to limit the influence of private money on elections and on the shaping of public policy.
The Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations (APPF) is a body of the European Union in charge of registering, controlling and imposing sanctions on European political parties and European political foundations.
The APF was founded in 2015 as a pan-European political party that included dozens of leading fascist officials from parties throughout Europe...