109-575: The European People's Party Group ( EPP Group or simply EPP ) is a political group of the European Parliament consisting of deputies (MEPs) from the member parties of the European People's Party (EPP). Sometimes it also includes independent MEPs and/or deputies from unaffiliated national parties. The EPP Group comprises politicians of Christian democratic , conservative and liberal-conservative orientation. The European People's Party
218-474: 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. In 2004 there was another notable break in the grand coalition. It occurred over
327-498: A Group to be formally recognised in the Parliament, it must fulfil the conditions laid down in the relevant European Parliament Rule of Procedure. 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) but they must come from at least one-quarter of Member States (so currently at least seven). They must also share
436-711: A common energy policy, the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Union, partial reform of the CAP and attempts to tackle illegal immigration; denouncing Russian involvement in South Ossetia; supporting the Constitution Treaty and the Lisbon Treaty ; debating globalisation, relations with China, and Taiwan; backing plans to outlaw Holocaust denial; nominating Anna Politkovskaya for the 2007 Sakharov Prize; expelling Daniel Hannan from
545-587: A eurorealist or euro-critical stance. The ECR promotes soft Euroscepticism , as opposed to a total rejection of the existence of the EU characterized by anti-EU-ism or hard euroscepticism , by calling for democratic reform of the EU, more transparency, changes to the Eurozone and EU migration/asylum policies, and the curbing some of the EU's powers and bureaucracy whilst maintaining unrestricted free trade and cooperation between nations. Other parties and individual MEPs within
654-463: A far-right Group. 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. 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
763-417: A female majority, so the scale stops at 50%). The results are also given in the table below. G/EFA, PES and ALDE were the most balanced groups in terms of gender, with IND/DEM being the most unbalanced. 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 . No single group has ever held
872-875: 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. 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) ), Friedrich Heinemann , Philipp Mohl , and Steffen Osterloh ( University of Mannheim – Centre for European Economic Research ). Cohesion
981-550: A majority in Parliament. 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
1090-590: A new Polish party, Poland Comes First , formed as a breakaway from Law and Justice following dissatisfaction with the direction and leadership of Jarosław Kaczyński . Kamiński initially remained chairman of the group, but other Law and Justice MEPs argued he should step down. On 15 December, rumours emerged that the eleven remaining PiS MEPs might leave the ECR and join the right-wing Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) group instead. In February 2011, Kamiński announced he would resign his chairmanship, effective 8 March, when
1199-482: 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
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#17328552231601308-575: 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. 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
1417-491: A presentation, a two-page summary of the group. The group has been characterised as a three-quarters-male group that, prior to ED's departure, was only 80% cohesive and split between centre-right Europhiles (the larger EPP subgroup) and right-wing Eurosceptics (the smaller ED subgroup). The group as a whole is described as ambiguous on hypothetical EU taxes, against taxation, environmental issues, social issues ( LGBT rights , abortion , euthanasia ) and full Turkish accession to
1526-575: A replacement would be elected. Former interim leader Timothy Kirkhope was said to be the front runner, but lost the election to Jan Zahradil of the Czech Republic 's ODS. In late March, David Cameron invited the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) to join the group. The May 2011 resignation of Silvana Koch-Mehrin , one of the fourteen Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament , led to the ECR considering putting another candidate forward to take
1635-622: A total of 751. They formed a coalition with Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats and Renew Europe to elect Ursula von der Leyen as president of the European Commission . On June 18, 6 new parties joined the group, including the Hungarian Respect and Freedom Party (TISZA) and their 7 MEPs, the Dutch Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB) and Czech Mayors and Independents (STAN), each with 2 MEPs, as well as
1744-399: 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
1853-554: Is expected to adhere is known as the Prague Declaration . The Prague Declaration outlines the following principles: Ideologically, the founder members of the ECR traditionally sat on the centre-right to right-wing of the political spectrum with an economically liberal and anti-federalist outlook and an initial reluctance from the Conservative Party to include hardline anti-immigration and ultra-nationalist parties. Like
1962-483: Is the term used to define whether a Group is united or divided amongst itself. Figure 1 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. G/EFA, PES and ELDR were
2071-449: Is unique among supranational assemblies in that its members (MEPs) organise themselves into ideological groups, rather than national cleavages . 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
2180-478: The 2009 European elections approached, Cameron, Topolánek, and Conservative MEP Geoffrey Van Orden (a 'point-man' for the new group) were looking for partners. The list of possible partners was kept secret. People or parties that were rumoured to be possible partners in the new group included Law and Justice ; Lega Nord ; the Danish People's Party ; For Fatherland and Freedom , Order and Justice ,
2289-593: The British Conservative Party held a leadership contest . During the sixth term of the European Parliament , Conservative Party MEPs sat in the European Democrats (ED), a subgroup of the European People's Party–European Democrats (EPP-ED) group, which is dominated by the European People's Party (EPP). Leadership contender David Cameron argued for withdrawal of the Conservatives from EPP-ED and
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#17328552231602398-559: The European Coal and Steel Community (the predecessor of the present day European Parliament) first met on 10 September 1952 and the first Christian Democratic Group was unofficially formed the next day, with Maan Sassen as president. The group held 38 of the 78 seats, two short of an absolute majority. On 16 June 1953, the Common Assembly passed a resolution enabling the official formation of political groups; further, on 23 June 1953
2507-493: The European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR Party) European political party , but also includes MEPs from other European parties and MEPs without European party affiliation. Ideologically, the group is broadly eurosceptic , anti-federalist and right-wing, with centre-right and far-right factions. The main objective of the ECR is to oppose unchecked European integration, enlargement and potential evolution of
2616-726: The European Democratic Union Group. 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. The 1979 first direct election established further groups and the establishment of European political parties such as the European People's Party. The mandate of
2725-725: 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
2834-672: The European Ideas Network , which brings together opinion-formers from across Europe to discuss issues facing the European Union from a centre-right perspective. The EPP Group Presidency includes: The chairs of the group and its predecessors from 1952 to 2024 are as follows: Activities performed by the group in the period between June 2004 and June 2008 include monitoring elections in Palestine and Ukraine; encouraging transeuropean rail travel, telecoms deregulation, energy security ,
2943-522: The European Parliament . Groups can table motions for resolutions and table amendments to reports. EUL/NGL and G/EFA were the most left-wing groups, UEN and EDD the most right-wing, and that was mirrored in their attitudes towards taxation, homosexual equality, abortion, euthanasia and controlling migration into the EU. The groups fell into two distinct camps regarding the further development of EU authority, with UEN and EDD definitely against and
3052-639: The European People's Party Group ) having initially been elected for the Social Democratic Party . In 2020, all MEPs of the Forum for Democracy party resigned to sit as independents before co-founding a new party, JA21 . In 2022, Forum for Democracy switched its affiliation to the Identity and Democracy group. In 2023, the Finns Party switched back its affiliation from the Identity and Democracy group to
3161-559: The European Union (EU) into a Federal European Superstate on the basis of Eurorealism, and to ensure the EU does not heavily encroach on matters of state and domestic and regional decision making within EU member countries. It also advocates for stricter controls on immigration. The ECR contains factions of socially conservative , right-wing populist , liberal conservative , Christian democratic , far-right , and national conservative parties who all subscribe to an anti-federalist and
3270-509: 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. But there are other incentives for MEPs to organise in parliamentary Groups: besides
3379-723: The Family Party of Germany , Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO) and New Majority (NOVA) from Slovakia, the Independent Greeks , Bulgaria Without Censorship , the Dutch Reformed Political Party , and the Belgian New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) (previously attached to the Greens/EFA group). As a result of these additions, the ECR overtook ALDE to become the third biggest group in
European People's Party Group - Misplaced Pages Continue
3488-979: The Grand Coalition (a coalition with the PES Group, or occasionally the Liberals) to generate the majorities required by the cooperation procedure under the Single European Act . Meanwhile, the parties in the European Democrats subgroup were growing restless, with the establishment in July 2006 of the Movement for European Reform , and finally left following the 2009 elections, when the Czech Civic Democratic Party and British Conservative Party formed their own right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR) group on 22 June 2009, abolishing
3597-527: The Party of European Socialists ) or they can include more than one European party as well as national parties and independents, such as the Greens–European Free Alliance group. Each group appoints a leader, referred to as a "president", "co-ordinator" 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
3706-639: The Patriots for Europe group. On 3 July 2024 the group elected Nicola Procaccini ( FdI ) and Joachim Brudziński ( PiS ) as co-chair, with 4 vice-chairs and 2 co-treasurers. On 3 July 2024, Jaak Madison , an independent Estonian MEP who formerly was a member of the Conservative People's Party of Estonia , joined the ECR Group. On 22 August, Madison joined the Estonian Centre Party . Although
3815-664: The Pensioners' Party ; Order, Law and Justice ; Libertas ; Civic Union ; Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania , ChristianUnion-SGP ; the independent Indrek Tarand ; and Lijst Dedecker 's Derk Jan Eppink ; from member states such as the Czech Republic, Poland, Italy, Sweden, the Baltic and Balkan states , Belgium , and the Netherlands . Speculation also considered
3924-460: The Sweden Democrats , Denmark Democrats and Finns Party formed the ' Nordic Freedom ' alliance within the ECR, due to shared positions on Russia, immigration and EU regulations. On 31 August, Homeland Movement MEP Stephen Nikola Bartulica left the party, making him an independent member of the ECR. The constituent declaration of the ECR stating the principles to which each group member
4033-465: The " grand coalition " and, aside from a break in the fifth Parliament, 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
4142-670: The 10 vice-chairpersons. The 38 members in the group on 11 September 1952 were as follows: The EPP Group is governed by a collective (referred to as the Presidency ) that allocates tasks. The Presidency consists of the Group Chair and a maximum of ten Vice-Chairs, including the Treasurer. The day-to-day running of the EPP Group is performed by its secretariat in the European Parliament, led by its Secretary-General. The Group runs its own think-tank,
4251-536: The 2019 elections, the British Conservative Party sustained losses, including that of former ECR chairman Syed Kamall . The ECR also saw its total number of MEPs reduced to 62 MEPs and was overtaken in number by Identity and Democracy , the other predominant eurosceptic grouping. However, the FvD and the new Spanish Vox party gained seats for the first time and were formally admitted into the group. Following
4360-632: The Conservative Party and the Ulster Unionists. The Czech Civic Democratic Party (ODS) was part of MER but its leader, Mirek Topolánek , did not rule out staying in EPP-ED. Topolánek then attended the EPP Summit (a meeting of heads of state and government of the European People's Party ) of 21 June 2007, adding speculation about the fragility of the new group. Later in 2007, the relations between
4469-684: The Conservative's new allies in Poland are 'racist and homophobic', had the Conservative whip withdrawn in the European Parliament. In March 2010, McMillan-Scott joined the British Liberal Democrats and the ALDE group. Group chairman Kamiński left Law and Justice (PiS) in November 2010, saying that the party had been taken over by the far-right. Kamiński and other Law and Justice MPs and MEPs formed
European People's Party Group - Misplaced Pages Continue
4578-662: The Danish Liberal Alliance , Dutch New Social Contract (NSC), and the German Family Party , each with 1 MEP. Combined, the group expanded by 14 MEPs. Later that day, the Hungarian Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP) announced their departure from the EPP Group, due to the admission of the Tisza Party . On 19 June, the group re-elected Manfred Weber as chairman of the group, and
4687-456: The Danish People's Party and Finns Party as members was criticised because one MEP from each party has a criminal conviction. Morten Messerschmidt , lead candidate for the Danish People's Party, was convicted in 2002 for publishing material that appeared to suggest that there is a link between a multiethnic society and rape, violence and forced marriages. Jussi Halla-aho , a Finns Party MEP,
4796-450: The ECR group and said his party would continue to maintain strong relations with Meloni, but argued the move was a "historic opportunity to fight against a coalition of centre-right, socialist and far-left forces." Following Vox's departure, Se Acabó La Fiesta (SALF), with 3 MEPs, announced it would seek to join the ECR, with the ECR stating it would make a decision in September, though it ultimately declined SALF's request. On 29 July,
4905-403: The ECR group citing the Russian invasion of Ukraine and their change in policy regarding NATO membership. For the 2024 European Parliament election the ECR campaigned for revisions to the European Green New Deal and for stronger border control measures. The group increased its number of MEPs to 84 and became the third largest group in the European Parliament, overtaking Renew Europe . After
5014-456: The ECR group, while Forum for Democracy (FvD) and Debout la France pledged to do so after the elections should they win seats. Two ECR member parties, the Danish People's Party and the Finns Party , announced their intention to form a new group called the European Alliance for People and Nations with Alternative for Germany and Italy's League following the 2019 elections which was subsequently named Identity and Democracy. During
5123-446: The ECR opposes it. In recent years, the group has come to contain a growing faction of nationalist , anti-immigration and right-wing populist movements. This shift to the right was increased following the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union , since the Conservative Party lost its representation in the European Parliament . In a statement issued on 11 November 2021, two core political documents were cited by
5232-438: The ECR to join the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) group. On 17 January 2012, Czech Oldřich Vlasák replaced Chichester as the ECR's Vice-President of the Parliament. The 2014 European elections were held on 22–25 May 2014. In the weeks following the election, several parties joined the ECR, including the Danish People's Party and the Finns Party (both of which switched from the EFD group), Alternative for Germany ,
5341-404: The EPP ( European People's Party , the pan-continental political party founded in 1976, to which all group members are now affiliated) feared being sidelined. To counter this, the EPP expanded its remit to cover the centre-right regardless of tradition and pursued a policy of integrating liberal-conservative parties. This policy led to Greek New Democracy and Spanish People's Party MEPs joining
5450-402: The EPP Group. The British Conservative Party and Danish Conservative People's Party tried to maintain a group of their own, named the European Democrats (ED), but lack of support and the problems inherent in maintaining a small group forced ED's collapse in the 1990s, and its members crossed the floor to join the EPP Group. The parties of these MEPs also became full members of the EPP (with
5559-464: The EPP and the Conservative Party further deteriorated when the EPP voiced its opposition to the UK holding a referendum of the Treaty of Lisbon , something the Conservatives had campaigned for. In July 2008, the European Parliament raised the 2009 threshold for forming a group to 25 members and representing 7 member states. Topolánek, after being re-elected Leader of the ODS on 7 December 2008, attended yet another EPP Summit, on 11 December 2008. As
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#17328552231605668-401: The EPP subgroup ( ) were centre-right Europhiles, whereas the ED subgroup ( ) were right-wing Eurosceptics. IND/DEM was also split along its subgroups: the reformist subgroup ( , bottom-center) voted as centrist Eurosceptics, and the secessionist subgroup ( , middle-right) voted as right-wing Euroneutrals. The reformist subgroup
5777-446: The Estonian Centre Party is currently part of the Renew Europe group, Madison will remain a member of the ECR Group, and the Centre Party's leader, Mihhail Kõlvart , stated that the party is considering leaving Renew Europe. On 5 July, the Spanish Vox , with 6 MEPs, announced its intention to leave the ECR to join the new Patriots for Europe group. In a statement on Twitter , Vox leader Santiago Abascal expressed gratitude to
5886-419: The European Democrats subgroup from that date. The EPP-ED Group reverted to its original name – the EPP Group – immediately. In the 7th European Parliament , the EPP Group remained the largest parliamentary group with 275 MEPs. It is currently the only political group in the European parliament to fully represent its corresponding European political party , i.e. the European People's Party . The United Kingdom
5995-441: The European Parliament subsequently failed, and the Polish MEPs threatened to abandon the new caucus unless Kamiński was made the group leader in the parliament. Kirkhope went to an emergency meeting with Polish MEPs in Strasbourg and proposed sharing the group leadership with the Kamiński; however, this was not accepted, and he had to step down as coalition leader, withdrawing in favour of Kamiński. McMillan-Scott, who alleged that
6104-409: The European Parliament is becoming increasingly based around party and ideology. Voting is increasingly split along left-right lines, and the cohesion of the party groups has risen dramatically, particularly in the fourth and fifth parliaments. So there are likely to be policy implications here too. The dynamical coalitions in the European Parliament show year-to-year changes. Party group switching in
6213-417: 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
6322-423: The European Union, and for a deeper Federal Europe , deregulation, the Common Foreign and Security Policy and controlling migration into the EU. Political group of the European Parliament 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
6431-427: The European parliament, assuming the role of "kingmakers" in the new parliament. On 23 June, Irish Fianna Fáil MEP Brian Crowley joined from the ALDE group, but without the permission of his party or its leader Micheál Martin , who removed Crowley's party whip the following day. On the same day, IMRO – Bulgarian National Movement joined, taking the group to 70 MEPs. The ECR's unanimous decision to admit
6540-424: 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 . 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
6649-449: The Group's Co-Chairmen, Ryszard Legutko and Raffaele Fitto , to define the ECR's ideological basis when they reaffirmed the Group's "commitment to the Prague Declaration and the ECR Statement on the Reform of the European Union". During the Russian invasion of Ukraine , the group has come to comprise generally pro-Ukrainian and anti-Russian parties, whereas Identity and Democracy mainly consists of pro-Russian parties. In February 2023,
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#17328552231606758-406: The Group; the discussion about whether ED MEPs should remain within EPP-ED or form a group of their own; criticisms of the group's approach to tackling low turnout for the 2009 elections; the group's use of the two-President arrangement; and the group's proposal to ban the Islamic Burka dress across the EU. The debates and votes in the European Parliament are tracked by its website and categorised by
6867-478: The PES. The EPP demanded that if Buttiglione were to go, then a PES commissioner must also be sacrificed for balance. 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. Politicisation such as the above has been increasing, with Simon Hix of the London School of Economics noting in 2007 that Our work also shows that politics in
6976-426: 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
7085-515: The actual election result. Table 3 of 21 August 2008 version of working paper by Hix and Noury 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. 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
7194-445: The adjacent diagram with the horizontal scale scaled so that −100% = totally against and 100% = totally for. The results are also given in the table below, rescaled so that 0% = totally against, 100% = totally for. G/EFA and PES were in favour of such a tax, IND/DEM and the Independents were definitely against, the others had no clear position. National media focus on the MEPs and national parties of their own member state, neglecting
7303-406: 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. Two of the groups (EPP-ED and IND/DEM) were split. EPP-ED are split on Euroscepticism:
7412-452: The centre-right European People's Party (EPP), the founding members of the ECR mostly support pro-free market ideas with some of its MEPs maintaining ties to think-tanks such as The Cobden Centre and Open Europe , as opposed to the more economic nationalist and anti-globalization approach of other euro-critical groups such as the EFDD and Identity and Democracy . However, the EPP generally favours EU integration and enlargement whereas
7521-410: The consolidation held through the 1990s, assisted by the group being renamed the European People's Party – European Democrats (EPP-ED) Group; after the 1999 European elections , the EPP-ED reclaimed its position as the largest group in the Parliament from the Party of European Socialists (PES) Group. Size was not enough, however: the group did not have a majority. It continued therefore to engage in
7630-429: The constituent declaration of the group was published and the group was officially formed. The Christian Democrat group was the biggest group at formation, but as time wore on, it lost support and was the second-biggest group by the time of the 1979 elections. As the European Community expanded into the European Union, the dominant centre-right parties in the new member states were not necessarily Christian democratic, and
7739-453: 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
7848-815: The election, the Alternative Democratic Reform Party of Luxembourg, the Cypriot National People's Front , the Homeland Movement , the Alliance for the Union of Romanians and the Romanian National Conservative Party were formally admitted into the group along with Reconquête (which had stood on a joint ticket with the Mouvement Conservateur) and the Denmark Democrats . In June 2024, four out of
7957-517: The election, the group named Raffaele Fitto and Ryszard Legutko as new joint chairmen. The Dutch Christian Union (CU) quit the group following the 2019 elections and switched to the European People's Party Group with the CU's sole MEP Peter van Dalen protesting that the ECR was moving too far to the right with the inclusion of parties like Forum for Democracy , Vox and the Sweden Democrats . The fellow Dutch Reformed Political Party opted to remain
8066-476: The election, there was media speculation that Hungary's Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party would join the group after talks with Brothers of Italy leader Giorgia Meloni , however after the election it was alleged Fidesz was blocked from joining the ECR while other press outlets claimed that Fidesz chose not to join due to previous disagreements with the Alliance for the Union of Romanians. After this Orbán formed
8175-605: The exception of the British Conservative Party, which did not join) and this consolidation process of the European centre-right continued during the 1990s with the acquisition of members from the Italian party Forza Italia . However, the consolidation was not unalloyed and a split emerged with the Eurosceptic MEPs who congregated in a subgroup within the Group, also called the European Democrats (ED). Nevertheless,
8284-554: The exclusion of the Party of European Socialists. 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. 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
8393-511: The five newly elected Reconquête MEPs were expelled or resigned to sit as independents within the group after lead candidate Marion Marechal called on members of the party to support the National Rally during the French legislative election. Reconquête's sole remaining MEP Sarah Knafo joined the new Europe of Sovereign Nations group instead while the former members stayed with the ECR. Prior to
8502-458: The formation of a new group. Upon taking office as Conservative leader in December 2005, Cameron indicated that the launch of a new group would be undertaken immediately. The motives for forming this group was the EPP-ED was too federalist , while the Conservatives opposed stronger European integration. In June 2006, Cameron ordered Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague to ensure the new group
8611-519: The group as participating in 659 motions, making it the third most active group during the period. The group produces many publications, which can be found on its website. Documents produced in 2008 cover subjects such as dialogue with the Orthodox Church, study days, its strategy for 2008–09, Euro-Mediterranean relations, and the Lisbon Treaty. It also publishes a yearbook and irregularly publishes
8720-500: The group leadership was also scheduled for 14 July 2009, pitting interim leader Kirkhope against fellow Briton Geoffrey Van Orden . However, both Conservative leadership candidates were forced to forfeit the leadership to prevent it from falling apart, when Conservative MEP Edward McMillan-Scott defied his party whip and stood for one of the vice-presidency posts despite pledges the previous week that Polish MEP Michał Kamiński would be backed for it. Kamiński's bid for Vice-President of
8829-514: The group support complete withdrawal from the block, referendums on EU membership and opposition to the Eurozone. The ECR was founded around the Movement for European Reform following the 2009 European elections at the behest of British Conservative Party leader David Cameron . During the tenth European Parliament, the largest party in the group by number of MEPs is Brothers of Italy (FdI), followed by Polish Law and Justice (PiS). In 2005,
8938-421: 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
9047-438: The group's chairman Legutko stated that the group shall stand by Ukraine until Russia is defeated and beyond. Following the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election , the Finns Party , having previously moved to ID, rejoined ECR citing their change in policy to endorse Finnish NATO membership as the reason for the move. Members of the ECR tend to be pro- NATO and support Atlanticism , including more coordination between Europe and
9156-565: The group, signalling the end of an alliance the CU and Reformed party had during European elections. On 31 January 2020, the remaining British Conservative Party MEPs resigned from the group following the completion of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union . In May 2020, Cristian Terheș announced he was joining the ECR group as an MEP for the Romanian Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party (which had previously been expelled from
9265-399: The groups intend to vote without first inspecting the party platforms of their constituent parties, and then with limited certainty. European Conservatives and Reformists Group The European Conservatives and Reformists Group ( ECR Group or simply ECR ) is a soft Eurosceptic , anti- federalist political group of the European Parliament . The ECR is the parliamentary group of
9374-530: The groups that participate in them and the rule of procedure that they fall into. The results give a profile for each group by category and the total indicates the group's level of participation in Parliamentary debates. The activity profile for each group for the period 1 August 2004 to 1 August 2008 in the Sixth Parliament is given on the diagram on the right. The group is denoted in blue. The website shows
9483-542: The left-right spectrum, where 0% = extremely left-wing, 100% = extremely right-wing) Major changes compared to the period 2004–2009 were: 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
9592-578: The most united groups, with EDD the most disunited. The March 2006 edition of Social Europe: the Journal of the European Left included a chapter called "Women and Social Democratic Politics" by Wendy Stokes. That chapter 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
9701-820: The new group, including the Danish People's Party and Lega Nord. On 22 June 2009, the first official list of the new group's members was released. On 24 June, the group held its inaugural meeting, in which Conservative MEP Timothy Kirkhope was named interim leader. Adam Bielan of PiS and Jan Zahradil of the ODS were named interim vice-chairmen. At the first sitting of the Seventh European Parliament , on 14 July 2009, outgoing Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering announced that applications from all new and returning groups had been received and approved, including ECR. The group then became eligible for EU funding, office space, and committee places. The first election for
9810-657: The new group: However, Civic Platform stated that it would not leave the EPP, and the Law and Justice stated that it planned to stay aligned to UEN. The next day, Sir Reg Empey , the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), suggested that the UUP could join the new group after the 2009 election. In the event of the election, the UUP ran under the banner of the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists , an electoral alliance between
9919-587: 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
10028-484: The outset of legislative terms, with another peak around the half-term moment, when responsibilities rotate within the EP hierarchy. 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
10137-454: 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. Majorities in the Parliament depend on how Groups vote and what deals are negotiated among them. Although most of
10246-540: 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
10355-643: The position they were denied through McMillan-Scott's defection. Conservative Party MEP Giles Chichester was nominated on 31 May, and was elected unopposed by the Parliament on 5 July 2011, after the ALDE group to which Koch-Mehrin belongs failed to find a willing and suitable candidate. On 14 December 2011, a new leadership was elected, with Martin Callanan as chairman and Jan Zahradil , Geoffrey Van Orden , Ryszard Legutko , and Derk Jan Eppink as Vice-Chairmen. On 26 December 2011, four members of United Poland – who had split from Law and Justice in November – left
10464-456: The previous European Parliament ran from 2004 and 2009. It was composed of the following political groups. Table 3 of the 3 January 2008 version of a working paper 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
10573-681: The remnants of the Union for Europe of the Nations (UEN) group, which was thought to be on the verge of collapse after the decision of Fianna Fáil to join the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) and the Italian National Alliance merging with EPP member party Forza Italia . Lajos Bokros, elected on the list of the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) joined the group as the EPP did not want to accept him on pressure of
10682-512: The rest broadly in favour. Opinion was wider on the CFSP , with different divisions on different issues. Unsurprisingly, G/EFA was far more in favour of Green issues compared to the other groups. Table 1 of an April 2008 discussion paper from the Centre for European Economic Research by Heinemann et al. analysed each Group's stance on a hypothetical generalised EU tax. The results for each Group are given in
10791-497: The rival Fidesz . The new group was provisionally named the European Conservatives, (echoing the 1970s group of the same name ), which was then changed to European Conservatives and Reformists. The original estimates were firmed up to 84 MEPs, then to approximately 60. Frictions surfaced, as the ODS wanted the new group to have as many MEPs as possible, whilst the Conservatives wanted to disbar anti-immigrant parties in
10900-404: The seats together. The PES were the largest single party grouping up to 1999, when they were overtaken by the centre-right EPP. 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. This agreement became known as
11009-561: The two remaining MEPs of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) from their group due to the AfD's links with the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and controversial remarks about immigration, inviting the MEPs to voluntarily leave the group by 31 March, with a motion of exclusion to be tabled on 12 April otherwise. Prior to the 2019 elections, the Sweden Democrats (SD) and Brothers of Italy joined
11118-401: 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)
11227-410: Was convicted in 2012 after writing a 2008 blog entry which claimed that Islam "reveres paedophilia". However, Syed Kamall , the ECR's chairman, who is a practising Muslim, defended the new members. Following the election, British Conservative MEP Sajjad Karim was the group's candidate for President of the European Parliament . On 8 March 2016, the bureau of the ECR Group began motions to exclude
11336-493: Was created by 13 July 2006. However, when that date arrived, it was announced that the launch of the new European Parliament group was delayed until after the 2009 elections. In the interim, a pan-European alliance, called the Movement for European Reform (MER), was founded and functioned outside of the European Parliament. The same day, the Law and Justice and Civic Platform parties of Poland were identified as potential members of
11445-550: Was criticised for this seeming abandonment of its Eurosceptic core principles. Table 2 of a 2005 discussion paper 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
11554-421: Was officially founded as a European political party in 1976. However, the European People's Party Group in the European Parliament has existed in one form or another since June 1953, from the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community , making it one of the oldest European-level political groups. It has been the largest political group in the European Parliament since 1999. The Common Assembly of
11663-458: 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. Groups may be based around a single European political party (e.g. the European People's Party ,
11772-411: Was suspended with a common agreement on 20 March 2019. The suspension was applied only to the EPP but not to its group in the Parliament. On 3 March 2021, Fidesz decided to leave the EPP group, after the group's new rules, however still kept their membership in the party. On 18 March 2021, Fidesz decided to leave the European People's Party . In the 9th European Parliament , the EPP won 182 seats out of
11881-475: Was the only member state to not be represented in the group; this state of affairs ceased temporarily on 28 February 2018, when two MEPs suspended from the British Conservative Party left the ECR Group and joined the EPP. The two MEPs later joined a breakaway political party in the UK, The Independent Group . After twelve member parties in the EPP called for Hungary's Fidesz 's expulsion or suspension, Fidesz's membership
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