European Parliament party group
Encyclopedia : E : EU : EUR : European Parliament party group
Party groups in the European Parliament combine the MEPs from European political parties, informal European political blocs, and independents, into powerful coalitions. Each group must consist of no less than 19 MEPs from five different EU member states.
Each group appoints a "group co-ordinator", charged with the task of deciding which way the group should vote in Parliament. It is worth noting, however, that no member is bound by this decision, and there is no official punishment incurred for voting against the party group, such as the "whips" often employed in national governments.
The Party groups decide what 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.
As an example of how these groups can benefit European political parties, the European Greens - European Free Alliance group has 42 members, but only 5 of these are from the European Free Alliance. The other 37 are from the European Greens. This coalition means both parties have more power in the European Parliament than they would have as stand-alone parties, thus bringing their causes much-needed additional support.
| Group | Component parties/subgroups | Seats |
| European People's Party–European Democrats (EPP-ED) | European People's Party (EPP) European Democrats (ED) | 263 |
| Group of the Party of European Socialists | Party of European Socialists (PES) | 201 |
| Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) | European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR) European Democratic Party (EDP) | 89 |
| European Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens-EFA) | European Green Party (EGP) European Free Alliance (EFA) | 42 |
| European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE-NGL) | Party of the European Left Nordic Green Left Alliance (NGLA) other unaffiliated leftist parties | 41 |
| Union for Europe of the Nations (UEN) | Alliance for Europe of the Nations (AEN) | 30 |
| Independence and Democracy (IND/DEM) | Alliance of Independent Democrats in Europe EUDemocrats other unaffiliated rightist Euroskeptic parties | 29 |
| Non-Inscrits | 37 | |
See also
for a list.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.