Academic studies of the political groups of the European Parliament
Encyclopedia
Academic studies of the political groups of the European Parliament refers to the studies of those groups by academics, the methods that they use and the conclusions that they reach.
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 Europarties
and national parties
that those MEPs belong to. The groups have coalesced into representations of the dominant schools of European political thought and are the primary actors in the Parliament.
Some of the groups (such as PES) have become homogeneous units coterminous with their Europarty, some (such as IND/DEM) have not. But they are still coalitions, not parties in their own right, and do not issue manifesto
s of their own. It may therefore be difficult to discern how the groups intend to vote without first inspecting the party platform
s of their constituent parties, and then with limited certainty.
Additionally, national media focus on the MEPs/national parties of their own member state, neglecting 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 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.
), 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).
_by_roll-call_votes.png)
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 Nouri 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 the diagram on the right. The vertical scale is anti-pro Europe spectrum, (0% = extremely anti-Europe, 100% = extremely pro), and the horizontal scale is 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: 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 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. Ironically, 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) was criticised for this seeming abandonment of its Eurosceptic core principles.
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 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
.
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 further development of EU authority, with UEN and EDD definitely against and the rest broadly in favor. Opinion was wider on the CFSP
, with only PES, ELDR and EPP-ED in favor and the others against. Unsurprisingly, G/EFA was far more in favor 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 the diagram on the right 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 favor of such a tax, IND/DEM and the Independents
were definitely against, the others had no clear position.
Cohesion 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 diagram on the right 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 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 diagram on the right. The horizontal scale denotes gender balance (0% = totally male, 100% = totally female, but no Group has 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 the most unbalanced.
thesis for the Luleå University of Technology
entitled "Turkey as a member of the European Union: a discourse analysis of the views presented in the European Parliament" considered each group's attitude towards Turkish accession. The results of that thesis are given in the table below.
G/EFA, PES, EUL/NGL and ALDE supported Turkish accession either now or later, EPP-ED, IND/DEM and ITS permanently rejected it, and UEN's position was unknown.
Background
The political groups of the European ParliamentEuropean Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
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
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
and the Europarties
European political party
A European political party, formally a political party at European level, informally a Europarty, is a type of political party organization operating transnationally in Europe and in the institutions of the European Union. They are regulated and funded by the European Union and are usually made up...
and national parties
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
that those MEPs belong to. The groups have coalesced into representations of the dominant schools of European political thought and are the primary actors in the Parliament.
Some of the groups (such as PES) have become homogeneous units coterminous with their Europarty, some (such as IND/DEM) have not. But they are still coalitions, not parties in their own right, and do not issue manifesto
Manifesto
A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds. Manifestos may also be life stance-related.-Etymology:...
s of their own. It may therefore be difficult to discern how the groups intend to vote without first inspecting the party platform
Party platform
A party platform, or platform sometimes also referred to as a manifesto, is a list of the actions which a political party, individual candidate, or other organization supports in order to appeal to the general public for the purpose of having said peoples' candidates voted into political office or...
s of their constituent parties, and then with limited certainty.
Additionally, national media focus on the MEPs/national parties of their own member state, neglecting 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 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
Academics analysing the groups include Simon Hix (London School of Economics and Political Science), Abdul Noury (Free University of BrusselsFree University of Brussels
The Free University of Brussels was a university in Brussels, Belgium. In 1969, it split into the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Dutch-speaking Vrije Universiteit Brussel....
), Gérard Roland, (University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
), Gail McElroy (Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
, Department of Political Science), Kenneth Benoit (Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
- Institute for International Integration Studies (IIIS)), Friedrich Heinemann, Philipp Mohl, and Steffen Osterloh (University of Mannheim
University of Mannheim
The University of Mannheim is one of the younger German universities. It offers Bachelor, Master, and PhD degrees.The University is mainly located in Mannheim’s palace the largest baroque palace in Germany. The whole city center of Mannheim is aligned symmetrically to the palace.About 800 scholars...
- Centre for European Economic Research).
Positions on economy and euroscepticism
| Group | Left-right spectrum | Eurosceptic spectrum | Sources | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EUL/NGL | very left-wing | very Eurosceptic | ||
| PES Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists is a European political party led by Sergei Stanishev, former Prime Minister of Bulgaria. The PES comprises social-democratic national-level political parties primarily from Member state of the European Union, as well as other nations of the European continent. The... |
centre-left | very Europhile | ||
| G/EFA | left-wing | Eurosceptic | ||
| ALDE Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe The Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe is the current liberal/centrist political group of the European Parliament... |
centre | Euroneutral | ||
| EPP-ED (EPP subgroup) | centre-right | Europhile | ||
| EPP-ED (ED subgroup) | right-wing | Eurosceptic | ||
| IND/DEM (reformist subgroup) | centre | very Eurosceptic | ||
| IND/DEM (secessionist subgroup) | very right-wing | Secessionist | ||
| UEN Union for Europe of the Nations Union for Europe of the Nations was a political group of the European Parliament between 1999 and 2009.-History:UEN was formed on 20 July 1999, supplanting the earlier Union for Europe. Its member parties Fianna Fáil and National Alliance were the driving forces behind the group, despite their... |
centre-right | Eurosceptic | ||
Two of the groups (EPP-ED and IND/DEM) were split. EPP-ED are split on Euroscepticism: 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 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. Ironically, 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) was criticised for this seeming abandonment of its Eurosceptic core principles.
Group cooperation
Table 3 of the 21 August 2008 version of the same working paper 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.| Group | Number of times voted with (%) | Sources | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EUL/NGL | G/EFA | PES Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists is a European political party led by Sergei Stanishev, former Prime Minister of Bulgaria. The PES comprises social-democratic national-level political parties primarily from Member state of the European Union, as well as other nations of the European continent. The... |
ALDE | EPP-ED | UEN Union for Europe of the Nations Union for Europe of the Nations was a political group of the European Parliament between 1999 and 2009.-History:UEN was formed on 20 July 1999, supplanting the earlier Union for Europe. Its member parties Fianna Fáil and National Alliance were the driving forces behind the group, despite their... |
IND/DEM | NI | |||
| EUL/NGL | n/a | 75.4 | 62.0 | 48.0 | 39.6 | 42.2 | 45.5 | 48.6 | ||
| G/EFA | 75.4 | n/a | 70.3 | 59.2 | 47.4 | 45.1 | 40.3 | 43.0 | ||
| PES Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists is a European political party led by Sergei Stanishev, former Prime Minister of Bulgaria. The PES comprises social-democratic national-level political parties primarily from Member state of the European Union, as well as other nations of the European continent. The... |
62.0 | 70.3 | n/a | 75.3 | 68.4 | 62.8 | 42.9 | 52.3 | ||
| ALDE Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe The Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe is the current liberal/centrist political group of the European Parliament... |
48.0 | 59.2 | 75.3 | n/a | 78.0 | 72.4 | 48.0 | 53.7 | ||
| EPP-ED | 39.6 | 47.4 | 68.4 | 78.0 | n/a | 84.3 | 54.0 | 64.1 | ||
| UEN Union for Europe of the Nations Union for Europe of the Nations was a political group of the European Parliament between 1999 and 2009.-History:UEN was formed on 20 July 1999, supplanting the earlier Union for Europe. Its member parties Fianna Fáil and National Alliance were the driving forces behind the group, despite their... |
42.2 | 45.1 | 62.8 | 72.4 | 84.3 | n/a | 56.8 | 64.7 | ||
| IND/DEM | 45.5 | 40.3 | 42.9 | 48.0 | 54.0 | 56.8 | n/a | 68.1 | ||
| NI Non-Inscrits Non-Inscrits are Members of the European Parliament who do not sit in one of the recognized political groups.... |
48.6 | 43.0 | 52.3 | 53.7 | 64.1 | 64.7 | 68.1 | n/a | ||
| Group | Number of times voted with (%) | Sources | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EUL/NGL | G/EFA | PES Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists is a European political party led by Sergei Stanishev, former Prime Minister of Bulgaria. The PES comprises social-democratic national-level political parties primarily from Member state of the European Union, as well as other nations of the European continent. The... |
ELDR | EPP-ED | UEN Union for Europe of the Nations Union for Europe of the Nations was a political group of the European Parliament between 1999 and 2009.-History:UEN was formed on 20 July 1999, supplanting the earlier Union for Europe. Its member parties Fianna Fáil and National Alliance were the driving forces behind the group, despite their... |
EDD Europe of Democracies and Diversities Europe of Democracies and Diversities was a euro-sceptic political group with seats in the European Parliament between 1999 and 2004. Following the elections in 2004, the former MEPs of the group took MEPs from the new member countries on board and together, they registered the new group... |
NI | |||
| EUL/NGL | n/a | 79.3 | 69.1 | 55.4 | 42.4 | 45.9 | 59.2 | 52.4 | ||
| G/EFA | 79.3 | n/a | 72.0 | 62.3 | 47.1 | 45.2 | 55.5 | 51.0 | ||
| PES Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists is a European political party led by Sergei Stanishev, former Prime Minister of Bulgaria. The PES comprises social-democratic national-level political parties primarily from Member state of the European Union, as well as other nations of the European continent. The... |
69.1 | 72.0 | n/a | 72.9 | 64.5 | 52.6 | 52.6 | 56.8 | ||
| ELDR | 55.4 | 62.3 | 72.9 | n/a | 67.9 | 55.0 | 52.3 | 60.0 | ||
| EPP-ED | 42.4 | 47.1 | 64.5 | 67.9 | n/a | 71.2 | 52.0 | 68.2 | ||
| UEN Union for Europe of the Nations Union for Europe of the Nations was a political group of the European Parliament between 1999 and 2009.-History:UEN was formed on 20 July 1999, supplanting the earlier Union for Europe. Its member parties Fianna Fáil and National Alliance were the driving forces behind the group, despite their... |
45.9 | 45.2 | 52.6 | 55.0 | 71.2 | n/a | 62.6 | 73.8 | ||
| EDD Europe of Democracies and Diversities Europe of Democracies and Diversities was a euro-sceptic political group with seats in the European Parliament between 1999 and 2004. Following the elections in 2004, the former MEPs of the group took MEPs from the new member countries on board and together, they registered the new group... |
59.2 | 55.5 | 52.6 | 52.3 | 52.0 | 62.6 | n/a | 63.8 | ||
| NI Non-Inscrits Non-Inscrits are Members of the European Parliament who do not sit in one of the recognized political groups.... |
52.4 | 51.0 | 56.8 | 60.0 | 68.2 | 73.8 | 63.8 | n/a | ||
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 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
Non-Inscrits
Non-Inscrits are Members of the European Parliament who do not sit in one of the recognized political groups....
.
Group positions
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 the left-right spectrum, where 0% = extremely left-wing, 100% = extremely right-wing)| Group | Issue on which position was analysed | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Left-Right | Tax | Deeper Europe European integration European integration is the process of industrial, political, legal, economic integration of states wholly or partially in Europe... |
Federal Europe | Deregulation | Common Foreign and Security Policy Common Foreign and Security Policy The Common Foreign and Security Policy is the organised, agreed foreign policy of the European Union for mainly security and defence diplomacy and actions. CFSP deals only with a specific part of the EU's external relations, which domains include mainly Trade and Commercial Policy and other areas... |
Fortress Europe Fortress Europe Fortress Europe was a military propaganda term from the Second World War which referred to the areas of Continental Europe occupied by Nazi Germany, as opposed to the free United Kingdom across the Channel... (immigration) |
Green issues | Homosexual equality, abortion, euthanasia | ||
| EUL/NGL | 18.0% | 75.5% | 52.5% | 46.0% | 20.0% | 39.0% | 30.5% | 65.5% | 78.5% | |
| G/EFA | 25.5% | 71.5% | 63.5% | 58.0% | 33.5% | 44.0% | 32.5% | 85.5% | 80.0% | |
| PES Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists is a European political party led by Sergei Stanishev, former Prime Minister of Bulgaria. The PES comprises social-democratic national-level political parties primarily from Member state of the European Union, as well as other nations of the European continent. The... |
37.0% | 68.0% | 68.5% | 69.5% | 37.0% | 71.5% | 36.5% | 57.0% | 72.0% | |
| ELDR | 59.0% | 34.5% | 62.5% | 68.5% | 71.0% | 68.5% | 37.0% | 45.5% | 78.0% | |
| EPP-ED | 63.0% | 33.0% | 63.0% | 63.0% | 67.5% | 70.0% | 60.0% | 39.5% | 30.5% | |
| UEN Union for Europe of the Nations Union for Europe of the Nations was a political group of the European Parliament between 1999 and 2009.-History:UEN was formed on 20 July 1999, supplanting the earlier Union for Europe. Its member parties Fianna Fáil and National Alliance were the driving forces behind the group, despite their... |
82.5% | 30.5% | 11.5% | 17.0% | 65.0% | 16.0% | 87.5% | 36.0% | 24.5% | |
| EDD Europe of Democracies and Diversities Europe of Democracies and Diversities was a euro-sceptic political group with seats in the European Parliament between 1999 and 2004. Following the elections in 2004, the former MEPs of the group took MEPs from the new member countries on board and together, they registered the new group... |
85.5% | 29.5% | 5.5% | 5.5% | 73.0% | 7.5% | 87.5% | 35.5% | 24.5% | |
| Source | ||||||||||
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 further development of EU authority, with UEN and EDD definitely against and the rest broadly in favor. Opinion was wider on the CFSP
Common Foreign and Security Policy
The Common Foreign and Security Policy is the organised, agreed foreign policy of the European Union for mainly security and defence diplomacy and actions. CFSP deals only with a specific part of the EU's external relations, which domains include mainly Trade and Commercial Policy and other areas...
, with only PES, ELDR and EPP-ED in favor and the others against. Unsurprisingly, G/EFA was far more in favor of Green issues compared to the other groups.
Attitude to EU tax
| Group | Attitude to a hypothetical EU tax | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|
| G/EFA | 97.5% | ||
| PES Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists is a European political party led by Sergei Stanishev, former Prime Minister of Bulgaria. The PES comprises social-democratic national-level political parties primarily from Member state of the European Union, as well as other nations of the European continent. The... |
85.1% | ||
| ITS Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty thumb|right|Group logoIdentity, Tradition, Sovereignty was a political group in the European Parliament composed of 23 members from European parties variously described as right-wing and nationalist... |
62.5% | ||
| EUL/NGL | 55.0% | ||
| ALDE Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe The Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe is the current liberal/centrist political group of the European Parliament... |
53.5% | ||
| EPP-ED | 53.5% | ||
| UEN Union for Europe of the Nations Union for Europe of the Nations was a political group of the European Parliament between 1999 and 2009.-History:UEN was formed on 20 July 1999, supplanting the earlier Union for Europe. Its member parties Fianna Fáil and National Alliance were the driving forces behind the group, despite their... |
34.8% | ||
| IND/DEM | 0.0% | ||
| NI Non-Inscrits Non-Inscrits are Members of the European Parliament who do not sit in one of the recognized political groups.... |
0.0% | ||
G/EFA and PES were in favor of such a tax, IND/DEM and the Independents
Non-Inscrits
Non-Inscrits are Members of the European Parliament who do not sit in one of the recognized political groups....
were definitely against, the others had no clear position.
Group cohesion
The results for each Group are given in the diagram on the right with the horizontal scale scaled so that 0% = totally split, 100% = totally united. The results are also given in the table below.
| Group | Cohesion | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|
| PES Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists is a European political party led by Sergei Stanishev, former Prime Minister of Bulgaria. The PES comprises social-democratic national-level political parties primarily from Member state of the European Union, as well as other nations of the European continent. The... |
approx 90% | ||
| ELDR | approx 90% | ||
| G/EFA | approx 90% | ||
| EPP-ED | approx 80% | ||
| UEN Union for Europe of the Nations Union for Europe of the Nations was a political group of the European Parliament between 1999 and 2009.-History:UEN was formed on 20 July 1999, supplanting the earlier Union for Europe. Its member parties Fianna Fáil and National Alliance were the driving forces behind the group, despite their... |
approx 70% | ||
| EUL/NGL | approx 65% | ||
| TGI Technical Group of Independents (1999–2001) The Technical Group of Independent Members was a heterogeneous political group with seats in the European Parliament between 1999 and 2001. Unlike other political groups of the European Parliament, it did not have a coherent political complexion. Its existence prompted a five-year examination of... |
approx 50% | ||
| NI Non-Inscrits Non-Inscrits are Members of the European Parliament who do not sit in one of the recognized political groups.... |
approx 45% | ||
| EDD Europe of Democracies and Diversities Europe of Democracies and Diversities was a euro-sceptic political group with seats in the European Parliament between 1999 and 2004. Following the elections in 2004, the former MEPs of the group took MEPs from the new member countries on board and together, they registered the new group... |
approx 35% | ||
G/EFA, PES and ELDR were the most united groups, with EDD the most disunited.
Proportion of female MEPs
| Group | Percentage female | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|
| G/EFA | 47.6% | ||
| ALDE Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe The Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe is the current liberal/centrist political group of the European Parliament... |
41% | ||
| PES Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists is a European political party led by Sergei Stanishev, former Prime Minister of Bulgaria. The PES comprises social-democratic national-level political parties primarily from Member state of the European Union, as well as other nations of the European continent. The... |
38% | ||
| EUL/NGL | 29% | ||
| EPP-ED | 23% | ||
| UEN Union for Europe of the Nations Union for Europe of the Nations was a political group of the European Parliament between 1999 and 2009.-History:UEN was formed on 20 July 1999, supplanting the earlier Union for Europe. Its member parties Fianna Fáil and National Alliance were the driving forces behind the group, despite their... |
16.8% | ||
| IND/DEM | 9% | ||
G/EFA, PES and ALDE were the most balanced groups in terms of gender, with IND/DEM the most unbalanced.
Attitude to Turkish accession
Martin Olof Persson's D-uppsatsMagister (degree)
Magister is an academic degree used in various systems of higher education.-Argentina:...
thesis for the Luleå University of Technology
Luleå University of Technology
Luleå University of Technology or Luleå tekniska universitet of Sweden is Scandinavia's northernmost university of technology. It has four campuses, located in Luleå , Kiruna , Skellefteå and Piteå .-History:The university was founded on 1 June 1971 at Porsön in Luleå as...
entitled "Turkey as a member of the European Union: a discourse analysis of the views presented in the European Parliament" considered each group's attitude towards Turkish accession. The results of that thesis are given in the table below.
| Group | Broad position | Specific position | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| G/EFA | For | Supports full membership now | ||
| PES Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists is a European political party led by Sergei Stanishev, former Prime Minister of Bulgaria. The PES comprises social-democratic national-level political parties primarily from Member state of the European Union, as well as other nations of the European continent. The... |
For | Supports full membership now | ||
| EUL/NGL | For | Supports full membership now | ||
| ALDE Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe The Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe is the current liberal/centrist political group of the European Parliament... |
For | Supports full membership eventually but not yet | ||
| EPP-ED | Against | Supports associate membership (privileged partnership) but not full membership | ||
| IND/DEM | Against | Supports economic cooperation (strategic partnership) but not full membership nor associate membership | ||
| ITS Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty thumb|right|Group logoIdentity, Tradition, Sovereignty was a political group in the European Parliament composed of 23 members from European parties variously described as right-wing and nationalist... |
Against | Rejects economic cooperation, full membership and associate membership | ||
| UEN Union for Europe of the Nations Union for Europe of the Nations was a political group of the European Parliament between 1999 and 2009.-History:UEN was formed on 20 July 1999, supplanting the earlier Union for Europe. Its member parties Fianna Fáil and National Alliance were the driving forces behind the group, despite their... |
Unknown | Unknown | ||
G/EFA, PES, EUL/NGL and ALDE supported Turkish accession either now or later, EPP-ED, IND/DEM and ITS permanently rejected it, and UEN's position was unknown.