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Elections 2009

5. European political parties

The current European Parliament is divided into seven political groups. Most MEPs belong to one of them. None has an overall majority, so amendments need the support of more than one group to get through. On most issues the parliament divides along classic left-right lines.

• EPP-ED Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats (centre-right; currently 288 seats)
• PES Party of European Socialists - Socialist Group in the European Parliament (socialists; 216 seats)
• ALDE Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (liberals; 100 seats)
• UEN Union for Europe of the Nations Group (right-wing anti-federalists; 43 seats)
• Greens/EFA Group of the Greens / European Free Alliance (greens and regionalists/nationalists; 43 seats)
• EUL/NGL Confederal Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left (far left; 41 seats)
• IND/DEM Independence/Democracy Group (eurosceptics; 22 seats)
• Non-attached members (31 seats)

Twenty MEPs are needed to form a political group, and at least one-fifth of the member states must be represented within the group. Members may not belong to more than one political group. In principle, the larger the group, the more funding it receives, the more key committee posts it gets and the longer it can speak in debates.

European parties

In the 2009 elections, the European Green Party is the one going furthest in a pan-European direction with a common campaign. The party already tested this approach in the 2004 elections. Joint events are planned in a number of European capitals in the spring of 2009. The green campaign focuses on three main topics: climate change, social issues and civil rights.

The Party of European Socialists is concerting efforts in fighting voter apathy. The group feels that they have the most to lose, if voter turnout remains low. The PES has invested heavily in online tools to engage with young voters and has been running a Europe-wide internet consultation on its manifesto for the 2009 elections. According to party leaders, socialists want to bring back a clear division between the traditional left-right party lines, in order to make voters’ choice easier.

The centre-right European People’s Party will unveil its election programme at the party's Warsaw Congress in April 2009. Party leaders have hinted that EPP wants to bring the election issues as close to the citizens as possible – to talk about climate change and security, among others. EPP has suffered from internal debates especially around Turkey’s EU accession and federalist vs sceptic views.

The European Liberals and Democrats agreed a four-point Manifesto for the 2009 elections at the end of October 2008. The main topics are: 1) civil liberties, 2) EU single market, growth and employment, 3) environment and energy policy (climate change), and 4) enlargement and foreign affairs.

Ahead of the elections, European political analysts were warning that the global financial crisis may boost the far-right extremist parties in the 2009 vote. Extreme, populist parties were especially seen to be rising in the newer member states in Central and Eastern Europe.