European Parties

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Composition of the three most important EU institutions by parties or parliamentary groups

(as of July 2023)

The conditions for the recognition of European political parties are governed by the regulation on the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations. Among other things, European parties must:

• be represented in at least seven EU member states by members of the European, national, or regional parliaments, or have obtained 3% of the votes in at least seven member states in the last European elections;
• observe the EU’s fundamental values;
• have the intention to participate in European elections.

In the European Parliament, members of the same European party usually form a common group. According to the Parliament’s rules of procedure, at least 25 members of the European Parliament from seven member states are needed to establish a parliamentary group. However, parties and groups do not always coincide: In several cases, two European parties form a common group, and it is usual for all groups to also include some members who are not organized in any European party.

The European political foundations are each connected to a party and complement their activities, for example by carrying out studies and organizing events. Like the European parties, the foundations are partially funded from the EU budget.

Since 2017, European parties and foundations have to register with the Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations (APPF), an independent body that decides on their recognition and the amount of funding they receive from the EU budget. Currently (as of August 2023), there are ten European parties registered by the APPF.

The following table provides an overview of the political parties at European level, their groups in the European Parliament as well as their associated political foundations. The order of the parties in the table follows their approximate political orientation on a left-right scale. The abbreviation of the party name is indicated in English, as well as – where differing – in German and French. By hovering the mouse pointer over the abbreviation, the full German and French name will appear as mouseover text. For a better appraisal of the political orientation of the European parties, their national member organizations in the six largest EU Member States are listed on the right side of the table. Their full names can be made visible as mouseover text, too.

Party		Group	Political Foundation	Member Parties in
				DE	FR	IT	ES	PL
Party of the European Left	EL GE	The Left (GUE/NGL)	transform! europe	Linke	LFI, PCF	PRC	IU
European Green Party	EGP PVE	The Greens / European Free Alliance (G/EFA)	Green European Foundation (GEF)	Grüne	EELV	EV	Equo, CeC	Z
European Free Alliance	EFA ALE	The Greens / European Free Alliance (G/EFA)	Centre Maurits Coppieters (CMC)	BP, SSW a.o.	PNC a.o.	STF a.o.	ERC, EA, BNG a.o.	RAŚ a.o.
Party of European Socialists	PES SPE, PSE	Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D)	Foundation of European Progressive Studies (FEPS)	SPD	PS	PD, PSI	PSOE	NL
European Democratic Party	EDP PDE	Renew Europe (RE)	Institute of European Democrats (IED)	FW	MoDem	IV, Az a.o.	PNV, CC a.o.	SD
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe	ALDE	Renew Europe (RE)	European Liberal Forum (ELF)	FDP	UDI	+E, RI	C’s	.N
European People’s Party	EPP EVP, PPE	European People’s Party (EPP)	Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies (CES)	CDU, CSU	LR	FI, SVP a.o.	PP	PO, PSL
European Christian Political Movement	ECPM ECPB, MPCE	European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR)	Sallux	BʼC, Familie	VIA	IdeA	Más	PR a.o.
European Conservatives and Reformists	ECR EKR, CRE	European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR)	New Direction	LKR		FdI	Vox	PiS
Identity and Democracy	ID	Identity and Democracy (ID)	Fondation Identité et Démocratie		RN	Lega

Pictures: Own graphs.