The political groups in the European Parliament: what they are and how they are formed
Today the political groups in the European Parliament.
PPE – It is the first group in the Chamber, the largest, with 176 MEPs to date. It is chaired by the Bavarian Manfred Weber, of the CSU, who since 2022 has also chaired the party, born in 1976 and made up of Christian Democratic parties. Over time it has also expanded to include liberal-conservative groups. Parties from all 27 member countries are members. The largest are the German CDU and the Bavarian CSU (with 30 MEPs), the Spanish Partido Popular of Alberto Nunez Feijòo (13), the Polish Piattaforma Civica (Platforma Obywatelska) of Donald Tusk (16), Forza Italia (12 MEPs), the French Républicains, the Croatian HDZ, the Finnish Kokoomus, the Greek Nea Demokratia, the Irish Fine Gael, the Dutch CDA, the Portuguese PSD, the Romanian National Liberal Party, the Swedish Moderaterna and Kristdemokraterna, the Slovenian SDS.
S&D – Second group of the Hemicycle, brings together the socialist family and has 139 MEPs to date. Presided by the Spanish Iratxe Garcìa Perez (PSOE), it is made up of parties from all 27 EU countries. The first delegation is the Spanish one, of the Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol, with 21 members, followed by the German one (SPD) with 16 and the Italian one (Pd), with 15 members). Other members include the French Parti Socialiste, the Polish Nowa Lewica, the Portuguese PS, the Greek Pasok, the Dutch Partij van der Arbeid, the Belgian Parti Socialiste, the Swedish, Finnish and Danish Social Democratic Parties.
RENEW EUROPE – Today the third group in Parliament with 102 members, it was born in 2019 by bringing together the Liberals of ALDE, the European Democratic Party and Renaissance, Emmanuel Macron’s French party. Led by the French Valèrie Hayer (Renaissance) after the passage of Stéphane Séjourné to the Quai d’Orsay, it is present in 24 member countries; it is absent from Portugal, Malta and Cyprus. The largest delegation is the French one, with 23 MEPs from various parties (Renaissance, Horizons, Parti Radical etc.); rather numerous delegations are also Spanish (Ciudadanos and others, 9), German (Fdp and Freie Waehler, 7), Czech (Ano 2011, 5), Dutch (Vvd, Volt and Democraten 66, 7), Romanian (Reper and others , 7). Italy has 4 MEPs between Azione, Italia Viva and an independent.
