A European political alliance is an entity operating transnationally in Europe, especially across the member states of the European Union.[note 1] European political alliances differ by their level of integration, their role, and their membership. European political alliances encompass European political parties, Political groups of the European Parliament, other party groups, as well as various entities informally referred to as "political organisations", "political movements", or "transnational parties", and sometimes erroneously as "European parties".
A European political party is a type of political party operating transnationally in Europe and within EU institutions. They are regulated and funded by EU Regulation 1141/2014 on the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations, and their operations are supervised by the Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations (APPF), with which they are required to register.
European political parties โ mostly consisting of national member parties, and few individual members โ have the right to campaign during the European elections, for which they often adopt manifestos outlining their positions and ambitions.
European parties influence the decision-making process of the European Council through coordination meetings with their affiliated heads of state and government.[1] They also work closely with their members in the European Commission.
Current European political parties
As of October 2024[update], there are twelve European political parties registered with the APPF:[2]
The political groups of the European Parliament are the officially recognised parliamentary groups consisting of legislators of aligned ideologies in the European Parliament. Each political group is assumed to have a set of core principles, and political groups that cannot demonstrate this may be disbanded.
A political group of the EP usually constitutes the formal parliamentary representation of one or two of the European political parties, sometimes supplemented by members from other national political parties or independent politicians. It is strictly forbidden for political groups to organise or finance political campaigns during European elections, since this is the exclusive responsibility of the parties.[33]
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
The Nordic Council is the official body for formal inter-parliamentary Nordic cooperation among the Nordic countries. Formed in 1952, it has 87 representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden as well as from the autonomous areas of the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and ร land. The representatives are members of parliament in their respective countries or areas and are elected by those parliaments.
The Nordic Council comprises the following party groups:
The Benelux Parliament (officially known as the Benelux Interparliamentary Assembly) is one of the institutions of the Benelux economic union. The Parliament was established by an agreement signed by Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg in 1955, and provides the governments with advice on economic and cross-frontier cooperation.
The Benelux Parliament comprises the following party groups:
The entities below are alliances or networks of national entities and operate across borders. Some of them refer to themselves as European parties, but they are not European political parties in the sense of Regulation 1141/2014 and never qualified for European public funding.
Organisation of pro-European and European federalist political organisations and parties using the same name and branding in all EU member states and several non-EU states
^Regulation 1141/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations defines a political alliance as a "structured cooperation between political parties and/or citizens"
^The note of the Secretary-General of the European Parliament on the 2016 final reports of political parties and foundations at European level states that the ADDE was "under dissolution procedure since 26/04/2017" and that, "ADDE was awarded a grant for the financial year 2016 and was obliged to submit the 2016 final report by 30 June 2017. The party did not comply with this obligation." As a result, the note proposes "that the Bureau initiates the two procedures for termination of the 2016 grant decisions for the ADDE party and its affiliated foundation IDDE." With regards to the grant for 2017, the note indicates that "as a result [of the dissolution procedure], the Bureau initiated the termination procedure of the 2017 grant decision for ADDE pursuant to Article 11.9.2 (e) of the grant award decision. The Bureau confirmed on 1 November 2017 that the termination procedure shall be continued."
^The note of the Secretary-General of the European Parliament on the 2017 final reports of political parties and foundations at European level states that "one party and one foundation, for which the pre-financing has not been paid, have neither cooperated with the external auditor nor submitted a final report for the financial year 2017. All attempts of the European Parliament services to contact the respective beneficiaries remained unsuccessful. It appears that the two entities ceased their activities. Considering the circumstances and the non-cooperation with the European Parliament it is proposed that the Bureau sets the final grant amount to zero." Later, it concludes that "for all 22 beneficiaries mentioned in this note (except for EUD, CVF and FP) [...] it is therefore proposed to approve the final reports." Since EUD had waived its request for a grant, this only leaves Coalition pour la vie et la famille (CVF) and its affiliated Pegasus Foundation (FP) as the "one party and one foundation" referred to above. Annex 1 of the note confirms that no pre-financing had been paid to these two entities.
^The note of the Secretary-General of the European Parliament on the 2017 final reports of political parties and foundations at European level states that, "subject to dissolution procedure, the party [had] waived the 2017 grant."
^The note of the Secretary-General of the European Parliament on the 2009 final reports of political parties and foundations at European level states that "an initial positive decision on the tenth applicant, the Libertas Party Limited was later suspended; consequently a grant agreement was never signed."
^ abcdefghiDemetriou, Kyriakos (2014). The European Union in Crisis : Explorations in Representation and Democratic Legitimacy. Springer. p. 46. ISBN9783319087740.
^ abFitzGibbon, John; Leruth, Benjamin; Startin, Nick (2016). Euroscepticism as a Transnational and Pan-European Phenomenon : The Emergence of a New Sphere of Opposition. Routledge. p. 198. ISBN9781317422501.
^Shaffer, Ryan (2018). "Pan-European thought in British fascism: the International Third Position and the Alliance for Peace and Freedom". Patterns of Prejudice. 52: 78โ99. doi:10.1080/0031322X.2017.1417191. S2CID148834755. The APF was founded in 2015 as a pan-European political party that included dozens of leading fascist officials from parties throughout Europe...
^"EPFO Wikibase". European Party Funding Observatory. European Democracy Consulting Stiftung. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
^Calossi, Enrico (2016). Anti-Austerity Left Parties in the European Union. Competition, Coordination, Integration. Pisa: Pisa University Press. p. 19. ISBN978-886741-6653.
