The European People's Party Group (EPP Group) is a centre-right
political group of the European Parliament consisting of
deputies (MEPs) from the member parties of the
European People's Party
The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Fo ...
(EPP). Sometimes it also includes independent MEPs and/or deputies from unaffiliated national parties.
The EPP Group comprises politicians of
Christian-democratic,
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
and
liberal-conservative orientation.
The
European People's Party
The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Fo ...
was officially founded as a
European political party in 1976. However, the European People's Party Group in the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adop ...
has existed in one form or another since June 1953, from the Common Assembly of the
European Coal and Steel Community
The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was a European organization created after World War II to regulate the coal and steel industries. It was formally established in 1951 by the Treaty of Paris, signed by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxemb ...
, making it one of the oldest European-level political groups. It has been the largest political group in the European Parliament since 1999.
History
The Common Assembly of the
European Coal and Steel Community
The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was a European organization created after World War II to regulate the coal and steel industries. It was formally established in 1951 by the Treaty of Paris, signed by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxemb ...
(the predecessor of the present day European Parliament) first met on 10 September 1952
and the first Christian Democratic Group was unofficially formed the next day, with
Maan Sassen as president.
The group held 38 of the 78 seats, two short of an absolute majority.
On 16 June 1953 the Common Assembly passed a resolution
[Common Assembly Resolution (16 June 1953) in ''Journal officiel de la CECA'', 21 July 1953, S. 155](_blank)
enabling the official formation of political groups, and on 23 June 1953 the constituent declaration
of the group was published and the group was officially formed.
The Christian Democrat group was the biggest group at formation, but as time wore on, it lost support and was the second-biggest group by the time of the 1979 elections. As the European Community expanded into the European Union, the dominant centre-right parties in the new member states were not necessarily Christian democratic, and the EPP (
European People's Party
The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Fo ...
, the pan-continental political party founded in 1976, to which all group members are now affiliated) feared being sidelined.
To counter this, the EPP expanded its remit to cover the centre-right regardless of tradition and pursued a policy of integrating liberal-conservative parties.
This policy led to Greek
New Democracy
New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a concept based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path that was decisively distinct ...
and Spanish
People's Party MEPs joining the EPP Group.
The British
Conservative Party and Danish
Conservative People's Party tried to maintain a group of their own, named the ''
European Democrats'' (ED), but lack of support and the problems inherent in maintaining a small group forced ED's collapse in the 1990s, and its members crossed the floor to join the EPP Group.
The parties of these MEPs also became full members of the EPP (with the exception of the British Conservative Party, which did not join) and this consolidation process of the European centre-right continued during the 1990s with the acquisition of members from the Italian party
Forza Italia
Forza ItaliaThe name is not usually translated into English: ''forza'' is the second-person singular imperative of ''forzare'', in this case translating to "to compel" or "to press", and so means something like "Forward, Italy", "Come on, Ital ...
. However, the consolidation was not unalloyed and a split emerged with the Eurosceptic MEPs who congregated in a subgroup within the Group, also called the ''European Democrats'' (ED).
Nevertheless, the consolidation held through the 1990s, assisted by the group being renamed the ''European People's Party – European Democrats'' (EPP-ED) Group, and after the
1999 European elections the EPP-ED reclaimed its position as the largest group in the Parliament from the
Party of European Socialists
The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a Social democracy, social democratic and Progressivism, progressive European political party.
The PES comprises national-level political parties from all member states of the European Union (EU) plus ...
(PES) Group.
Size was not enough, however: the group did not have a majority. It continued therefore to engage in the ''Grand Coalition'' (a coalition with the PES Group, or occasionally the Liberals) to generate the majorities required by the
cooperation procedure under the
Single European Act.
Meanwhile, the parties in the European Democrats subgroup were growing restless, with the establishment in July 2006 of the
Movement for European Reform,
and finally left following the 2009 elections, when the Czech
Civic Democratic Party and British Conservative Party formed their own right-wing ''
European Conservatives and Reformists
The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) is a soft Eurosceptic, anti-federalist political group of the European Parliament. The ECR is the parliamentary group of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR Party) European p ...
'' (ECR) group on 22 June 2009, abolishing the European Democrats subgroup from that date. The EPP-ED Group reverted to its original name – the EPP Group – immediately.
In the
7th European Parliament the EPP Group remained the largest parliamentary group with 275 MEPs. It is currently the only political group in the European parliament to fully represent its corresponding
European political party, i.e. the
European People's Party
The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Fo ...
. The United Kingdom was the only member state to not be represented in the group; this state of affairs ceased temporarily on 28 February 2018, when two MEPs suspended from the British Conservative Party left the ECR group and joined the EPP. The two MEPs later joined a breakaway political party in the UK,
The Independent Group.
After twelve member parties in the EPP called for Hungary's
Fidesz's expulsion or suspension, Fidesz's membership was suspended with a common agreement on 20 March 2019. The suspension was applied only to the EPP but not to its group in the Parliament. On 3 March 2021, Fidesz decided to leave the EPP group, after the group's new rules, however still kept their membership in the party. On 18 March 2021, Fidesz decided to leave the
European People's Party
The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Fo ...
.
In the
9th European Parliament the EPP won 182 seats out of a total of 751. They formed a coalition with
Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) is the political group in the European Parliament of the Party of European Socialists (PES). The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats was officially founded as a Socialist ...
and
Renew Europe
Renew Europe (Renew) is a liberal, pro-European political group of the European Parliament founded for the ninth European Parliament term. The group is the successor to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group which ...
to elect
Ursula von der Leyen as
president of the European Commission
The president of the European Commission is the head of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union (EU). The President of the Commission leads a Cabinet of Commissioners, referred to as the College, collectively account ...
.
Membership at formation
The 38 members in the group on 11 September 1952 were as follows:
Structure
Organisation
The EPP Group is governed by a collective (referred to as the ''Presidency'') that allocates tasks. The Presidency consists of the Group Chair and a maximum of ten Vice-Chairs, including the Treasurer. The day-to-day running of the EPP Group is performed by its secretariat in the European Parliament, led by its Secretary-General. The Group runs its own think-tank, the
European Ideas Network, which brings together opinion-formers from across Europe to discuss issues facing the European Union from a centre-right perspective.
The EPP Group Presidency includes:
The chairs of the group and its predecessors from 1952 to 2020 are as follows:
Membership
9th European Parliament
Former members
7th and 8th European Parliament
}
,
Christian Democratic and Flemish
, align="right" , 3
, align="right" , 2
, -
, french: link=no, Centre Démocrate Humaniste
,
Humanist Democratic Centre
Humanist Democratic Centre (french: Centre Démocrate Humaniste, CDH) was a Christian democratic and centrist French-speaking political party in Belgium. The party originated in the split in 1972 of the unitary Christian Social Party (PSC-CVP) ...
, align="right" , 1
, align="right" , 1
, -
, german: link=no, Christlich Soziale Partei
,
Christian Social Party*
, align="right" , 1
, align="right" , 1
, -
, rowspan="3" ,
,
(')
,
Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria
, align="right" , 5
, align="right" , 6
, -
,
(')
,
Union of Democratic Forces
, align="right" , 1
, align="right" , 0
, -
,
(')
,
Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria
Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria ( bg, Демократи за силна България, ДСБ, Demokrati za Silna Balgariya, DSB) is a political party in Bulgaria established by former Bulgarian Prime Minister Ivan Kostov (1997–2001).
H ...
, align="right" , 1
, align="right" , 1
, -
, rowspan="2" ,
, '
,
Croatian Democratic Union
The Croatian Democratic Union ( hr, Hrvatska demokratska zajednica, lit=Croatian Democratic Community, HDZ) is the major conservative, centre-right political party in Croatia. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Cro ...
, align="right" , 4
, align="right" , 4
, -
, '
,
Croatian Peasant Party
The Croatian Peasant Party ( hr, Hrvatska seljačka stranka, HSS) is an agrarianism, agrarian List of political parties in Croatia, political party in Croatia founded on 22 December 1904 by Antun Radić, Antun and Stjepan Radić as Croatian Peo ...
, align="right" , 1
, align="right" , 1
, -
,
, el, Δημοκρατικός Συναγερμός
('), ,
Democratic Rally
The Democratic Rally ( el, Δημοκρατικός Συναγερμός, translit=Dimokratikós Sinagermós, ΔΗΣΥ/DISY) is a liberal-conservative, Christian-democratic political party in Cyprus led by Averof Neofytou. The party was found ...
, align="right" , 2
, align="right" , 1
, -
, rowspan="3" ,
, '
,
Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party
, align="right" , 2
, align="right" , 3
, -
, TOP 09
,
TOP 09
, align="right" , —
, align="right" , 3
, -
, '
,
Mayors and Independents
The Mayors and Independents ( cs, Starostové a nezávislí), abbreviated to STAN, is a liberal political party in the Czech Republic that is focused on localism and subsidiarity. The party grew out of four minor parties, including Independe ...
, align="right" , —
, align="right" , 1
, -
,
, '
,
Conservative People's Party
, align="right" , 1
, align="right" , 1
, -
,
, '
,
Pro Patria
, align="right" , 1
, align="right" , 1
, -
, rowspan="2" ,
, '
,
National Coalition Party
, align="right" , 3
, align="right" , 3
, -
, '
,
Christian Democrats
, align="right" , 1
, align="right" , 0
, -
, rowspan="3" ,
, '
,
The Republicans
, align="right" , 27
, align="right" , 18
, -
, '
,
Union of Democrats and Independents
The Union of Democrats and Independents (french: Union des démocrates et indépendants, UDI) is a centre to centre-right political party in France and former electoral alliance founded on 18 September 2012 on the basis of the parliamentary grou ...
, align="right" , 6
, align="right" , 0
, -
, —
, Independent
, align="right" , —
, align="right" , 2
, -
, rowspan="2" ,
, '
,
Christian Democratic Union
, align="right" , 34
, align="right" , 29
, -
, '
,
Christian Social Union of Bavaria
, align="right" , 8
, align="right" , 5
, -
,
,
(')
,
New Democracy
New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a concept based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path that was decisively distinct ...
, align="right" , 7
, align="right" , 5
, -
,
, '
,
Christian Democratic People's Party
, align="right" , 1
, align="right" , 1
, -
,
,
,
Fine Gael
Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil ...
, align="right" , 4
, align="right" , 4
, -
, rowspan="4" ,
,
,
Forza Italia
Forza ItaliaThe name is not usually translated into English: ''forza'' is the second-person singular imperative of ''forzare'', in this case translating to "to compel" or "to press", and so means something like "Forward, Italy", "Come on, Ital ...
, align="right" , 19
, align="right" , 12
, -
, '
,
Popular Alternative
, align="right" , —
, align="right" , 1
, -
, '
,
Union of the Centre
, align="right" , 6
, align="right" , 1
, -
, german: Südtiroler Volkspartei
,
South Tyrolean People's Party
, align="right" , 1
, align="right" , 1
, -
,
, '
,
Unity
, align="right" , 4
, align="right" , 4
, -
, rowspan="2" ,
, '
,
Homeland Union
The Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats ( lt, Tėvynės sąjunga Lietuvos krikščionys demokratai, TS–LKD), also known colloquially simply as the Conservatives, is a centre-right political party in Lithuania. It has 18,000 mem ...
– Lithuanian Christian Democrats
, align="right" , 4
, align="right" , 2
, -
, —
, Independent
, align="right" , —
, align="right" , 1
, -
,
, lb, Chrëschtlech Sozial Vollekspartei
french: link=no, Parti Populaire Chrétien Social
german: link=no, Christlich Soziale Volkspartei
,
Christian Social People's Party
The Christian Social People's Party ( lb, Chrëschtlech Sozial Vollekspartei, french: Parti populaire chrétien-social, german: Christlich Soziale Volkspartei), abbreviated to CSV or PCS, is the largest political party in Luxembourg. The party f ...
, align="right" , 3
, align="right" , 3
, -
,
, '
,
Nationalist Party
, align="right" , 2
, align="right" , 3
, -
,
, '
,
Christian Democratic Appeal
, align="right" , 5
, align="right" , 5
, -
, rowspan="2" ,
, '
,
Civic Platform
, align="right" , 25
, align="right" , 18
, -
, '
,
Polish People's Party
The Polish People's Party ( pl, Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe, PSL) is an agrarian political party in Poland. It is currently led by Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz.
Its history traces back to 1895, when it held the name People's Party, although i ...
, align="right" , 4
, align="right" , 4
, -
, rowspan="2" ,
, '
,
Social Democratic Party
, align="right" , 8
, align="right" , 6
, -
, '
,
Democratic and Social Centre – People's Party
, align="right" , 2
, align="right" , 1
, -
, rowspan="4" ,
, '
,
National Liberal Party
, align="right" , 12
, align="right" , 8
, -
, hu, Romániai Magyar Demokrata Szövetség
ro, Uniunea Democrată Maghiară din România
,
Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania
, align="right" , 3
, align="right" , 2
, -
, '
,
People's Movement Party
, align="right" , —
, align="right" , —
, -
, —
, Independent
, align="right" , —
, align="right" , 2
, -
, rowspan="4" ,
, '
,
Christian Democratic Movement
, style="text-align:right;" , 2
, align="right" , 3
, -
, '
,
Party of the Hungarian Community
, align="right" , 2
, align="right" , 1
, -
,
,
Most–Híd
, align="right" , —
, align="right" , 1
, -
, —
, Independent
, align="right" , —
, align="right" , 1
, -
, rowspan="3" ,
, '
,
Slovenian Democratic Party
, align="right" , 3
, align="right" , 3
, -
, '
,
New Slovenia – Christian People's Party
, align="right" , 1
, align="right" , 1
, -
, '
,
Slovenian People's Party
, align="right" , —
, align="right" , 1
, -
, rowspan="2" ,
, es, link=no, Partido Popular
,
People's Party
, align="right" , 24
, align="right" , 16
, -
, —
, Independent
, align="right" , —
, align="right" , 1
, -
, rowspan="2" ,
, '
,
Moderate Party
The Moderate Party ( sv, Moderata samlingspartiet , ; M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a liberal-conservative political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free market, civil liberties and economic liber ...
, align="right" , 4
, align="right" , 3
, -
, '
,
Christian Democrats
, align="right" , 1
, align="right" , 1
, -
, rowspan="2" ,
, ''Change UK''
,
Change UK
The Independent Group for Change, also known as Change UK, was a British centrist, pro-European Union political party, founded in February 2019 and dissolved ten months later, shortly after all its MPs lost their seats in the 2019 general el ...
(defection from Conservative Party/ECR)
, align="right" , 0
, align="right" , 1
, -
, —
,
Renew Party (defection from Conservative Party/ECR)
, align="right" , 0
, align="right" , 1
, - style="font-weight: bold;"
, colspan="2" style="text-align:right;" , Total
,
, align="right" , 274
, align="right" , 219
Activities
In the news
Activities performed by the group in the period between June 2004 and June 2008 include monitoring elections in Palestine
and Ukraine;
encouraging transeuropean rail travel,
telecoms deregulation,
energy security
Energy security is the association between national security and the availability of natural resources for energy consumption. Access to (relatively) cheap energy has become essential to the functioning of modern economies. However, the uneven ...
,
a common energy policy,
the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Union,
partial reform of the CAP
and attempts to tackle illegal immigration;
denouncing Russian involvement in South Ossetia;
supporting the Constitution Treaty
and the
Lisbon Treaty;
debating globalisation,
relations with China,
and Taiwan;
backing plans to outlaw Holocaust denial;
nominating Anna Politkovskaya for the 2007 Sakharov Prize;
expelling
Daniel Hannan from the Group;
[EurActiv article 170049](_blank)
the discussion about whether ED MEPs should remain within EPP-ED or form a group of their own;
[Times article 766719](_blank)
criticisms of the group's approach to tackling low turnout for the 2009 elections;
[EurActiv article 171155](_blank)
the group's use of the two-President arrangement;
and the group's proposal to ban the Islamic Burka dress across the EU.
Parliamentary activity profile
The debates and votes in the European Parliament are tracked by its website and categorised by the groups that participate in them and the rule of procedure that they fall into. The results give a profile for each group by category and the total indicates the group's level of participation in Parliamentary debates. The activity profile for each group for the period 1 August 2004 to 1 August 2008 in the Sixth Parliament is given on the diagram on the right. The group is denoted in blue.
The website shows the group as participating in 659 motions, making it the third most active group during the period.
Publications
The group produces many publications, which can be found on its website.
Documents produced in 2008 cover subjects such as dialogue with the Orthodox Church, study days, its strategy for 2008–09, Euro-Mediterranean relations, and the Lisbon Treaty. It also publishes a yearbook and irregularly publishes a presentation, a two-page summary of the group.
Academic analysis
The group has been characterised as a three-quarters-male group that, prior to ED's departure, was only 80% cohesive and split between centre-right Europhiles (the larger EPP subgroup) and right-wing Eurosceptics (the smaller ED subgroup). The group as a whole is described as ambiguous on hypothetical EU taxes, against taxation, Green issues,
social liberal
Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...
issues (
LGBT rights
Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality.
Notably, , ...
,
abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...
,
euthanasia
Euthanasia (from el, εὐθανασία 'good death': εὖ, ''eu'' 'well, good' + θάνατος, ''thanatos'' 'death') is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering.
Different countries have different eut ...
) and full
Turkish accession to the European Union, and for a
deeper Federal Europe, deregulation, the
Common Foreign and Security Policy
The Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) is the organised, agreed foreign policy of the European Union (EU) for mainly security and defence diplomacy and actions. CFSP deals only with a specific part of the EU's external relations, whic ...
and controlling migration into the EU.
See also
*
European People's Party
The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Fo ...
*
Members of the European Parliament 2019-2024
References
External links
EPP Group in the European ParliamentEuropean People's Party (EPP)
{{DEFAULTSORT:European People's Party (European Parliament Group)
European People's Party
European People's Party–European Democrats
European Parliament party groups
Political parties established in 1953
Political parties established in 1976
1953 establishments in Europe
1976 establishments in Europe