Political Groups

The Members of the European Parliament sit in Political Groups and not by nationality. There are currently 7 Political Groups in the European Parliament. A minimum of 25 MEPs, representing at least 7 of the EU's Member States, is necessary in order to form a Political Group. See below for further information:

The "camembert" of political groups - full textual description below the chart following this diagram.

Chart of political groups by percent of total MEPs. EPP 35%, S and D 24%. ALDE 11.4%, GREEN/EFA 7.5%, ECR 7.5%, GUE/NGL 4.8%, EFC 4.3% and Non-Attached 3.5%

The Political Groups in the EU Parliament

Groups	Title	No of MEPs	Irish Members
EPP	European People's Party	265	Jim Higgins (FG), Seán Kelly (FG), Mairead McGuinness (FG), Gay Mitchell (FG)
S & D	Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats	184	Nessa Childers (Labour), Proinsias de Rossa (Labour), Alan Kelly (Labour)
ALDE	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe	84	Liam Aylward (FF), Brian Crowley (FF), Pat 'The Cope' Gallagher (FF), Marian Harkin (Ind)
Greens/EFA	Greens - European Free Alliance	55	none
ECR	European Conservatives and Reformists	55	none
GUE/NGL	European United Left - Nordic Green Left	35	Joe Higgins (SP)
EFD	Europe of Freedom and Democracy	32	none
Non-attached		26	none

Group of the European People's Party (EPP)

265 Members

The EPP brings together centre-right political forces in the EU. The EPP Group is the largest Political Group in the European Parliament.

Chairman: Joseph Daul (France)

Vice-Chairmen/women: Vito Bonsignore (Italy); Othmar Karas (Austria); Ioannis Kasoulides (Cyprus); Marian-Jean Marinescu (Romania); Jaime Oreja Mayor (Spain); Paulo Rangel (Portugal); József Szájer (Hungary); Manfred Weber (Germany); Corien Wortmann-Kohl (Netherlands)

Irish Members: Gay Mitchell (FG - Dublin); Mairead McGuinness (FG - East); Jim Higgins (FG - North West); Seán Kelly (FG - South)

Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S & D)

184 Members

The S&D Group brings together the Socialist, Social Democratic and Labour Parties in the EU.

Chairman: Martin Schulz (DE)

Vice-Chairmen/women: Maria Badia i Cutchet (Spain); Monika Flašíková Benová (Slovakia); Véronique de Keyser (Belgium); Stephen Hughes (United Kingdom); Stéphane le Foll (France); Adrian Severin (Romania); Gianluca Susta (Italy); Hannes Swoboda (Austria); Marita Ulvskog (Sweden)

Irish Members: Nessa Childers (Labour - East); Proinsias De Rossa (Labour - Dublin); Alan Kelly (Labour - South)

Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE)

84 Members

ALDE brings together MEPs from liberal and democratic parties in the EU.

Chairman: Guy Verhofstadt (Belgium)

Vice-Chairmen/women: Alexander Graf Lambsdorff (Germany); Niccolò Rinaldi (Italy); Adina-Ioana Vǎlean (Romania); Anneli Jäätteenmäki (Finland); Antonyia Parvanova (Bulgaria)

Irish Member: Liam Aylward (FF), Brian Crowley (FF), Pat 'The Cope' Gallagher (FF), Marian Harkin (Ind)

Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA)

55 Members

The Greens/European Free Alliance is made up of Greens and 'regionalists'.

Co-Presidents: Rebecca Harms (DE); Daniel Kohn- Bendit (DE)

Vice-Chairmen/women: Jill Evans (United Kingdom); Reinhard Bütikofer (Germany); Marije Cornelissen (Netherlands); Eva Lichtenberger (Austria); Raül Romeva i Rueda (Spain); Claude Turmes (Luxembourg); Emilie Turunen (Denmark)

European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR)

55 Members

The European Conservatives and Reformists Group is an anti-federalist conservative Group which was founded after the June 2009 European Elections. Most of the members have come from the old European Democrats section of the EPP-ED and the old Union for Europe of the Nations Group.

Chairman: Michal Tomasz Kaminski (Poland)

Vice-Chairman: Timothy Kirkhope (United Kingdom)

Confederal Group of European United Left - Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL)

35 Members

GUE/NGL is a confederal group, where each component party retains its own identity and policies, while pooling their efforts in pursuit of common political objectives.

Chairman: Lothar Bisky (Germany)

Vice-Chairmen/women: Ilda Figueiredo (Portugal); Takis Hadjigeorgiou (Cyprus); Patrick Le Hyaric (France); Kartika Tamara Liotard (Netherlands); Miloslav Ransdorf (Czech Republic); Eva-Britt Svensson (Sweden)

Irish Members: Joe Higgins (SP - Dublin); Bairbre De Brún (SF - Northern Ireland)

Europe of Freedom and Democracy

32 Members

The Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group was founded after the June 2009 European Elections. The majority of its members are from the UK Independence Party and the Italian Lega Nord Party. The group rejects the bureaucratisation of Europe and opposes further European integration. Its members believe that EU Member States have the right to protect their borders and strengthen their own historical, traditional and cultural values.

Chairman: Francesco Enrico Speroni (Italy); Nigel Farage (United Kingdom)

Vice-Chairmen/women: Bastiaan Belder (Netherlands); Philippe de Villiers (France); Morten Messerschmidt (Denmark); Rolandas Paksas (Lithuania); Jaroslav Paška (Czech Republic); Niki Tzavela (Greece); Timo Soini (Finland)

For further information about the European Parliament's Political Groups, please see the dedicated page on the main European Parliament website.