Political groups in the European Parliament
Being part of a political group pays off.
HS – 07/2024
At least
23 MEPs from seven different countries are needed to form a political group in
the European Parliament. Political groups can be formed at any time, and MEPs
can change political groups whenever they wish. However, prior to the
constituent sitting of the European Parliament – for the 10th legislative
period, this will take place from 16th to 19th July – most political groups are
formed, and most MEPs join one of them. This is related to the fact that MEPs
can exert significantly more influence as members of a parliamentary group.
Political groups in the 10th legislative period
During
the 9th parliamentary term, 63 MEPs were non-attached, including the AfD MEPs
following their expulsion from the ID group. Now the newly elected AfD MEPs
have founded the new "Europe of Sovereign Nations" group with allies.
There is also a second new right-wing populist group, the "Patriots for
Europe". It has largely replaced the now disbanded ID group. The other groups
of the 9th legislative period remain in place: EPP, S&D, ECR, Renew,
Greens/EFA and Left. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance has not yet found a
parliamentary group. The formation of a new parliamentary group together with
the Italian Five Star Movement had previously failed.
Political influence through important posts
Above
all, group membership means an increase in political influence in the European
Parliament. For example, the posts of the 14 Vice-Presidents of the European
Parliament, the five Quaestors and the (Vice) Chairmen of the committees are
awarded exclusively to members of the political groups, depending on their
size. In terms of legislative work, the chairmanships of committees are
particularly interesting. Committee chairs set the agenda and play a leading
role in the legislative process.
Opportunities to have a say through the COP
Furthermore,
non-attached members have no say in the Conference of Presidents (COP), which
is made up of the group chairs as well as the President of Parliament, is
responsible for organising procedures and legislation. A representative of the
non-attached members may attend the COP meetings, but only as an observer. The
COP decides, among other things, what is discussed in plenary, allocates
speaking time during plenary debates and proposes the composition of the
committees at the beginning of a legislative period.
Speaking time in plenary and committees
Speaking
time is allocated to the groups in plenary according to their size.
Non-attached MEPs are also given speaking time, albeit significantly less. They
are treated as a parliamentary group and make agreements among themselves on
how to divide up speaking time. By contrast, in the committees they are
dependent on the favour of the committee chair: They can decide whether to
grant speaking time to non-attached members at all. As far as legislative work
is concerned, non-attached members can receive a report, but this happens very
rarely, for example if no one else is interested. They cannot become shadow rapporteur.
Financial
resources
Financial resources
Being a
member of a political group also means more money for the political work of MEPs.
The groups are allocated funds per member by the parliamentary administration
to finance the work of the groups. This includes maintaining the secretariat
and organising campaigns. Non-attached MEPs also receive money but on average
only slightly more than half. In a second distribution round, money is
distributed to the parliamentary groups according to size – with the smaller
ones receiving more than the larger ones.