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The Political groups of the European Parliament are groups of MEPs within the European Parliament. In some cases it is the formal representation of a European political party in the Parliament, in others it is a political coalition of a number of European parties, national parties and independent politicians.

Groups are not parties, but looser coalitions. But each Group is assumed to have a set of core principles, and Groups that can't demonstrate this may be disbanded (see below). These core principles fall into distinct categories, and those categories encompass the whole range of political thought.

Contents 1 Requirements and privileges 2 Organisation 3 Current 4 Party relations 4.1 Position of the liberals 4.2 Break in the coalition 5 History 5.1 Overview 5.2 Communists and the Far Left 5.3 Socialists and Social Democrats 5.4 Liberals and Liberal Democrats 5.5 Conservatives and Christian Democrats 5.6 National Conservatives 5.7 Fascists and the Far Right 5.8 Greens and Regionalists 5.9 Eurosceptics 5.10 Mixed 5.11 Non-Inscrits 6 References 7 See also 8 External links

Working together in Groups benefit European political parties: for example, the European Free Alliance (5 MEPs) and the European Greens (37 MEPs) have more power by working together in the European Greens - European Free Alliance Group (42 MEPs) than they would have as stand-alone parties, bringing their causes much-needed additional support. Further incentives for co-operating in Groups include financial subsidies from the Parliament and guaranteed seats on Committees^[1] which are not afforded to Independent MEPs.

For a Group to be formally recognised in the Parliament, it must fulfil the conditions laid down in Rule 29 of the European Parliament. That Rule states that a Group must have MEPs elected in at least one-fifth of the Member States, must have at least twenty MEPs, must contain no MEP that is a member of another Group, and its MEPs must have a common political affinity. Provided these conditions are met, MEPs can theoretically create any Group they like. This was put to the test when MEPs attempted to create a far-right Group called "Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty" (ITS). This generated controversy and there were concerns about public funds going towards a far-right Group.^[1] Attempts to block the formation of ITS were unsuccessful, but they were blocked from gaining leading positions on Committees, a right meant to be afforded to all Groups.^[2]

Groups may be based around a single European political party (e.g. the Socialist Group) or they can include more than one European party as well as national parties and independents^[3] (e.g. the Liberal Group).

Each Group appoints a leader, referred to as a "president", "co-ordinator" or "chair", who decides which way the Group should vote in Parliament. The chairs of each Group meet in the Conference of Presidents to decide what issues will be dealt with at the plenary session of the European Parliament. Groups can table motions for resolutions and table amendments to reports.

Group		Sub-parties	Leader(s)	Est.	MEPs
	European People's Party– European Democrats (EPP–ED)	European People's Party (EPP) European Democrats (ED)	Joseph Daul	1999	284
	Party of European Socialists (PES)	Party of European Socialists (PES)	Martin Schulz	1953	215
	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE)	European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR) European Democratic Party (EDP) + 2 unaffiliated national parties + 2 independent politicians	Graham Watson	2004	103
	Union for Europe of the Nations (UEN)	Alliance for Europe of the Nations (AEN) EUDemocrats (EUD) (part) + 5 unaffiliated national parties	Brian Crowley Cristiana Muscardini	1994	44
	European Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens–EFA)	European Green Party (EGP) European Free Alliance (EFA) + 2 unaffiliated national parties	Monica Frassoni Daniel Cohn-Bendit	1999	42
	European United Left– Nordic Green Left (GUE–NGL)	Party of the European Left (PEL) Nordic Green Left Alliance (NGLA) + 5 unaffiliated national parties	Francis Wurtz	1994	41
	Independence and Democracy (ID)	Alliance of Independent Democrats in Europe (AIDE) EUDemocrats (EUD) (part) + 3 unaffiliated national parties	Nigel Farage Jens-Peter Bonde	2004	24
	Non-Inscrits (NI)	Euronat 11 unaffiliated national parties 3 independent politicians	N/A		32
Source for MEPs: European Parliament			Total		785

The Parliament does not form a government in the traditional sense and its politics have developed over consensual rather than adversarial lines.^[4] No single group has ever held a majority in Parliament.^[5] The two largest Groups are the Conservative and Christian Democrat Group (EPP-ED) and the Socialist Group (PES), which are based around the European political parties called the European People's Party (EPP) and the Party of European Socialists (also called PES). These two Groups have dominated the Parliament for much of its life, continuously holding between 50 and 70 percent of the seats together. The Socialists were the largest single party up to 1999, when they were overtaken by the People's Party.^[6][7]

In 1987 the Single European Act came into force and, under the new cooperation procedure, the Parliament needed to obtain large majorities to make the most impact. So the People's Party and the Socialists came to an agreement to cooperate in the Parliament.^[8] This agreement became known as the "grand coalition" and, aside from a break in the fifth Parliament,^[9] it has dominated the Parliament for much of its life, regardless of necessity. The grand coalition is visible in the agreement between the two Groups to divide the five-year term of the President of the European Parliament equally between them, with a Socialist President for half the term and a People's President for the other half, regardless of the actual election result.^[4]

Liberal Group leader Graham Watson MEP has denounced the grand coalition who described the aim for the liberals in the following terms: "the challenge for us is not only to break the inherent conservatism of the grand coalition, where a failing EPP Europe is propped up by a Socialist poodle pinching the crumbs from the table" also expressing a desire to ensure that the posts of Commission President, Council President, Parliament President and High Representative are not carved up in an agreement between a the two groups to the exclusion of third parties.^[10]

During the fifth term it was the liberals who were involved in a break in the grand coalition when they entered into al alliance with the People's Party, to the exclusion of the Socialists.^[9] This was reflected in the Presidency of the Parliament with the terms being shared between the EPP and the ELDR, rather than the EPP and PES^[11] as before. In the following term the liberals grew to 88 seats becoming the "Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe". This was the largest number of seats held by any third party in Parliament.^[10]

However liberal intervention has not been the only cause for a break in the grand coalition. There have been specific occasions where real left-right party politics have emerged, notably the resignation of the Santer Commission. When the initial allegations against the Commission Budget emerged, they were directed primarily against the Socialists Édith Cresson and Manuel Marín. PES supported the Commission and saw the issue as an attempt by the EPP to discredit their party ahead of the 1999 elections. EPP disagreed. Whilst the Parliament was considering rejecting the Community budget, President Jacques Santer argued that a "No" vote would be tantamount to a vote of no confidence. PES leader Pauline Green MEP attempted a vote of confidence and the EPP put forward counter motions. During this period the two Groups adopted a government-opposition dynamic, with PES supporting the executive and EPP renouncing its previous coalition support and voting it down.^[12]

In 2004 there was another notable break in the grand coalition. It occurred over the nomination of Rocco Buttiglione as European Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security. The People's Party supported the appointment of Buttiglione, while the the Socialists, who were also critics of the President-designate Jose Manuel Barroso, led the parties seeking Buttiglione's removal following his rejection (the first in EU history) by a Parliamentary committee. Barroso initially stood by his team and offered only small concessions, which were rejected by the Socialists. The People's Party demanded that if Buttiglione were to go, then a Socialist commissioner must also be sacrificed for balance.^[13] In the end, Italy withdrew Buttiglione and put forward Franco Frattini instead. Frattini won the support of the Socialists and the Barroso Commission was finally approved, albeit behind schedule.^[14] Politicisation such as the above has been increasing, with Simon Hix of the London School of Economics noting in 2007 that^[15]

“

Our work also shows that politics in the European Parliament is becoming increasingly based around party and ideology. Voting is increasingly split along left-right lines, and the cohesion of the party groups has risen dramatically, particularly in the fourth and fifth parliaments. So there are likely to be policy implications here too.

”

The first three Groups were established in the earliest days of the Parliament. They were the "Socialist Group" (who eventually became PES), the "Christian Democrat Group" (later EPP-ED) and a "Liberal and Allies Group" (later ALDE).

As the Parliament developed, other Groups emerged. Non-liberal members of the Liberal Group left to found the "European Democratic Union" Group (later UEN).^[16] When Conservatives from Denmark and the United Kingdom joined, they created the "European Conservative Group", which (after some name changes) eventually merged with the Christian Democrat Group.^[17]

The first elections in 1979 established further groups and the establishment of European political parties such as the European People's Party.^[18] A full breakdown of Groups by complexion and timeline is given below.

In Europe, the extreme left denotes parties that advocate radical or revolutionary change of what they see as the capitalist system towards a socialist or communist system. The first extreme left Group in the European Parliament was the "Communist and Allies Group"^[16] founded on 16 October 1973.^[19] It stayed together until 25 July 1989^[19] when it split into two groups, the "Left Unity Group"^[16] with 14^[16] members and the "Group of the European United Left"^[19] (EUL) with 28^[16] members. EUL collapsed in January 1993^[20] when the Italian Communist Party changed its name to Democrats of the Left and its MEPs joined the Socialist Group, leaving Left Unity as the only far-left group before the 1994 elections.^[20] The name was resurrected immediately after the elections when the "Confederal Group of the European United Left"^[19] was formed on 19 July 1994.^[19] On 6 January 1995,^[19] when parties from Sweden and Finland joined, the Group was further renamed to the "Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left" and it has stayed that way to the present.

Group name	English abbr.	French abbr.	Full name	From	To
Communists and Allies	COM[21]	n/a	"Group of the Communists"[22] or "Communist and Allies Group"[16]	16 October 1973[19]	25 July 1989[19]
Left Unity	LU[21]	CG[16][19]	"Left Unity Group"[16]	25 July 1989[19]	19 July 1994[19]
European United Left (89–93)	EUL[21]	GUE[22][16]	"Group of the European United Left"[19]	25 July 1989[19]	January 1993[20]
European United Left (94–95)	EUL[21]	GUE[22][16]	"Confederal Group of the European United Left"[19]	19 July 1994[19]	6 January 1995[19]
European United Left/Nordic Green Left	EUL/NGL[21]	GUE/NGL[23][22]	"Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left"[24][23]	6 January 1995[19]	present

In Europe, the left and centre-left denotes parties that advocate government intervention in the economy. The Socialist Group was one of the first Groups to be founded when it was created on 23 June 1953^[25] in the European Parliament's predecessor, the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community. The Group was renamed in 1958^[26] to the "Socialist Group of the European Parliament" when the Parliament was formed. The national parties making up the Group also organized themselves on a European level outside the Parliament, with the parties creating the "Confederation of Socialist Parties of the European Community" in 1974,^[22][26][27] which became the "Party of European Socialists" in 1992.^[26][27] As a result, the Group (which had kept its "Socialist Group of the European Parliament" name all along) was renamed to the "Group of the Party of European Socialists" on 21 April 1993^[25] and it became difficult to distinguish between PES (the group) and PES (the party). The Group reverted to (approximately) its former name of the "Socialist Group in the European Parliament"^[23] on 20 July 2004^[25] and was given a different logo, making it easier to distinguish the Group from the party. Despite all this, the Group is still universally referred to as "PES".

Group name	English abbr.	French abbr.	Full name	From	To
Socialist Group (53–58)	S[22]		"Group of the Socialists"[22]	23 June 1953[25]	1958[26]
Socialist Group (58–93)	SOC[21]		"Socialist Group of the European Parliament"[26]	1958[26]	21 April 1993[25]
Party of European Socialists Group	PES[21]	PSE[23]	"Group of the Party of European Socialists"[22]	21 April 1993[25]	20 July 2004[25]
Socialist Group (04–present)	PES[21]	PSE[23]	"Socialist Group in the European Parliament"[23]	20 July 2004[25]	present

In Europe, liberalism tends to be associated with classical liberalism, which advocates limited government intervention in society in general. However, the Liberal Group contains parties ranging from centre-right conservative liberalism to centre-left progressive liberalism. It has also been home to parties such as the Gaullist Union for the New Republic and the centre-right Portuguese Social-Democrats that were not explicitly liberal, but who were not aligned with either the Socialist or the Christian Democratic Groups. The Liberal Group was founded on June 23, 1953^[28] under the name of the "Group of Liberals and Allies".^[28] As the Parliament grew, it changed its name to the "Liberal and Democratic Group"^[22][28] (1976^[28]), then to the "Liberal Group, Democratic and Reformist"^[22][28] (December 13, 1985^[28]), then to the "Group of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party"^[24][22][28] (July 19, 1994^[28]) before settling on its present name of the "Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe"^[28] on July 20, 2004,^[28] when the Group was joined by the centrist, social-liberal and christian-democratic parties that formed the European Democratic Party.

Group name	English abbr.	French abbr.	Full name	From	To
Liberal Group	L[28]		"Group of Liberals and Allies"[28]	June 23, 1953[28]	1976[28]
Liberal and Democratic Group	LD[28]		"Liberal and Democratic Group"[22][28]	1976[28]	December 13, 1985[28]
Liberal, Democratic and Reformist Group	LDR[28][16]		"Liberal Group, Democratic and Reformist"[22][28]	December 13, 1985[28]	July 19, 1994[28]
European Liberal, Democratic and Reform Party Group	ELDR[21][28]		"Group of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party"[24][22][28]	July 19, 1994[28]	July 20, 2004[28]
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe	ALDE[21]		"Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe"[28]	July 20, 2004[28]	present

In Europe, the centre-right is usually occupied by Christian Democracy or by Conservatives. The two strands have had a tangled relationship in the Parliament. The first Christian Democrat Group was founded in 1953^[22] and stayed with that name for a quarter of a century. Meanwhile outside the Parliament, local Christian Democrat parties were organising and eventually formed the pan-national political party called the "European People's Party" on April 29, 1976. Since all the Christian Democrat MEPs were members of this pan-European party, the Group's name was changed to indicate this: first to the "Christian Democratic Group (Group of the European People's Party)"^[18] on March 14, 1978,^[18] then to "Group of the European People's Party (Christian-Democratic Group)"^[24][18] on July 17, 1979.^[18] On January 16, 1973,^[17] the "European Conservative Group"^[22] was formed by the British and Danish Conservative parties, which had recently joined the EEC. This group was renamed to "Group of the European Democrats"^[22] on July 17, 1979.^[17] But the number of MEPs in the latter Group fell during the 1980s and it eventually merged with the Christian Democrat Group on 1 May 1992.^[17] When Greece and Spain acceded to the EEC, parties such as the Greek New Democracy and Spanish Partido Popular that were not explicitly Christian Democratic also joined the Group. In 1999 the Group was renamed^[22] to the "Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats"^[23] in order to identify the Conservative parties within the group, and the Group remains under that name to this day. Although for the sake of brevity, it's usually called "People's" or "EPP-ED".

Group name	English abbr.	French abbr.	Full name	From	To
Christian Democratic Group (53–78)	CD[22]	DC[18]	"Christian Democratic Group"[22]	June 23, 1953[18]	March 14, 1978[18]
Christian Democratic Group (78–79)	CD[22]	DC[18]	"Christian Democratic Group (Group of the European People's Party)"[18]	March 14, 1978[18]	July 17, 1979[18]
European Conservatives	C[22]		"European Conservative Group"[22]	January 16, 1973[17]	July 17, 1979[17]
European Democrats Group	ED[21][22][16]	DE[17]	"Group of the European Democrats"[22] or "European Democratic Group"[16]	July 17, 1979[17]	May 1, 1992[17]
EPP Group	EPP[21]	PPE[18]	"Group of the European People's Party (Christian-Democratic Group)"[24][18] or "Group of the European People’s Party"[22]	July 17, 1979[18]	May 1, 1999[18]
EPP–ED Group	EPP-ED[21]	PPE-DE[23]	"Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats"[23] or "Group of the European People's Party and European Democrats"[22]	July 20, 1999[22]	present

In Europe, the gap between the established centre-right and the nationalist far right is usually filled by National Conservatives or similar parties. The first such Group was formed when the French Gaullist UDR split from the Liberal Group on 21 January 1965^[29] and created a new Group called the "European Democratic Union"^[22][16] (not to be confused with the association of Conservative and Christian Democrat parties founded in 1978 called the "European Democrat Union" or "EDU", nor the Conservative and Christian Democrat Group called the "European Democratic Group" founded in 1979). The Group was renamed on 16 January 1973^[29] to the "Group of European Progressive Democrats"^[30][31] when the Gaullists were joined by the Irish Fianna Fáil, and renamed itself again on July 24, 1984^[29] to the "Group of the European Democratic Alliance".^[16][31] A period of relative stability ensued until 1994, when MEPs from the Italian Forza Italia were elected. They immediately (on 19 July 1994^[29]) formed their own Group, self-referentially called "Forza Europa", but it lasted less than a year and on July 6, 1995^[29] Forza Europa merged with the European Democratic Alliance to produce a Group called "Union for Europe".^[24] The Forza Italia MEPs stayed for three years but left on 15 June 1998 to join EPP,^[29] leaving Union for Europe to struggle on until it split on July 20, 1999.^[29] The RPR members joined EPP,^[29] but Fianna Fáil and the Portuguese Democratic and Social Center / People's Party members joined a new group called "Union for a Europe of Nations".^[23]

Group name	English abbr.	French abbr.	Full name	From	To
European Democratic Union[22][16]	n/a	UDE[29]	European Democratic Union Group[31]	21 January 1965[29]	16 January 1973[29]
European Progressive Democrats[22][16]	EPD[32]		"Group of European Progressive Democrats"[30][31]	16 January 1973[29]	July 24, 1984[29]
European Democratic Alliance[21]	EDA[21][16]	DE[22]	"Group of the European Democratic Alliance"[16][31]	July 24, 1984[29]	July 6, 1995[29]
Forza Europa	FE[21][16][33]	n/a	Forza Europa	19 July 1994[29]	July 6, 1995[29]
Union for Europe	UFE[21]		"Group Union for Europe"[24]	July 6, 1995[29]	July 20, 1999[29]
Union for a Europe of Nations (or "Union for Europe of Nations")	UEN[21][16]		"Union for a Europe of Nations Group"[23]	July 20, 1999[29][34]	present

In Europe, the extreme right denotes those that advocate xenophobic and ultranationalist policies. They have found it difficult to cohere in a continuous Group: their distaste for other countries and the European Union make it difficult for them to form and maintain pan-European coalitions, and the distaste of other MEPs for them make it difficult for them to translate any coalitions into a Group. The first far-right Group was founded by the French National Front and the Italian Social Movement in 1984^[16][35] under the name of the "Group of the European Right",^[16][35] and it lasted until 1989.^[35][36] Its successor, the "Technical Group of the European Right",^[37][35] existed from 1989^[35] to 1994.^[35] There was then a gap of thirteen years until "Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty"^[38] was founded on 15 January 2007,^[38] which lasted for nearly eleven months until it self-destructed and fell apart on 14 November 2007.^[39]

Group name	English abbr.	French abbr.	Full name	From	To
European Right (84–89)	ER[21][16]		"Group of the European Right"[16][35]	1984[16][35]	1989[35]
European Right (89–94)	DR[37]		"Technical Group of the European Right"[37][35]	1989[35]	1994[35]
Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty	ITS[38]		"Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty"[38]	15 January 2007[38]	14 November 2007[39]

In Europe, there has been a coalition between the Greens (who support grassroots democracy) and the stateless nationalists or Regionalists (who also support devolution). In 1979 a Technical Group (formally called the "Group for the Technical Coordination and the Defence of Independent Groups and Members"^[40], or "CDI"^[40] for short) was formed as a coalition of parties ranging from centre-left to far left, which were not aligned with any of the major international organizations.^[41] In 1984^[42] CDI became the "Rainbow Group",^[16] a coalition of Greens, Regionalists and other parties of the left unaffiliated with any of the international organizations. In 1989^[42][16] Rainbow split. The Greens went off to form the "Green Group", whilst the Regionalists stayed in Rainbow. Rainbow was renamed in 1994^[42] to the "European Radical Alliance", when they were joined by members of the centre-left French Left Radical Party. The Greens and Regionalists stayed separate until 1999,^[22][42] when the two Groups reunited under the "Greens/European Free Alliance"^[23][22] banner.

Group name	English abbr.	French abbr.	Full name	From	To
Technical Group of Independents		CDI[40]	"Group for the Technical Coordination and the Defence of Independent Groups and Members"[40]	1979[42]	1984[42]
Rainbow Group (84–89)	RBW[21]	ARC[42]	"Rainbow Group"[16]	1984[42]	1989[42][16]
Rainbow Group (89–94)		ARC[42]	"Rainbow Group in the European Parliament"[42]	1989[42][16]	1994[42]
European Radical Alliance	ERA[21]		"Group of the European Radical Alliance"[24]	1994[16]	1999[42]
Greens	G[21]	V	"The Green Group in the European Parliament"[24] or "Group of the Greens"[22]	1989[22][16][42]	1999[22][42]
Greens/European Free Alliance	G/EFA,[21]	Verts/ALE[23]	"Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance"[23][22]	1999[22]	present

The specifically European school of political thought that states that the competences of the European Union should be reduced or prevented from expanding further, is represented in the European Parliament by the Eurosceptics. The first Eurosceptic group in the European Parliament was founded on July 19, 1994.^[43] It was called the "European Nations Group"^[43] and it lasted until November 10, 1996.^[43] Its successor was the "Group of Independents for a Europe of Nations",^[24][44] founded on December 20, 1996.^[43] Following the 1999 elections, the Group was reorganised into the "Group for a Europe of Democracies and Diversities"^[23][22] on July 20, 1999,^[43] and similarly reorganised after the 2004 elections into the "Independence/Democracy Group"^[45] on July 20, 2004.^[43]

Group name	English abbr.	French abbr.	Full name	From	To
European Nations Group	EN[21]		"European Nations Group (Coordination Group)"[43]	July 19, 1994[43]	November 10, 1996[43]
Europe of Nations	I-EN[44]		"Group of Independents for a Europe of Nations"[24][44]	December 20, 1996[43]	July 20, 1999[43]
Europe of Democracies and Diversities	EDD[23][22]		"Group for a Europe of Democracies and Diversities"[23][22]	July 20, 1999[43]	July 20, 2004[43]
Independence/Democracy	IND/DEM[21]		"Independence/Democracy Group"[45]	July 20, 2004[43]	present

A Group is assumed to have a set of core principles ("affinities" or "complexion") to which the full members are expected to adhere. This throws up an anomaly: Groups get money and seats on Committees which Independent members do not get, but the total amount of Independent members may be greater than the members of the smaller Groups. MEPs got round this in the past by forming Technical Groups, but since the Groups thus formed had members with (broadly) similar outlooks, nobody particularly minded. The crunch point arrived on 20 July 1999,^[46] when TGI was formed. Since it contained far-right MEPs and centre-left MEPs, it could not possibly be depicted as having a common outlook. The Committee on Constitutional Affairs promptly ruled^[47] that TGI did not have a coherent political complexion, Parliament upheld (412 to 56 with 36 abstentions) the ruling,^[48] and TGI was promptly disbanded on 13 September 1999,^[48] the first Group to be forcibly dissolved. But it didn't end there: The ruling was appealed to the European Court of First Instance^[48] (not the French Court of First Instance, whose acronym is also, confusingly, "TGI") and the Group was temporarily resurrected on December 1, 1999^[49] until the Court came to a decision.^[49] On October 3, 2001, President Fontaine announced that the Court of First Instance had declared against the appeal^[50]and that the disbandment was back in effect from October 2, 2001, the date of the declaration.^[51] TGI appeared on the list of Political Groups in the European Parliament for the last time on October 4, 2001.^[52] Since then the requirement that Groups have a coherent political complexion has been enforced (as ITS later found out), and "mixed" Groups are not expected to appear again.

Group name	English abbr.	French abbr.	Full name	From	To
Technical Group of Independents (first incarnation)	TGI[21][46]	TDI[23][22]	"Technical Group of Independent Members"[23] or "Group for the technical co-ordination of groups and the defence of independent members"[22]	20 July 1999[46]	13 September 1999[48]
Technical Group of Independents (second incarnation)	TGI[21][46]	TDI[23][22]	"Technical Group of Independent Members"[23] or "Group for the technical co-ordination of groups and the defence of independent members"[22]	1 December 1999[49]	4 October 2001[52]

Independent MEPs that are not in a Group are categorised as "Non-Inscrits" (the French term is universally used, even in English translations). This null-Group has no Group privileges or funding, and is included here solely for completion.

Sources for history:^{[21][22][16][19][23][24][17][29][28][40][42][43][44][45][37][35][38][39][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][33][34][25][26][27][30][32][31][18][20][36]}

• Apportionment in the European Parliament

• European Parliament political groups
• Lists of MEPs by political group
• List of current groups (in French), (automatically translated)
• List of historical groups (in French), (automatically translated)
• List of current and historical groups (with dates)
• Political groups' annual accounts (2001-2006)
• Archive material (includes groups)
• Glossary of abbreviations (includes groups)
• The Party System of the European Parliament: Collusive or Competitive? (includes groups and how they evolved since 1952/3)
• The European Parliament and Supranational Party System Cambridge University Press 2002
• Names of the groups in several languages immediately prior to the 1999 elections
• Democracy in the European Parliament (see table 1.2 for list of all groups from First Parliament to Sixth)
• Development of Political Groups in the European Parliament - full document
• Development of Political Groups in the European Parliament - summary document and associated links
• Political groups in the European Parliament (1979)
• Political groups in the European Parliament (1984)
• Political groups in the European Parliament (1989)
• Political groups in the European Parliament (1994)
• Political groups in the European Parliament (1999)
• Political groups in the European Parliament (2004)
• Political groups (2004)
• Party Groups and Policy Positions in the European Parliament

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