After the elections of 4-7 June 2009 in the 27 EU member states, the right still has the upper hand in the European Parliament, confirming the trend of the past decade. It even expanded its lead over the Socialists, while the Liberals lost a few feathers, the Greens progressed and a new anti-federalist group emerged. The far left is stagnating, but the far right continues to make breakthroughs in certain countries.

GAP BETWEEN EPP AND PES WIDENS

During the 2004-2009 legislative period, Parliament comprised seven political groups, by order of size: EPP-ED, PES, ALDE, UEN, Greens, EUL-NGL, Ind-Dem and Non-attached. This configuration remains by and large the same in the new assembly.

The centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) remains the leading political force, with 264 of 736 members. Its ED (European Democrats) section disappears following the departure of the 30-odd British Tories and the Czech ODS delegation of around 12, who have left to form their own anti-European group. The EPP nevertheless managed to hold on to its leading position, thanks to the merger of the National Alliance and Forza Italia. The National Alliance MEPs who used to sit with the UEN (Union for a Europe of Nations) have joined their new allies in the EPP. The Italian delegation consequently jumped from 24 to 35 seats, in second place behind the Germans, who lead with 42 members. The Poles also scored well, with 28 seats, and the number of French Conservatives climbed from 18 to 30.

So the gap remains wide with the Socialists, who were disavowed by voters in a majority of countries, particularly those where Social Democrats were in office. In the United Kingdom, Labour slipped from 19 to 12 MEPs, while Portugal and Spain dropped from 12 to seven and from 24 to 21, respectively. The disastrous score by the French Socialists brought them from their top position in the group to fourth, with 14 members compared to 31 in the previous legislature. Germany’s SPD managed to keep its 23 seats. The only consolation prize for the Socialist group is that the 21 Italian members of the Partito Democratico (some of whom used to sit with the Liberals) will swell their ranks, bringing its total to 182 seats. The group will change its name to Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats.

NEW ANTI-EUROPEAN GROUP

The Alliance of Democrats and Liberals for Europe still ranks third behind the Socialists, although there are only six Democrats left, namely the French MoDem delegation. The ALDE’s numbers shrank by 20, leaving it with 80 members. Close on its heels is the new group of European Reformers and Conservatives, which managed to win seats for 55 members from eight countries. British Conservatives, ultra-Catholic Polish PiS members and an ultra-Liberal Czech ODS delegation are the mainstay of this anti-European and anti-federalist group.

The Greens follow, after creating the surprise of being the only group to gain seats, rising from 43 to 53 (all the others lost seats because the assembly drops from 785 to 736 members). They are trailed by the European United Left-Nordic Green Left (EUL-NGL), which remained stable with between 33 and 35 seats (the figures are not yet final).

The Independence and Democracy (Ind-Dem) group and the Union for a Europe of Nations (UEN) may not survive the new rules for political group formation, which require 25 MEPs from seven member states. Ind-Dem could nevertheless make a stab at setting up a new formation with allies among Italy’s (xenophobic) Northern League or Britain’s UKIP Europhobes for example. There are still loads of far-right Non-attached MEPs, including members of the British National Party, the Dutch populist party led by Geert Wilders, Austria’s FPÖ, the Real Finns Party, the Hungarian far right, the Grand Romania nationalist party, and so on.

LEADERS RE-ELECTED

Many of the previous group heads have been re-elected for two and a half years. The EPP has re-elected Joseph Daul (France), group leader since 2007. The Socialists have reconfirmed Martin Schulz (Germany) as their chair and the Greens renamed Daniel Cohn-Bendit (France-Germany). Former Green co-chair Monica Frassoni (Italy) was not re-elected in June and will be replaced by Rebecca Harms (Germany). The EUL-NGL has a new head, Lothar Bisky, co-president of the German party Die Linke. Francis Wurtz (France), who has been a member of the EP since the first elections by universal suffrage in 1979, did not stand for re-election.

As Europolitics went to press, the Liberals were planning to wait until 30 June to choose their group leader. Former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt appeared to be in a strong position, since Graham Watson (UK) preferred to give up his seat in a bid for the EP presidency. The new anti-European group also still had to choose its potential leader, probably a British Conservative.

The technical agreement on splitting the EP presidency during the legislature has not yet been concluded but seems to be moving towards the traditional EPP-PES duo, the only one with a majority. The most likely ticket seems to be Polish EPP member Jerzy Buzek, followed by German SPD member Martin Schulz.

During the 2004-2009 legislative period, Parliament comprised seven political groups. This configuration remains by and large the same in the new assembly