We are only two months from the European elections, to be followed by the forming of the (new) political groups in the European Parliament. In the United Kingdom, the House of Commons Library has published a standard note authored by Vaughne Miller on the political groups in the European Parliament. European Parliament Political Groups (SN/IA/5031; 26 March 2009; 10 pages) offers a brief view of t...

The Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament (16th edition, October 2008) make the political groups instrumental in many respects. Thus, a member of the European Parliament (MEP) needs his or her political group for effective action. Here are a few additional examples: A political group can table amendments, as in Rule 62 on amendments to the Council’s common position. The delegation to...

After glimpsing at the financing of political groups in the European Parliament, we turn to funding for Europarties and their foundations. Does lavish public funding for incumbents ossify representative democracy at European level too? *** Europarty funding The European Parliament contributes 10,858,000 euros to European political parties and 7,000,000 euros to their political foundations, accordi...

At the present stage of development, in the absence of a real European party statute, the political groups of the European Parliament are mainly coalitions of representatives from different national political parties, but they are still vital to the conduct of political business. *** Overview Those who want an overview of the history until the present situation can read the Wikipedia article Polit...

This was reported a week ago, but I missed it at the time, from the Independent: The Spanish Foreign Minister [pictured] told his country’s parliament that Cuba would soon release “all” political prisoners and suggested that the EU and US could respond by softening longstanding sanctions against the communist island nation. Miguel Angel Moratinos’s speech marked a step

There is widespread coverage of EU Foreign Minister Catherine Ashton’s confirmation hearing in front of the European Parliament yesterday, with the Telegraph reporting that MEPs and diplomats have warned that Baroness Ashton’s political inexperience has allowed the European Commission to seize control of Europe's foreign policy from national governments.

During the coming days and weeks, the existing political groups in the European Parliament and various national parties with elected members of the EP negotiate to form the political groups, which are central to parliamentary work. As always, knowledge of the rules is a key element for an appreciation of the game, is sports as well as in politics. The European Parliament has amended its Rules of P...

This site provides free access to a conference paper by Giacomo Benedetto which was delivered at the 2009 Political Studies Association conference, Manchester, April 2009. The 31 page paper analyses voting behaviour in the European parliament since 1994. It compares the voting patterns of the major political parties in the European Parliament, challenging the consensus viewpoint that until the 200...

Spiegel reports that the European Parliament’s budgetary committee has indicated that it will not approve the budget of the EU’s ‘High Representative’ for foreign policy, Javier Solana. The paper reports on inconsistencies in the budget of the European Council, and notes that, after turning a blind eye for the past 30 years, the European Parliament has now for the first tim...

The Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) 5.6.2009 C 125 has two important announcements for the fledgling Europarties and their political foundations (and indirectly for the forming of a European awareness and for the expression of the political will of the citizens of the EU). They are the European Parliament’s: Call for proposals IX-2010/02 — Grants to political foundations ...