The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union, it adopts European legislation, following a proposal by the European Commission. The Parliament is composed of 720 members (MEPs), after the June 2024 European elections, from a previous 705 MEPs. It represents the second-largest democratic electorate in the world, with an electorate of around 375 million eligible voters in 2024.
The European People's Party Group is a political group of the European Parliament consisting of deputies (MEPs) from the member parties of the European People's Party (EPP). Sometimes it also includes independent MEPs and/or deputies from unaffiliated national parties. The EPP Group comprises politicians of Christian democratic, conservative and liberal-conservative orientation.
The 1999 European Parliament election was a European election for all 626 members of the European Parliament held across the 15 European Union member states on 10, 11 and 13 June 1999. The voter turn-out was generally low, except in Belgium and Luxembourg, where voting is compulsory and where national elections were held that same day. This was the first election where Austria, Finland and Sweden voted alongside the other member states, having joined in 1995 and voted separately. The next election was held in 2004.
The 2004 European Parliament election was held between 10 and 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. The European Parliamental parties could not be voted for, but elected national parties aggregated in European Parliamental parties after the elections.
The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democratic, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Christian-democratic parties in 1976, it has since broadened its membership to include liberal-conservative parties and parties with other centre-right political perspectives. On 31 May 2022, the party elected as its President Manfred Weber, who was also EPP's Spitzenkandidat in 2019.
Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's.
The political groups of the European Parliament are the officially recognised parliamentary groups consisting of legislators of aligned ideologies in the European Parliament.
Alojz "Lojze" Peterle is a Slovenian politician. He is a member of New Slovenia, part of the European People's Party. He served as Prime Minister of Slovenia from 1990 to 1992, Leader of the Christian Democrats from the founding of the party in 1990 until it merged with the Slovenian People's Party in 2000, and was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1993 to 1994 and again in 2000. He was a Member of the National Assembly from 1996 to 2004, and a Member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2019.
Peter Liese is a German physician and politician who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 1994. He is a member of the Christian Democratic Union, part of the European People's Party.
Rainer Wieland is a German politician who has been serving as a member of the European Parliament for Germany since 1997. He is a member of the Christian Democratic Union, part of the European People's Party. He has been a member of the European Parliament since 1997 and one of its vice-presidents since 2009. His area of responsibility as a member of the European Parliament includes the Stuttgart administrative district. Since 2011, Wieland has been president of the non-partisan Europa-Union Deutschland.
The 2009 European Parliament election was held in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making these the biggest trans-national elections in history. An additional 18 observers were pre-elected.
Forza Europa was a conservative political group that operated in the European Parliament between 1994 and 1995. Most of its MEPs were affiliated with the Forza Italia party of Silvio Berlusconi.
The European Democratic Alliance was a heterogeneous political group in the European Parliament between 1984 and 1995. It consisted mainly of deputies from the French Gaullist Rally for the Republic (RPR) and the Irish Fianna Fáil. The grouping had a generally centre-right outlook, and strongly defended the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy.
The Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe was the liberal–centrist political group of the European Parliament from 2004 until 2019. It was made up of MEPs from two European political parties, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and the European Democratic Party, which collectively form the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.
The European Conservatives and Reformists Group is a soft Eurosceptic, anti-federalist political group of the European Parliament. The ECR is the parliamentary group of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party European political party, but also includes MEPs from other European parties and MEPs without European party affiliation.
Ingeborg Helen Gräßle is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the German Bundestag since the 2021 elections, representing the Backnang – Schwäbisch Gmünd district. She previously served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2004 until 2019, where chaired of the Budgetary Control Committee.
The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) is the political group in the European Parliament of the Party of European Socialists (PES). The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats was officially founded as a Socialist Group on 29 June 1953, which makes it the second oldest political group in the European Parliament after the European People's Party Group. It adopted its present-day name on 23 June 2009. Centre-left in orientation, the group mostly comprises social democratic parties and is affiliated with the Progressive Alliance and Socialist International.
The 2014 European Parliament election in Italy took place on 25 May 2014. Italy elected 73 MEPs out of 751 European Parliament seats.
The von der Leyen Commission is the current European Commission, in office since 1 December 2019 and is to last until the formation of the forthcoming Second Von der Leyen Commission. It consists of one commissioner from each of the member states of the European Union – including Ursula von der Leyen, its president, who is from Germany.
The 2024 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 6 and 9 June 2024. It was the tenth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first European Parliament election after Brexit. A total of 720 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent more than 450 million people from 27 member states. This election also coincided with a number of other elections in some European Union member states.
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