The European People's Party Group is a centre-right 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 president of the European Commission is the head of the European Commission,the executive branch of the European Union (EU). The president of the Commission leads a cabinet of Commissioners,referred to as the College. The president is empowered to allocate portfolios among,reshuffle,or dismiss Commissioners as necessary. The College directs the commission's civil service,sets the policy agenda and determines the legislative proposals it produces. The commission is the only body that can propose or draft bills to become EU laws.
Jean-Claude Juncker is a Luxembourgish politician who was the 23rd prime minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013 and 12th president of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019. He also was Finance Minister from 1989 to 2009 and President of the Eurogroup from 2005 to 2013.
Fidesz –Hungarian Civic Alliance is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Hungary,led by Viktor Orbán.
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.
Othmar Karas is an Austrian politician who has been serving as the First Vice-President of the European Parliament since January 2022,having been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 1999. He is a member of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP),which in turn affiliates with the European People's Party.
Markus Ferber is a German engineer and politician who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 1994. He is a member of the Christian Social Union,part of the European People's Party. In addition to his parliamentary work,Ferber has been serving as president of the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSS) since 2020.
Angelika Niebler is a German lawyer and politician who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 1999. She is a member of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria,part of the European People's Party. Since 2015,she has been serving as her party's deputy chairwoman,under the leadership of successive chairmen Horst Seehofer and Markus Söder.
Adina-Ioana Vălean is a Romanian politician who has been serving as European Commissioner for Transport under the leadership of President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen since 2019. She previously served as a Member of the European Parliament from 2007 until 2019,where she chaired of the European Parliament Committee on Industry,Research and Energy in 2019.
David James McAllister is a German politician who has been a member of the European Parliament since 2014. He is a member of the Christian Democratic Union,part of the European People's Party. He is the current Vice President of the European People's Party and he is also Vice Chairman of the International Democrat Union. He was appointed Chair of the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee in February 2017.
Esther M. R. de Lange is a Dutch politician serving as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2007. A member of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA),part of the European People's Party (EPP),she was elected as delegation leader in the European Parliament at a party conference on 2 November 2013 in Leeuwarden,a position she assumed the following year. In July 2014 she was elected as Vice President of the EPP Group in the European Parliament and in June 2018 as Vice President of the EPP Party.
Monika Hohlmeier is a German politician who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2009. She is a member of the Christian Social Union,part of the European People's Party. Between 1998 and 2005 she served as Bavarian State Minister for Education and Cultural Affairs.
Mariya Ivanova Gabriel is a Bulgarian politician and a member of the GERB party,serving as Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria and Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2023. She served as European Commissioner for Innovation,Research,Culture,Education and Youth between December 2019 and May 2023 and as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2009 to 2017.
The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019,the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million people from 28 member states. In February 2018,the European Parliament had voted to decrease the number of MEPs from 751 to 705 if the United Kingdom were to withdraw from the European Union on 29 March 2019. However,the United Kingdom participated alongside other EU member states after an extension of Article 50 to 31 October 2019;therefore,the allocation of seats between the member states and the total number of seats remained as it had been in 2014. The Ninth European Parliament had its first plenary session on 2 July 2019.
LászlóTrócsányi is a Hungarian lawyer,academic,diplomat,politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2019. Formerly,he was the Hungarian Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg from 2000 to 2004,a member of the Constitutional Court of Hungary between 2007 and 2010 and Hungarian Ambassador to France from 2010 to 2014. He was Minister of Justice in the third and fourth Orbán cabinets,from 6 June 2014 to 30 June 2019.
The Spitzenkandidat process is the method of linking the choice of President of the Commission to the outcome of the European Parliament elections,by having each major European Political Party nominating their candidate for Commission President prior to the Parliamentary elections. The Spitzenkandidat of the largest party would then have a mandate to assume the Commission Presidency. This process was first run in 2014,and its legitimacy was contested by some of the members of the European Council.
An election of Members of the European Parliament from Hungary to the European Parliament was held on 26 May 2019,electing the 21 members of the Hungary delegation to the European Parliament as part of the European elections held across the European Union.
The von der Leyen Commission is the current European Commission,in office since 1 December 2019 and is to last until the 2024 elections. It has Ursula von der Leyen as its president and it further consists of one commissioner from each of the member states of the European Union.
The 2024 European Parliament election is scheduled to be held on 6 to 9 June 2024. This will be the tenth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979,and the first European Parliament election after Brexit.
Events from 2021 in the European Union.
