Parties in the European Council during 2002

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The member-states of the European Union by the European party affiliations of their leaders, as of 1 January 2002. Party affiliations in the Council of the EU (Jan 2002).png
The member-states of the European Union by the European party affiliations of their leaders, as of 1 January 2002.

This article describes the party affiliations of the leaders of each member-state represented in the European Council during the year 2002. The list below gives the political party that each head of government, or head of state, belonged to at the national level, as well as the European political alliance to which that national party belonged. The states are listed from most to least populous. More populous states have greater influence in the council, in accordance with the system of Qualified Majority Voting.

Contents

During the period in question there were changes of the governing party in Portugal and the Netherlands, with PES parties in both getting replaced by EPP parties. This prompted a reversal of which party held a plurality of seats on the council; the EPP maintained that plurality until 11 January 2007, when the government change in Austria returned the plurality to PES.

Summary

Party1 January 20026 April 200225 June 200222 July 2002
#QMV#QMV#QMV#QMV
Party of European Socialists 742638638532
European People's Party 534639639744
European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party 28282828
Independent 13130000
Alliance for Europe of the Nations 1313

List of leaders (1 January 2002)

Member-stateVotesLeaderNational partyEuropean party
Germany10 Gerhard Schröder SPD PES
France10 Jacques Chirac RPR EPP
United Kingdom10 Tony Blair Lab PES
Italy10 Silvio Berlusconi FI EPP
Spain8 José María Aznar PP EPP
Netherlands5 Wim Kok PvdA PES
Greece5 Costas Simitis PA.SO.K. PES
Belgium5 Guy Verhofstadt VLD ELDR
Portugal5 António Guterres PS PES
Sweden4 Göran Persson SAP PES
Austria4 Wolfgang Schüssel ÖVP EPP
Denmark3 Anders Fogh Rasmussen V ELDR
Finland3 Paavo Lipponen SDP PES
Ireland3 Bertie Ahern FF Independent
Luxembourg2 Jean-Claude Juncker CSV EPP

Changes

Affiliation

DateMember-stateLeaderNational partyEuropean party
6 AprilPortugal José Manuel Barroso PPD/PSD EPP
25 JuneIreland Bertie Ahern FF AEN
22 JulyNetherlands Jan Peter Balkenende CDA EPP

^ – The AEN is founded, with its membership including Ireland's Fianna Fáil, which held office under Bertie Ahern.

National party changes

See also