Parties in the European Council during 2003

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The member-states of the European Union by the European party affiliations of their leaders, as of 1 January 2003. Party affiliations in the Council of the EU (Jan 2003).png
The member-states of the European Union by the European party affiliations of their leaders, as of 1 January 2003.

This article describes the party affiliations of the leaders of each member-state represented in the European Council during the year 2003. 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 was a change of the governing party only in Finland. In April Anneli Jäätteenmäki of the Centre Party succeeded Paavo Lipponen of the Social Democrats as State Minister (prime minister of Finland). She remained in office only until June when she resigned in a corruption scandal. She was succeeded by Matti Vanhanen from her own party.

Summary

Party1 January 200317 April 2003
#QMV#QMV
European People's Party 744744
Party of European Socialists 532429
European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party 28311
Alliance for Europe of the Nations 1313

List of leaders (1 January 2003)

Member-stateVotesLeaderNational partyEuropean party
Germany10 Gerhard Schröder SPD PES
France10 Jacques Chirac UMP EPP
United Kingdom10 Tony Blair Lab PES
Italy10 Silvio Berlusconi FI EPP
Spain8 José María Aznar PP EPP
Netherlands5 Jan Peter Balkenende CDA EPP
Greece5 Costas Simitis PA.SO.K. PES
Belgium5 Guy Verhofstadt VLD ELDR
Portugal5 José Manuel Barroso PPD/PSD EPP
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 AEN
Luxembourg2 Jean-Claude Juncker CSV EPP

Changes

Affiliation

DateMember-stateLeaderNational partyEuropean group
17 AprilFinland Anneli Jäätteenmäki Kesk. ELDR

Office-holder only

DateMember-stateLeaderNational partyEuropean group
24 JuneFinland Matti Vanhanen Kesk. ELDR

See also