Euro Elections 2009: The Voting Blocks

Most of the results have been declared in the 2009 European Parliament Elections. Below is a list of the main voting coalitions in the new EU Parliament, and a list of the countries that group members are from. Whilst we usually associate our politicians with their normal national political parties, this is how the EU parliament divides itself, into these coalitions, so we really should have more information about the groups themselves, and what they stand for.

June.10.2009 - George Valentine Corr, Blatant News Editor
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European People's Party–European Democrats (EPP)
The largest coalition held onto their status as the biggest voting block in the EU parliament. This group is comprised of The European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats (EPP-ED), and it is considered a centre-right political group.

Party of European Socialists (PES)
The 2nd largest political group in the EU has dropped its share of the parliament, but still remains in 2nd place, well ahead of the rest of the pack. The Party of European Socialists consists of 32 socialist, social democratic and labour parties from each European Union member state, and Norway.

Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE)
The liberal/centrist political group in the European Parliament, and remains the 3rd most numerous group of MEP's. It has gained some ground on the big 2, but still lags well behind them.

European Greens–European Free Alliance (GREENS/EFA)
The collective Green parties of Europe, and members of the European Free Alliance (EFA) make up this political group. The EFA is a group of parties representing stateless nations and includes MEP's for Scottish, Welsh and Basque national movements.

European United Left–Nordic Green Left (EUL/NGL)
This is another left-leaning group. It represents the democratic socialist, eco-socialist and communist political parties of the continent, and its presence has grown slightly in this election.

Union for Europe of the Nations (UEN)
Set up by Ireland's Fianna Fail party, this is a right-wing political group made up of MEP's mostly from Italy, and its goals are still a little unclear. The group's numbers have diminished greatly in this election.

Independence/Democracy (ID)
This is the coalition of the Eurosceptics, and holds very little sway in the parliament. It is dominated by the UK's UKIP (United Kingdom Independence) party.

Other
For the purposes of these figures, the 'other' section in the graph below consists of all independent and non-attached MEP's. These people do not officially belong to any voting coalitions, but individually they do often vote with a particular group, if they see themselves as being similarly politically inclined.

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