European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party: The liberal democrat political family was created in 1976 for the first European elections. It became a European political party in 1993 and adopted the name ELDR. It is composed of 49 liberal and centre parties from across Europe and is currently led by Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck. The ELDR stands for a strong democratic EU with a Constitution and a strong emphasis on liberalism and its values. It is made up of the European Democratic Party (EDP), the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group (ALDE) and forms the third largest group in the Parliament with 103 MEPs.
Party of European Socialists: Poul Nyrup Rasmussen is the current President of the PES. The group gathers parties from the social democratic, socialist and labour traditions from across the EU and Norway. The PES was founded in 1992 in The Hague to succeed to the Confederation of Socialist Parties of the European Community founded in 1980. The PES stands for better social coverage, maintenance or redistribution of public services and harmonisation of basic work rights on the European level. The PES forms the second largest group in the European Parliament with 201 seats.
Alliance for Europe of the Nations: The AEN is a European political party led by Cristiana Muscardini that was created on the 4th December 2004. It gathers nationalist and populist parties from across the continent. Politically, the AEN is inspired by ideas that would be qualified as euro-sceptic and conservative. In Parliament, the AEN members form the Union for Europe of the Nations Group (UEN) with 44 seats.
European Left: Founded on 8th May 2004 in Rome, the Party of the European Left is chaired by Fausto Bertinotti from the Italian Communist Refoundation party. Members of the European Left are socialists, communists, red-greens and other democratic left parties from all over and outside Europe. The Party of the European Left has nineteen permanent member parties and eight observers. Members from the European Left form the Con-federal Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) in the European Parliament which currently holds 41 seats.
Alliance of Independent Democrats in Europe: This European political party is operating largely as a centre-right faction of the Independence/Democracy Group in the European Parliament. At this time the composition of the ADIE or the extent to which it operates as an EU-funded pan-European organisation is unclear. It was founded in 2005 and is presided by Patrick Louis MEP from the French Movement for France. In the European Parliament, ADIE is linked to the IND/DEM Group which currently holds 24 seats.