introducing european political parties

EUDemocrats: Founded in November 2005, the EUD is an alliance of parties, movements and political organisations operating as a transnational Party at a European level, and incorporating members from both the centre-left and the centre-right. The party was set up under Danish law on 7 November 2005 and founded as a European Party in Brussels on 8 November 2005. At a European level, EUD is a cohesive platform that is not concerned with right or left ideologies since it believes that such politics are best left under the democratic control of the citizens of member states and regions. Presided by Hanne Dahl from the Danish June Movement, the EUD stands for more democracy in the EU with a strong emphasis on transparency, subsidiarity and diversity. Although it is close to the Democratic part of the INDDEM Group, the EUD is not formally affiliated to them and, therefore, follows its own agenda.

The European Democratic Party (EDP) is a centrist party strongly in favour of European integration. It was founded on December 9, 2004. Fran�ois Bayrou of France�s UDF and Francesco Rutelli of Italy�s Democracy and Freedom-Daisy serve as the first two co-presidents. The EDP was founded in reaction to the rising influence of euro-sceptic parties within European Institutions. It drew pro-European centrist parties from the European People�s Party to form a new centrist multinational bloc. On 13^th July, 2004 a meeting of the Parliamentary Group approved to unite the ELDR Group and the EDP Group into the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group (ALDE). Although their 103 Members of Parliament (MEPs) currently sit together in one group, they remain two separate European political parties.

The European Green Party: The first European organisation uniting green parties was called the European Coordination of Green Parties which began in 1984. As membership grew, new issues, ideas and initiatives emerged in rapid succession. Important events in Europe during the late 1980s and early 1990s called for environmental action on a European scale. Among those events was the need to democratise the EU and ensure a peaceful transition from post-Communism in Central and Eastern Europe. The need for a common body, mandated to speak on behalf of the Greens in Europe on such issues was felt and, in June 1993 in Helsinki, the European Federation of Green Parties was created. In 2004, the Federation was the first to form a political party at the European level. Although the Greens were generally sceptical of European political and economic integration, in 1994 they abandoned their principled opposition to European integration and began to propose pragmatic alternatives for the European Union�s policies and institutions. The Greens/European Free Alliance Group in the European Parliament was formed, it currently holds 42 seats.

European Free Alliance: The EFA is a party that promotes the right of people to self-determination. Its objective is to provide democratic nationalism and regionalism with a political structure which gives scope for political initiative at the European level. The EFA was founded in 1981 as a cooperative association by the union of political parties. The idea that the appropriate way of reaching the European dimension was to build Europe on the basis of the peoples and the regions rather than on a centralised and unitarian model. It is presided over by Nelly Maes from the Flemish Spirit Party. In the European Parliament, the EFA are member of The Greens/European Free Alliance Group which holds 42 seats.  

European People�s Party: The EPP is the largest party in the EU and its President Wilfried Martens. It belongs to the family of the political centre-right, whose roots run deep into the history and civilization of the European continent. Initially founded on 8^th July 1976 in Luxembourg, the EPP received formal recognition from the European Institutions in 2004, following the activation of Regulation No 2004/2003. The EPP claims it has pioneered the European project from its inception and is committed to pursue the European integration by strongly supporting the draft project of the Constitution. The EPP is allied with the more euro-sceptic European Democrats in the European Parliament, forming the EPP-ED group that currently holds 277 seats.