The Left in the European Parliament
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox European Parliament group The Left in the European Parliament (The Left) is a left-wing political group of the European Parliament established in 1995.<ref name="Staab2011">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Left-wing" /> Prior to January 2021 it was named the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (Template:Langx, GUE/NGL).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The group is mainly composed of democratic socialist parties, as well as some communist parties and the Italian Five Star Movement.<ref name="Trechsel2013">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="CasierJongerden2010">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Refn
History
[edit]Formation
[edit]In 1995, the enlargement of the European Union led to the creation of the Nordic Green Left (NGL) group of parties. The NGL merged with the Confederal Group of the European United Left (GUE) on 6 January 1995,<ref name="t1s4"/> forming the Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left.<ref name="t1s5">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s6">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t1s40">Template:Cite web</ref> The NGL suffix was added to the name of the expanded group at the insistence of Swedish and Finnish MEPs.<ref name="RaunioTiilikainen2013">Template:Cite book</ref> The group initially consisted of MEPs from the Finnish Left Alliance, the Swedish Left Party, the Danish Socialist People's Party, the United Left of Spain (including the Spanish Communist Party), the Synaspismos of Greece, the French Communist Party, the Portuguese Communist Party, the Communist Party of Greece, and the Communist Refoundation Party of Italy.
In 1998 Ken Coates, an MEP expelled from the UK Labour Party and who co-founded the Independent Labour Network, joined the group.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1999 the German Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and the Greek Democratic Social Movement (DIKKI) joined as full members, while the five MEPs elected from the list of the French Trotskyist alliance LO–LCR and the one MEP for the Dutch Socialist Party joined as associate members.
In 2002 four MEPs from the French Citizen and Republican Movement and one from the Danish People's Movement against the EU also joined the group. In 2004 no MEPs were elected from LO–LCR and DIKKI — which was undergoing a dispute with its leader over the party constitution — and the French Citizen and Republican Movement did not put forward candidates. MEPs from the Portuguese Left Bloc, the Irish Sinn Féin, the Progressive Party of Working People of Cyprus, and the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia joined the group. The Danish Socialist People's Party, a member of the Nordic Green Left, left the group to instead sit in the Greens–European Free Alliance group.Template:Citation needed
In 2009 no MEPs were elected from the Italian Communist Refoundation Party and the Finnish Left Alliance. MEPs from the Irish Socialist Party, the Socialist Party of Latvia, and the French Left Party joined the group.Template:Citation needed
In 2013 one MEP from the Croatian Labourists – Labour Party also joined the group. In 2014 no MEPs were elected from the Irish Socialist Party, the Socialist Party of Latvia, and the Croatian Labourists – Labour Party. MEPs from the Spanish Podemos as well as EH Bildu and the Dutch Party for the Animals joined the group, while MEPs from the Italian Communist Refoundation Party and the Finnish Left Alliance re-entered parliament and rejoined. The Communist Party of Greece, a founding member of the group, decided to leave and instead sit as Non-Inscrits.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2019 no MEPs were elected from the French Communist Party, the Danish People's Movement against the EU, the Dutch Socialist Party, and from the Italian parties The Left and the Communist Refoundation Party. MEPs from the French La France insoumise, the Belgian Workers' Party of Belgium, the German Human Environment Animal Protection Party, the Irish Independents 4 Change, and the Danish Red-Green Alliance joined the group.
10th European Parliament (2024–present)
[edit]In 2024 MEPs from the Italian parties Italian Left and Five Star Movement joined the group.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Positions
[edit]According to its 1994 constituent declaration, the group is opposed to the present European Union political structure, but it is committed to integration.<ref name="guengl">Template:Cite web</ref> That declaration sets out three aims for the construction of another European Union, the total change of institutions to make them fully democratic, breaking with neoliberal monetarist policies, and a policy of co-development and equitable cooperation.Template:Citation needed The group wants to disband the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and strengthen the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).Template:Citation neededTemplate:Update inline
The group is divided between reformism and revolution, leaving it up to each party to decide on the manner they deem best suited to achieve their aims. As such, it has simultaneously positioned itself as insiders within the European institutions, enabling it to influence the decisions made by co-decision; and as outsiders by its willingness to seek another Europe, which would abolish the Maastricht Treaty.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
GUE/NGL has been split on the issue of Russia. On 1 March 2022, 7 MEPs out of the group's 37 voted against the parliament's resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while 10 also abstained in the vote that passed 637–14.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Even before the war, there have been tensions in the group, especially with the Irish MEPs Mick Wallace and Clare Daly working to defuse sanctions on Russia placed because of the downing of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Member parties
[edit]MEPs may be full or associate members.Template:Cn
- Full members must accept the constitutional declaration of the group.
- Associate members need not fully do so, but they may sit with the full members.
National parties may be full or associate members.Template:Cn
- Full member parties must accept the constitutional declaration of the group.
- Associate member parties may include parties that do not have MEPs (e. g., French Trotskyist parties which did not get elected in the 2004 European elections), are from states that are not part of the European Union, or do not wish to be full members.
MEPs
[edit]10th European Parliament
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9th European Parliament
[edit]The initial member parties for the 9th European Parliament was determined at the first meeting on 29 May 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
8th European Parliament
[edit]7th European Parliament
[edit]6th European Parliament
[edit]5th European Parliament
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4th European Parliament
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Organization
[edit]Presidents
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- Since 2019 The Left group has had two co-chairpeople.
European Parliament results
[edit]| Election year | No. of overall seats won |
+/– |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Template:Composition bar | |
| 1999 | Template:Composition bar | 8 Template:Increase |
| 2004 | Template:Composition bar | 1 Template:Decrease |
| 2009 | Template:Composition bar | 6 Template:Decrease |
| 2014 | Template:Composition bar | 17 Template:Increase |
| 2019 | Template:Composition bar | 11 Template:Decrease |
| 2024 | Template:Composition bar | 6 Template:Increase |
See also
[edit]- European Anti-Capitalist Left
- Initiative of Communist and Workers' Parties
- List of communist parties represented in European Parliament
- Now the People
- Party of the European Left
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]Template:European Parliament groups Template:Party of the European Left Template:Political organisations at European Union level