European political parties – mostly consisting of national member parties, and few individual members – have the right to campaign during theEuropean elections, for which they often adopt manifestos outlining their positions and ambitions. Ahead of the elections, some of them designate their preferred candidate (known asSpitzenkandidat or lead candidate) to be the next President of theEuropean Commission. The work of European parties can be supplemented by that of an officially affiliatedEuropean political foundation; foundations are independent from European parties and contribute to the public debate on policy issues and European integration.[3]
European parties' counterparts in theEuropean Parliament are the Parliament'spolitical groups.[4] European parties influence the decision-making process of theEuropean Council through coordination meetings with their affiliated heads of state and government.[5] They also work closely with their members in the European Commission.
In addition to the registered European political parties, manyother entities are politically active at the European level without meeting the criteria for registration or wishing to register.
The first European political parties formed during the 1970s, in the run-up to the first elections of the European Parliament by directuniversal suffrage (adopted in 1976, and taking place for thefirst time in 1979). In 1973, following the enlargement of theEuropean Community to Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, the enlarged Socialist congress met in Bonn and inaugurated theConfederation of the Socialist Parties of the European Community.[6] In March 1976, theFederation of Liberal and Democrat Parties in Europe was founded in Stuttgart by parties from Denmark, France, Germany Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.[7] A few months later, in July, party representatives from Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands met in Luxembourg and founded theEuropean People's Party.[8]
Maastricht Treaty (1992), recognising the existence of European political parties
In 1992, Section 41 of theTreaty of Maastricht[9] added Article 138a to theTreaty of Rome. Article 138a (the so calledparty article) stated that "Political parties at European level are important as a factor for integration within the Union. They contribute to forming a European awareness and to expressing the political will of the citizens of the Union", thus officially recognising the existence of European political parties.
In 1997, theTreaty of Amsterdam[10] established who should pay for expenditure authorised by the party article (renumbered Article 191). This provided a mechanism whereby European parties could be paid out of the budget of the European Union, and European parties started to spend the money. Such expenditure included the funding of national parties, an outcome not originally intended.
In June 2000, theEuropean Court of Auditors considered that the funding of European political parties should not be carried out using appropriations made forpolitical groups in the European Parliament, as had long been the case.[11] This decision led the 2001Treaty of Nice to add a second paragraph to Article 191 of theTreaty on the Functioning of the European Union (at the time, the "Treaty establishing the European Economic Community") to explicitly allow the funding of European political parties from the budget of the European Union.[12] The new paragraph stated that "the Council, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251, shall lay down the regulations governing political parties at European level and in particular the rules regarding their funding." The reference to "Article 251" refers to theco-decision procedure, which involves both the European Parliament and theCouncil as co-legislators.
In November 2003, the European Parliament and theCouncil of the European Union adopted Regulation 2004/2003 "on the regulations governing political parties at European level and the rules regarding their funding". Regulation 2004/2003 provided the first official definition of European political parties and created a framework for their public funding.[13]
This framework provided that, out of a total envelope for European parties, 15% would be distributed equally (the lump sum), and 85% would be distributed in proportion to each party's number ofmembers of the European Parliament (MEP-based funding). Additionally, public funding could not exceed 75% of a European party's reimbursable expenditure (referred to as the "co-financing rate"); this means that European parties were required to raise 25% of their budget from specific private sources ("own resources"), such as donations or member contributions. Regulation 2004/2003 also introduced transparency obligations, limitations on donations, and prohibitions on spending, including a ban on the direct or indirect funding of national parties and candidates.[14]
The Regulation was later detailed by the Decision of the Bureau of the European Parliament of 29 March 2004[15] and amended by Regulation 1524/2007.[16]
In particular, Regulation 1524/2007 clarified the funding framework and changed the co-financing rate, allowing public funding from the general budget of the European Union to reach 85% of European parties' reimbursable expenditure. This change meant that European parties were only requested to provide 15% in private co-financing.
Regulation 1524/2007 also allowed European parties to set up affiliatedEuropean political foundations, separate entities contributing to the debate on European issues, organising conferences, and carrying out research, and linking like-minded national political foundations. Finally, the revised regulation explicitly allows European parties to finance campaigns conducted for elections to the European Parliament.
Vĕra Jourová, former Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Values and Transparency, and Pascal Schonard, Director of the APPF
In October 2014, the European Parliament and the Council adopted Regulation 1141/2014, which replaced Regulation 2004/2003 and overhauled the framework for European political parties and foundations, including by giving them a European legal status.[17] It also established the Authority for the European political parties and European political foundations (APPF),[18] a standalone entity for the purpose of registering, controlling, and imposing sanctions on European parties and foundations.
Regulation 1141/2014 applied as of 1 January 2017, and covered the activities of European parties and foundations starting with the financial year 2018. Since then, applications for public funding are placed with the APPF, but decisions on funding remain with the European Parliament.
In May 2018, the European Parliament and the Council adopted Regulation 2018/673, which amended Regulation 1141/2014 by detailing provisions relating to the registration of political parties and foundations, and transparency regarding political programmes and party logos.[19]
Among others, Regulation 2018/673 introduced a number of changes, including the following:[20]
within the overall amount of public funding available, the shares of the lump sum and of the MEP-based funding were brought, respectively, to 10 and 90% (compared with 15 and 85% before); and
European parties' co-financing rate was brought down to 10% (compared to 15% before).
In March 2019, the European Parliament and the Council adopted Regulation 2019/493, which further amended Regulation 1141/2014.[21] Changes focused mostly on the use of personal data by European political parties and foundations. The modalities of the implementation of the Regulation were later updated by the Decision of the Bureau of the European Parliament of 1 July 2019.[22]
In June 2021, in line with Article 38 of Regulation 1141/2014, MEPsCharles Goerens (ALDE) andRainer Wieland (EPP) of the European Parliament'sCommittee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) presented a draft report on the implementation of the Regulation. With regards to funding, the draft report called on the Commission and co-legislators to clarify the definition of indirect funding from European political parties and foundations to national member parties, remove the ban on financing referendum campaigns on European issues, allow the funding of European parties from non-EU national parties (which, following Brexit, meant that political parties in the UK could no longer finance European parties), broaden the categories of private funding, decrease European parties' co-financing rate, and simplify accounting procedures.[23]
In November 2021, theEuropean Commission proposed a text for a new regulation aimed at replacing Regulation 1141/2021, using therecast procedure.[24] The Commission's document proposes a definition of political advertising, strengthens provisions on gender balance, clarifies the requirements for the display of the logo of the European political party by its member parties, and extends the obligation to comply with EU values to member parties. With regards to funding, this proposal retained the European Parliament's suggestion to lower European parties' co-financing rate (decreasing it from 10% down to 5%, and down to 0% in election years). It also included a new category of "own resources", allowing European parties to raise private funding from specific economic activities, such as seminar fees or publication sales; funding from this new category would be capped at 5% of European parties' budget. Finally, it proposed allowing European parties to receive contributions from national member parties located in non-EU members of theCouncil of Europe.[25] The European Parliament's AFCO Committee criticised the decision of the European Commission to opt for the recast method, which effectively limits discussions to the provisions of the Regulation which the Commission has decided to modify and prevents a wider review of the Regulation.[26]
In March 2022, theCouncil of the European Union adopted a political agreement (its own negotiating position).[27] In July 2022, the European Parliament's AFCO Committee adopted its own position, which was endorsed by the Plenary in September 2022.[26][28]Trilogues between the European Parliament, Council of the European Union, and European Commission took place in September, October and November 2022, and in March 2023, but did not reach an agreement.
In October 2024,Loránt Vincze and Charles Goerens were appointed rapporteurs for the new parliamentary term. In June 2025, the Council and Parliament reached a provisional agreement, to be formally submitted to both institutions for adoption. Among others, the agreed text required national member parties (and not only European parties themselves) to respect EU values and gender balance, allowed associated parties (from specific non-EU countries) to collaborate but not sway decisions or pay membership fees, and amended financing rules by increasing the maximum share of public funding from 90 to 95% and allowing a limited amount of self-generated income. The Parliament approved the agreement in plenary on 21 October, while theGeneral Affairs Council adopted it on 17 November. Most provisions are expected to enter into force on 1 January 2026.[29][30]
Timeline of European political parties (1973–2025)
Article 3 of Regulation 1141/2014 lists the following criteria for an entity to register as a European political party with the APPF:[31]
It must be a political alliance, which is defined, in Article 2, as a "structured cooperation between political parties and/or citizens";[note 2] Additionally, in its November 2020 ACRE v Parliament ruling, the General Court of the European Union clarified that "citizen", as used in Regulation 1141/2014, meant "Union citizens", and that political parties outside of the EU could not be regarded as political parties within the meaning of Regulation 1141/2014 because they were not composed of Union citizens.[32]
it must have its seat in a Member State, as indicated in its statutes;
its member parties must be represented by, in at least one quarter of the Member States, members of the European Parliament, of national parliaments, of regional parliaments or of regional assemblies, or it or its member parties must have received, in at least one quarter of the Member States, at least three per cent of the votes cast in each of those Member States at the most recent elections to the European Parliament;
its member parties must not be members of another European political party;
it must observe, in particular in its programme and activities, the values on which the Union is founded, as expressed in Article 2 TEU;[33]
it or its members must have participated in elections to the European Parliament, or have expressed publicly the intention to participate in the next elections to the European Parliament; and
it must not pursue profit goals.
Additionally, Article 4 imposes the following conditions regarding European parties' governance:[34]
the statutes must comply with the relevant laws of the Member State in which the party has its seat;
the statutes must include provisions covering the following:
the name and logo of the party, which must be clearly distinguishable from those of other European parties and foundations;
the address of its seat;
a political programme setting out its purpose and objectives;
a statement that it does not pursue for-profit goals;
the name of its affiliated political foundation and a description of the formal relationship between them (if applicable);
its administrative and financial organisation and procedures, specifying in particular the bodies and offices holding the powers of administrative, financial and legal representation and the rules on the establishment, approval and verification of annual accounts; and
the internal procedure to be followed in the event of its voluntary dissolution;
the statutes must also include provisions on internal party organisation covering at least the following:
the modalities for the admission, resignation and exclusion of its members, the list of its member parties being annexed to the statutes;
the rights and duties associated with all types of membership and the relevant voting rights;
the powers, responsibilities and composition of its governing bodies, specifying for each the criteria for the selection of candidates and the modalities for their appointment and dismissal;
its internal decision-making processes, in particular the voting procedures and quorum requirements;
its approach to transparency, in particular in relation to bookkeeping, accounts and donations, privacy and the protection of personal data; and
European political parties are mostly made up of national member parties. Additionally, European citizens can become individual members of some European parties, depending on the provisions of those parties' statutes.
The count of MEPsfor the purpose of European public funding is separate from the question of individual membership, as MEPs are considered "members of a European party" primarily if they are members of a European party's national member parties. As a result, many European parties have more MEPs than they have individual members.
Member parties are national political parties with some form of membership described in the statutes of the European political party. In itsNovember 2020 ACRE v Parliament ruling, the General Court of the European Union clarified that political parties outside of the EU could not be regarded as political parties within the meaning of Regulation 1141/2014, because they were not composed of Union citizens.[35]
In its guidance, the APPF that European parties "are free to cooperate with parties or organisations by means of ancillary forms of association (e.g., observers, partners, associates, affiliates)", but only amember can be claimed to meet the registration criteria, and only they can provide member contributions. Being considered a member "requires a genuine membership link with the European political party", which includes "a full range of rights and obligations [...] in particular voting/participation/access to documents" and "an appropriate membership fee".[36]
There is no legal definition of what constitutes individual membership, leading European parties to define them differently. A common trait is their absence of, or limited, input in party decision-making; some parties comprise internal bodies representing individual members with a collective vote, others do not provide them with voting rights at all.
The chart below shows the evolution of individual members per European political party, as reported by the European Parliament.[37]
European parties use public and private funding to finance their activities; public funding refers exclusively to funding from thegeneral budget of the European Union, and cannot directly come from Member States or third countries, or entities under their control.
With regards to public funding, each year, the European Parliament allocates a total amount of money to fund European political parties qualifying for European public funding: 10% of this amount is distributed via a lump sum, allocated equally to all qualifying European parties, while 90% is distributed in proportion to each party's share MEPs.
For the financial year 2025, European political parties were allocated a total of €46 million.[38] Depending on their own application for European public funding and on their amount of "reimbursable expenses", European parties may eventually receive less than their maximum allocation. European public funding accounts for the vast majority of European parties' income.[39]
For instance, the comparison of maximum allocations and final amounts of public funding for the year 2021 was as follows:[40]
With regards to private funding, European parties mostly receive financial contributions from their national member parties, which, in turn, almost always receive public funding from Member States. Donations from legal persons and, especially, from individuals only play a limited role.[41]
The APPF monitors donations and contributions to European political parties, and publishes a yearly list of political donors.
The APPF can deregister a European political party if:
it has been found guilty of engaging in illegal activities detrimental to the financial interests of the Union;
it no longer fulfils one or more of the registration criteria;
the decision to register the party was based on incorrect or misleading information; and
it has seriously failed to fulfil its obligations under national law .
The APPF can apply financial sanctions to a European party if:
it has failed to submit amendments to its statutes or an updated list of its member parties in due time;
it does not comply with its governance obligations;
it has failed to transmit the list of donors and their corresponding donations in due time;
it does not comply with its accounting or reporting obligations;
it is found guilty of engaging in illegal activities detrimental to the financial interests of the Union;
it has omitted information or provided false or misleading information;
it has abused the rules of personal data protection to influence elections to the European Parliament;
it has accepted unlawful donations or contributions; and
it has infringed on the prohibitions of funding.
Additionally, the European Parliament may exclude a European party from future public funding for up to 10 years if it has engaged in illegal activities detrimental to the financial interests of the Union, or has omitted information or provided false or misleading information.
For "non-quantifiable infringements", the financial sanction ranges from 5 to 20% of the annual budget of the European political party, and 50% of its annual budget when it has engaged in illegal activities detrimental to the financial interests of the Union.
For "quantifiable infringements", the financial sanction ranges from 100 to 300% of the irregular sums received or not reported, up to a maximum of 10% of the party's annual budget.
In October 2023, the APPF sanctioned theIdentity and Democracy Party (now Patriots.eu) for "intentionally providing incorrect information about its board composition to the public". The financial sanction applied amounted to 5% of the party's annual budget, or €47,021.[43][44][45] However, on 10 September 2025, theEuropean Court of Justice overturned the APPF's decision, arguing that the obligation befalling European parties covered the transmission of information to controlling bodies and not to the general public.[46]
In January 2025, the APPF sanctioned theFoundation for European Progressive Studies, the political foundation affiliated to theParty of European Socialists, for funding a conference in London and its subsequent book which "fell outside the scope of the tasks of a European political foundation" and "amounted to indirect funding of the UK Labour Party". The financial sanction applied amounted to 100% of FEPS's funding for the activity, or €35,960.[47]
In addition to the registered European political parties, many other entities are politically active at the European level without meeting the criteria for registration or wishing to register. They differ by their level of integration, their purpose, and their membership.
Some are strongly centralised and resemble national parties but operating across Europe, such asVolt Europa orDiEM25; they are often referred to or refer to themselves as "transnational parties" or "movements", and sometimes erroneously as "European parties".
Others are more loosely organised and act as networks or fora for national political parties. These entities sometimes provide a common electoral platform for theEuropean elections for their members.
Political groups of the European Parliament are the officially recognisedparliamentary groups consisting of legislators of aligned ideologies in the European Parliament. Each political group is assumed to have a set of common political principles.
A political group of the European Parliament usually constitutes the formal parliamentary representation of one or two of the European political parties, sometimes supplemented by members from other national political parties or independent politicians. It is strictly forbidden for political groups to organise or finance political campaigns during European elections, since this is the exclusive responsibility of European parties.[79]
The framework for the funding of European political parties has been criticised for not providing a level-playing field for smaller parties and for making European parties too dependent on public funding.
Under the current framework for public funding, 90% of the total envelope for European parties is distributed in proportion to parties' number of MEPs. This high reliance on MEPs directly disadvantages smaller parties failing to meet national electoral thresholds for European elections.[80] As a result, votes under an electoral threshold do not lead to public funding. In their draft report on the implementation of Regulation 1141/2014, rapporteursCharles Goerens andRainer Wieland called for the distribution of public funding to be based on the number of votes received in the last European elections.[23] The implementation report adopted by the European Parliament's AFCO Committee called on the Commission to assess whether vote-based funding schemes could be used, and noted that this change could increase turnout and promote pluralism.[81]
The European Free Alliance also proposed to reduce the share of public funding distributed in proportion to parties' number of MEPs from 90 to 85%. This was the share of MEP-based funding between 2004 and 2018, prior to the entry into force of Regulation 1141/2014.[82] This would increase the share of public funding distributed equally among European parties (thelump sum).
In practice, public funding accounts for 85-90% of European parties' income. While this reliance on public funding means that European parties are not beholden to private interests or wealthy donors, this extremely high percentage means that European parties only have a limited incentive to reach out to citizens for support. This is particularly true since most of European parties' private income (the remaining 10–15%) stems from national member parties' contributions, which includes national public funding. As a result, direct donations from citizens to European parties are marginal; several European parties, including theEPP andPES, the two largest European parties, do not raise donations from individuals.[83] European parties themselves have continuously called for the decrease of their co-financing rate, stating that private funds were difficult to raise. This rate stood at 25% in 2004, at 15% in 2007, and at 10% since 2018; following calls from the European Parliament, the European Commission proposed bringing this rate down to 5%, and to 0% in election years.[84]
More generally, the current public funding framework was criticised for failing to reward other important aspects of political parties than electoral performance, such as the enrollment of individual members or the raising of private donations from citizens.[85]
Articles 22 prohibits European political parties from directly or indirectly funding other political parties, in particular national parties or candidates, and from financing referendum campaigns. While the prohibition on the funding of national parties was set in place in order to avoid the diversion of European public funding to national parties and national politics, it also prevents the consolidation of links between national and European political parties. Additionally, European parties have complained that this phrasing was difficult to reconcile with that of Article 21 allowing European parties to campaign for European elections.
In its 2021 report on the implementation of Regulation 1141/2014, the European Parliament opined that the ban on financing referendum campaigns on EU issues went against the purpose of European political parties, and called for this prohibition to be lifted.[86]
Regulation 1141/2014 was criticised for its lack of transparency on European party funding. Currently, the APPF provides the identity of individual donors for donations above €3,000 per year, and between €1,500 and €3,000 if the donor gave their consent. As of 2024,[update] no donation between €1,500 and €3,000 was ever published with the identity of an individual donor. In their draft report on the implementation of Regulation 1141/2014, rapporteurs Charles Goerens and Rainer Wieland called for an obligation to report publicly on all donations, regardless of their value;[87] other MEPs proposed to intensify scrutiny for donations under €500 per year and per donor.[88]
In its "Logos Project" report of April 2021, analysing the visibility of European parties' logos on the websites of their national member parties, European Democracy Consulting found that "national member parties overwhelmingly fail to properly implement the Regulation’s display requirement and to ensure the necessary visibility of their link to their European party of affiliation."[89] This conclusion was upheld by the European Parliament in its implementation report of Regulation 1141/2014, which recalled the requirement to "display the logo, political programme and website link of their European party of affiliation on their websites 'in a clearly visible and user-friendly manner'", and expressed its concern that "according to European Democracy Consulting’s Logos project, national member parties overwhelmingly fail to properly implement the Regulation's display requirement, as only 15 % of them display the logo in a clear and user-friendly manner".[86] Accordingly, the European Parliament called on the Commission "to provide clear requirements and detailed guidelines related to the visibility of the European political party of affiliation in order to ensure enforcement of Article 18(2)(a) of the Regulation on displaying European political parties' logos alongside the logos of national or regional parties".[86]
Finally, the APPF and European Parliament were criticised for publishing information on the funding of European parties on separate websites, and, in the case of the European Parliament, on a sub-website dedicated to "contracts and grants", further limiting the visibility and coherence of the information provided to citizens.[90] Meanwhile, Article 32.1 of Regulation 1141/2014 calls on the European Parliament and APPF to publish information "on a website created for that purpose", seemingly calling for all information to be reported on a single platform.[91]
^Article 10.4 of the 2007 Treaty on European Union states that "political parties at European level contribute to forming European political awareness" and Regulation 1524/2007 of December 2007 establishes "the regulations governing political parties at European level and the rules regarding their funding". However, Regulation 1141/2014, adopted in October 2014, is "on the statute and funding of European political parties" and its Article 2 establishes a definition of "European political party".
^In turn, Article 1 defines a political party as "an association of citizens which pursues political objectives, and which is either recognised by, or established in accordance with, the legal order of at least one Member State".
^The note of the Secretary-General of the European Parliament on the 2016 final reports of political parties and foundations at European level states that the ADDE was "under dissolution procedure since 26/04/2017" and that, "ADDE was awarded a grant for the financial year 2016 and was obliged to submit the 2016 final report by 30 June 2017. The party did not comply with this obligation." As a result, the note proposes "that the Bureau initiates the two procedures for termination of the 2016 grant decisions for the ADDE party and its affiliated foundation IDDE." With regards to the grant for 2017, the note indicates that "as a result [of the dissolution procedure], the Bureau initiated the termination procedure of the 2017 grant decision for ADDE pursuant to Article 11.9.2 (e) of the grant award decision. The Bureau confirmed on 1 November 2017 that the termination procedure shall be continued."
^The note of the Secretary-General of the European Parliament on the 2017 final reports of political parties and foundations at European level states that "one party and one foundation, for which the pre-financing has not been paid, have neither cooperated with the external auditor nor submitted a final report for the financial year 2017. All attempts of the European Parliament services to contact the respective beneficiaries remained unsuccessful. It appears that the two entities ceased their activities. Considering the circumstances and the non-cooperation with the European Parliament it is proposed that the Bureau sets the final grant amount to zero." Later, it concludes that "for all 22 beneficiaries mentioned in this note (except for EUD, CVF and FP) [...] it is therefore proposed to approve the final reports." Since EUD had waived its request for a grant, this only leaves Coalition pour la vie et la famille (CVF) and its affiliated Pegasus Foundation (FP) as the "one party and one foundation" referred to above. Annex 1 of the note confirms that no pre-financing had been paid to these two entities.
^The note of the Secretary-General of the European Parliament on the 2017 final reports of political parties and foundations at European level states that, "subject to dissolution procedure, the party [had] waived the 2017 grant."
^The note of the Secretary-General of the European Parliament on the 2009 final reports of political parties and foundations at European level states that "an initial positive decision on the tenth applicant, the Libertas Party Limited was later suspended; consequently a grant agreement was never signed."
^abcdefghiDemetriou, Kyriakos (2014).The European Union in Crisis : Explorations in Representation and Democratic Legitimacy. Springer. p. 46.ISBN9783319087740.
^abFitzGibbon, John; Leruth, Benjamin; Startin, Nick (2016).Euroscepticism as a Transnational and Pan-European Phenomenon : The Emergence of a New Sphere of Opposition. Routledge. p. 198.ISBN9781317422501.
^Shaffer, Ryan (2018). "Pan-European thought in British fascism: the International Third Position and the Alliance for Peace and Freedom".Patterns of Prejudice.52:78–99.doi:10.1080/0031322X.2017.1417191.S2CID148834755.The APF was founded in 2015 as a pan-European political party that included dozens of leading fascist officials from parties throughout Europe...
^"EPFO Wikibase".European Party Funding Observatory. European Democracy Consulting Stiftung. Retrieved19 September 2024.
^Calossi, Enrico (2016).Anti-Austerity Left Parties in the European Union. Competition, Coordination, Integration. Pisa: Pisa University Press. p. 19.ISBN978-886741-6653.
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European Union
