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European Political Parties (Part I: the rules)

by Migeru
Sat Dec 23rd, 2006 at 06:13:52 AM EST

from the diaries. If you remember other diaries on the topic beyond those listed below, please insert them in the comments, we'll update. -- Jérôme

We have had a number of diaries looking at the political spectrum within a given country or even region, of which an incomplete list is below the fold. Now, how do the national political parties fit together? Do they? Is there a European Political Spectrum?

The answer is that, to a large extent, the European Parliament is forcing the European Political Parties to align themselves and form stable cross-national alliances which may one day become pan-european political parties even if currently they are not.

Below the fold, a discussion of the Europe's political spectrum as it manifests itself in the European Parliament.

Our national political party diaries include:
If you know of a diary or story I've missed, mention it in the comments and I'll add it to this list [with a hat tip to DoDo already]

Now for a look at the European integration of political parties...

The Rules

The European Parliament was originally a more or less ceremonial body with little or no power (though that changed gradually, especially in 2002, and has been in evidence since 2004), and it was intended mostly as a way to bring together all the National and Regional political parties in Europe. However, there was a concern that MEPs would align themselves into national blocs rather than along ideological or policy lines, and this was considered undesirable. In order to foster the formation of trans-national political groups, the EP's rules of procedure (and the funding given to political parties) were designed to encourage the formation of cross-border alliances. From Wikipedia:
There has been controversy over Regulation (EC) No 2004/2003, which provides state funding for Europe-wide political parties. This has been seen by some as an attempt to put national political parties disinclined from forming pan-continental blocs on account of Eurosceptic tendencies at a huge financial disadvantage. 25 Members of the European Parliament petitioned the European Court of Justice, arguing that this directive contravened the EU's stated values of pluralism and democracy. However, the case was rejected after eighteen months.
The key point in Regulation (EC) No 2004/2003 is:
Article 3
Conditions
A political party at European level shall satisfy the following conditions:
...
(b) it must be represented, in at least one quarter of Member States, by Members of the European Parliament or in the national Parliaments or regional Parliaments or in the regional assemblies, or
it 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 European Parliament elections;
...
Obviously here "political party at European level" is defined for the purposes of receiving state funding, it doesn't mean that an organisation not satisfying these conditions cannot call itself a "European Political Party". Now, the other leg of the regulations that encourage the formation of transnational groups is in the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament:
Rule 29 : Formation of political groups
1.   Members may form themselves into groups according to their political affinities.
Parliament need not normally evaluate the political affinity of members of a group. In forming a group together under this Rule, Members concerned accept by definition that they have political affinity. Only when this is denied by the Members concerned is it necessary for Parliament to evaluate whether the group has been constituted in conformity with the Rules.
  1.   A political group shall comprise Members elected in at least one-fifth of the Member States. The minimum number of Members required to form a political group shall be nineteen.
  2.   A Member may not belong to more than one political group.
...

Rule 31 : Non-attached Members

  1.   Members who do not belong to a political group shall be provided with a secretariat. The detailed arrangements shall be laid down by the Bureau on a proposal from the Secretary-General.
  2.   The Bureau shall also determine the status and parliamentary rights of such Members.
  3.   The Bureau shall also lay down the rules relating to the provision, implementation and auditing of appropriations entered in Parliament's budget to cover secretarial expenses and administrative facilities of non-attached Members.
The effect of this is greatly diminished power for non-attached members. There are currently 28 Non-inscrits (unattached) members of the EP, from 8 different countries.

Anyway, it is apparent that it is possible to have a European Parliament Group without having a European party recognised for the purposes of funding. Conversely, it is possible for a European Political Party to be recognised for the purposes of funding, but be too small to form a Parliamentary Group by itself: 3% of the vote in 7 member states [funding rule] may not be enough to get 19 MEPs (2.6% of 732, currently) from 5 (will be 6 when Romania and Bulgaria accede) different member states [EP group rule] even taking into account that the EP elections are required to be carried out by proportional representation.

The Groups

There are currenly seven Parliamentary Groups in the European Parliament, plus the Non-inscrits:
PPE-DEGroup of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats
PSESocialist Group in the European Parliament
ALDE/ADLEGroup of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
Verts/ALEGroup of the Greens / European Free Alliance
GUE-NGLConfederal Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left
IND/DEMIndependence/Democracy Group
UENUnion for Europe of the Nations Group
NINon-inscrits/unattached - not a group

The Parties

According to Wikipedia, there are the following European Political Parties (for the purposes of funding)
The below parties, listed by the order of foundation of their ancestor organisations, received official EU recognition and funding during the past financial year:
  • European People's Party: Christian democrats and conservatives
  • Party of European Socialists: social democrats and democratic socialists
  • European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party: liberal democrats and centrists
  • European Free Alliance: pro-devolution, independentist
  • European Green Party: greens
  • Alliance for Europe of the Nations: eurosceptics and nationalists
  • Party of the European Left: socialists and communists
  • European Democratic Party: centrists, European integrationists
The below parties have been founded too recently for confirmation of their recognition to be available.
  • Alliance of Independent Democrats in Europe: centre-right nationalist eurosceptics
  • EUDemocrats: eurosceptics and EU-reformists of centre and centre-left
In addition, there are the following pan-european political organisations

  • European Democrat Union: Regional wing of the International Democrat Union, includes most EPP parties, all MER [Movement for European Reform] parties, plus several others.
  • European Democrats: Loose partnership within the European Parliament of members of the EDU (see above) that are not in the EPP.
  • Nordic Green Left Alliance: Scandinavian socialist greens (ineligible for party status, as it is based in too few member-states)
  • European Christian Political Movement: Christian-fundamentalist parties.
  • European Anticapitalist Left: Network of anticapitalist, mostly broad left-wing parties in Europe.
  • European National Front: Network of far-right parties in Europe.
  • Movement for European Reform: conservative and Atlanticist eurosceptics; plan to form an independent parliamentary group after the 2009 elections to replace the European Democrats.
And a few small "dedicated European-level-only parties"

  • Europe -- Democracy -- Esperanto: Party advocating the introduction of Esperanto as an official language in the European Union.
  • Newropeans: Party founded with the explicit goal of reforming the European democratic institutions and thereafter disbanding itself.
  • Europe United: Newly founded European federalist party.
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European Political Parties (Part I: the rules) | 23 comments (23 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: European Political Parties (Part I: the rules) (4.00 / 5)
As usual, this got too long and I fizzled out, having to just lift stuff from wikipedia...

The next instalments will deal in detail with the composition of the Parliamentary Groups and the Trans-European Parties.

Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. -- Euripides

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Dec 21st, 2006 at 05:40:59 AM EST
Re: European Political Parties (Part I: the rules) (4.00 / 2)
Some you forgot:

An introduction to France's political system by Jerome a Paris 15 June 2005
Germany's changing political landscape by jandsm 7 August 2005
How To Clean Your Name In Hungary by DoDo 12 August 2005
Countdown Germany: Day -0.5 by Saturday 18 September 2005 [includes The long-time table of German election results and German politics now: The times they are a-changin']
German Elections: of women and communists by DoDo 13 October 2005 [includes complete party rundown with last election results]
Ahead of the Slovakian Elections... by DoDo 6 June 2006
Elections in Sweden by someone 5 September 2006


*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Thu Dec 21st, 2006 at 11:39:45 AM EST
Re: European Political Parties (Part I: the rules) (none / 1)
...and of course:

More than you wanted to know about the 25 June Bulgarian elections by gradinski chai 24 June 2005

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Thu Dec 21st, 2006 at 11:46:30 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: European Political Parties (Part I: the rules) (none / 0)
Why, thanks!

Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. -- Euripides
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Dec 21st, 2006 at 12:07:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Migeru (4.00 / 2)
Can you edit the diary so that the above the fold part is smaller, in order for it to be front paged? Thanks.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
by Jerome a Paris (jeromeguillet@yahoo.fr) on Fri Dec 22nd, 2006 at 09:14:31 AM EST
Re: Migeru (none / 0)
Done.

Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. -- Euripides
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Dec 22nd, 2006 at 10:39:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I may add.. (none / 1)
...given this diary set-up, I am thrilling to see the second part...with your take on this possible future process.

A pleasure

I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact. Levi-Strauss, Claude

by kcurie on Sat Dec 23rd, 2006 at 12:26:48 PM EST
second order elections (none / 0)
Something that's very important to keep in mind as you do this is that in most countries European elections are subject to large second order effects.

Basically, this means that in those countries, voters view the election as less important than the national election and vote with their "heart" or "the boot" rather that their "head."  That is to say that even in European parliamentary elections, most voters cast their votes with the intention of getting the chosen party into the national parliament and power.  Not so in second order elections.  In these, because they don't understand or care what the EP does, they cast votes to punish the national political parties.  The more that voters believe that the national political party "system"  is unresponsive to citizen concerns the more likely they are to vote for UKIP or another party of that sort.

There's even a strong argument that this is the reason that the European Constitution failed.  It was in the countries that the national government was unpopulars that the referendums went to their defeat. while in Spain and to a lesser extent Luxembourg they passed with fairly popular national governments.

And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg

by ManfromMiddletown (manfrommiddletown at lycos dot com) on Sat Dec 23rd, 2006 at 03:16:31 PM EST
Re: second order elections (none / 0)
There is no way in Heck Spain would have voted no to the EU "Constitution", regardless of the government. We still have hungups about not being properly European. Only the 6 original members could "safely" vote against it, and two of them did.

Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. -- Euripides
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Dec 23rd, 2006 at 03:38:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: second order elections (none / 0)
Regarless, there's an extensive literature on these second order effects, and the main point they stress is that voters don't vote strategically (ie. instrumentally, or better stated they don't go through the process of deciding which parties are viable before matching their preference to the party that has the best change of acutally entering government.)  Rather they vote against the "establishment parties" as a way of indicating just how angry they are at the national government.  

This effect certainly appeared to be in effect in France and the Netherlands.  In Spain, other intervening variables may have come into play.  If I ever figure out how to build a dataset in R, a free statistical software, I may try to test it further.  This was the basis of the research design in my methodology class.  Methodology is hard, and dissapointing because I only eked out a B in that class, which is not a good grade in American grad school.

Do you anything about R?

And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg

by ManfromMiddletown (manfrommiddletown at lycos dot com) on Sat Dec 23rd, 2006 at 08:30:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: second order elections (none / 0)
I work with S and I have used R to make lots of charts for ET, including the political compass ones. E-mail me about your project and I'll tutor you :-)

Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. -- Euripides
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Dec 24th, 2006 at 05:08:35 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: second order elections (none / 0)
Muchismas gracias.

R is hard.

And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg

by ManfromMiddletown (manfrommiddletown at lycos dot com) on Sun Dec 24th, 2006 at 10:41:41 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: second order elections (none / 0)
Like any programming language, it takes getting used to. There is a "Tao of R", and if you try to use the "Tao of Fortran" to program in R you'll be in no end of pain very quickly.

Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. -- Euripides
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Dec 25th, 2006 at 07:30:33 AM EST
[ Parent ]
R is for Rtatistics (none / 0)
Have you looked at the wiki lately?

http://www.eurotribwiki.com/pmwiki.php/Main/ToolsForAction

Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. -- Euripides

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Dec 24th, 2006 at 05:10:52 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: second order elections (none / 1)
In places like the Netherlands where the Parliament can include 9 parties, what counts as "establishment" and how does the second-order effect manifest itself? Does "establishment" just mean "the few largest parties"?

Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. -- Euripides
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Dec 24th, 2006 at 05:14:02 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: second order elections (none / 0)
Think about how parties like the Greens and UKIP, that are largely unimportant in UK national elections have much larger vote totals in EP elections.  As for the Netherlands, I haven't done enough research to really know, but UK local and EP elections are a prime example of "second order" effects.

It's an anti-system bias, when voters feel that no matter what they do voting for an "established" party isn't going to result in them having their interests represented.  

And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg

by ManfromMiddletown (manfrommiddletown at lycos dot com) on Sun Dec 24th, 2006 at 10:36:21 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: second order elections (none / 1)
In the UK participation at the EP elections is around 25%. This means that single-issue parties who can mobilise their electorate more effectively poll disproportionately high.

Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. -- Euripides
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Dec 25th, 2006 at 07:25:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: second order elections (none / 1)
The UK is FPTP, except in the regional [London, Wales, NI, Scortland] assemblies and the EP, where PR is used. So if you look only at seat allocations, the second-order effects will be magnified. Looking at vote tallies might show a different picture.

Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. -- Euripides
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Dec 26th, 2006 at 09:00:10 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: second order elections (none / 0)
How do the voters choose which "anti-establishment" party to vote for?

Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. -- Euripides
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Dec 24th, 2006 at 05:16:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: second order elections (none / 0)
Weren't you the one who was going to vote for the aseo party in EP elections?

Basically, it's a protest vote that has no instrumental purpose.  Smaller parties campaign on an issue, and voters cast their ballots to raise the salience of that issue, not to elect the party.  Rigid systems like the US aren't immune, witness the effect of the Reform party in 1992 and 1996.

And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg

by ManfromMiddletown (manfrommiddletown at lycos dot com) on Sun Dec 24th, 2006 at 10:39:33 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: second order elections (none / 0)
In proportional representation systems, votes cast to raise the salience of an issue elect single-issue parties.

Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. -- Euripides
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Dec 25th, 2006 at 07:24:25 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: second order elections (none / 0)
Yes, but does it give them a governing majority?

And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
by ManfromMiddletown (manfrommiddletown at lycos dot com) on Mon Dec 25th, 2006 at 12:52:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: second order elections (none / 0)
It is not unusual for a small party to be the king-maker.

Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. -- Euripides
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Dec 25th, 2006 at 01:02:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
European Political Parties (Part I: the rules) | 23 comments (23 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)


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