Parliament's seven political groups - Main contents
The European Parliament counts 705 members. Read on to find out in which of the seven political groups your MEP sits.
MEPs organise themselves into political groups, which bring together representatives from different EU countries based on their political affinities.
According to Parliament rules, a political group must be composed of at least 23 MEPs from at least one-quarter of member states (at the moment that would mean from at least seven countries).
MEPs can belong to only one political group, but may choose not to belong to any; they are then called non-attached (in the table above, the non-attached members are designated as NI, from the French abbreviation for “non-inscrits”). Currently, 46 MEPs have opted not to join a political group.
Political groups can be formed at any time during the term. Currently, seven fulfil the criteria.
Political groups enjoy certain advantages: they play an important role in setting the Parliament’s agenda, are allocated more speaking time during debates and are also allocated more office space, staff and money. They also decide on the set up of parliamentary committees and delegations.
Below are the political groups in order of size as of 16 February 2023:
Political group |
Chair or co-chairs |
Number of members |
Manfred Weber (Germany). This is his fourth term as an MEP. He has been chairing the group since 2014 |
176 |
|
Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament (S&D) |
Iratxe García (Spain). MEP since 2004 |
144 |
Stéphane Séjourné (France). He started his first term as MEP in 2019 |
102 |
|
Terry Reintke (Germany) and Philippe Lamberts (Belgium). Reintke has been an MEP since 2014 and became co-president of the group in 2022. Lamberts became an MEP in 2009 and co-president in 2014 |
71 |
|
Marco Zanni (Italy). MEP since 2014 |
64 |
|
Ryszard Legutko (Poland) and Nicola Procaccini (Italy). Legutko has been an MEP since 2009 and became co-chair in 2017. Procaccini became an MEP in 2019 and co-chair in 2023. |
64 |
|
Manon Aubry (France), MEP since 2019, and Martin Schirdewan (Germany), MEP since 2017 |
38 |
Find out more about the political groups and their size in this and previous parliamentary terms on our elections results website.
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