Organisation
The GUE-NGL is a confederal group: it is composed of MEPs from national parties. Those national parties must share common political objectives with the group, as specified in the group's constituent declaration. Nevertheless, those national parties, not the group, retain control of their MEPs. Thus, the Group may be divided on certain issues.Members of the group meet regularly to prepare for meetings, debate on policies and vote on resolutions. The group also publishes reports on various topics (World Trade Organization, asbestos, sexual slavery, et al).
Subgroups
It combines the European United Left subgroup (which consists of a core of parties that are in the Party of the European Left and a periphery of unaffiliated leftist parties) and the Nordic Green Left subgroup consisting of MEPs from the Nordic Green Left Alliance parties of Sweden and Finland.Position
The group is opposed to the present European political structure, but "deeply committed to the construction of Europe", as specified in the group's constituent declaration. That declaration sets out three aims for the construction of another Europe: the total change of institutions to make them "fully democratic"; a new model of development and ecology aimed at creating a "social space" and breaking with neoliberalism; and a policy of co-development and equitable cooperation.The group is ambiguous between reformism and revolution, leaving it up to each party to decide on the manner they deem best suited to achieve these 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 Union" which would abolish the Maastricht Treaty.
History
In 1995, the enlargement of the European Union led to the creation of the Nordic Green Left. The Nordic Green Left merged with the Confederal Group of the European United Left on 6 January 1995,and the resultant Group was called the Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left. It consisted of MEPs from the Finnish Left Alliance, Swedish Left Party, the Danish Socialist People's Party, United Left of Spain (including the Spanish Communist Party), the Greek Synaspismos, the French Communist Party, Portuguese Communist Party, the Communist Party of Greece, and the Communist Refoundation Party of Italy.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 joined as associate members.
In 2002, four MEPs from the French Citizen and Republican Movement also joined the group.
In 2004, no MEPs were elected from LO-LCR and DIKKI was dissolved. MEPs from the Portuguese Left Bloc, the Irish Sinn Féin, the Cypriot Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL) and the Czech Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia joined the group.
Membership
MEPs may be full or associate members.- Full members must accept the constitutional declaration of the Group.
- Associate members need not fully do so but may sit with the full members.
National parties may be full or associate members.
- 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.
Member parties
The following national political parties are full or associate members.| Country | National Member Party | Subgroup | MEPs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Progressive Party of Working People | UEL² | 2 | |
| Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia | UEL² | 6 | |
| Left Alliance | NGL | 1 | |
| French Communist Party | UEL1 | 3 | |
| The Left | UEL1 | 7 | |
| Communist Party of Greece | UEL³ | 3 | |
| Synaspismos | UEL1 | 1 | |
| Sinn Féin | UEL³ | 1 | |
| (Northern Ireland) | 1 | ||
| Communist Refoundation Party | UEL1 | 5 | |
| Party of Italian Communists | UEL² | 2 | |
| Socialist Party | UEL³ | 2 | |
| Portuguese Communist Party | UEL³ | 2 | |
| United Left | UEL1 | 1 | |
| Left Party | NGL | 2 | |
| Associate Parties with MEPs | |||
| Left Bloc | UEL1 | 1 | |
| Associate Parties without MEPs | |||
| The Left | UEL1 | ||
| Socialist Alliance Party | UEL1 | ||
| Communist Party of Slovakia | UEL² | ||
| Associate Parties from outside the EU | |||
| Socialist Left Party | NGL | ||
| Swiss Labour Party | UEL1 | ||
| Parties with MEPs as Associate Members of the Parliamentary Group | |||
| People's Movement against the EU | 1 | ||
Notes
- 1 - Party is a member of the Party of the European Left (PEL)
- ² - Party is an observer in the PEL
- ³ - Party is unaffiliated to either PEL or NGLA
Sources
- Democracy in the European Parliament
- Political Groups Annual Accounts 2001-2006
- Political Groups of the European Parliament
- Group names 1999
- European Parliament MEP Archives
- Europe Politique
- European United Left–Nordic Green Left official website
References
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Tuesday July 22, 2008 at 21:30:13 PDT (GMT -0700)
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