How we work
14 May 2010
back to previous pageWith the European People's Party
The MEPs that form the EPP Group in the European Parliament are elected on the lists of national parties that are members of the European People's Party (EPP), the first transnational European political party formed in 1976. The EPP currently includes a total of 72 full member, associate member and observer member parties from 39 EU and non-EU countries. EPP member parties cover the entire spectrum of centre-right political ideology and together form the largest political family in Europe.
The European People's Party is an independent legal entity governed by Regulation (EC) No 1524, revised on 18/12/2007, which among others provides "financing of campaigns conducted by the political parties at European level in the context of European Parliament elections….in particular in order to highlight the European character of those elections" (preamble, point 6).
Prior to every meeting of the European Council (the European Summit attended by the Heads of the 27 EU Member States), the Party traditionally holds the EPP Summit of Heads of State and Government, Party Leaders and EU Institution Presidents. The EPP Summit prepares the Council agenda and formulates EPP positions which influence the final decisions of the European Council. The EPP currently has 14 out of the 27 Heads of State and Government which are members of the European Council. The Party also holds EPP Ministerial meetings prior to the meetings of the Council of Ministers and also organises ad hoc meetings with the 13 EPP members of the Barroso II Commission.
The European People's Party also has leading political groups in other European forums, namely in the Committee of the Regions, and in the Parliamentary Assemblies of the Council of Europe, the Western European Union (WEU) and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
The EPP Group in the European Parliament plays an active role in all EPP activities and is represented in its main bodies: the Congress, the Political Assembly and the Presidency, where Group Chairman Joseph Daul is an ex officio member. The current President of the EPP, Wilfried Martens, was also Chairman of the EPP Group during the 1994-99 parliamentary term.
The Presidency of the European People’s Party
President:
Wilfried Martens
Ex officio members:
José Manuel Barroso, Herman Van Rompuy, Jerzy Buzek, Joseph Daul
Secretary-General:
Antonio López-Istúriz
Vice-Presidents:
Michel Barnier, Antonio Tajani, Viktor Orbán, Jyrki Katainen, Enda Kenny, Peter Hintze, Mário David, Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, Corien Wortmann-Kool, Rumiana Jeleva
Treasurer:
Ingo Friedrich
