The political groups of the European Parliament are the officially recognised parliamentary groups consisting of legislators of aligned ideologies in the European Parliament.
The European Parliament is unique among supranational assemblies in that its members (MEPs) organise themselves into ideological groups, rather than national cleavages. Each political group is assumed to have a set of core principles, and political groups that cannot demonstrate this may be disbanded (see below).
Non-attached members, also known by the French term Non-Inscrits ([nɔn‿ɛ̃skʁi], NI), are members of the European Parliament (MEPs) who do not belong to one of the recognised political groups, which as May 2025 consisted of 8 groups ranging from left-wing to far-right in their political positions.
These MEPs may be members of a national party, or of a European political party; however, for a political grouping to be formed in the European Parliament there need to be 23 MEPs from seven countries. Being part of a group grants access to state funds and committee seats, but the group members must be ideologically tied. Groups of convenience, such as the Technical Group of Independents, previously existed, but are no longer allowed, and the minimum requirements for group formation have been raised, forcing parties and MEPs without ideological similarity to already existing groupings to sit as non-inscrits. Whilst some groups of MEPs who sit as non-inscrits may share similar views and express an intention to form new groupings between themselves in the future, non-inscrits as a whole have no specific ties to each other, other than their mutual lack of a political grouping.
The Left in the European Parliament (The Left) is a left-wing political group of the European Parliament established in 1995. Prior to January 2021 it was named the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (French: Gauche unitaire européenne/Gauche verte nordique, GUE/NGL).
The group is mainly composed of democratic socialist parties, as well as some communist parties, the social democratic Greek Syriza and the populist Italian Five Star Movement.
The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) is the political group in the European Parliament of the Party of European Socialists (PES). The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats was officially founded as a Socialist Group on 29 June 1953, which makes it the second oldest political group in the European Parliament after the European People's Party Group (EPP Group). It adopted its present-day name on 23 June 2009. Centre-left in orientation, the group mostly comprises social democratic parties and is affiliated with the Progressive Alliance and Socialist International.
Until the 1999 European Parliament elections, it was the largest group in the Parliament, but since then it has always been the second-largest group. During the eighth EU Parliament Assembly, the S&D was the only Parliament group with representation from all 27 EU member states. In the current EU Parliament the S&D is currently composed of 136 members from 25 member states.
The Europe of Sovereign Nations Group (ESN; French: L'Europe des Nations Souveraines, ENS; German: Europa der Souveränen Nationen) is a far-right political group in the European Parliament, formed on 10 July 2024 as the smallest group ahead of the 10th European Parliament. Its members previously belonged to the Identity and Democracy group, the European Conservatives and Reformists Group or were non-attached.
The president of the European Parliament presides over the debates and activities of the European Parliament. They also represent the Parliament within the European Union (EU) and internationally. The president's signature is required for laws initiated under co-decision and the EU budget.
Presidents serve 2.5-year terms, normally alternating between the two major political parties. There have been 30 presidents since the Parliament was created in 1952, 17 of whom have served since the first parliamentary election in 1979. Three presidents have been women and most have come from the older member states.
The European Green Party (EGP), also referred to as European Greens, is a transnational, European political party representing national parties from across Europe who share Green values.
The European Greens works closely with the Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) parliamentary group in the European Parliament which is formed by elected Green party members along with the European Free Alliance, European Pirate Party and Volt Europa. The European Greens' partners include its youth wing the Federation of Young European Greens (FYEG), the Green European Foundation (GEF) and the Global Greens family.
The European Free Alliance (EFA) is a European political party that consists of various regionalist, separatist and minority political parties in Europe. Member parties advocate either for full political independence and sovereignty, or some form of devolution or self-governance for their country or region. The party has generally limited its membership to centre-left and left-wing parties; therefore, only a fraction of European regionalist parties are members of the EFA. Since 1999, the EFA and the European Green Party (EGP) have joined forces within Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) group in the European Parliament, although some EFA members have joined other groups from time to time, for example the New Flemish Alliance which sits with the European Conservatives and Reformists Group.
The EFA is represented in the European Council by Bart De Wever of the New Flemish Alliance, who has served as Prime Minister of Belgium since 2025. Two EU regions are led by EFA politicians: Flanders with Matthias Diependaele of the New Flemish Alliance and Corsica with Gilles Simeoni of Femu a Corsica. Additionally, Scotland is led by John Swinney of the Scottish National Party.
The Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE Group) was the liberal–centrist political group of the European Parliament from 2004 until 2019 when it merged into Renew Europe.
ALDE was made up of MEPs from two European political parties, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and the European Democratic Party, which collectively form the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.