Parties in the European Council during 2003

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The member-states of the European Union by the European party affiliations of their leaders, as of 1st January, 2003.
The member-states of the European Union by the European party affiliations of their leaders, as of 1st January, 2003.

This article describes the party affiliations of the leaders of each member-state represented in the European Council during the year 2003. The list below gives the political party that each head of government, or head of state, belonged to at the national level, as well as the European political alliance to which that national party belonged. The states are listed from most to least populous. More populous states have greater influence in the council, in accordance with the system of Qualified Majority Voting.

During the period in question there was a change of the governing party only in Finland. In April Anneli Jäätteenmäki of the Centre Party succeeded Paavo Lipponen of the Social Democrats as State Minister (prime minister of Finland). She remained in office only until June when she resigned in a corruption scandal. She was succeeded by Matti Vanhanen from her own party.

Contents

[edit] Summary

Party January 1, 2003 December 31, 2003
# QMV # QMV
European People's Party 7 44 7 44
Party of European Socialists 5 32 4 29
European Liberal, Democrat, and Reform Group 2 8 3 11
Alliance for Europe of the Nations 1 3 1 3

[edit] List of leaders (January 1, 2003)

Member-state Votes Leader National party European party
Germany 10 Gerhard Schröder SPD PES
France 10 Jacques Chirac UMP EPP
United Kingdom 10 Tony Blair Labour PES
Italy 10 Silvio Berlusconi Forza Italia EPP
Spain 8 José María Aznar López PP EPP
Netherlands 5 Jan Peter Balkenende CDA EPP
Greece 5 Costas Simitis PASOK PES
Belgium 5 Guy Verhofstadt VLD ELDR
Portugal 5 José Manuel Durão Barroso PSD EPP
Sweden 4 Göran Persson SAP PES
Austria 4 Wolfgang Schüssel ÖVP EPP
Denmark 3 Anders Fogh Rasmussen Venstre ELDR
Finland 3 Paavo Lipponen SDP PES
Ireland, Republic of 3 Bertie Ahern Fianna Fáil AEN
Luxembourg 2 Jean-Claude Juncker CSV EPP

[edit] Changes

[edit] Change of affiliation

Date Member-state Leader National party European group
17 April Finland Anneli Jäätteenmäki Centre Party ELDR

[edit] Change of office-holder only


[edit] See also

[edit] External links