Parties in the European Council during 2009

This article describes the party affiliations of leaders of each member-state represented in the European Council during the year 2009. The list below gives the political party that each head of government, or head of state, belongs to at the national level, as well as the European political alliance to which that national party belongs. 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.

Contents

Summary

Party 1 January 2009 12 March 2009 14 April 2009 16 April 2009 8 May 2009 27 July 2009 6 October 2009
# QMV # QMV # QMV # QMV # QMV # QMV # QMV
European People's Party 12 189 13 193 13 193 13 193 13 193 14 203 13 191
Party of European Socialists 8 111 8 111 7 99 7 99 7 99 6 89 7 101
European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party 4 22 3 18 3 18 4 25 4 25 4 25 4 25
Independent 0 0 0 0 1 12 1 12 2 24 2 24 2 24
Party of the European Left 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4
Movement for European Reform[1] 1 12 1 12 1 12 1 12 0 0 0 0 0 0
Alliance for Europe of the Nations 1 7 1 7 1 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

List of leaders (1 January 2009)

Member-state Votes Leader National party European party
Germany 29 Angela Merkel CDU EPP
United Kingdom 29 Gordon Brown Labour PES
France 29 Nicolas Sarkozy UMP EPP
Italy 29 Silvio Berlusconi Forza Italia EPP
Spain 27 José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero PSOE PES
Poland 27 Donald Tusk PO EPP
Romania 14 Emil Boc PD-L EPP
The Netherlands 13 Jan Peter Balkenende CDA EPP
Greece 12 Kostas Karamanlis ND EPP
Czech Republic 12 Mirek Topolánek ODS MER
Belgium 12 Herman Van Rompuy CD&V EPP
Hungary 12 Ferenc Gyurcsány MSZP PES
Portugal 12 José Sócrates PS PES
Sweden 10 Fredrik Reinfeldt Moderates EPP
Austria 10 Werner Faymann SPÖ PES
Bulgaria 10 Sergey Stanishev BSP PES
Slovakia 7 Robert Fico Direction PES
Denmark 7 Anders Fogh Rasmussen Venstre ELDR
Finland 7 Matti Vanhanen Centre Party ELDR
Ireland, Republic of 7 Brian Cowen Fianna Fáil AEN
Lithuania 7 Andrius Kubilius TS–LKD EPP
Latvia 4 Ivars Godmanis LC ELDR
Slovenia 4 Borut Pahor SD PES
Estonia 4 Andrus Ansip Reformierakond ELDR
Cyprus, Republic of 4 Dimitris Christofias AKEL PEL[1]
Luxembourg 4 Jean-Claude Juncker CSV EPP
Malta 3 Lawrence Gonzi PN EPP

^ AKEL holds only observer status with the Party of the European Left.

Changes

Affiliation

Date Member-state Leader National party European party
12 March Latvia Valdis Dombrovskis JL EPP
14 April Hungary Gordon Bajnai Independent
16 April Ireland, Republic of [2] n/a n/a ELDR
8 May Czech Republic Jan Fischer Independent
27 July Bulgaria Boyko Borisov GERB EPP
6 October Greece George Papandreou PASOK PES

^ – Fianna Fáil, which held office under Brian Cowen, left the AEN and became an ELDR member.

Office-holder only

Date Member-state Leader National party European party
5 April Denmark Lars Løkke Rasmussen Venstre ELDR
25 November Belgium Yves Leterme CD&V EPP

National party changes

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ The Movement for European Reform never officially sought recognition as a European political party, and on 1 October 2009 the members instead founded a organization under the title Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists that did.

External links

List of meetings · President · Party composition (1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 (Jan–Apr) • 2004 (May–Dec) • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012)
European Union Portal