Previous 
 Next 
Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament
8th parliamentary term - January 2017
EPUB 161kPDF 956k
CONTENTS
INDEX
NOTE TO THE READER

TITLE I  : MEMBERS, PARLIAMENT BODIES AND POLITICAL GROUPS
CHAPTER 4  : POLITICAL GROUPS

Rule 32  : Establishment and dissolution of political groups

1.    Members may form themselves into groups according to their political affinities.

Parliament need not normally evaluate the political affinity of members of a group. In forming a group together under this Rule, the Members concerned accept by definition that they have political affinity. Only when this is denied by the Members concerned is it necessary for Parliament to evaluate whether the group has been constituted in accordance with the Rules.

2.    A political group shall consist of Members elected in at least one-quarter of the Member States. The minimum number of Members required to form a political group shall be 25.

3.    If a group falls below one of the required thresholds, the President, with the agreement of the Conference of Presidents, may allow it to continue to exist until Parliament's next constitutive sitting, provided the following conditions are met:

-    the members continue to represent at least one-fifth of the Member States;

-    the group has been in existence for a period that is longer than a year.

The President shall not apply this derogation where there is sufficient evidence to suspect that it is being abused.

4.    A Member may not belong to more than one political group.

5.    The President shall be notified in a statement when a political group is set up. That statement shall specify the name of the group and the names of its members and bureau members. It shall be signed by all members of the group.

6.    The statement shall be annexed to the minutes of the part-session during which the announcement of the establishment of the political group is made.

7.    The President shall announce the establishment of political groups in Parliament. Such announcement shall have retroactive legal effect from the moment when the group notified its establishment to the President in accordance with this Rule.

The President shall also announce the dissolution of political groups in Parliament. Such an announcement will take legal effect on the day following that on which the political group no longer met the conditions for existence.

Legal notice - Privacy policy