The new face of the European Parliament

On 4-7 June 2009, European citizens elected their new representatives at the European Parliament for the next five years. At 43%, the turnout was the lowest one ever in the history of the EP.

736 MEPs were elected under the Nice Treaty procedure. However, should the Lisbon Treaty be ratified, the EP will count 754 seats (from 2014, the count will decrease to 751 seats as Germany will drop 3 seats). Most of the Member States have adopted legislation to fill these 18 extra seats, but uncertainty remains as to when these MEPs would join the EP and get full voting rights.

7 European political groups

MEPs sit in European political groups [1].

25 Members are needed to form a political group coming from at least one-quarter of the Member States (7 countries). Members cannot belong to more than one political group. Some Members do not belong to any political group and are known as non-attached Members.

After the 2009 elections, some political groups have been reorganised. For example, the MEPs elected from the British Conservative and Unionist Party as well as others left the group formerly known as the EPP-ED and created a new one: the European Conservatives and Reformists Group.

Here is the list of the seven current political groups in the EP, the number of members in each group and the chairperson :
 Group of the European People’s Party (EPP) : 265, Joseph Daul ;
 Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament (S&D) : 184, Martin Schultz ;
 Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) : 84, Guy Verhofstadt ;
 Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance (GREENS/ EFA) : 55, Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Rebecca Harms ;
 European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR) : 54, Michał Tomasz Kamiński ;
 Confederal Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left (GUE/ NGL) : 35, Lothar Biski ;
 Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group (EFD) : 32, Nigel Farage and Francesco Speroni.

In addition, there are 27 Non Attached MEPs.

Which MEPs are interested in health ?

Among the 736 MEPs, almost half of the newly elected MEPs have expressed interest in public health issues in various ways.

 9 MEPs are former Ministers of Health or have a related portfolio (Czech Republic, Portugal, UK, Ireland, Greece, Hungary).
 Around 15 MEPs are doctors in medicine or health-related science.
 19 MEPs were members of the previous Health and Consumer Intergroup.

Next steps

 14-17 September: the second plenary session of the European Parliament will take place. The major event of this session will be the hearing of President Barroso during which MEPs will ask questions. You can access the full Agenda here.

For further information

 EP’s webpage on the election results

 EP’s webpage on the new MEPs

 ENVI Calendar of meetings

 You are not in Strasbourg? Watch the EP Live by clicking here

EPHA related articles

 Jerzy Buzek elected President of the European Parliament

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