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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 13 APRIL 2014 14 Europe 2014 European People's Party Europe's centre- right political family has the largest group in the EP and most heads of state and government of any political family in the European Council, as well as members in the Commission. Commission President Candidate – Jean-Claude Juncker (Luxembourg) Number of member parties – 74 Key parties – Union for a Popular Movement (France); Chris- tian Democratic Union (Germany); Fidesz (Hungary); Fine Gael (Ireland); Civic Platform (Poland); People's Party (Spain); Mod- erates (Sweden) Party of European Socialists The PES brings together 53 Socialist, Social Democratic and Labour Parties, and is committed to the common values of democracy, equality, solidarity and social justice. Commission President Candidate – Martin Schulz (Germany) Number of member parties – 53 Key parties – Socialist Party (France); Social Democratic Party (Germany); La- bour Party (Ireland); Socialist Workers Party (Spain); Labour Party (UK) Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe The party for lib- eral democrat values in Europe, translat- ing the principle of freedom into poli- tics, economics and all other areas of society Established as the first true transnational political party in 1993. Commission President Candidate – Guy Verhofstadt (Bel- gium) Number of member parties – 55 Key parties – Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Belgium); Free Democrats (Germany); Fianna Fail (Ireland); People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (Netherlands); Liberal Democrats (UK) European Greens The European Green Party is clearly identifiable through its commitment to environmental responsibility, individual free- dom, inclusive democracy, di- versity, gender equality, global sustainable development and non-violence. The first party to hold an open primary to select their leading candidates for a European election. Commission President Candidate – Ska Keller (Germa- ny) & Jose Bove (France) Number of member parties – 40 Key parties – Les Verts (France); The Greens (Germany); Green Party of England and Wales (UK) Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists Formerly part of the EPP, the AECR works ith the ECR group in the EP, in favou of personal liberty, parliamentary democra- cy, national sovereignty, strong families, low taxes, sound mon- ey, free trade and the rule of law. Mainly centre-right. Number of member parties – 17 (plus a number of independent MEPs who have affiliated with the party) Key parties – Civic Democrats (Czech Republic); Inde- pendence Party (Iceland); Law and Justice (Poland); Justice and Development Party (Turkey); Conservative Party (Unit- ed Kingdom). European Left Uniting democratic par- ties of the alternative and progressive Left on the Euro- pean continent – the anti-es- tablishment Left – and calls for "a peaceful and socially just society on the basis of the diversity of our situa- tions, our histories and our common values." Commission President Candidate – Alexis Tsipras (Greece) Number of member parties – 34 Key parties – Communist Party (France); The Left (Germa- ny); Syriza Coalition (Greece); Left Block (Portugal) Movement for a Europe of Liberties and Democracy MELD, the main eurosceptic group, contains parties from the right of the political spectrum, and says it wants coopera- tion among sovereign States in an effort to impede the com- plete bureaucratisation of Europe. MELD believes in respecting Europe's history, traditions and cultural values; national differ- ences and freedom of votes. Number of member parties – 12 Key parties – Danish People's Party (Denmark); True Finns (Finland); Movement for France (France). European Democratic Party The EDP's members are closely affiliated to the ALDE group, and demands a more democratic, inte- grated European Union, closer to its citizens, and claims to intend rebuilding the European project and to offer to the peoples new, audacious but credible solutions, with new perspective. Commission President Candidate – Officially supporting ALDE candidate Guy Verhofstadt. Number of member parties – 9 (plus a number of independ- ent MEPs who have affiliated with the party) Key parties – Democratic Movement (France); Alliance for Italy (Italy); Basque Nationalist Party (Spain) European Free Alliance The European Free Alli- ance (EFA), whose MEPs are part of the Green-EFA group in the EP, brings together 40 progressive nationalist, regionalist and autonomist parties from across the EU who represent stateless nations, regions, and traditional na- tional minorities. The right to self-determination is a corner- stone of EFA's political programme and ideology. Number of member parties – 40 Key parties – New Flemish Alliance (Belgium); Party of the Corsican Nation (France); Plaid Cymru (United Kingdom); Scottish National Party (United Kingdom) European Alliance for Freedom Not connected to the EFA, the European Alliance for Freedom (EAF) collects the right-wing parties of Europe which profess "national freedom and democracy in opposition to centralised, supranational control". The group has expressly banned the Who's in the European Parliament? While MEPs are grouped inside the European Parliament according to political blocs, their own national parties form part of 'European Political Parties', each with their own political programme. Follow this guide to learn more about them