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According to the latest projections, the top five national delegations in the coming term could be France’s Rassemblement National with 31 seats; Germany’s CDU/CSU with 28 seats; Spain’s Partido Popular with 23 seats; and Spain’s Socialists (PSOE) and Poland’s centre-right parties—both tied in fifth place with 20 seats each.
The European Parliament comprises political groups, where each national party sits alongside like-minded colleagues from other EU countries.
Bigger national delegations have a wide range of benefits, such as more money allocated from the Parliament’s budget, more leverage in negotiations, more chances to get leading positions such as committee chairmanships, and a bigger weight in shaping the overall parliamentary agenda.
For instance, the Spanish Socialists’ weight and influence within the S&D group ultimately allowed them to score 10 out of 20 coordination posts in the last term with each group’s political leader in the committees. Furthermore, Spain’s ties with Latin America translated into S&D demanding the chairmanship of the Euro-Latin American assembly in 2019.
The Spanish delegation (Partido Popular) within the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) is projected to grow to 23 seats. At the same time, Poland’s two centre-right parties, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s Civic Coalition and Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe, though running separately, will sit together in the EPP with 20 projected seats.
