How we work
EPP Group Members, like all Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), are elected locally by voters in their Member State to represent local people's interests on legislative and policy issues at the European level, guided by the overall position of their Group.
Members of the European Parliament are organised by political affiliation rather than country and may only belong to at most one political Group. The EPP Group is the largest of the European Parliament's eight political Groups.
The EPP Group's core activity in the European Parliament (EP) is legislative work. The EP carries out the majority of its work through specialised Committees, which draw up, amend and adopt legislative proposals and reports. Our Members are represented in these Parliamentary Committees, where they hold many leadership positions in proportion to our Group's size.
Our Working Groups
The topics covered by the EP's Committees are vast and wide-ranging. To reflect this, we organise our work in committees by Working Groups. Our four Working Groups, which are each headed up by one of our Vice-Chairs, represent our key priority areas:
These Working Groups formulate a high-level, coordinated EPP Group position on the reports and resolutions that the EP is voting on at the Parliamentary Committee and plenary level.
The EPP Group first prepares the EPP position at Committee level. The Working Groups then meet before each plenary. Here, our Members discuss the reports, resolutions and other items in their specific policy fields to forge a common EPP Group line to take at the votes in the upcoming EP plenary session.
As the largest political Group in the Parliament, we are in a stronger position than any other, not only for setting the political agenda but also for winning the most critical votes. In fact, since 1999, we have been on the winning side of more votes than any other Group in the EP's monthly plenary sessions.
Within the European People's Party
The European People's Party (EPP) is the EU's largest and most influential political family. Its core activity is to formulate long-term political platforms, serve as a focal point of contact for politicians of Europe's centre-right, and act as a political anchor for parties in non-EU European countries. The EPP holds regular congresses where representatives of member parties, national governments and organisations within the EPP family, such as the EPP Group, come together to discuss the political programme and determine the political direction of the EPP.
In addition, EU Heads of State and Government belonging to the EPP meet before every European Council to discuss the European Council agenda and coordinate political positions. These EPP Summits, as we call them, are an opportunity for us to discuss current affairs with our European counterparts.
The EPP Group brings together those EPP representatives who are elected Members of the European Parliament. The Group is represented in each of the Party's main bodies: the Congress, Political Assembly and Presidency.
The Group
- Led by the Chair
- Made up of the Chair, 10 Vice-Chairs, the Bureau and the Assembly
Working Groups
- Led by a Vice-Chair
- Drive the work of groups of committees under a particular theme
Relations outside the EU
- Our strategic priorities for the EU’s external relations are driven by Vice-Chairs responsible for specific regions
- This drives the work of Members in the Interparliamentary Delegations
Interparliamentary Delegations
- Members from the Group sit in all Interparliamentary Delegations
- Some as Chairs or Vice-Chairs of the delegations
- Over the past years, the role of Interparliamentary Delegations has become increasingly important, effectively becoming a form of parliamentary diplomacy – they develop the Parliament’s international relations with a specific country or a group of countries in a region
Our Group in the European Parliament
Since 4 June 2014, Manfred Weber has presided over our Group in his capacity as EPP Group Chair. EPP Group Members elected him as Chair for a renewable term of two and a half years that has been renovated every time since then. The Presidency, Bureau and Working Groups then assist Mr. Weber on a wide range of issues in the European Parliament.
Our Presidency brings together our Chair and ten Vice-Chairs, who head up our Working Groups and other Parliamentary activities. The Presidency leads our Members in plenary sittings and represents our Group externally.
Our Bureau comprises the Presidency along with the Heads of National Delegations and other Group Members involved in the European Parliament's functions (a full list is available in our Rules of Procedure). Our Bureau is responsible for preparing the Parliamentary plenary sessions, highlighting the questions most relevant to the Group from the perspectives of our National Delegations.
As the highest organ of the EPP Group, the Group Assembly consists of all the Group's Members. The Assembly's role includes:
Taking decisions on all political matters dealt with inside or outside the European Parliament.
Electing the Group's Presidency.
Setting up Working Groups.
Appointing Group Members to vacancies set aside for the EPP Group in European Parliament bodies.
- Manfred Weber
- Chair
- Ten Vice-Chairs
- Presidency
- Heads of National Delegations
- Vice-Presidents and Quaestors of Parliament belonging to the Group
- EP Committee Chairs belonging to the Group
- Group Coordinators within EP Committees
- President and Secretary-General of the EPP if they are also MEPs
- One co-opted Member for every ten Members of a national delegation
- All the Group's Members
- Members also sit within their national delegation
- And are organised by national delegation within the Group
- Secretary-General, seven Directors and Group staff
- Ensures the smooth running of the Group
- Entrusted with administrative and secretarial duties