List of parties in the European Parliament
Although these bodies listed below often refer to themselves as
political parties, they are in fact political coalitions created through expediency. They are made up of members of the
European Parliament who contest elections under the banner of various political parties in the individual member states of the
European Union who upon election agree to join with other members of the parliament in parties close in ideals and political ambitions to their own. They do this to allow for greater co-ordination of political activity and to access resources that are made available to officially recognised groupings inside the parliament.
They are not political parties in the conventional sense, in that no one stands in elections under these banners, and they do not have an agreed manifesto.