European United Left/Nordic Green Left European Parliament group
GUE/NGL logo
Name	European United Left/Nordic Green Left
English abbr.	GUE/NGL[1]
French abbr.	GUE/NGL[2][3]
Formal name	Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left[2][4][5]
Ideology	Democratic socialism
European parties	Party of the European Left European Anticapitalist Left
Associated organisations	Nordic Green Left Alliance
From	6 January 1995[6]
To	n/a
Preceded by	European United Left (1994–1995)
Succeeded by	n/a
Chaired by	Alonso José Puerta (1999-2004),[5] Francis Wurtz (2004-2009) Lothar Bisky (2009-2012) Gabriele Zimmer (2012-)
MEP(s)	42 (July 20, 1999), 41 (July 20, 2004), 35 (July 20, 2009), 34 (June 21, 2011)
Website	http://www.guengl.eu

European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) is a left-wing political group with seats in the European Parliament since 1995.

  Position

According to its 1994 constituent declaration, the group is opposed to the present European political structure, but committed to integration.^[7] That declaration sets out three aims for the construction of another Europe: the total change of institutions to make them "fully democratic"; and breaking with "neo-liberal monetarist policies"; and a policy of co-development and equitable cooperation. The group wants to disband NATO and "strengthen the OSCE".

The group is ambiguous between reformism and revolution, leaving it up to each party to decide on the manner they deem best suited to achieve these aims. As such, it has simultaneously positioned itself as "insiders" within the European institutions, enabling it to influence the decisions made by co-decision, and as "outsiders" by its willingness to seek "another Union" which would abolish the Maastricht Treaty.

  Organisation

The GUE/NGL is a confederal group: it is composed of MEPs from national parties. Those national parties must share common political objectives with the group, as specified in the group's constituent declaration. Nevertheless, those national parties, not the group, retain control of their MEPs. Thus, the Group may be divided on certain issues.

Members of the group meet regularly to prepare for meetings, debate on policies and vote on resolutions. The group also publishes reports on various topics.^{[citation needed]}

  Membership

MEPs may be full or associate members.

• Full members must accept the constitutional declaration of the Group.
• Associate members need not fully do so but may sit with the full members.

National parties may be full or associate members.

• Full member parties must accept the constitutional declaration of the Group.
• Associate member parties may include parties that do not have MEPs (e.g., French Trotskyist parties which did not get elected in the 2004 European elections), are from states that are not part of the European Union, or do not wish to be full members.

  Member parties

  The GUE/NGL has MEPs from 13 states, including seven with more than one MEP (in burgundy) and six with one MEP each (in light puce).

Country	Electoral Group	National Party	MEPs	MEPs
Cyprus	Progressive Party of Working People2		2	Takis Hadjigeorgiou Kyriacos Triantaphyllides
Czech Republic	Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia2		4	Jaromír Kohlíček Jiří Maštálka Miloslav Ransdorf Vladimír Remek
Denmark	People's Movement against the EU	Red-Green Alliance1	1	Søren Søndergaard
France	Left Front	French Communist Party1	2	Jacky Hénin Patrick Le Hyaric
		Left Party1	1	Jean-Luc Mélenchon
		Communist Party of Réunion	1	Élie Hoarau
		Independent	1	Marie-Christine Vergiat
Germany	The Left1		8	Lothar Bisky Cornelia Ernst Thomas Händel Jürgen Klute Sabine Lösing Helmut Scholz Sabine Wils Gabriele Zimmer
Greece	Communist Party of Greece		2	Charalampos Angourakis Giorgos Toussas
	Coalition of the Radical Left	Synaspismós1	1	Nikolaos Chountis
Ireland	United Left Alliance	Socialist Party	1	Paul Murphy
Latvia	Harmony Centre	Socialist Party of Latvia	1	Alfrēds Rubiks
Netherlands	Socialist Party		2	Dennis de Jong Kartika Liotard
Portugal	Left Bloc1		3, later 2	Marisa Matias Miguel Portas
	Democratic Unity Coalition	Portuguese Communist Party	2	João Ferreira Ilda Figueiredo
Spain	United Left1	Communist Party of Spain1	1	Willy Meyer Pleite
Sweden	Left Party3		1	Mikael Gustafsson
United Kingdom (Northern Ireland)	Sinn Féin		1	Martina Anderson4

Notes

• ¹ - Party is a member of the Party of the European Left (PEL)
• ² - Party is an observer of the PEL
• ³ - Party is a member of the Nordic Green Left Alliance (NGLA)
• ⁴ - Replaced Bairbre de Brún^[8]

  History

In 1995, the enlargement of the European Union led to the creation of the Nordic Green Left group of parties. The Nordic Green Left merged with the Confederal Group of the European United Left on 6 January 1995,^[6] forming the Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left.^[2][4][5] It consisted of MEPs from the Finnish Left Alliance, Swedish Left Party, the Danish Socialist People's Party, United Left of Spain (including the Spanish Communist Party), the Greek Synaspismos, the French Communist Party, Portuguese Communist Party, the Communist Party of Greece, and the Communist Refoundation Party of Italy.

In 1999, the German Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and the Greek Democratic Social Movement (DIKKI) joined as full members, while the five MEPs elected from the list of the French Trotskyist alliance LO-LCR joined as associate members.

In 2002, four MEPs from the French Citizen and Republican Movement also joined the group.

In 2004, no MEPs were elected from LO-LCR and DIKKI was dissolved. MEPs from the Portuguese Left Bloc, the Irish Sinn Féin, the Cypriot Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL) and the Czech Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia joined the group.

  Sources

• Democracy in the European Parliament^[1]
• Political Groups Annual Accounts 2001-2006^[2]
• Political Groups of the European Parliament^[3]
• Group names 1999^[4]
• European Parliament MEP Archives^[5]
• Europe Politique^[6]
• European United Left–Nordic Green Left official website^[7]

  References