# Parties in the European Council during 2017

This article describes the party affiliations of leaders of each member state represented in the European Council during the year 2017. The list below gives the political party that each head of government, or head of state, belongs to at the national level, as well as the European political alliance to which that national party belongs. The states are listed from most to least populous. More populous states have greater influence in the council, in accordance with the qualified majority system.

## Summary

| Party | Party | 1 January 2017 | 1 January 2017 | 27 January | 27 January | 4 May | 4 May | 14 May | 14 May | 13 December | 13 December | 18 December | 18 December |
| Party | Party | # | Pop.% | # | Pop.% | # | Pop.% | # | Pop.% | # | Pop.% | # | Pop.% |
| | European People's Party | 10 | 35.78% | 9 | 34.97% | 10 | 35.78% | 10 | 35.78% | 10 | 35.78% | 11 | 37.49% |
| | Party of European Socialists | 8 | 33.83% | 8 | 33.83% | 8 | 33.83% | 7 | 20.73% | 6 | 18.66% | 5 | 16.95% |
| | Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party | 6 | 7.46% | 6 | 7.46% | 6 | 7.46% | 6 | 7.46% | 7 | 9.53% | 7 | 9.53% |
| | Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists | 2 | 20.28% | 2 | 20.28% | 2 | 20.28% | 2 | 20.28% | 2 | 20.28% | 2 | 20.28% |
| | Party of the European Left | 1 | 2.10% | 1 | 2.10% | 1 | 2.10% | 1 | 2.10% | 1 | 2.10% | 1 | 2.10% |
| | Independent | 1 | 0.56% | 2 | 1.37% | 1 | 0.56% | 2 | 13.66% | 2 | 13.66% | 2 | 13.66% |

## List of leaders (1 January 2017)

| Member state | Pop.% | Leader | Party |
| Germany | 16.18% | Angela Merkel | CDU-EPP |
| France | 13.10% | François Hollande | PS-PES |
| United Kingdom | 12.86% | Theresa May | Con-AECR |
| Italy | 11.84% | Paolo Gentiloni | PD-PES |
| Spain | 9.09% | Mariano Rajoy | PP-EPP |
| Poland | 7.42% | Beata Szydło | PiS-EACR |
| Romania | 3.84% | Klaus Iohannis | Ind.-EPP |
| Netherlands | 3.34% | Mark Rutte | VVD-ALDE |
| Belgium | 2.22% | Charles Michel | MR-ALDE |
| Greece | 2.10% | Alexis Tsipras | SYRIZA-PEL |
| Czech Republic | 2.07% | Bohuslav Sobotka | ČSSD-PES |
| Portugal | 2.01% | António Costa | PS-PES |
| Sweden | 1.95% | Stefan Löfven | S-PES |
| Hungary | 1.91% | Viktor Orbán | Fidesz-EPP |
| Austria | 1.71% | Christian Kern | SPÖ-PES |
| Bulgaria | 1.39% | Boyko Borisov | GERB-EPP |
| Denmark | 1.12% | Lars Løkke Rasmussen | V-ALDE |
| Finland | 1.08% | Alexander Stubb | Kok.-EPP |
| Slovakia | 1.06% | Robert Fico | SMER-SD-PES |
| Ireland | 0.93% | Enda Kenny | FG-EPP |
| Croatia | 0.81% | Andrej Plenković | HDZ-EPP |
| Lithuania | 0.56% | Dalia Grybauskaitė | Ind. |
| Slovenia | 0.40% | Miro Cerar | SMC-ALDE |
| Latvia | 0.38% | Māris Kučinskis | V-EPP |
| Estonia | 0.26% | Jüri Ratas | K-ALDE |
| Cyprus | 0.17% | Nicos Anastasiades | DISY-EPP |
| Luxembourg | 0.12% | Xavier Bettel | DP-ALDE |
| Malta | 0.09% | Joseph Muscat | PL-EPP |
* ↑ Supported by PNL

## Changes

| Date | State | Former | Former | Former | Newer | Newer | Newer |
| Date | State | Leader | Party | Party | Leader | Party | Party |
| 27 January | Bulgaria | Boyko Borisov | | GERB-EPP | Ognyan Gerdzhikov | | Ind. |
| 4 May | Bulgaria | Ognyan Gerdzhikov | | Ind. | Boyko Borisov | | GERB-EPP |
| 14 May | France | François Hollande | | PS-PES | Emmanuel Macron | | LREM-NI |
| 14 June | Ireland | Enda Kenny | | FG-EPP | Leo Varadkar | | FG-EPP |
| 11 December | Poland | Beata Szydło | | PiS-EACR | Mateusz Morawiecki | | PiS-EACR |
| 13 December | Czech Republic | Bohuslav Sobotka | | ČSSD-PES | Andrej Babiš | | ANO-ALDE |
| 18 December | Austria | Christian Kern | | SPÖ-PES | Sebastian Kurz | | ÖVP-EPP |