# Parties in the European Council during 2005

This article describes the party affiliations of the leaders of each member-state represented in the European Council during the year 2005. 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 system of Qualified Majority Voting.

## Summary

| Party | 1 January 2005 | 1 January 2005 | 25 March 2005 | 25 March 2005 | 4 April 2005 | 4 April 2005 | 31 October 2005 | 31 October 2005 | 22 November 2005 | 22 November 2005 |
| Party | # | QMV | # | QMV | # | QMV | # | QMV | # | QMV |
| Party of European Socialists | 7 | 146 | 8 | 158 | 8 | 158 | 7 | 131 | 6 | 102 |
| European People's Party | 12 | 131 | 11 | 119 | 10 | 115 | 10 | 115 | 11 | 144 |
| European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party | 3 | 26 | 3 | 26 | 4 | 30 | 4 | 30 | 4 | 30 |
| Independent | 2 | 11 | 2 | 11 | 2 | 11 | 2 | 11 | 2 | 11 |
| Alliance for Europe of the Nations | 1 | 7 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 34 | 2 | 34 |

## List of leaders (1 January 2005)

| Member-state | Votes | Leader | National party | European party |
| Germany | 29 | Gerhard Schröder | SPD | PES |
| United Kingdom | 29 | Tony Blair | Lab | PES |
| France | 29 | Jacques Chirac | UMP | EPP |
| Italy | 29 | Silvio Berlusconi | FI | EPP |
| Spain | 27 | José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero | PSOE | PES |
| Poland | 27 | Marek Belka | SLD | PES |
| Netherlands | 13 | Jan Peter Balkenende | CDA | EPP |
| Greece | 12 | Kostas Karamanlis | ND | EPP |
| Czech Republic | 12 | Stanislav Gross | ČSSD | PES |
| Belgium | 12 | Guy Verhofstadt | VLD | ELDR |
| Hungary | 12 | Ferenc Gyurcsány | MSZP | PES |
| Portugal | 12 | Pedro Santana Lopes | PPD/PSD | EPP |
| Sweden | 10 | Göran Persson | SAP | PES |
| Austria | 10 | Wolfgang Schüssel | ÖVP | EPP |
| Slovakia | 7 | Mikuláš Dzurinda | SDKÚ | EPP |
| Denmark | 7 | Anders Fogh Rasmussen | V | ELDR |
| Finland | 7 | Matti Vanhanen | Kesk. | ELDR |
| Ireland | 7 | Bertie Ahern | FF | AEN |
| Lithuania | 7 | Valdas Adamkus | Independent | Independent |
| Latvia | 4 | Aigars Kalvītis | TP | EPP |
| Slovenia | 4 | Janez Jansa | SDS | EPP |
| Estonia | 4 | Juhan Parts | RP | EPP |
| Cyprus | 4 | Tassos Papadopoulos | DIKO | Independent |
| Luxembourg | 4 | Jean-Claude Juncker | CSV | EPP |
| Malta | 3 | Lawrence Gonzi | PN | EPP |
^ DIKO's MEP is a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group in the European Parliament, but the party is not formally attached to any pan-European organization.

## Changes during the year
### Affiliation

| Date | Member-state | Leader | National party | European party |
| 25 March | Portugal | José Sócrates | PS | PES |
| 4 April | Estonia | Andrus Ansip | RE | ELDR |
| 31 October | Poland | Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz | PiS | AEN |
| 22 November | Germany | Angela Merkel | CDU | EPP |

### Office-holder only

| Date | Member-state | Leader | National party | European party |
| 25 April | Czech Republic | Jiří Paroubek | ČSSD | PES |