# The Left in the European Parliament

The Left in the European Parliament (The Left) is a left-wing political group of the European Parliament established in 1995. Prior to January 2021 it was named the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (French: Gauche unitaire européenne/Gauche verte nordique, GUE/NGL).
The group is mainly composed of political parties with democratic socialist, anti-capitalist, and Eurosceptic orientations, as well as communist parties and the Italian Five Star Movement.

## History
### Formation

In 1995, the enlargement of the European Union led to the creation of the Nordic Green Left (NGL) group of parties. The NGL merged with the Confederal Group of the European United Left (GUE) on 6 January 1995, forming the Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left. The NGL suffix was added to the name of the expanded group at the insistence of Swedish and Finnish MEPs. The group initially consisted of MEPs from the Finnish Left Alliance, the Swedish Left Party, the Danish Socialist People's Party, the United Left of Spain (including the Spanish Communist Party), the Synaspismos of Greece, the French Communist Party, the Portuguese Communist Party, the Communist Party of Greece, and the Communist Refoundation Party of Italy.
In 1998 Ken Coates, an MEP expelled from the UK Labour Party and who co-founded the Independent Labour Network, joined the group.
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 and the one MEP for the Dutch Socialist Party joined as associate members.
In 2002 four MEPs from the French Citizen and Republican Movement and one from the Danish People's Movement against the EU also joined the group. In 2004 no MEPs were elected from LO–LCR and DIKKI — which was undergoing a dispute with its leader over the party constitution — and the French Citizen and Republican Movement did not put forward candidates. MEPs from the Portuguese Left Bloc, the Irish Sinn Féin, the Progressive Party of Working People of Cyprus, and the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia joined the group. The Danish Socialist People's Party, a member of the Nordic Green Left, left the group to instead sit in the Greens–European Free Alliance group.
In 2009 no MEPs were elected from the Italian Communist Refoundation Party and the Finnish Left Alliance. MEPs from the Irish Socialist Party, the Socialist Party of Latvia, and the French Left Party joined the group.
In 2013 one MEP from the Croatian Labourists – Labour Party also joined the group. In 2014 no MEPs were elected from the Irish Socialist Party, the Socialist Party of Latvia, and the Croatian Labourists – Labour Party. MEPs from the Spanish Podemos as well as EH Bildu and the Dutch Party for the Animals joined the group, while MEPs from the Italian Communist Refoundation Party and the Finnish Left Alliance re-entered parliament and rejoined. The Communist Party of Greece, a founding member of the group, decided to leave and instead sit as Non-Inscrits.
In 2019 no MEPs were elected from the French Communist Party, the Danish People's Movement against the EU, the Dutch Socialist Party, and from the Italian parties The Left and the Communist Refoundation Party. MEPs from the French La France insoumise, the Belgian Workers' Party of Belgium, the German Human Environment Animal Protection Party, the Irish Independents 4 Change, and the Danish Red-Green Alliance joined the group.

### 10th European Parliament (2024–present)

In 2024 MEPs from the Italian parties Italian Left and Five Star Movement joined the group.

## Positions

According to its 1994 constituent declaration, the group is opposed to the present European Union political structure, but it is committed to integration. That declaration sets out three aims for the construction of another European Union, the total change of institutions to make them fully democratic, breaking with neoliberal monetarist policies, and a policy of co-development and equitable cooperation. The group wants to disband the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and strengthen the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
The group is divided between reformism and revolution, leaving it up to each party to decide on the manner they deem best suited to achieve their 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 Europe, which would abolish the Maastricht Treaty.
GUE/NGL has been split on the issue of Russia. On 1 March 2022, 7 MEPs out of the group's 37 voted against the parliament's resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while 10 also abstained in the vote that passed 637–14. Even before the war, there have been tensions in the group, especially with the Irish MEPs Mick Wallace and Clare Daly working to defuse sanctions on Russia placed because of the downing of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.

### Member parties

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 they 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.

## MEPs
### 10th European Parliament

| State | National party | European party | European party | MEPs |
| Belgium | Workers' Party of Belgium | | None | 1 / 22 |
| Belgium | Independent Rudi Kennes | | Independent | 1 / 22 |
| Cyprus | Progressive Party of Working People | | None / PEL (observer) | 1 / 6 |
| Denmark | Red–Green Alliance | | ELA | 1 / 15 |
| Finland | Left Alliance | | ELA | 3 / 15 |
| France | La France Insoumise | | ELA | 9 / 81 |
| Germany | The Left | | PEL | 2 / 96 |
| Germany | Human Environment Animal Protection Party | | Animal Politics EU | 1 / 96 |
| Germany | Independent Carola Rackete | | Independent | 1 / 96 |
| Greece | Syriza | | PEL | 4 / 21 |
| Ireland | Sinn Féin | | None | 2 / 14 |
| Ireland | Independent Luke 'Ming' Flanagan | | Independent | 1 / 14 |
| Italy | Five Star Movement | | None | 8 / 76 |
| Italy | Italian Left | | None / PEL (observer) | 2 / 76 |
| Netherlands | Party for the Animals | | Animal Politics EU | 1 / 31 |
| Portugal | Left Bloc | | ELA | 1 / 21 |
| Portugal | Portuguese Communist Party | | None | 1 / 21 |
| Spain | Podemos | | ELA | 2 / 61 |
| Spain | Movimiento Sumar | | None | 1 / 61 |
| Spain | EH Bildu | | EFA (individual member) / PEL (observer) | 1 / 61 |
| Sweden | Left Party | | ELA | 2 / 21 |
| European Union | Total | Total | Total | 46 / 720 |

### 9th European Parliament

| State | National party | Ideology | European party | European party | MEPs |
| Belgium | Workers' Party of Belgium Partij van de Arbeid van België (PVDA) Parti du Travail de Belgique (PTB) | Communism Marxism | | None | 1 / 21 |
| Cyprus | Progressive Party of Working People Ανορθωτικό Κόμμα Εργαζόμενου Λαού (ΑΚΕΛ) | Communism Marxism–Leninism | | None / PEL (observer) | 2 / 6 |
| Czech Republic | Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia Komunistická strana Čech a Moravy (KSČM) | Communism | | None / PEL (observer) | 1 / 21 |
| Denmark | Red-Green Alliance Enhedslisten – De Rød-Grønne (Ø) | Socialism | | PEL | 1 / 14 |
| Finland | Left Alliance Vasemmistoliitto (vas.) Vänsterförbundet | Democratic socialism | | None / PEL (observer) | 1 / 14 |
| France | La France Insoumise (LFI) | Democratic socialism Left-wing populism | | None / PEL (observer) | 5 / 79 |
| France | Republican and Socialist Left Gauche Républicaine et Socialiste (GRS) | Socialism | | None / PEL (observer) | 1 / 79 |
| Germany | The Left Die Linke | Democratic socialism Left-wing populism | | PEL | 5 / 96 |
| Greece | Syriza Συνασπισμός Ριζοσπαστικής Αριστεράς (ΣΥΡΙΖΑ) | Social democracy | | PEL | 2 / 21 |
| Greece | New Left Νέα Αριστερά (NA) | Democratic Socialism | | None | 2 / 21 |
| Ireland | Independents 4 Change Neamhspleáigh ar son an Athraithe | Socialism | | None | 2 / 13 |
| Ireland | Sinn Féin (SF) | Democratic socialism Irish republicanism | | None | 1 / 13 |
| Ireland | Independent Luke 'Ming' Flanagan | | | Independent | 1 / 13 |
| Netherlands | Party for the Animals Partij voor de Dieren (PvdD) | Environmentalism Soft Euroscepticism | | APEU | 1 / 29 |
| Portugal | Left Bloc Bloco de Esquerda (BE) | Democratic socialism Left-wing populism | | PEL | 2 / 21 |
| Portugal | Portuguese Communist Party Partido Comunista Português (PCP) | Communism Marxism–Leninism | | None | 2 / 21 |
| Spain | Podemos | Democratic socialism Spanish republicanism | | None | 4 / 59 |
| Spain | United Left Izquierda Unida (IU) | Communism Socialism | | PEL | 1 / 59 |
| Spain | Anticapitalistas | Socialism Trotskyism | | None | 1 / 59 |
| Sweden | Left Party Vänsterpartiet (V) | Socialism Soft Euroscepticism | | None | 1 / 21 |
| European Union | Total | Total | Total | Total | 37 / 705 |
The initial member parties for the 9th European Parliament was determined at the first meeting on 29 May 2019.

### 8th European Parliament

| Country | National party | National party | European party | MEPs |
| Cyprus | Progressive Party of Working People | Progressive Party of Working People | PEL (observer) | 2 / 6 |
| Czech Republic | Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia | Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia | PEL (observer) | 3 / 21 |
| Denmark | People's Movement against the EU | People's Movement against the EU | EUD | 1 / 13 |
| Finland | Left Alliance | Left Alliance | PEL/NTP | 1 / 13 |
| France | Left Front | French Communist Party | PEL | 2 / 74 |
| France | Left Front | Left Party | | 1 / 74 |
| France | Left Front | La France Insoumise | NTP | 1 / 74 |
| France | Alliance of the Overseas | Communist Party of Réunion | | 1 / 74 |
| Germany | The Left | The Left | PEL | 7 / 96 |
| Germany | Stefan Eck (independent) | Stefan Eck (independent) | | 1 / 96 |
| Greece | Syriza (Coalition of the Radical Left) | Syriza (Coalition of the Radical Left) | PEL | 3 / 21 |
| Greece | Popular Unity | Popular Unity | | 1 / 21 |
| Greece | Kostas Chrysogonos (independent) | Kostas Chrysogonos (independent) | | 1 / 21 |
| Greece | MeRA25 | MeRA25 | | 1 / 21 |
| Ireland | Sinn Féin | Sinn Féin | | 3 / 11 |
| Ireland | Luke 'Ming' Flanagan (independent) | Luke 'Ming' Flanagan (independent) | | 1 / 11 |
| Italy | The Left | Italian Left | PEL (observer) | 1 / 73 |
| Italy | The Left | Communist Refoundation Party | PEL | 1 / 73 |
| Italy | Barbara Spinelli (independent) | Barbara Spinelli (independent) | | 1 / 73 |
| Netherlands | Socialist Party | Socialist Party | | 2 / 26 |
| Netherlands | Party for the Animals (Partij voor de Dieren) | Party for the Animals (Partij voor de Dieren) | Euro Animal 7 | 1 / 26 |
| Portugal | Left Bloc | Left Bloc | PEL/NTP | 1 / 21 |
| Portugal | Unitary Democratic Coalition | Portuguese Communist Party | | 3 / 21 |
| Spain | Plural Left | United Left | PEL | 4 / 54 |
| Spain | Plural Left | Anova-Nationalist Brotherhood | | 1 / 54 |
| Spain | Podemos (We Can) | Podemos (We Can) | NTP | 5 / 54 |
| Spain | The Peoples Decide (Los Pueblos Deciden) | The Peoples Decide (Los Pueblos Deciden) | | 1 / 54 |
| Sweden | Left Party | Left Party | NTP | 1 / 20 |
| United Kingdom | Sinn Féin | Sinn Féin | | 1 / 73 |

### 7th European Parliament

| Country | National party | National party | European party | MEPs |
| Cyprus | Progressive Party of Working People | Progressive Party of Working People | PEL (observer) | 2 / 6 |
| Czech Republic | Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia | Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia | PEL (observer) | 4 / 22 |
| Denmark | People's Movement against the EU | | EUD | 1 / 13 |
| France | Left Front | French Communist Party | PEL | 2 / 72 |
| France | Left Front | Left Party | PEL | 1 / 72 |
| France | Left Front | Communist Party of Réunion | | 1 / 72 |
| France | Left Front | Independent | | 1 / 72 |
| Germany | The Left | The Left | PEL | 8 / 99 |
| Greece | Communist Party of Greece | Communist Party of Greece | | 2 / 22 |
| Greece | Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) | Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) | | 1 / 22 |
| Ireland | Socialist Party | Socialist Party | | 1 / 12 |
| Latvia | Harmony Centre | Socialist Party | | 1 / 8 |
| Netherlands | Socialist Party | Socialist Party | | 2 / 25 |
| Portugal | Left Bloc | Left Bloc | PEL | 2 / 22 |
| Portugal | Democratic Unity Coalition | Portuguese Communist Party | | 2 / 22 |
| Spain | United Left | Communist Party of Spain | PEL | 1 / 54 |
| Sweden | Left Party | Left Party | | 1 / 20 |
| United Kingdom | Sinn Féin (Contests elections in Northern Ireland only) | Sinn Féin (Contests elections in Northern Ireland only) | | 1 / 3 |

### 6th European Parliament

| Country | National party | National party | European party | MEPs |
| Cyprus | Progressive Party of Working People | Progressive Party of Working People | PEL (observer) | 2 / 6 |
| Czech Republic | Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia | Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia | PEL (observer) | 6 / 22 |
| Denmark | People's Movement against the EU | People's Movement against the EU | EUD | 1 / 14 |
| Finland | Left Alliance | Left Alliance | | 1 / 13 |
| France | French Communist Party | French Communist Party | PEL | 3 / 74 |
| Germany | The Left | The Left | PEL | 6 / 99 |
| Greece | Communist Party of Greece | Communist Party of Greece | | 3 / 21 |
| Greece | Synaspismos | Synaspismos | PEL | 1 / 21 |
| Ireland | Sinn Féin | Sinn Féin | | 1 / 13 |
| Italy | Communist Refoundation Party | Communist Refoundation Party | PEL | 5 / 73 |
| Italy | Party of Italian Communists | Party of Italian Communists | PEL (observer) | 2 / 73 |
| Netherlands | Socialist Party | Socialist Party | | 2 / 26 |
| Portugal | Portuguese Communist Party | Portuguese Communist Party | | 2 / 21 |
| Portugal | Left Bloc | Left Bloc | | 1 / 21 |
| Spain | United Left | United Left | PEL | 1 / 54 |
| Sweden | Left Party | Left Party | | 2 / 20 |
| United Kingdom | Sinn Féin (Contests elections in Northern Ireland only) | Sinn Féin (Contests elections in Northern Ireland only) | | 1 / 73 |

### 4th European Parliament
## Organization
### Presidents

| Chairperson | Took office | Left office | Country (Constituency) | Party |
| Alonso Puerta | 1995 | 1999 | Spain | United Left |
| Francis Wurtz | 1999 | 2009 | France (Île-de-France) | Communist Party |
| Lothar Bisky | 2009 | 2012 | Germany | The Left |
| Gabi Zimmer | 2012 | 2019 | Germany | The Left |
| Manon Aubry* | 2019 | present | France | La France Insoumise |
| Martin Schirdewan* | 2019 | present | Germany | The Left |
* Since 2019 The Left group has had two co-chairpeople.

## European Parliament results

| Election year | No. of overall seats won | +/– |
| 1994 | 34 / 567 | |
| 1999 | 42 / 626 | 8 |
| 2004 | 41 / 732 | 1 |
| 2009 | 35 / 766 | 6 |
| 2014 | 52 / 751 | 17 |
| 2019 | 41 / 751 | 11 |
| 2024 | 47 / 720 | 6 |