Communists/Far Left The
EUL/NGL group picked up one seat in the election and seven in the subsequent regrouping, raising its total from 34 to 42.
Social Democrats The
PES group did badly, losing 34 of its seats in the election and slipping to the second-biggest group.
Liberals/Liberal Democrats The
ELDR group did moderately well, picking up one seat in the election and seven in the regrouping, giving a total of 50 seats and retaining its place as the third biggest group. The
European Radical Alliance (ERA) were not so fortunate and slipped badly, losing eight of its 21 members in the election.
Conservatives/Christian Democrats The
EPP group did well, picking up 23 seats in the election and nine in the regrouping, giving a total of 233 seats and overtaking the left to become the biggest group. To placate the increasingly eurosceptic British
Conservatives, the group was renamed "EPP-ED" for the new Parliament, partly resurrecting the name of the former
European Democrat group which was merged with the EPP in 1992.
National Conservatives The Union for Europe (
UFE) group slipped during the election and lost 17 seats. The group split during the regrouping, with Ireland's
Fianna Fáil and Portugal's
CDS/PP forming a new group called "
Union for Europe of the Nations". UEN started the Fifth Parliament with 31 MEPs.
Far-Right Nationalists No explicitly far-right group
per se was in existence immediately before or after the election. All far-right MEPs that were elected sat as Independents (see below).
Greens/Regionalists The
Green Group solidified its position, picking up 11 seats in the election to give it 38 MEPs. The
European Free Alliance members of the ERA joined with the Green Group to create the
Greens/EFA group, which started the Fifth Parliament with 48 MEPs.
Eurosceptics The
I-EN group trod water, gaining six members in the election but losing five in the regrouping, leaving it with 16 members. The group was renamed "Europe of Democracies and Diversities" (
EDD) for the new Parliament.
Independents The
Non-Inscrits did badly, losing 20 MEPs to the election. Disparate members (two from Belgium, five from France and eleven from Italy) tried to gain Group privilege by creating a group called the "Technical Group of Independent Members" (full title "
Group for the technical co-ordination of groups and the defence of independent members", abbreviated to "TGI" or "TDI"). The attempt initially succeeded, with the group allowed to start the Fifth Parliament until the legal position could be checked. - the only group ever to be forcibly dissolved. The TGI members returned to the Non-Inscrits, increasing their number to 27. == See also ==