Party of the European Left

The Party of the European Left (PEL), commonly abbreviated European Left, is a European political party that operates as an association of democratic socialist and communist political parties in the European Union and other European countries. It was formed in January 2004 for the purposes of running in the 2004 European Parliament elections. The PEL was founded on 8–9 May 2004 in Rome. The elected MEPs from member parties of the PEL sit in The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL group in the European Parliament, though not all PEL members are also members of GUE/NGL.

Party of the European Left
Partei der Europäischen Linken
Parti de la Gauche Européenne
Partito della Sinistra Europea
Partido de la Izquierda Europea
Partido da Esquerda Europeia
Κόμμα Ευρωπαϊκής Αριστεράς
Avrupa Sol Partisi
Il-Partit Ewropew tax-Xellug
AbbreviationPEL
PresidentWalter Baier (AT)
Leader in the EPMartin Schirdewan (DE)
Founded8–9 May 2004 (2004-05-08 – 2004-05-09);
19 years ago
HeadquartersSquare de Meeûs 25,
1000 Brussels, Belgium
Think tankTransform Europe
Women's wingEL-Fem
Ideology
Political positionLeft-wing to far-left
European Parliament groupThe Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL
Colours  Dark red
European Parliament
28 / 705
European Council
0 / 28
European Lower Houses
344 / 9,874
European Upper Houses
27 / 2,714
Website
www.european-left.org

Several member and observer parties participate also in the more radical European Anti-Capitalist Left. Before the PEL was founded, most of its members already held annual meetings together, as part of the New European Left Forum (NELF).[1] The current president is the Austrian politician Walter Baier.

History

The Party of European Left (PEL) was formed on 8 and 9 May 2004 in Rome, Italy.[2][3] The party's first congress took place on 8 October 2005 in Athens, and produced the Athens Declaration of the European Left. The second congress was held 23–25 November 2007 in Prague.[4] The third congress was held on 2–5 December 2010 in Paris.[5][6][7] Its fourth congress was held on 13–15 December 2013 in Madrid.[8] Its fifth congress took place on 16–18 December 2016 in Berlin,[9] and elected German lawyer and politician Gregor Gysi as the new PEL President.[10] Heinz Bierbaum was elected president in 2019.[11][12] He was succeeded by Walter Baier in December 2022.[13]

It operates a think tank, Transform Europe, and it has women's wing named EL-Fem.[14][15]

Ideology

PEL has been described as a left-wing[16][17] and a far-left[18][19] political party. Its ideology is based on principles of democratic socialism,[20][21] socialism,[22] and communism.[20][21][22] It is opposed to capitalism and consists of parties with wide range of opinions.[22][23]: 46  PEL is also supportive of progressivism.[23]: 50 

It takes a soft Eurosceptic approach towards the European Union,[24] and opposes militarization and foreign interventionism.[23]: 53  PEL opposed the Iraq War and War in Afghanistan, and criticised the oppression of 2009 Iranian presidential election protests.[23]: 53  It is also opposed to NATO and United States military bases.[23]: 54  It supports Cuba, and a delegation visited the nation in February 2022.[25]

In an interview with the political magazine Jacobin, Walter Baier, the president of PEL, described PEL as part of the "socialist left" and criticised the European Union, stating that it is neoliberal and "closer to enlightened absolutism than parliamentary democracy".[26]

Leadership

Membership

The Party of the European Left consists of member parties with full rights, observer parties, individual members and EL partners.[27] As of September 2023, The Party of the European Left has 24 member parties in 22 countries.[28] Not all members of PEL are members of The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL group in the European Parliament.[22][29]

Full members
Country Party National MPs European MEPs
 Austria Communist Party of Austria – –
 Belgium Communists of Wallonia-Brussels – –
 Bulgaria Bulgarian Left – –
 Croatia Workers' Front
1 / 151
 –
 Czech Republic The Left – –
 Denmark Red-Green Alliance
9 / 179
1 / 14
 Estonia Estonian United Left Party – –
 Finland Communist Party of Finland – –
 France French Communist Party
12 / 577
(National Assembly)
14 / 348
(Senate)		 –
 Germany The Left
39 / 736
(Bundestag)
4 / 69
(Bundesrat)
5 / 96
 Greece Syriza
47 / 300
5 / 21
 Hungary Workers' Party of Hungary 2006 – European Left – –
 Italy Communist Refoundation Party – –
 Luxembourg The Left
2 / 60
 –
 Moldova Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova
8 / 101
 Not in the EU
 Portugal Left Bloc
5 / 230
2 / 21
 Romania Romanian Socialist Party – –
 Slovenia The Left
5 / 90
 –
 Spain United Left
5 / 350
(Congress of Deputies)
0 / 266
(Senate of Spain)
2 / 54
Communist Party of Spain
5 / 350
(Congress of Deputies)[lower-alpha 1]
0 / 266
(Senate of Spain)
 Catalonia United and Alternative Left – –
  Switzerland Swiss Party of Labour
1 / 200
 Not in the EU
 Turkey Left Party – Not in the EU
 United Kingdom Left Unity – Not in the EU
  1. 4 of the deputies of the Communist Party of Spain are also members of United Left

Observer members
Country Party National MPs European MEPs
 Belgium Demain – –
 Cyprus  Cyprus Progressive Party of Working People
15 / 56
2 / 6
 Northern Cyprus New Cyprus Party – De facto not in the EU
United Cyprus Party – De facto not in the EU
 Czech Republic Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia –
1 / 21
 Finland Left Alliance
11 / 200
1 / 14
 France La France Insoumise
69 / 577
(National Assembly)
5 / 79
0 / 348
(Senate)
Republican and Socialist Left
0 / 577
(National Assembly)
1 / 79
1 / 348
(Senate)
 Italy Italian Left
4 / 400
 –
3 / 200
 Slovakia Communist Party of Slovakia – –
 Spain Sortu
1 / 23
(Congress of Deputies; Basque seats)		 –
1 / 20
(Senate of Spain; Basque seats)

EL-Partners
Country Party National MPs European MEPs
 Austria Der Wandel – –
 France Ensemble!
5 / 577
National Assembly		 –
0 / 348
Senate
République et Socialisme – –
 Germany Marxistische Linke – –
 Hungary Táncsics – Radical Left Party – –
 Scotland Democratic Left Scotland – Not in the EU

Former members
Country Party
 Belarus Belarusian Left Party "A Just World" Dissolved in 2023 after the ban.
 Belgium Communist Party Stopped working as a Party in 2009, since December 2013 not listed as a Member.
Communist Party of Belgium Resignation decided at the party congress on 30 July 2018.[30]
 Czech Republic Party of Democratic Socialism Merged into The Left in 2020.
 France Left Party Left the EL on 1 July 2018.
Unitary Left Merged with the French Communist Party in Fall 2015.
 Germany German Communist Party Ended its observer status on 27 February 2016.[31]
 Greece Renewing Communist Ecological Left Merged into Syriza in 2013.
 Hungary Hungarian Workers' Party Quit 1 May 2009.
 Italy Party of Italian Communists Dissolved in December 2014, which meant that the "observer status" was lost.
The Other Europe Dissolved in 2019, which meant that the "observer status" was lost.
 Poland Young Socialists Dissolved in 2015, which meant that the "observer status" was lost.

See also

References
  1. "Some remarks concerning the creation of the Party of the European Left". Official European Left site. Archived from the original on 2 October 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
  2. Hudson, Kate (2012). The New European Left: A Socialism for the Twenty-First Century?. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 46. ISBN 978-1-137-26511-1.
  3. Hudson, Kate (2012), "The Party of the European Left", The New European Left, London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 46–65, doi:10.1057/9781137265111_3, ISBN 978-1-349-32054-7, retrieved 29 April 2023
  4. Press release of the EL Executive Board meeting in Tallinn, May 2007 Archived 1 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  5. "European Left convenes third congress in Paris". Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 19 January 2010.
  6. "Executive board met in Luxembourg: Countdown to the Congress". Party of the European Left. 15 September 2010. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  7. "EL elects new President and vice-chairpersons!". Party of the European Left. 6 December 2010. Archived from the original on 13 December 2010. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
  8. "Convention of the 4th Congress of the Party of the European Left". Party of the European Left. 12 January 2013. Archived from the original on 14 April 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  9. "5th Congress – Berlin 2016". Party of the European Left. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
  10. "Gysi elected president of European Left – DW – 12/17/2016". dw.com. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  11. "European Left Party elects Die Linke's Heinz Bierbaum as new president". Morning Star. 15 December 2019.
  12. "European Left Congress". www.transform-network.net (in French). Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  13. Morea, Roberto (24 December 2022). "Walter Baier, the new president of the Party of the European Left: we stand for peace and defend the environment". Cross-border Talks. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  14. Grants from the European Parliament to political foundations at European level per foundation per year
  15. "History". Party of the European Left. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  16. Cahill, Ann (24 July 2014). "Sinn Fein adopt 'Team Ireland' approach in Europe". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  17. Connoly, Raul (1 April 2015). "European left backs asylum rights". Green Left Weekly (1050): 17. ISSN 1036-126X. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  18. Keating, Dave (15 May 2014). "The EBU candidates debate – as it happened". Politico. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  19. Hudson, Kate (2012), Hudson, Kate (ed.), "The Party of the European Left", The New European Left: A Socialism for the Twenty-First Century?, London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 46–65, doi:10.1057/9781137265111_3, ISBN 978-1-137-26511-1, retrieved 7 October 2023
  20. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "European Union". Parties and Elections in Europe. Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  21. Toplišek, Alen (14 March 2019). "The Populist Radical Left in Europe" (PDF): 9. doi:10.4324/9781315180823-4. S2CID 159164068. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  22. Routledge handbook of European politics. José M. Magone. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge. 2015. p. 600. ISBN 978-1-317-62836-1. OCLC 898475226.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  23. Hudson, Kate (2012). The new European left: a socialism for the twenty-first century?. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-137-26511-1. OCLC 809796420.
  24. Martinelli, Alberto (2020). European society. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. p. 236. ISBN 9789004351776.
  25. Puig Meneses, Yaima. "Díaz-Canel thanks European Left Party for its longstanding support". Granma.
  26. Baltner, Adam (21 January 2023). "If the European Union Doesn't Democratize, It Will Crumble". Jacobin. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  27. "Documents European Left 7th Congress" (PDF). European-Left.org. Party of the European Left. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  28. "Our Parties". European-left.org. Party of the European Left. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  29. Chryssogelos, Angelos-Stylianos (2015). "Patterns of Transnational Partisan Contestation of European Foreign Policy" (PDF). European Foreign Affairs Review. 20 (2): 8. doi:10.54648/EERR2015017. S2CID 153490875.
  30. Pourquoi le PCB a quitté le Parti de la Gauche Européenne (PGE) — Official statement on the party website.
  31. ELP-Beobachterstatus beendet – Bericht vom 3. Tag des XXI. Parteitag der DKP. Newswebsite of the Deutschen Kommunistischen Partei (DKP).
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