The European Parliament’s transnational party groups are surprisingly cohesive, but don’t underestimate the potential for national divisions

Abstract

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) do not sit in country blocs, rather they sit in pan-European ideological party groupings. But how cohesive are these groups? Rory Costello and Robert Thomson argue that they are remarkably so – but that the potential for divides along national lines is great, particularly with MEPs who share a party with their country’s government