Introduction: European Parliament’s Political Groups in Turbulent Times

Abstract

AbstractThe turbulent times the European Union witnessed over the last years together with the increased competences for the European Parliament call for closer examination of political groups as core actors in this setting. In this introductory chapter, we engage with political groups as unique alliances of national party delegations and the context they operate in. We first discuss the core features of the political groups and then proceed to present new inroads into studying their functions, work and practices. By engaging with broader questions of democracy and what political groups research can contribute, we suggest that theorising the democratic functioning within the EP allows casting a critical eye on democratic practices and the growing salience of the political groups. The chapter closes by introducing the chapters of the volume which provide new insights into the practices of political groups, the dynamics and power relations between them and, thus, decision-making and policy-making in the European Parliament.