The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL (The Left – GUE/NGL), until January 2021 named the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL), is a left-wing political group of the European Parliament established in 1995. As the most left-wing group in the European Parliament, it is mainly composed of anti-capitalist and democratic socialist parties, as well as some communist and eco-socialist parties, the Nordic Green Left Alliance (NGLA), the social democratic Greek Syriza (ΣΥΡΙΖΑ), and the populist Italian Five Star Movement (M5S).
The Left originated from the European United Left (EUL). As of 2024, the group was always part of the European Parliament, often being the fifth largest political group. After debuting with 34 members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and rising to 42 by 1999, the group fell to 35 seats in 2009. It obtained its best result in 2014 with 52 seats. After dropping to 41 MEPs in 2019 amid a green wave, it rebounded to 46 in 2024 as further parties joined the group.
Although the group has never been part of the governing coalition, the Left has exerted its influence in the European Parliament and at times formed a centre-left majority in some key votes. The Left advocates for a more social, just, and democratic European Union (EU), opposing its austerity and neoliberal policies while favouring European integration.
History Background and establishment The Left dates its history of "the alternative and radical left in the European Parliament" the Communists and Allies Group (COM), which underwent a change in 1989 when four parties, namely the Danish Socialist People's Party (SF), the Greek Synaspismos (SYN), the Italian Communist Party (PCI), and the Spanish United Left (IU) formed the EUL together, then known as the "European Unitarian Left", before it changed its name to the "European United Left" in 1992. The remaining parties, namely the French Communist Party (PCF), the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), and the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), were joined by one MEP from the Irish Workers' Party to form the Left Unity Group (LUG). In early 1993, the PCI was renamed the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS), which had joined the Socialist International in 1991 to reflect its post-Communist status, moved from the EUL to the Party of European Socialists (PES).
In the 1994 European Parliament election, the EUL elected 28 MEPs, down from the 42 of 1989. After the election, a grouping of the parties to the left of social democracy began. In 1995, the enlargement of the EU led to the creation of the Nordic Green Left Alliance. The NGLA merged with the Confederal Group of the European United Left (CGUE) on 6 January 1995, forming the Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL). Having rose to 34 MEPs, the NGL suffix was added to the name of the expanded group at the insistence of Finnish and Swedish MEPs, and highlights its Scandinavian tradition with left-wing environmentalist groups. The group initially consisted of MEPs from the SF (Denmark), the Finnish Left Alliance (VAS), the PCF (France), the SYN and KKE (Greece), the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC, Italy), the PCP (Portugal), the IU (including the Communist Party of Spain, PCE), and the Swedish Left Party (V). The first president of the group was the Spanish Alonso Puerta of IU. In 1998, Ken Coates, an MEP expelled from the British Labour Party and who co-founded the Independent Labour Network, joined the group.
1999–2014 In the 1999 European Parliament election, the GUE/NGL rose to 42 seats and all the outgoing members parties were successful in securing parliamentary representation. That same year, 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 between Lutte Ouvrière (LO) and the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR) and the one MEP for the Dutch Socialist Party (SP) joined as associate members. As Puerta did not run in the election, Francis Wurtz of the PCF was elected as the group's new president. In 2002, four MEPs from the French Citizen and Republican Movement (MRC) and one from the Danish People's Movement against the EU also joined the group. During the Fifth European Parliament, a total of 8 MEPs joined the GUE/NGL, such as the German Ilka Schröder from the Greens/European Free Alliance (G/FA) and the Danish Freddy Blak from the PES in 2001; the Danish Ole Krarup and Jens Okking from Europe of Democracies and Diversities (EDD), and the French Gérard Gaudron, Michel Dary, Sami Nair, and Michel-Angel Scarbonchi from the PES in 2002. This brought the group numbers up to 49 MEPs from ten countries, which at that time was highest ever representation in the European Parliament, and made it the fourth largest parliamentary group.
In 2003, as part of the EU accession accession process of 10 new member states, observers joined the GUE/NGL from Cyprus (2), Czech Republic (3), Latvia (1), and Slovakia (1). These became full MEPs on 1 May 2004. In the 2004 European Parliament election, the group remained stable at 41 MEPs, only losing one seat compared to 1999. Although no candidates were elected from LO–LCR and DIKKI, which was undergoing a dispute with its leader over the party constitution, and the French MRC did not put forward candidates, MEPs from the Portuguese Left Bloc (BE), the Irish Sinn Féin, the Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL) of Cyprus, and the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM) joined the group. The Danish SF, a member of the NGLA, left the group to instead sit in the G/FA group, although it later re-joined GUE/NGL. Around 14 outgoing delegations were returned with 38 MEPs. In total, the GUE/NGL had 41 members from 14 member states, and Wurtz was re-elected president of the group.
In the 2009 European Parliament election, the GUE/NGL obtained its worst result and declined to 35 seats and 12 member states. This was partially as a result of no MEPs being elected from the Italian PRC and the Finnish VAS. Several new delegations joined the group. MEPs from the Irish Socialist Party, the Socialist Party of Latvia (LSP), and the French Left Party (PG) joined the group, while The Left (Die Linke) in Germany became the largest party in the group with 8 seats. In France, the Left Front (FG) elected MEPs from the PCF and the PG. The French delegation also included a member from the Communist Party of Réunion. Wurtz, who had been an MEP since 1979, did not run for re-election and the German Lothar Bisky of Die Linke was elected. In 2013, one MEP from the Croatian Labourists – Labour Party (HL–SR) joined the GUE/NGL. In 2014, no MEPs were elected from the Irish Socialist Party, the LSP, and the HL–SR. MEPs from the Spanish Podemos and EH Bildu, as well as the Dutch Party for the Animals (PvdD), joined the group while MEPs from the Finnish VAS and the Italian PRC re-entered the European Parliament and thus also in the GUE/NGL. The KKE, a founding member of the group, decided to leave and instead sat as Non-Inscrits (NI).
2014–2024 Chaired by the German Gabriele Zimmer of Die Linke, elected on 15 March 2012 and re-elected in 2014, the GUE/NGL obtained its best result ever in the 2014 European Parliament election when it won 52 seats and was the fifth-largest group in the European Parliament, behind the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) but ahead of the G/EFA. This was a 50% increase in the group's size to 52 MEPs and many new MEPs joined the GUE/NGL, such as those from The Other Europe (AET, Italy) and Podemos (Spain), and Luke 'Ming' Flanagan, an independent member from Ireland. The GUE/NGL was also joined by two animal rights parties, namely the German Human Environment Animal Protection Party (PMUT) and the Dutch PvdD, plus the left-wing nationalist and regionalist Bildu from the Basque Country in Spain. The GUE/NGL also became the only parliamentary group to have gender equality among its MEPs, with an equal number of men and women. The Bildu MEP resigned in 2018 and was replaced by an MEP who joined the G/EFA. In November 2018, the French Emmanuel Maurel joined the GUE/NGL from the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D).
In March 2019, the GUE/NGL called for the then European Parliament President Antonio Tajani's immediate resignation after he made the well-known but unsubstantiated claim and myth that the Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini made trains run on time. Although Tajani retracted his comments, stating that he is not a fascist, the group said it "cannot be represented by a president who tolerates the Fascist initiator himself". That same month, the group said it supported moves for Greta Thunberg to address the plenary in Strasbourg but that the proposal was blocked by other groups, citing the ALDE, the European People's Party (EPP), the European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR), Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD), and Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF).
In the 2019 European Parliament election, which saw the rise of the G/EFA, the GUE/NGL declined, achieving 41 seats. Despite this, the majority of political parties and delegations were re-elected, led by La France Insoumise (LFI), Syriza (Greece), and Die Linke (Germany), and the group participated in policy discussions, aiming to influence EU policies, particularly social, economic, and environmental ones. No MEPs were elected from the Danish People's Movement against the EU, the PCF, the Italian PRC and The Left (LS) electoral list, and the Dutch PS. MEPs from the LFI, the Belgian Workers' Party of Belgium (PTB-PVDA), the German PMUT, the Irish Independents 4 Change (I4C), and the Danish Red–Green Alliance (EL) joined the group. In doing so, the GUE/NGL welcomed its first ever Belgian member through the PTB-PVDA. Meanwhile, the Danish Red–Green Alliance (EL) joined the group in place of the People's Movement against the EU, along with the return of MEPs from Bildu. Pro-animal rights and environmental rights parties continued to be represented through the German PMUT and the Dutch PvdD. From I4C came two new Irish MEPs. The group's candidate for president of the European Parliament was the Spanish Sira Rego of IU. As a result of Brexit, the group was projected to lose one seat while gaining none.
In January 2021 the GUE/NGL changed its name to The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL. Prior to the 2024 European Parliament election, The Left was the sixth-largest political group in terms of members, with 37 MEPs from 13 countries, representing around 5% of the 705 available seats. The two largest delegations were from France and Spain, with six MEPs each, and was co-chaired by Manon Aubry of LFI and Martin Schirdewan of Die Linke. In 2024, The Left rose to 46 seats. After the 2024 European Parliament election in Italy, it became the first time the country represented the group's largest delegation with 10 seats after the two MEPs from Italian Left (SI), which is part of the Greens and Left Alliance (AVS), and the eight from the M5S joined the group.
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