This article describes the party affiliations of leaders of each member-state represented in the European Council during the year 2008. The list below gives the political party that each head of government, or head of state, belongs to at the national level, as well as the European political alliance to which that national party belongs. The states are listed from most to least populous. More populous states have greater influence in the council, in accordance with the system of Qualified Majority Voting.
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Summary Party1 January 200828 February 200820 March 20088 May 200821 November 2008#QMV#QMV#QMV#QMV#QMVEuropean People's Party1014510145111571218611182Party of European Socialists71077107710771078111European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party534534422422422European Democratic Party1291291290000Movement for European Reform112112112112112Independent21117171717Alliance for Europe of the Nations1717171717Party of the European Left0014141414
List of leaders (1 January 2008) Member-stateVotesLeaderNational partyEuropean partyGermany29Angela MerkelCDUEPPUnited Kingdom29Gordon BrownLabPESFrance29Nicolas SarkozyUMPEPPItaly29Romano ProdiIndependent EDPSpain27José Luis Rodríguez ZapateroPSOEPESPoland27Donald TuskPOEPPRomania14Traian BăsescuIndependentEPPNetherlands13Jan Peter BalkenendeCDAEPPGreece12Kostas KaramanlisNDEPPCzech Republic12Mirek TopolánekODSMERBelgium12Guy VerhofstadtOpen VldELDRHungary12Ferenc GyurcsányMSZPPESPortugal12José SócratesPSPESSweden10Fredrik ReinfeldtMEPPAustria10Alfred GusenbauerSPÖPESBulgaria10Sergei StanishevBSPPESSlovakia7Robert FicoSMER-SDPESDenmark7Anders Fogh RasmussenVELDRFinland7Matti VanhanenKesk.ELDRIreland7Bertie AhernFFAENLithuania7Valdas AdamkusIndependentLatvia4Ivars GodmanisLPP/LCELDRSlovenia4Janez JanšaSDSEPPEstonia4Andrus AnsipREELDRCyprus4Tassos PapadopoulosDIKOIndependent Luxembourg4Jean-Claude JunckerCSVEPPMalta3Lawrence GonziPNEPP
Prodi's Democratic Party had yet to determine which European party it would belong to. Prodi's political background was on the Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy side of the PD's ancestry, and he personally was honorary president of Daisy's European parent, the EDP. Supported by PD-L DIKO's MEP is a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group in the European Parliament, but the party is not formally attached to any pan-European organization.
Changes
Affiliation DateMember-stateLeaderNational partyEuropean party28 FebruaryCyprusDemetris ChristofiasAKELPEL 20 MarchBelgiumYves LetermeCD&VEPP8 MayItalySilvio BerlusconiFIEPP21 NovemberSloveniaBorut PahorSDPES
AKEL holds only observer status with the Party of the European Left.
Office-holder only DateMember-stateNew LeaderNational partyEuropean party7 MayIrelandBrian CowenFFAEN2 DecemberAustriaWerner FaymannSPÖPES30 DecemberBelgiumHerman Van RompuyCD&VEPP
See also Presidency of the Council of the European Union
External links Council of the European Union (official website)