Until 1 July 2013 the European Union will have twenty-seven members. On that date, Croatia is expected to join the Union, therefore forcing a change of the influence each member-state has, as well as its Qualified Majority Voting. This article describes the party affiliations of leaders of each member-state represented in the European Council during the year 2013. 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 national level 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.
Summary Party1 January 201328 February 201311 March 221313 March 201320 March 201329 May 2013#QMV#QMV#QMV#QMV#QMV#QMVEuropean People's Party151821618615183141731316913169Party of European Socialists565565668668668778Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists241241241241241241Independent236236236346450340Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party217217217217217217Party of the European Left140000000000
List of leaders (1 January 2013) Member-stateVotesLeaderNational partyEuropean partyGermany29Angela MerkelCDUEPPFrance29François HollandePSPESUnited Kingdom29David CameronConAECRItaly29Mario MontiSCIndependentSpain27Mariano RajoyPPEPPPoland27Donald TuskPOEPPRomania14Traian BăsescuIndependentEPPNetherlands13Mark RutteVVDALDE PartyGreece12Antonis SamarasNDEPPBelgium12Elio Di Rupo PS PESPortugal12Pedro Passos CoelhoPPD/PSDEPPCzech Republic12Petr NečasODSAECRHungary12Viktor OrbánFideszEPPSweden10Fredrik ReinfeldtMEPPAustria10Werner FaymannSPÖPESBulgaria10Boyko BorisovGERBEPPDenmark7Helle Thorning-SchmidtAPESSlovakia7Robert FicoSMER-SDPESFinland7Jyrki KatainenKok.EPPIreland7Enda KennyFGEPPLithuania7Dalia GrybauskaitėIndependentSlovenia4Janez JanšaSDSEPPLatvia4Valdis DombrovskisVEPPEstonia4Andrus AnsipREALDE PartyCyprus4Demetris ChristofiasAKELPELLuxembourg4Jean-Claude JunckerCSVEPPMalta3Lawrence GonziPNEPP
Supported by PD-L AKEL holds only observer status with the Party of the European Left.
Changes
Affiliation DateMember-stateLeaderNational partyEuropean party28 FebruaryCyprusNicos AnastasiadesDISYEPP11 MarchMaltaJoseph MuscatPLPES13 MarchBulgariaMarin RaykovIndependent20 MarchSloveniaAlenka BratušekPSIndependent29 MayBulgariaPlamen OresharskiIndependentPESPES General Secretary Achim Post stated that; “the PES sends the warmest congratulations to the BSP on the formation of the new Government in Bulgaria. Plamen Oresharski becomes the tenth PES head of State or Government in the European Council" although not member of BSP. See the PES press release: "New Bulgarian Government will be one with an irreproachable sense of integrity, responsibility and urgency, says Sergei Stanishev".
Office-holder only DateMember-stateLeaderNational partyEuropean party28 AprilItalyEnrico LettaPDIndependent
See also Presidency of the Council of the European Union
References
External links Council of the European Union (official website)