Populist parties have established themselves with solid electorates. They now command a significant political weight and are capable of shifting mainstream political debate. This situation poses a growing political challenge to the process of European integration itself and mainstream political parties, which are portrayed by populists as self-serving and corrupt. Furthermore, anti-EU parties have prodded mainstream parties across the European Union to harden their stance on Europe

Definitions

Corruption continues to be a challenge for Europe. Affecting all EU Member States, corruption costs the European economy around 120 billion euros per year. Member States have taken many initiatives in recent years, but the results are uneven and more should be done to prevent and punish corruption. These are some of the conclusions from the first ever EU Anti-Corruption Report published in February 2014 by the European Commission.

Lobbying defined as ‘any communication, written or oral between a representative or an interest group and a public decision maker in order to influence decision-making’, plays an increasingly important role in the public decision-making process. Other terms are sometimes used, such as advocacy, influence strategies, representation of interests, public or government affairs etc.

Conference

In order to receive a grant from the Parliament, a party must satisfy certain conditions:

The Italian Movimento 5 Stelle won 17 seats in the European Parliament (21.13%) of the total 73 members) and it may join the EFD political group. The Cinque Stelle Movement has 7 main points to focus on in the European Parliament.

Many candidates won elections in the European Parliament even without a basic knowledge of the office they ran for. Their names just happened to be down on the party list (Parties produce a list of candidates and electors vote for the party not the people- except in the case of independents). In any case,individuals who seek elective posts should really have studied before running for office, and not after winning the elections.

Out of 73 MEPs, Italy counts 56 new MEPs (76.7%). Only 17 MEPs have been re-elected. Here below is the alphabetical listing and the parties they belong to:

Out of 74 MEPs, France counts 36 new MEPs (48.6%)- 38 MEPs have been re-elected. Here below is their alphabetical listing and the parties they belong to.

Out of 73 MEPs, the United Kingdom counts 34 New MEPs (46.6%)- 39 MEPs have been re-elected. Here below is the alphabetical listing and the party they belong to.