Following the 2004 elections, the European People’s Party (EPP), which regroups right and center right parties, held 288 MPs of the Parliament’s 785 seats. In 2009, it is still the first force in the new parliament, with 267 deputies out of a total of 736: the decrease in its membership is also due to the stated commitment of the British Conservatives and the Czech right party to defect from the EPP to create their own party, with a stronger right-wing line.
在2004年的选举中，重新整合了诸多右派和中右派小党的欧洲人民党团（EPP）拿下了全部785个议员席位中的288个。虽然今年英国保守党和捷克右翼党派相约脱离EPP另组右翼色彩更浓厚的新党团参选，令EPP会员数目有所减少，不过它仍然是最强大的力量，把736个席位中的267个收入囊中，而这也为何塞·曼努埃尔·巴罗佐再次当选欧盟委员会主席铺平了道路。