Introduction

The EPP Group has always been a leading force in the EU enlargement process and has successfully campaigned for a reunified Europe.

From 1992, the EPP Group began a political strategy to support EU enlargement for the last 12 countries to accede to the Union, reinforcing its political network all over Eastern Europe. During this period, the EPP Group launched several initiatives to support political transitions, including institutional and economic reforms of candidate countries, and provided political support to the new emerging democratic forces. The EPP Group hosted hundreds of trainees from new Member States, organised several Bureau meetings and conferences in all the twelve countries and invited leaders and political representatives of its sister parties in Brussels and Strasbourg.

The political success of the most recent EU enlargements and the results achieved in the 2004 European elections prove the reliability of the EPP Group's strategy. Today, with its 288 seats, the EPP Group is the largest political Group in the European Parliament and has representatives from all 27 Member States.

During this legislature, the EPP Group extended and reinforced its initiatives to new candidate countries, as well as to all countries involved in the Eastern European Neighbourhood Policy: South Eastern European countries, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldavia, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

In these regions, the EPP Group and the EPP Party are committed to providing strong political support to democratic forces engaged in the reinforcement of democratic structures in their countries, for enduring freedom, peace and the spread of economic security.

Visiting this website you can discover EPP initiatives throughout the Eastern countries, as well as information on the EU's Neighbourhood policy, and the European Parliament’s activities.

Vito Bonsignore MEP
Vice-Chairman of the EPP Group