Membership
Within the EPP there are three kinds of members: full membres, associate membres and observers.
Full members are all parties from EU states. They have absolute rights to vote in all the organs and on all the matters; meanwhile associate members have the same voting rights except for matters concerning EU structure or policies. These associate membres are parties from EU-candidate countries and EFTA countries.
On the other hand, observer parties can participate in all the activities of the EPP and attend the Congresses and Political Assemblies, but do not have any voting rights.
Finally, there’s a special membership status which are the “supporting members”, which is granted by the Presidency to individuals and associations. Although they do not have voting rights, they can be invited by the President to attend meetings of certain organs of the party.
It´s worth noting that commissioners Dacian Ciolos, Kristalina Georgieva and Andris Piebalgs are members of the EPP though they do not belong to any national party in their countries.
Read more about this topic: European People's Party
Famous quotes containing the word membership:
“The two real political parties in America are the Winners and the Losers. The people don’t acknowledge this. They claim membership in two imaginary parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, instead.”
—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (b. 1922)