United in diversity? Europarties and their individual members’ rights

Abstract

ABSTRACTAt a time when most national parties in Europe are losing members, parties at the European level, or Europarties, have introduced membership for individuals. This article is the first to investigate, compare, and explain the individual membership of Europarties. It focuses on the rights of the individual members to participate in the formulation of policies and the selection of leadership candidates. For this purpose, the article develops an index that charts the participatory rights. In doing so, it highlights a high degree of variation between the Europarties. It argues that these differences can be explained through a combination of four factors: the Europarties’ electoral successes; the attitudes of the national member parties towards individual membership; the motivation and activism of the individual members; and Europarty funding rules. The article argues that if Europarties want to be seen as ‘real’ parties, they should grant their grassroots members real participatory powers.