The European Left Alliance for the People and the Planet (ELA) is a European political party formed by several political parties already connected within the framework of Now the People (NTP), a left-wing European political alliance formed in 2018.[11][12]
European Left Alliance for the People and the Planet | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | ELA |
| Secretary-General | Adrien Le Louarn |
| Co-chairs | |
| Treasurer | Zofia Malisz |
| Founded | 28 August 2024 |
| Registered | 27 September 2024 |
| Split from | European Left |
| Think tank | For the People |
| Youth wing | Young European Left Alliance |
| Membership (22 December 2025) | 0 |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Left-wing[2] |
| European Parliament group | The Left in the European Parliament |
| Colours | Green Purple Red |
| European Parliament | 20 / 720 |
| European Commission | 0 / 27 |
| European Council | 0 / 27 |
| European Lower Houses | 125 / 6,217 |
| European Upper Houses | 0 / 1,458 |
| Website | |
| leftalliance.eu | |
The ELA consists of nine national-level political parties, which tend to be newer, green-left leaning parties.[13][14]
History
editFoundation
editThe first officially confirmed member of the ELA was the Red-Green Alliance of Denmark.[13] Other founder members were Portugal's Left Bloc, La France Insoumise, the Swedish Left Party, Finland's Left Alliance, Poland's Partia Razem and Spain's Podemos.[2]
In the European Parliament, MEPs of both PEL (Party of the European Left) and the ELA belong to the parliamentary group of The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL.[15][16]
Factions of Germany's Die Linke submitted a motion to express its loyalty towards PEL claiming that the "fragmentation of the European left at a time of the rise of the extreme right is a mistake."[17]
On 27 September 2024, the Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations formally registered the ELA as a European political party.[18]
First Congress
editThe European Left Alliance's first Congress took place in Porto on 13–14 June 2025.[19] During the Congress, two political parties joined the ELA as associate members: the Basque Euskal Herria Bildu (EH Bildu) and the Norwegian Socialist Left Party. In addition to the seven founding members of ELA and to these two associate members, several left-wing political parties attended the Congress, including Die Linke from Germany, Sinistra Italiana from Italy, Dei Lenk from Luxembourg, Mozemo from Croatia, Demos from Romania, Budoucnost from Czechia and DEM Party from Turkey. The Congress decided to initiate the creation of a European political foundation, as well as a European Citizens' Initiative to "address the situation in Gaza".[20]
Political foundation
editIn August 2025, the European Left Alliance established its affiliated European political foundation, For the People,[21] which was registered by the Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations on 30 September 2025.[22] The co-directors of the foundation are the Finnish MEP Li Andersson and the French MP Clémence Guetté, and its coordinator is former Portuguese MEP Marisa Matias.[23] The foundation's activities officially started in April 2026 with a launch event hold gathering political leaders and academics.[24]
Expansion
editIn December 2025, Sinistra Italiana joined the European Left Alliance as a full member. This decision follows on from Sinistra Italiana's membership of Now the People (NTP) and its participation in ELA's first Congress in June 2025.[25] In January 2026, the Dutch left-wing Socialist Party joined the European Left Alliance as a full member.[26]
On 13 January 2026, the European Left Alliance officially launched a European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement in order to sanction Israel’s massive violations of human rights in Palestine, especially during the Gaza war.[27] The ECI was registered in November 2025 and the collection of signatures started on 13 January 2026.[28]
Ideology
editThe party postulates unity of "European green, feminist, and anti-racist left" and intends to create "new forms of solidarity work and prepare concrete actions of mobilization against capitalism and against war".[29] It has been described to bring together parties from "a spectrum of democratic socialism, eco-socialism, social democracy and feminism".[1] The alliance excludes communist parties from its ranks, and aims to eliminate the "old left linked to communist parties, which they consider a hindrance to their electoral expansion".[30]
Many of its member parties are described as left-wing populist.[4]
The party supports Palestinians' rights to self-determination, and supports sanctions of Israel over its genocide in Gaza.[28]
Members
edit20 of the 46 MEPs who compose the Left group in the European Parliament are members of political parties which participate in ELA as full members, in addition to one MEP from a political party that is an associate members of ELA (EH Bildu).[31]
Full members
edit| EU member state | Party[31] | EL[15][32] | NTP[33] | MEPs | National MPs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Denmark |
Red–Green Alliance | Member until 2024 | Yes | 1 / 14 |
11 / 179 |
 Finland |
Left Alliance | Member until 2022, observer until 2024 | Yes | 3 / 15 |
11 / 200 |
 France |
La France Insoumise | Member until 2018, observer until 2024 | Yes | 9 / 81 |
71 / 577 |
 Italy |
Italian Left | Observer until 2025 | Yes | 2 / 76 |
4 / 400 |
 Netherlands |
Socialist Party | N/A | No | – | 3 / 150 |
 Poland |
Partia Razem | N/A | No | – | 4 / 460 |
 Portugal |
Left Bloc | Member until 2024 | Yes | 1 / 21 |
1 / 230 |
 Spain |
Podemos | N/A | Yes | 2 / 61 |
4 / 350 |
 Sweden |
Left Party | N/A | Yes | 2 / 21 |
24 / 349 |
Associate members
edit| Country | Party[31] | MEPs | National MPs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spain |
EH Bildu | 1 / 61 |
6 / 350 |
 Norway |
Socialist Left Party | Not in the EU | 9 / 169 |
Political representation in European institutions
edit| Organisation | Institution | Number of seats |
|---|---|---|
 European Union | European Parliament | 20 / 720 (3%) [34] |
| European Commission | 0 / 27 (0%) [35] | |
| European Council (Heads of Government) | 0 / 27 (0%) [36] | |
| Council of the European Union (Participation in Government) | ||
| European Committee of the Regions | 0 / 329 (0%) [37] | |
| Council of Europe | Parliamentary Assembly |
Notes
editSee also
editReferences
edit- 1 2 3 4 "Nowa lewicowa partia europejska". lewica.pl (in Polish). 2 October 2024. Archived from the original on 20 January 2025. Retrieved 23 December 2025.
- 1 2 3 4 Soler, Paula; Sánchez Alonso, Aïda (9 September 2024). "New European Left Alliance eyes expansion into centre-east". Euronews. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
- ↑ Ehling, Janis (2 December 2024). "One Group, Two Parties?". Rosa Luxemburg Foundation. Retrieved 9 October 2025.
- 1 2 Cristóval Rovira Kaltwasser (2014). "Explaining the Emergence of Populism in Europe and the Americas". In Carlos de la Torre (ed.). The Promise and Perils of Populism: Global Perspectives. University Press of Kentucky. p. 211. ISBN 978-0-8131-4687-4.
- ↑ Cas Mudde (2016). On Extremism and Democracy in Europe. Taylor & Francis. p. 141. ISBN 978-1-317-22221-7.
- ↑ Christopher Ross; Bill Richardson; Begoña Sangrador-Vegas (2016). Contemporary Spain. Routledge. p. 75. ISBN 978-1-317-75164-9.
- ↑ "Left-Wing Populism". Populismstudies.org. European Center For Populism Studies. Retrieved 2025-04-29.
- ↑ "Populism Report Q3 2018" (PDF). Foundation for European Progressive Studies. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
- ↑ "Portugal's bright outlook offers Europe some hope". 25 August 2019. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022.
The alliance between Mr Costa's Socialist Party (PS) and further left groups such as the anti-establishment Left Bloc was considered tenuous when it was forged in 2015.
- ↑ [4][5][6][7][8][9]
- ↑ "AGENCE EUROPE - A new European feminist and radical left party is being form..." agenceurope.eu. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
- ↑ "Registered Parties". Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
- 1 2 Neivelt, Jonas (2024-08-27). "Enhedslisten forlader European Left og går med i nyt europæisk parti". Solidaritet (in Danish). Retrieved 2024-08-30.
- ↑ "Will they name names?". POLITICO. 2024-08-30. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
- 1 2 "Una desolante divisione della sinistra in Europa". il manifesto (in Italian). 2024-09-02. Retrieved 2024-09-03.
- ↑ redazione (2024-09-03). "In Europa una desolante divisione della sinistra • Diritti Globali". Diritti Globali (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-09-08.
- ↑ Uwe Sattler (2024-09-06). ""Die Zersplitterung der europäischen Linken ist ein Fehler"". die-zukunft.eu (in German). Retrieved 2024-09-12.
- ↑ "European Left Alliance for the People and the Planet". Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations. 2024-09-27. Retrieved 2024-09-30.
- ↑ "First Congress of the European Left Alliance: For a stronger left against the far-right". Retrieved 21 June 2025.
- ↑ "European Left Alliance launches in Porto in a bid to counter the far right surge across Europe". 14 June 2025.
- ↑ "Letter of application for registration as a European Political Foundation" (PDF). Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations. 28 August 2025.
- ↑ "Pour le Peuple ('FTP')". Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations. Retrieved 1 October 2025.
- ↑ "Welcome - For the People Foundation". 5 March 2026. Retrieved 8 April 2026.
- ↑ "For the People launch event: sovereignty, social justice and action". Retrieved 14 April 2026.
- ↑ "Sinistra italiana aderisce all'alleanza europea Ela". Il Manifesto (in Italian). 10 December 2025.
- ↑ "ELA welcomes its newest member".
- ↑ "Podemos and other left-wing parties collect signatures for the EU to break off relations with Israel". 13 January 2026.
- 1 2 "Demand the full suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement in view of Israel's violations of human rights". 14 June 2025.
- ↑ "Resistir, recuperarse y ampliar alianzas para luchar con determinación". Viento Sur (in Spanish). 31 May 2025.
- ↑ Serbeto, Enrique (22 October 2024). "Pablo Iglesias impulsa una nueva izquierda europea sin Sumar". ABC (in Spanish). Brussels.
- 1 2 3 "Brat summer ends in sausage fest". POLITICO. 2024-09-03. Retrieved 2024-09-03.
- ↑ Mayer, Leo (2024-09-05). "www.kommunisten.de – Eine desolate Spaltung der Linken in Europa". www.kommunisten.de (in German). Retrieved 2024-09-08.
- ↑ "Now The People !". Now The People ! (in French). Retrieved 2024-09-02.
- ↑ "Italian Left adheres to the European alliance ELA". Il manifesto. Retrieved 6 March 2026.
- ↑ "College of Commissioners". Retrieved 7 February 2025.
- ↑ "Members of the European Council". Retrieved 7 February 2025.
- ↑ "European Committee of the Regions Members Page". Retrieved 6 February 2025.
