Spinelli Group

The Spinelli Group is an informal intergroup within the European Parliament founded with a view to reinvigorate the endeavour for federalisation of the European Union (EU). The Group aims to "find a federal majority [among members of the European Parliament] on important subjects."

Its core objectives include a steadfast commitment to deepening and expanding the Union, defending and relaunching the role of the EU institutions, supporting enlargement and advancing treaty reforms to build a more democratic, effective, and federal European Union.

Founded on 15 September 2010 in the European Parliament (EP) in Brussels, the Group is named after Altiero Spinelli (1907–1986), founder of the Union of European Federalists (UEF) and a founding father of the European Union.

The Group was co-founded by Guy Verhofstadt, former head of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Group in the parliament and honorary president of the UEF in Belgium; former co-chair of the Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) group Daniel Cohn-Bendit; French MEP Sylvie Goulard (ALDE) and former EP Vice President Isabelle Durant (Greens/EFA), with the support of the UEF.

Federalists' movements

The Spinelli Group is not the first informal group launched in the European Parliament gathering followers of European federalism. On 9 July 1980, the Crocodile Club, a group of MEPs, was founded by Altiero Spinelli himself. For 80 years, the Union of European Federalists (UEF) and its youth organisation, the Young European Federalists (JEF Europe), have actively worked to promote European federalism as a first step towards world federalism.

Manifesto

With its policy manifesto published online in both a short edition for immediate political action and a long version detailing institutional reforms, the modern Group recalls the Ventotene Manifesto written by Altiero Spinelli. By supporting the goals in their current manifesto, the Group operates as a strategic platform within the European Parliament, mobilizing MEPs to combat nationalism and intergovernmentalism and aims to transform the EU into a fully sovereign, geopolitical power.

Members

The Spinelli Group has restructured its original three-section model. Since the 2019–2024 European Parliament term, the group has been organised into only the board and the members. The board consists of MEPs and ex-officio permanent members, while the wider regular membership comprises federalist MEPs working to build legislative majorities. The Union of European Federalists (UEF) manages the group’s administration and civil society mobilisation, serving as its secretariat.

The group brings together MEPs from various political groups of the European Parliament, including the EPP, S&D, Renew, Greens/EFA and the GUE/NGL. For the current term, its rotating presidency is held by Dutch Renew Europe MEP Raquel García Hermida-van der Walle.

Since the 2024 European Parliament election, the board has had 17 members, including:

Name	EP Group				Member State	Role / Notes
Name	Initial		Current		Member State	Role / Notes
Raquel García Hermida-van der Walle		RE		RE	Netherlands	Chair (since May 2026)
Lukas Mandl		EPP		EPP	Austria	Board Member (Chair: Oct 2024 – Jun 2025)
Gabriele Bischoff		S&D		S&D	Germany	Board Member (Chair: Jun 2025 – May 2026)
Petras Auštrevičius		RE		RE	Lithuania	Board Member
Brando Benifei		S&D		S&D	Italy	Board Member
Vivien Costanzo		S&D		S&D	Germany	Board Member
Klára Dobrev		S&D		S&D	Hungary	Board Member
Nikolas Farantouris		GUE/NGL		S&D	Greece	Board Member
Markus Ferber		EPP		EPP	Germany	Board Member
Daniel Freund		G/EFA		G/EFA	Germany	Board Member
Sandro Gozi		RE		RE	France	Board Member
Ľubica Karvašová		RE		RE	Slovakia	Board Member
Reinier van Lanschot		G/EFA		G/EFA	Netherlands	Board Member
Benedetta Scuderi		G/EFA		G/EFA	Italy	Board Member
Anna Strolenberg		G/EFA		G/EFA	Netherlands	Board Member
Guy Verhofstadt	Former MEP (Renew)				Belgium	Permanent Ex-officio Member (President of EMI)
Domènec Ruiz Devesa	Former MEP (S&D)				Spain	Ex-officio Member (President of UEF)

The Spinelli Group regular members has grown since the 2024 European Parliament election and now has around 70 members, including:

Name	EP Group				Member State	EP office
Name	Initial		Current		Member State	EP office
Nacho Sánchez Amor		S&D		S&D	Spain
Rasmus Andresen		G/EFA		G/EFA	Germany
Vytenis Andriukaitis		S&D		S&D	Lithuania
Marc Angel		S&D		S&D	Luxembourg	Quaestor
Laura Ballarín Cereza		S&D		S&D	Spain
Damian Boeselager		G/EFA		G/EFA	Germany
Delara Burkhardt		S&D		S&D	Germany
Pascal Canfin		RE		RE	France
Benoît Cassart		RE		RE	Belgium
Estelle Ceulemans		S&D		S&D	Belgium
Olivier Chastel		RE		RE	Belgium
Christophe Clergeau		S&D		S&D	France
Salvatore De Meo		EPP		EPP	Italy
Elio Di Rupo		S&D		S&D	Belgium
Maria Rosa Estaràs Ferragut		EPP		EPP	Spain
Laurence Farreng		RE		RE	France
Jonás Fernández		S&D		S&D	Spain
Lina Gálvez		S&D		S&D	Spain
Raphaël Glucksmann		S&D		S&D	France
Nicolás González Casares		S&D		S&D	Spain
Giorgio Gori		S&D		S&D	Italy
Markéta Gregorová		G/EFA		G/EFA	Czech Republic
Christophe Grudler		RE		RE	France
Elisabetta Gualmini		S&D		RE	Italy
Cristina Guarda		G/EFA		G/EFA	Italy
Bernard Guetta		RE		RE	France
Radan Kanev		EPP		EPP	Bulgaria
Manolis Kefalogiannis		EPP		EPP	Greece
Moritz Körner		RE		RE	Germany
Andrey Kovatchev		EPP		EPP	Bulgaria	Quaestor
Ilhan Kyuchyuk		RE		RE	Bulgaria
Aurore Lalucq		S&D		S&D	France
Murielle Laurent		S&D		S&D	France
Camilla Laureti		S&D		S&D	Italy
Javier López		S&D		S&D	Spain	Vice-President
Juan Fernando López Aguilar		S&D		S&D	Spain
César Luena		S&D		S&D	Spain
Cristina Maestre		S&D		S&D	Spain
Yiannis Maniatis		S&D		S&D	Greece
Pierfrancesco Maran		S&D		S&D	Italy
Eva Maydell		EPP		EPP	Bulgaria
Tilly Metz		G/EFA		G/EFA	Luxembourg
Carolina Morace		GUE/NGL		GUE/NGL	Italy
Javier Moreno Sánchez		S&D		S&D	Spain
Alessandra Moretti		S&D		S&D	Italy
Jan-Christoph Oetjen		RE		RE	Germany
Leoluca Orlando		G/EFA		G/EFA	Italy
Nikos Papandreou		S&D		S&D	Greece
Thomas Pellerin-Carlin		S&D		S&D	France
Pina Picierno		S&D		RE	Italy	Vice-President
René Repasi		S&D		S&D	Germany
Sabrina Repp		S&D		S&D	Germany
Thijs Reuten		S&D		S&D	Netherlands
Matteo Ricci		S&D		S&D	Italy
Nela Riehl		G/EFA		G/EFA	Germany
Lukas Sieper		NI		RE	Germany
Sven Simon		EPP		EPP	Germany
Nicolae Ștefănuță		G/EFA		G/EFA	Romania	Vice-President
Cecilia Strada		S&D		S&D	Italy
Marco Tarquinio		S&D		S&D	Italy
Carla Tavares		S&D		S&D	Portugal
Kai Tegethoff		G/EFA		G/EFA	Germany
Marta Temido		S&D		S&D	Portugal
Irene Tinagli		S&D		S&D	Italy
Jana Toom		RE		RE	Estonia
Flavio Tosi		EPP		EPP	Italy
Marie Toussaint		G/EFA		G/EFA	France
Pasquale Tridico		GUE/NGL		GUE/NGL	Italy
Dimitris Tsiodras		EPP		EPP	Greece
Hilde Vautmans		RE		RE	Belgium
Andrea Wechsler		EPP		EPP	Germany
Nicola Zingaretti		S&D		S&D	Italy

References

↑ "The Spinelli Group: an engine of the initiatives that Europe needs?" (PDF). Perspectives on Federalism. Retrieved 24 October 2026.
↑ "The Spinelli Group". The Spinelli Group. Retrieved 24 October 2026.
↑ "Our Network". Union of European Federalists. Retrieved 24 October 2026.
↑ "The myth of Europa - The Ventotene manifesto". europaallalavagna.it. Retrieved 24 October 2026.
↑ "TOWARDS THE UNITED STATES OF EUROPE". Union of European Federalists. Retrieved 24 October 2026.
↑ "The European Moment is Now" (PDF). The Spinelli Group (A shorter version of the manifesto.). Retrieved 24 October 2026.
↑ "The European Moment is Now" (PDF). The Spinelli Group (A longer version of the manifesto.). Retrieved 24 October 2026.
↑ "Actions". Spinelli Group. Archived from the original on 21 September 2010. Retrieved 24 October 2026.
↑ "The Spinelli Group: Board and members (EP 2024–2029)" (PDF). Spinelli Group / Union of European Federalists. June 2026. Retrieved 24 October 2026.
↑ "Board Members". Spinelli Group. Retrieved 28 September 2024.

External links

[1] "The Spinelli Group: an engine of the initiatives that Europe needs?" (PDF). Perspectives on Federalism. Retrieved 24 October 2026.

[2] "The Spinelli Group". The Spinelli Group. Retrieved 24 October 2026.

[3] "Our Network". Union of European Federalists. Retrieved 24 October 2026.

[4] "The myth of Europa - The Ventotene manifesto". europaallalavagna.it. Retrieved 24 October 2026.

[5] "TOWARDS THE UNITED STATES OF EUROPE". Union of European Federalists. Retrieved 24 October 2026.

[6] "The European Moment is Now" (PDF). The Spinelli Group (A shorter version of the manifesto.). Retrieved 24 October 2026.

[7] "The European Moment is Now" (PDF). The Spinelli Group (A longer version of the manifesto.). Retrieved 24 October 2026.

[8] "Actions". Spinelli Group. Archived from the original on 21 September 2010. Retrieved 24 October 2026.

[SG2026-9] "The Spinelli Group: Board and members (EP 2024–2029)" (PDF). Spinelli Group / Union of European Federalists. June 2026. Retrieved 24 October 2026.

[10] "Board Members". Spinelli Group. Retrieved 28 September 2024.

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