Political parties at EU level (Europarties for short) have traditionally been regarded as elite-driven organizations, where only national political parties can become members (corporate membership). This was one of the reasons why the academic literature did not treat Europarties as ‘real’ parties. However, in recent years some Europarties have introduced forms of associate or supporting membership, created for individuals who already are members of affiliated national parties, but wish to be active in Europarties too.
This development suggest the emergence of conditions for multi-level party membership, where not only do we observe party memberships along different vertical levels (such as the national and EU levels), but also along horizontal levels (depending on the distinction between formal membership and other forms of party affiliation). By combining insights from comparative politics, the multi-level politics literature and EU studies, this paper analyses and explains the emergence of associate membership in Europarties. It presents both the origins and internal differences that this proposal caused within the Europarties as well as the practical role and the nature of contribution these supporting members offer. Lessons that can be drawn from this research allows to shed new light not only on the changing nature of Europarties and EU political system, but also on the pros and cons of other forms of party affiliation than formal membership.
Data sources included the analysis of primary and secondary documents, internal party reports, interviews with the representatives of national political parties and Members of the European Parliament as well as a substantial number of interviews with supporting members gathered in the period from 2005 until 2013.
