The European Green Party was born on 22 February 2004, when 34 pan-European Member Parties gathered for the Fourth Congress of the European Federation of Green Parties, which took place in Rome. The European Greens were the first to evolve from a federation to a full-fledged European Political Party, a testament of our commitment to building a united Europe that delivers to its citizens. The first goal of the newly established European Green Party was to focus on the 2004 European Parliament elections, which was the first time a common election campaign was run all throughout Europe. Since then, the European Green Party has further developed its structures to amplify the political expression of its Member Parties. Among other things, this includes the ability to have common policy positions, mutual election manifestos and uniformity in European election campaigns. All this is possible thanks to the funding that the European Parliament grants to European Political Parties. As mentioned in the EU Treaties, our job is to "contribute to forming European awareness and to express the political will of the citizens of the European Union." The European Green Party works very closely with the Greens-EFA group in the European Parliament. As a Europarty, it is the European Greens and its national Member Parties that run and contest the European elections. Once the elections are over, the elected Green candidates take up a seat in the Greens-EFA group as Members of the European Parliament.
