On 10 June 1977, the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung comments on a study by three researchers at the CDU Institute, who found that it is difficult for political parties to achieve a parliamentary majority through an electoral system based on direct universal suffrage.

On 30 November 1977, German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung considers that the first direct elections to the European Parliament may change the structures of smaller political parties in Western Europe.

In this interview, Jacques F. Poos, MEP, outlines the role of the political groups in the internal operation of the European Parliament.

In an interview appearing on 14 March 1977 in EUSO, Europe Socialiste, the newspaper of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, Willy Claes and André Cools, Co-Chairmen of the Belgian Socialist Party, talk about the political issues involved in the first direct elections to the European Parliament.

On 6 June 1977, the Group of the Party of European Socialists adopts its political manifesto in anticipation of the first direct elections to the European Parliament.

In the run-up to the first direct elections to the European Parliament, due to be held in June 1979, the Irish Labour Party issues a statement in February 1979 outlining its vision of European integration and the role that Ireland might play in such a process.

In 1977, the British Labour Party publishes a pamphlet outlining its manifesto for the first elections to the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage.

On 26 October 1977, EUSO, Europe Socialiste, the newspaper of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, criticises the political programme of its rivals in advance of the direct elections to the European Parliament.

On 24 June 1978, at a meeting of European Socialist Parties in Brussels, Willy Brandt, Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), delivers an address on the importance of the European Community’s foreign policy.

On 23 and 24 June 1978, socialist leaders from the Member States of the European Community meet in Brussels. In his speech, the President of the Dutch Socialist Party, Joop den Uyl, underlines the importance of building a Europe with full employment.

On 24 June 1978, Social-Democrat leaders from the Member States of the European Community officially launch their election campaign in Brussels with the first direct elections to the European Parliament due to be held, at most, one year later.

During a meeting held in Brussels from 10 to 15 January 1979, the Confederation of the Socialist Parties of the European Community adopts unopposed its appeal to the electorate regarding the upcoming direct elections to the European Parliament.

On 7 June 1979, the German newspaper examines the political ambitions of the German socialists in anticipation of the first direct elections to the European Parliament.

Logo adopted in 1999 by the Party of European Socialists for its European election campaign.

Former Vice-President of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP), Jacques F. Poos, MEP, uncompromisingly summarises the role and operation of the Party of European Socialists compared with the Socialist Group in the European Parliament.

In his editorial of 28 April 1970, Emanuele Gazzo, Editor-in-Chief of Agence Europe, welcomes the creation, the day before in Brussels, of a Conference of the parliamentary groups and of the Christian-Democrat Parties of the six Member States of the European Communities, the prefiguration of a Christian-Democrat European Federation.

On 20 November 1976, in an article published by the Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir, the Social Christian MP, Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb, welcomes the creation, four months earlier, of the European Christian-Democrat Party in preparation for the first direct elections to the European Parliament, initially planned for 1978.

On 25 April 1978, German dialy newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung comments on the creation of the European Democratic Union in anticipation of the first direct election to the European Parliament, due to take place in June 1979.

On 23 February 1978, in Brussels, the European People's Party (PPE) reveals its political programme in anticipation of the first elections to the European Parliament by universal suffrage.

In February 1979, in anticipation of the first direct election to the European Parliament, Fine Gaël, an Irish centre-right party, makes a statement on the past and future role of Christian-Democrats in European integration.

In February 1979, Fianna Fáil, an Irish Conservative Party, reveals its political agenda for the first direct election to the European Parliament.

Logo of the European Popular Party (EPP) which won 107 seats at the first direct election to the European Parliament in June 1979.

On 7 December 1982, Helmut Kohl, German Chancellor and former President of the CDU, delivers a speech at a conference of the European Popular Party (EPP) held in the Parisien suburb of Bagnolet.

In this interview, Jacques Santer, former President of the Luxembourg Christian Social People’s Party (CSV), recalls the implications and the objectives of the founding, on 8 July 1976, of the European People’s Party (EPP).

In this interview, Jacques Santer, former President of the Luxembourg Christian Social People's Party (CSV) and former Chairman of the European People's Party (EPP), considers the doctrine and the Christian Democratic concept of a united Europe, highlighting the difficulties faced by the EPP in integrating the Conservative parties of Spain, Portugal and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEECs).

In this interview, Hans-August Lücker, former President of the Christian-Democratic Group of the European Parliament, former Vice-President of the European Union of Christian Democrats (EUCD) and draftsman of the European People’s Party (EPP) Statute, recalls the implications of, and the process behind, the founding of the EPP in 1976.

In this interview, Alain Lamassoure, French Minister for European Affairs from 1993 to 1995, Member of the European Parliament from 1989 to 1993 and since 1999, and currently a member of the Political Bureau of the European People's Party (EPP), describes the evolution of the EPP, its identity and its political ideology.

On 21 July 1975, German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung covers the intention of the Liberal Parties of the Member States of the EEC to build a European Liberal Federation in order better to coordinate their policies on Community issues.

On 26 March 1976, in Stuttgart, liberal leaders from across Europe form a federation of the liberal and democratic parties of the European Community. They define their main political objective as the transformation of the European Community into a European Union holding a free and democratic constitution.

On 29 March 1976, in its coverage of preparations for the first direct election to the European Parliament, the Catholic daily newspaper La Libre Belgique considers the establishment of a European Liberal Federation which would bring together the Liberal Parties of eight of the nine Member States of the European Economic Community (EEC).

On 23 April 1977, in its coverage of preparations for the first direct elections to the European Parliament, German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung describes the content of the political agenday of the Federation of the Liberal Parties of Europe which had met 10 days earlier in Bonn.

Electoral poster for the European Liberal Democrats (ELD), which, at the first direct election to the European Parliament (June 1979), won 39 seats.

‘Trojan horse.’ In June 1977, the German cartoonist, Horst Haitzinger, illustrates the mistrust which prevails in both Western and Eastern Europe with regard to Eurocommunism.

'After a few setbacks ... Eurocommunism ... has recovered.' In May 1979, the cartoonist, Behrendt, comments on the preparations for the first direct elections to the European Parliament. He uses the French Communist Party to denounce a Eurocommunism, which acts only in the political interests of the USSR.