From a strength of 3 persons onwards, members of the Council may form a party group within the Council As a rule, these are the members of a political party. Groups that do not reach party group strength may joint to form so-called Council groups.
The party group members support each other in their opinion-forming process and utilize the knowledge and experience of their colleagues within the group. To this extent, party groups play an important role in the will-and-decision finding process. Party group status also confers various rights.
For the organization of such work, party group offices have been set up to provide support to Council members in the execution of their mandate, organize exchanges of information and views, and prepare motions and submissions. In this way, they facilitate the work of the Council.
Party groups receive for their activities a financial budget from the city in accordance with the number of their members.