European Parliament
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary body of the European Union. Together with the Council of the European Union it forms the legislative branch of the Union.
The Parliament is the largest trans-national body of its kind, with an electorate of nearly half a billion. It has been directly elected since 1979, unlike similar European assemblies such as those of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Council of Europe and the Western European Union which are appointed.
Although called a Parliament, the 785 MEPs have an unequal relationship with the Council, for example not having full codecision procedure in many areas and neither body can initiate legislation. It has however had control over the EU budget since the 1970s and has control over the appointment of the European Commission. Union law is limited to specific policy areas, however it does override national law.
The President of the European Parliament is elected for two and a half years and is currently Hans-Gert Pöttering (EPP), presiding over 785 MEPs elected in the 2004 European Elections.
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[edit] Composition
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- See also: Member of the European Parliament, Elections in the European Union and Growth in membership of the Parliament
The European Parliament represents around 496 million citizens of the EU. Its members are known as Members of the European Parliament (MEPs).
MEPs are elected every 5 years by universal adult suffrage. Since January 1, 2007, there are 785 MEPs due to the accession of Romania and Bulgaria but this will drop 736 after the next election.
Elections take place across several days according to local custom and, aside from having to be proportional, the electoral system is chosen by the member-state. Seats are allocated to member-states according to their population with no state having more than 99 but no less than 5.
The most recent elections to the European Parliament were the European elections of 2004, held in June of that year. They were the largest simultaneous transnational elections ever held anywhere in the world, since nearly 400 million citizens were eligible to vote. The proportion of MEPs elected in 2004 who were female was 30.2%, in 1979 it was just 16.5%.
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| Apportionment | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Member state | Seats | Member state | Seats | |
 Germany |
99 |  Austria |
18 | |
 France |
78 |  Bulgaria |
18 | |
 Italy |
78 |  Finland |
14 | |
 United Kingdom1 |
78 |  Denmark |
14 | |
 Spain |
54 |  Slovakia |
14 | |
 Poland |
54 |  Ireland |
13 | |
 Romania |
35 |  Lithuania |
13 | |
 Netherlands |
27 |  Latvia |
9 | |
 Belgium |
24 |  Slovenia |
7 | |
 Czech Republic |
24 |  Cyprus |
6 | |
 Greece |
24 |  Estonia |
6 | |
 Hungary |
24 |  Luxembourg |
6 | |
 Portugal |
24 |  Malta |
5 | |
 Sweden |
19 | Total: | 785 | |
| 1 Includes Gibraltar, but not any other BOT, SBA or Crown dependency | ||||
[edit] Political groups and parties
MEPs in the Parliament are currently organised into 8 different political groups with 15 non-aligned members, known as non-inscrits.
These groups are not by definition European political parties, but are in some cases or contain European political parties. For example the EPP-ED group is composed of the European People's Party and the European Democrats.
These European parties are themselves composed primarily of national parties (Such as the British Conservative Party being a member of the European Democrats) and include parties not currently elected or even currently outside the European Union.
Hence the make up of the Parliaments groups are more fluid, with national or European parties easily able to switch between groups which often occurs after elections or an enlargement.
[edit] Powers and functions
In some respects, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers resemble the upper and lower houses of a bicameral legislature. Neither the Parliament nor the Council may initiate EU legislation, only the Commission can do so, and in this respect the European Parliament is different from most national legislative assemblies.
However, once a proposal for an EU law or directive has been introduced by the Commission, it must usually be approved by both Parliament and Council in order to come into force. The Parliament may amend and block legislation in those policy areas that fall under the codecision procedure, which currently make up about three-quarters of EU legislative acts. Remaining policy areas fall under either the assent procedure or (in a very few cases) the consultation procedure; under the former Parliament may veto but not amend proposals, while under the latter it has only a formal right to be consulted. The Parliament controls the EU budget, which must be approved by the Council in order to become law.
The President of the European Commission is chosen by the European Council, but must be approved by Parliament before he or she can assume office. The remaining members of the Commission are then appointed by the President, subject to approval of Parliament. Parliament accepts or rejects the Commission (except the President) as a whole.
The European Parliament exerts a function of democratic supervision over all of the EU's activities, particularly those of the Commission. If the Parliament adopts a motion of censure, the entire Commission must resign (formally, Commissioners cannot be censored individually). However, a motion of censure must be approved by at least a two-thirds majority in order to have effect.
Parliament also appoints the European Ombudsman.
Under the proposed new Constitution for Europe, Parliament's powers would be enhanced, with almost all policy areas coming under co-decision, greater powers of democratic scrutiny for Parliament, and control over the whole EU budget.
[edit] Organisation
The European Parliament has a number of governing bodies and committees, and a number of delegations to external bodies.
The main offices and governing bodies are:
- President
- Vice-Presidents
- Bureau
- Conference of Presidents
- Quaestors
- Conference of Committee Chairmen - description
- Conference of Delegation Chairmen - description
- Political Groups
[edit] List of committees
Internal affairs
External affairs
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[edit] History
The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) established a 'Common Assembly' in September 1952, its 78 members drawn from the six national Parliaments of the ECSC's constituent nations. This was expanded in March 1958 to also cover the European Economic Community and Euratom, and the name European Parliamentary Assembly was adopted. The body was renamed to the European Parliament in 1962. In 1981 the parliament's membership was expanded again and its members began to be directly elected for the first time. Thereafter the membership of the European Parliament has simply expanded whenever new nations have joined; the membership was adjusted upwards in 1994 after German reunification. Recent treaties, including the Treaty of Nice and the proposed Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, set a cap on membership at 750.
[edit] Location
The Parliament is based in three different cities. A protocol attached to the Treaty of Amsterdam requires that monthly sessions be held in Strasbourg, which is the Parliament's official seat, while extra sessions as well as committees are held in Brussels. Luxembourg hosts the Secretariat of the European Parliament.
As Strasbourg is the official seat, the Parliament is sometimes informally referred to as the 'Strasbourg Parliament', and Strasbourg as the democratic (opposed to bureaucratic) capital of Europe. But for practical reasons, preparatory legislative work and committee meetings take place in Brussels.
There is a strong movement to establish Brussels as the sole seat as the other political institutions (the European Commission, European Council and Council of the European Union) are located there and hence is treated as the 'capital' of the EU. However, despite a million-signature petition, there has been little sign of change due to opposition from France.
- See also: Buildings of the European Parliament
[edit] See also
- Members of the European Parliament 2004-2009
- Apportionment in the European Parliament
- European Parliament constituency
- Growth in membership of the European Parliament
- European Assizes
- Model European Communities Project
- Sakharov Prize
[edit] External links
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- Official web site
- Official Register of MEPs
- European Parliament Offices in Member Countries
- BBC News: European Parliament guide
- Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament
- European Election News by European Election Law Association (Eurela)
| Presidents of the European Parliament |   |
|---|---|
| Presidents of the Common Assembly (1952-1958): Paul-Henri Spaak • Alcide De Gasperi • Giuseppe Pella • Hans Furler Presidents of the Parliamentary Assembly (1958-1962): Robert Schuman • Hans Furler Presidents of the appointed Parliament (1962-1979): Gaetano Martino • Jean Duvieusart • Victor Leemans • Presidents of the directly elected Parliament (1979-present): Simone Veil • Piet Dankert • Pierre Pflimlin • Henry Plumb • Enrique Barón • Egon Klepsch • Klaus Hänsch • José María Gil-Robles • Nicole Fontaine • Pat Cox • Josep Borrell • Hans-Gert Pöttering |
