Everything about The European Parliament totally explained
The
European Parliament (Europarl or EP) is the only
directly elected parliamentary institution of the
European Union (EU). Together with the
Council of the European Union (the Council), it forms the
bicameral legislative branch of the
Union's institutions and has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world.
It has been directly elected every five years by
universal suffrage since 1979. Although the European Parliament has legislative power that such bodies as those above don't possess, it doesn't have
legislative initiative like most national parliaments. While it's the "first institution" of the European Union (mentioned first in the treaties, having ceremonial precedence over all authority at European level
The European Parliament has two meeting places, namely the
Immeuble Louise Weiss in
Strasbourg, France, which serves for plenary sessions and is the official seat and the
Espace Léopold complex in
Brussels, Belgium, the smaller of the two, which serves for preparatory meetings and complementary, non-plenary sessions. The cost of having all MEPs and their staff moving several times a year from one place to another has been of concern to some. The
Secretariat of the European Parliament, the Parliament's administrative body,
is based in Luxembourg.
The
President of the European Parliament (its
speaker) is currently
Hans-Gert Pöttering (
EPP), elected in January 2007. He presides over a multi-party chamber, the two largest groups being the
European People's Party-European Democrats (EPP-ED) and the
Party of European Socialists (PES). The last Union-wide elections were the
2004 Parliamentary Elections, however
Romania and
Bulgaria joined in 2007 and have elected their members in 2007 (
see European Parliament election, 2007); the next union-wide parliamentary elections are in 2009 (
see European Parliament election, 2009).
History
The Parliament, like the other institutions, wasn't designed in its current form when it first met on
September 10,
1952. One of the oldest common institutions, it began as the "Common Assembly" of the
European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). It was a consultative assembly of 78
parliamentarians drawn from the national
parliaments of member states (see
dual mandate), having no legislative powers. This change since its foundation was highlighted by Professor David Farrell of the
University of Manchester;
Its development since its foundation is testament to the evolution of the Union's structures without one clear "master plan". Some such as Tom Reid of the
Washington Post said of the Union, "nobody would have deliberately designed a government as complex and as redundant as the EU". Even the Parliament's
two seats, which have switched several times, is a result of various agreements or lack of agreements.
Despite this the
European Economic Community and
Euratom were established in 1958 by the
Treaties of Rome. The Common Assembly was shared by all three communities (which had separate
executives) and it renamed itself the "European Parliamentary Assembly". The three communities
merged in 1967 and the body was renamed to the current "European Parliament" in 1962.
Under the Rome Treaties, the Parliament should have become elected. However the Council was required to agree a uniform voting system before hand, which it failed to do. The Parliament threatened to take the Council to the
European Court of Justice leading to a compromise whereby the Council would agree to elections, but the issue of voting systems would be put off till a later date.
Elected Parliament
In 1979, its members were
directly elected for the
first time. This set it apart from similar institutions such as those of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe or
Pan-African Parliament which are appointed. After that first election, the parliament held its first session on
11 July 1979, electing
Simone Veil MEP as its President. Veil was also the first female President of the Parliament since it was formed as the Common Assembly.
The Parliament quickly made use of its legitimacy. For example in 1984, inspired by its previous work on the Political Community, it drafted the "draft Treaty establishing the European Union" (also known as the 'Spinelli Plan' after its rapporteur
Altiero Spinelli MEP). Although it wasn't adopted, many ideas were later implemented by other treaties. Further more the Parliament began holding votes on proposed
Commission Presidents from the 1980s, before it was given any formal right to veto. Since the election the membership of the European Parliament has simply expanded whenever new nations have joined (the membership was also adjusted upwards in 1994 after
German reunification). Following this the
Treaty of Nice imposed a cap on the number of members to be elected, 732.
Recent history
The Parliament had been gaining more powers from successive treaties, namely through the extension of
codecision procedure, and in 1999, the Parliament forced the resignation of the
Santer Commission. The Parliament had refused to approve the
Community budget over allegations of fraud and mis-management in the Commission. The two main parties took on a government-opposition dynamic for the first time during the crisis which ended in the Commission resigning en masse, the first of any forced resignation, in the face of an impending censure from the Parliament.
In addition to the extension of codecision, the Parliament's democratic mandate has given it greater control over legislation against the other institutions. In voting on the
Bolkestein directive in 2006, the Parliament voted by a large majority for over 400 amendments that changed the fundamental principle of the law. The
Financial Times described it in the following terms:
In 2007, for the first time,
Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini included Parliament in talks on the second
Schengen Information System even though MEPs only needed to be consulted on parts of the package. After that experiment, Frattini indicated he'd like to include Parliament in all justice and criminal matters, informally pre-empting the new powers they'd gain in 2009 under the
Treaty of Lisbon.
Powers and functions
The Parliament and Council are essentially two chambers in the bicameral legislative branch of the European Union, with legislative power being officially distributed equally between both chambers. However there are some differences from national legislatures; for example, neither the Parliament nor Council have the power of legislative initiative. In
Community matters, this is a power uniquely reserved for the European Commission (the executive). Meaning that while Parliament can amend and reject
legislation, and make a proposal for legislation, it needs the Commission to draft a bill before anything can become law.
The Parliament also has a great deal of indirect influence, through
non-binding resolutions and
committee hearings, as a "pan-European
soapbox" with the ear of
thousands of Brussels-based journalists. There is also an indirect effect on
foreign policy; the Parliament must approve all development grants, including those overseas. For example, the support for
post-war Iraq reconstruction, or incentives for the cessation of
Iranian nuclear development, must be supported by the Parliament. Parliamentary support was also required for the transatlantic passenger data-sharing deal with the United States.
Legislative procedure
With each new treaty, the powers of the Parliament have expanded. Its powers have been primarily defined through the
Union's legislative procedures. The method which has slowly become the dominant procedure (about three-quarters of policy areas) is the
Codecision procedure, where powers are essentially equal between Parliament and Council. In addition to codecision, the Parliament's mandate as the only directly democratic institution has given it leeway to have greater control over legislation than other institutions, for example over its changes to the Bolkestein directive in 2006. There is a further document which doesn't follow normal procedures, this is a "written declaration" which is similar to an
early day motion used in the
Westminster system. It is a document proposed by up to five MEPs on a matter within the EU's activities used to launch a debate on that subject. Having been posted outside the entrance to the hemicycle, members can sign the declaration and if a majority do so it's forwarded to the President and announced to the plenary before being forwarded to the other institutions and formally noted in the minutes.
Budget
The legislative branch officially holds the Union's budgetary authority, powers gained through the
Budgetary Treaties of the 1970s. The
EU's budget is divided into compulsory and non-compulsory spending. Compulsory spending is that resulting from
EU treaties (including
agriculture) and international agreements; the rest is non-compulsory. While the Council has the last word on compulsory spending, the Parliament has the last word on non-compulsory spending.
The institutions draw up budget estimates and the Commission consolidates them into a draft budget. Both the Council and the Parliament can amend the budget with the Parliament adopting or rejecting the budget at its second reading. The signature of the Parliament's president is required before the budget becomes law. In practice, the Parliament has never voted against a President or his Commission, but it did seem likely when the Barroso Commission was put forward. The resulting pressure forced the proposal to be withdrawn and changed to be more acceptable to parliament. That pressure was seen as an important sign by some of the evolving nature of the Parliament and its ability to make the Commission accountable, rather than being a rubber stamp for candidates. Furthermore, in voting on the Commission, MEPs also voted along party lines, rather than national lines, despite frequent pressure from national governments on their MEPs. This cohesion and willingness to use the Parliament's power ensured greater attention from national leaders, other institutions and the public—who previously gave the lowest ever turnout for the Parliament's elections.
The Parliament also has the power to
censure the Commission if they've a two-thirds majority which will force the resignation of the entire Commission from office. As with approval, this power has never been used but it was threatened to the
Santer Commission, who subsequently
resigned of their own accord. There are a few other controls, such as: the requirement of Commission to submit reports to the Parliament and answer questions from MEPs; the requirement of the President-in-office of the
European Council to present their programme at the start of their
presidency; the right of MEPs to make proposals for legislation and policy to the Commission and Council; and the right to question members of those institutions (for example "Commission
Question Time" every Tuesday). The Parliament has the power to set up a Committee of Inquiry, for example over mad cow disease or CIA detention flights—the former led to the creation of the
European veterinary agency. The Parliament can call other institutions to answer questions and if necessary to take them to
court if they break EU law or treaties. Further more it has powers over the appointment of the members of the
Court of Auditors and the president and executive board of the
European Central Bank. The
ECB president is also obliged to present an annual report to the parliament.
Members
The
parliamentarians are known in
English as Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). They are elected every 5 years by
universal adult suffrage and sit according to political allegiance, about a third are women. Prior to 1979 they were appointed by their national parliaments.
As
states are allocated seats according to population, the total number of MEPs should be 732; however, since
1 January 2007 there are 785 MEPs. This is due to the accession of Romania and Bulgaria, as the allocation of seats doesn't take into account members that join mid-term. Under the existing rules the number of members would be reduced again to 732 following the
2009 election however the rules are due to be changed under the Treaty of Lisbon. Instead, there would be 751 members, however the President would no longer be counted as a voting member once in office so in practice there would be 750 members. In addition, the maximum number of seats allocated to a state would be lowered to ninety-six, from the current ninety-nine, and the minimum number of seats would be raised to six, from the current five. These seats are distributed according to "degressive proportionality", meaning that the larger the state, the more citizens that are represented per MEP. It is intended that the new system, including revising the seating well in advance of elections, can avoid political
horse trading when the numbers have to be revised.
At present, members receive the same salary as members of their national parliament. However as of 2009 a new members statute will come into force which gives all members an equal pay of 7000
euro each, subject to a community
tax and can also be taxed nationally. MEPs would
retire at 63 and receive the whole of their
pension from the Parliament. Travelling expenses would also be given based on actual cost rather than a flat rate as is the case now. In addition to their pay, members are granted a number of privileges and
immunities. To ensure their free movement to and from the Parliament they're accorded by their own states, the facilities accorded to senior
officials travelling abroad and by other state governments the facilities of visiting
foreign representatives. When in their own state they've all the immunities accorded to national parliamentarians, and in other states they've immunity from
detention and
legal proceedings. However immunity can't be claimed when a member is found committing a criminal offence and the Parliament also has the right to strip a member of their immunity.
Political groups
MEPs in Parliament are organised into seven different
parliamentary groups, including over thirty non-attached members known as
non-inscrits. The two largest groups are the
European People's Party-European Democrats (EPP-ED) and the
Party of European Socialists (PES). These two groups have dominated the Parliament for much of its life, continuously holding between 50 and 70 percent of the seats together. No single group has ever held a majority in Parliament.
Groups are often based around a single
European political party such as the
socialist group. However they can, like the
liberal group, include more than one European party as well as national parties and independents. For a group to be recognised, it needs 20 MEPs from six different countries. Once recognised groups receive financial subsidies from the parliament and guaranteed seats on Committees, creating an incentive for the formation of groups. However some controversy occurred with the establishment of the
Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty (ITS) due to its ideology; the members of the group are far-right, so there were concerns about public funds going towards such a group. There were attempts to change the rules to block the formation of ITS, however that never came to fruition. They were, however, blocked from gaining leading positions on committees—a right that's meant to be afforded to all parties. When this group engaged in infighting, causing the withdrawal of some members, its size fell below the recognisable limit causing its collapse.
Grand coalition
Given that the Parliament doesn't form the government in the traditional sense of a Parliamentary system, its politics have developed along more consensual lines rather than majority rule of competing parties and coalitions. Indeed for much of its life it has been dominated by a
grand coalition of the People's Party and Socialist Party. The two major parties tend to co-operate to find a compromise between their two groups leading to proposals endorsed by huge majorities. However there have been some occasions where real party politics have emerged, for example over the
resignation of the Santer Commission;
When the initial allegations against the Commission emerged, they were directed primarily against
Édith Cresson and
Manuel Marín, both socialist members. When the parliament was considering refusing to discharge the
Community budget,
President Jacques Santer stated that a no vote would be tantamount to a
vote of no confidence. PES supported the Commission and saw the issue as an attempt by the EPP to discredit their party ahead of the 1999 elections. PES leader,
Pauline Green MEP, attempted a vote of confidence and the EPP put forward counter motions. During this period the two parties took on similar roles to a
government-
opposition dynamic, with PES supporting the executive and EPP renouncing its previous coalition support and voting it down. This was reflected in the Presidency of the Parliament with the terms being shared between the EPP and the ELDR, rather than the EPP and PES. In the following term the liberal group grew to hold 88 seats, the largest number of seats held by any third party in Parliament.
Elections
Elections have taken place, directly in every member-state, every five years since 1979. As of 2004 there have been six. Occasionally, when a member joins mid-term, a
by-election will be held to elect their members. This has happened four times, the last time was when Romania and Bulgaria joined in 2007 (see below). 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. This includes allocation of
sub-national constituencies; while most members have a national list, some, like the UK and France, divide their allocation between regions. Seats are allocated to member-states according to their population, with no state having more than 99, but no fewer than 5, in order to maintain proportionality.
The most recent Union-wide 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%. The
next Union-wide elections will be in 2009. There are a number of proposals to "dress up" the next elections to attract greater public attention to them. These include most notably the idea of linking them more closely to the Commission presidency. This would be by having political parties running with candidates for the job, so the largest party would essentially be forming the government, as in the
parliamentary system of government. This was attempted in 2004, however only the
European Green Party, which was the first true pan-European party to be established with a common campaign, proposed a candidate for the post of President:
Daniel Cohn-Bendit. Meanwhile, the closest any other party had come was when the People's Party mentioned four or five people they'd like to be President. It is hoped such changes would add legitimacy and counter the falling turnout In 2007 both
Bulgaria and Romania are electing their MEPs in by-elections, having joined at the beginning of 2007. The Bulgarian and Romanian elections saw the lowest ever turnout for a European election, just 28.6% and 28.3%. respectively.
Proceedings
Each year the activities of the Parliament cycle between committee weeks where reports are discussed in committees and interparliamentary delegations meet, political group weeks for members to discuss work within their political groups and session weeks where members spend 3½ days in
Strasbourg for part-sessions. In addition six 2-day part-sessions are organised in
Brussels throughout the year. Four weeks are allocated as constituency week to allow members to do exclusively constituency work. Finally there are no meetings planned during the summer weeks. The Parliament has the power to meet without being convened by another authority. Its meetings are partly controlled by the treaties but are otherwise up to Parliament according to its own "Rules of Procedure" (the regulations governing the parliament).
During sessions, members may speak after being called on by the President, with a time limit of one minute. Members of the Council or Commission may also attend and speak in debates. Partly due to the need for translation, and the politics of consensus in the chamber, debates tend to be calmer and more polite than, say, the
Westminster system. Voting is conducted primarily by a show of hands, that may be checked on request by electronic voting. Votes of MEPs are not recorded in either case however, that only occurs when there's a roll-call ballot. That is when each MEP in turn is called by name, in alphabetical order, to state their support or opposition. This is a historical system used when the Parliament was much smaller in membership and is rarely used now. Votes can also be a completely secret ballot (for example when the President is elected). All recorded votes, along with minutes and legislation, are recorded in the
Official Journal of the European Union and can be accessed online.
Members are arranged in a
hemicycle according to their political groups who are ordered mainly by left to right, but some smaller groups are placed towards the outer ring of the Parliament. All desks are equipped with microphones, headphones for translation and electronic voting equipment. The leaders of the groups sit on the front benches at the centre, and in the very centre is a podium for guest speakers. The remaining half of the circular chamber is primarily composed of the raised area where the President and staff sit. Further benches are provided between the sides of this area and the MEPs, these are taken up by the Council on the far left and the Commission on the far right. Both the Brussels and Strasbourg hemicycle roughly follow this layout with only minor differences. With access to the chamber limited, entrance is controlled by ushers who aid MEPs in the chamber (for example in delivering documents). The ushers also act as a form of police in enforcing the President, for example in ejecting an MEP who is disrupting the session (although this is rare). The first head of protocol in the Parliament was French, so many of the duties in the Parliament are based on the French model first developed following the
French Revolution. The 180 ushers are highly visible in the Parliament, dressed in black
tails and wearing a silver chain, and are recruited in the same manner as the
European civil service. The President is allocated a personal usher.
President and organisation
The President, currently
Hans-Gert Pöttering MEP of the EPP, is essentially the
speaker of the Parliament. He or she presides over the plenary when it's in session and the President's signature is required for all acts adopted by co-decision, including the EU budget. The President is also responsible for representing the Parliament externally, including in legal matters, and for the application of the rules of procedure. He or she's elected for two-and-a-half-year terms, meaning two elections per parliamentary term.
In most countries, the protocol of the
head of state comes before all others, however in the EU the Parliament is listed as the first institution, and hence the protocol of its President comes before any other European, or national, protocol. The gifts given to numerous visiting dignitaries depends upon the President. President
Josep Borrell MEP of Spain gave his counterparts a crystal cup created by an artist from Barcelona which had engraved upon it parts of the
Charter of Fundamental Rights among other things.
A number of notable figures have been President of the Parliament and its predecessors. The first President was
Paul-Henri Spaak MEP, one of the
founding fathers of the Union. Other founding fathers include
Alcide de Gasperi MEP and
Robert Schuman MEP. The two female Presidents were
Simone Veil MEP in 1979 (first President of the elected Parliament) and
Nicole Fontaine MEP in 1999, both Frenchwomen.
During the election of a President, the plenary is presided over by the oldest member of the Parliament. In 2004 and 2007 this was
Giovanni Berlinguer MEP. While the oldest member is in the chair, they hold all the powers of the President, but the only business that may be addressed is the election of the President.
Below the President, there are 14
Vice-Presidents who chair debates when the President isn't in the chamber. There are a number of other bodies and posts responsible for the running of parliament besides these speakers. The two main bodies are the
Bureau, which is responsible for budgetary and administration issues, and the
Conference of Presidents which is a governing body composed of the presidents of each of the parliament's political groups. Looking after the financial and administrative interests of members are six
Quaestors.
Committees and delegations
The Parliament has 20
Standing Committees consisting of 28 to 86 MEPs each (reflecting the political makeup of the whole Parliament) including a
chair, a bureau and secretariat. They meet twice a month in public to draw up, amend to adopt legislative proposals and reports to be presented to the plenary. The
rapporteurs for a committee are supposed to present the view of the committee, although notably this hasn't always been the case. In the events leading to the resignation of the Santer Commission, the rapporteur went against the
Budgetary Control Committee's narrow vote to discharge the budget, and urged the Parliament to reject it.
Committees can also set up sub-committees (for example the
Subcommittee on Human Rights) and temporary committees to deal with a specific topic (for example on
extraordinary rendition). The chairs of the Committees co-ordinate their work through the "
Conference of Committee Chairmen".
Translation and interpreting
Speakers in the European Parliament are entitled to speak in any of the
EU's 23 official languages, ranging from
English and
French to
Maltese and
Swedish. Simultaneous interpreting is offered in all plenary sessions, and all final texts of legislation are translated. With twenty-three languages, the European Parliament is the most multilingual parliament in the world and the biggest employer of interpreters in the world (employing 350 full time and 400 free-lancers when there's higher demand). Citizens may also address the Parliament in
Basque,
Catalan/Valencian and
Galician.
Usually a language is translated from a foreign tongue into a translator's native tongue. Due to the large number of languages, some being minor ones, since 1995 translation is sometimes done the opposite way, out of a translator's native tongue (the "retour" system). In addition, a speech in a minor language may be translated via a third language for lack of interpreters ("relay" interpreting) —for example, when translating
Estonian into
Maltese. Although many see the ideal single language as being English due to its widespread usage, there's a campaign to make French the single tongue for all legal texts, due to its more precise legal language, overcoming ambiguity between translations of legislation. Although this wouldn't directly affect translation in the plenary, it would shift the balance towards French when discussing draft legislation.
Seat
The Parliament is based in three different cities with numerous buildings. A protocol attached to the
Treaty of Amsterdam requires that 12 plenary sessions be held in
Strasbourg (none in August but two in September), which is the Parliament's official seat, while extra part sessions as well as committee meetings are held in
Brussels.
Luxembourg hosts the Secretariat of the European Parliament.),
Brussels is home to nearly all other major EU institutions, with the majority of Parliament's work already being carried out there. Therefore despite Strasbourg being the main seat, it's the one most questioned, although some do believe Strasbourg should be the single capital.
Critics have described the two-seat arrangement as a "travelling circus", and there's a strong movement to establish Brussels as the sole seat. This is due to the fact that the other political institutions (the Commission, Council and European Council) are located there, and hence Brussels is treated as the '
capital' of the EU. This movement has received strong backing through numerous figures, including the Commission First-Vice President who stated that "something that was once a very positive symbol of the EU reuniting France and Germany has now become a negative symbol—of wasting money, bureaucracy and the insanity of the Brussels institutions". In 2006 there were allegations of irregularity in the charges made by the city of Strasbourg on buildings the Parliament rented which harmed the city's image further. A poll of MEPs also found 89% of the respondents (39%) wanting a single seat, and 81% preferring Brussels. Another, more academic, survey found 68% support. Notably France, which hasn't been affected by any campaigning, with
French President Nicolas Sarkozy stating that its seat is "non-negotiable".
Future of the Parliament
The
Treaty of Lisbon, signed on
2007-12-13, largely retains the reforms outlined in the rejected
Constitutional Treaty. Overall, powers would be increased. For example, nearly all policy areas would fall under co-decision procedure (now called the "ordinary legislative procedure") meaning that the Parliament would have practically equal powers to those of the Council (now officially the Council of Ministers). In the remaining minority of areas in which the powers remain unequal, the Council must consult the Parliament and/or seek its approval on the legislation. The Parliament also gains greater powers over the entirety of the EU budget, not just non-compulsory expenditure, through the ordinary legislative procedure. In terms of the composition of the Parliament there would be little change, however the minimum number of seats would be increased from 5 to 6 and the maximum number would be reduced from 99 to 96. There would also be basic rules on the distribution of seats in the Parliament, rather than them being negotiated at each enlargement. Decisions about the composition of the Parliament are currently made by the Council, this would remain so but the decision would be made based on a proposal from the Parliament itself.
The European Council would be bound to take into account the latest elections when proposing the Commission President, something that they willingly did after the 2004 election. As currently, the Parliament's consent is needed for the President to take office, however the Treaty of Lisbon now uses the word "elect" rather than "approve" to refer to this procedure. This is an area however in which the Council of Ministers plays no part. No major party proposed a candidate in 2004 with the fractious nature of the European-level parties being, in part, why a single candidate hasn't been proposed. However there are plans to strengthen the political parties before the elections One of the group's key reform ideas, extra debates on topical issues, was rejected by MEPs causing
liberal leader
Graham Watson MEP to withdraw from the reform group. An interim report was presented in September 2007 and proposed cutting down time allocated for guest speakers and non-legislative documents. In 2006, 92 "own initiative" reports (commenting rather than legislating) were tables and 22% of debating time was spent debating such reports, while only 18% was spent on legislative bills. The group is due to produce a final report in 2008, and put the recommendations into practice by the 2009 elections
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