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Although the European Parliament
has existed since the creation of the European
Community soon after the Second World War, the first
direct elections by universal suffrage only took
place in 1979. The Parliament today is in its fifth
term and consists of 626 members representing the
375 million citizens of the 15 member states of the
European Union. The largest member state, Germany,
has 99 MEPs, whereas the smallest, Luxembourg only
six. The UK has 87. Elections take place every 5
years at a fixed date.
The European Parliament organises itself within
multi-national political groups. There are currently
seven political groups, the largest being the
European People's Party (Christian Democrats &
Conservatives), with 233 members, and the smallest
has only 16 members. The Party of European
Socialists has 180 MEPs.
The 12 British Liberal Democrat MEPs sit within the
third largest group in the Parliament, the Alliance
of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), which
has 88 MEPs in total.
Parliament meets in plenary sessions once a month
for a week in Strasbourg, and for two days in
Brussels. Committee and group work, as well as the
secretariat, is based in Brussels. Although most
MEPs would like to concentrate their activities in
the Belgian capital, the French government,
supported by others, insists that the Parliament
divides its time, at great cost, between Brussels
and Strasbourg.
Draft legislation is tackled in the 17 specialised
policy committees, which frequently question
Commissioners as well as representatives of the
Council. European Parliamentary committees combine
the powers of the select and standing committees of
the House of Commons.
The European Parliament has very considerable, and
growing, powers.
Parliament may veto about three quarters of the
Union's significant legislation, as well as propose
amendments. Where there is disagreement between the
Parliament, representing the peoples of Europe, and
the Council, representing the states, a formal
process of concilation takes place. This procedure
of co-decision affects all single market,
environmental and consumer affairs legislation.
Parliament sets the annual budget of the European
Union in accord with the Council. It can decide on
priorities and ultimately block the budget if no
agreement is reached. The Parliament monitors the
implementation of the budget and is responsible for
the scrutiny of accounts for previous years.
Parliament vets the national nominees to the
European Commission, and may withold its assent from
the new Commission, as well as sack it. The
Parliament has the right to set-up committees of
inquiry, as was the case for 'mad cow disease', and
has established an Ombudsman to investigate
maladministration within the EU. MEPs were also
instrumental in setting up the EU's anti-fraud
office.
The European Liberal Democrats are in the vanguard
of those who argue that the Parliament should have
more power.
Visit the website
of the European Parliament:
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