The European Parliament (EP) is the legislative body of the European Union (EU). Originally established as the Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community by the Treaty of Paris, it adopted its present name in 1962. The EP is based in Brussels, Belgium, though monthly plenary sessions, which all Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) attend, take place in Strasbourg, France, and the main administrative office is situated in Luxembourg. Originally a weak institution, the powers of the EP have increased significantly over the years through treaty amendments designed to strengthen the democratic credentials of the EU. Though still in many respects weaker than national parliaments, the EP does have three important functions: legislative, budgetary and controlling.
The EP participates in the legislative process of the EU through a number of different procedures. Until 1987 the EP was only permitted to give its opinion on legislation proposed by the European Commission through the consultation procedure. The Single European Act introduced the co-operation procedure and the assent procedure. The former adds a second reading to the legislative process, and the EP has the power to amend or reject a common position provided for EP by the Council of European Union in the first reading with an absolute majority vote. The Council then requires a unanimous vote to override the EP. The assent procedure requires the support of an absolute majority of MEPs in the first reading before a Council decision can be taken; the EP can veto decisions if this majority is not forthcoming. This procedure is used in international agreements such as the accession of new members to the EU. The Treaty on European Union (TEU) introduced the co-decision procedure which gives the EP a veto in the second reading if an absolute majority of MEPs reject it. The legislation is then referred to a conciliation committee made up of equal numbers of members of the EP and the Council. If no agreement can be reached, then the legislation falls. Since the Treaty of Amsterdam most EU legislation has been decided by the co-decision procedure with the exceptions of key policy areas such as agriculture, justice and home affairs, trade, taxation and Economic and Monetary Union.
The EP is responsible for supervising the EU’s budget. It can propose modifications to compulsory spending, in areas such as agriculture, and amendments to non-compulsory expenditure. Since the Treaty on European Union the EP can reject a whole draft budget if backed by a majority of two-thirds of MEPs.
Third, the EP has powers to control and supervise the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and the European Council. The EP discusses the Commission’s annual report and budgets, scrutinizes its work in standing and ad hoc committees and asks written and oral questions. The EP approves the Council’s nomination for president of the European Commission; it also confirms the appointment of the College of Commissioners and can dismiss the College by a two-thirds’ majority vote based on the participation of at least one-half of all MEPs. In recent years the EP has used these powers to the full. The Jacques Santer Commission College narrowly escaped a vote of censure by the EP (for 232; against 293) in January 1999 after it had been accused of corruption and mismanagement. An independent committee was set up to investigate these issues and its report severely criticized the College. The Santer Commission then decided to resign collectively in order to avoid a further vote of censure. The EP threatened to reject the new Commission College proposed by José Manuel Durão Barroso in October 2004 as many MEPs objected to his choice of Commisioner for Justice and Home Affairs, Rocco Buttiglione. The threat led Barroso to withdraw and reconfigure his proposed team. The EP has less power to control the Council of the European Union and the European Council, but they are required to attend plenary sessions and report to the EP.
MEPs were initially delegates from national parliaments but since 1979 they have been directly elected in member states for five-year terms by an electoral system decided by the member state. All citizens of the EU are entitled to vote in elections to the EP and, since the TEU, EU citizens have had the right to vote and stand for election to the EP in any member state. At the most recent elections, held in June 2004, 732 MEPs were elected for the 25 EU member states. MEPs are allocated to countries according to the size of their populations. As agreed in the Treaty of Nice, seats in the new EP are distributed as follows: Austria 18; Belgium 24; Cyprus 6; Czech Republic 24; Denmark 14; Estonia 6; Finland 14; France 78; Germany 99; Greece 24; Hungary 24; Ireland 13; Italy 78; Latvia 9; Lithuania 13; Luxembourg 6; Malta 5; Netherlands 27; Poland 54; Portugal 24; Slovakia 14; Slovenia 7; Spain 54; Sweden 19; United Kingdom 78.
The EP is organized into political groups which bring together MEPs of political ‘families’ from all member states. In June 2004 there were seven political groupings which had the following number of members: the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats 268; the Socialist Group in the European Parliament 202; the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe 88; the Greens/ European Free Alliance 42, the European United Left-Nordic Green Left 41, Independence/Democracy 36, Union for Europe of the Nations 27. Additionally, 28 MEPs are unattached. Of the 732 MEPs elected in June 2004, 30.33% are women.
