European Parliament

The main debating chamber in Strasbourg where all the members meet

The European Parliament (formerly European Parliamentary Assembly or Common Assembly) is the parliament of the European Union (EU). EU citizens elect its members once every five years. Together with the Council of Ministers, it is the law-making branch of the institutions of the Union. It meets in two locations: Strasbourg and Brussels.

Members

The Parliament has 751 members, called "MEPs". Each member speaks for a place in Europe, for example Paris, Denmark or Sicily. Anyone can be elected, they are elected by all the EU citizens, the people who are citizens of a country in the EU.

People have been elected to Parliament since 1979, before that they came from the Parliaments of each country. Because MEPs come from different countries, they speak different languages (24 in 2013) at Parliament. They have a protected right to first language, i.e. multilingualism, and the Parliament needs many interpreters.

Unlike other international groups of politicians, MEPs do not sit in groups of countries, but they sit next to people who they share ideas with. The two largest groups are the "European People's Party-European Democrats" and the "Party of European Socialists". But these groups work together to agree, so they do not fight to make a law if the other group dislike it.

Power

The European Parliament's power depends on which area of the EU it is working in. The EU has three areas, the "Community", its representation to other countries, and things to do with police and courts. In the last two areas, it can not do much as the Council takes care of those issues, but in the Community (which is the largest area) it can change or stop any law. But the council also has to agree, and sometimes they disagree and cannot make a law.

While Parliament can change a law, it cannot start a new one, it has to ask the European Commission to do that. The European Commission works on everyday work and the Parliament has to make sure it does its job properly, if it does not Parliament can make them all leave their jobs or not allow them to spend the EU budget.

Work

When the Parliament wants to make a new law, they all vote at the same time. But before then, they make many small changes while talking with experts who know about the things that the new law will change. As in other parliaments, they do this in small meetings known as "Committees" of between 28 and 86 MEPs.

The Parliament has a President. The President is elected by the MEPs, two times every two and a half years, to organise the meetings and speak for the Parliament when meeting other leaders. Since 2022, the president has been Roberta Metsola of Malta.

History

The Parliament was made in 1952 and was then called the "Common Assembly". At this time, it did not have any power, it was only asked to comment on laws made by the "European Coal and Steel Community". In 1957, it was renamed the "European Parliamentary Assembly" and got to comment on the laws of the "European Economic Community" and the "European Atomic Energy Community".

Over the following years, it was given a few powers over laws and money and it called itself the "European Parliament" in the 1960s. It wanted to be elected so it could do more, as if people voted for the people in Parliament, the Council and Commission would have to pay more attention to it.

In 1979, it held its first election, and it gained more powers and also members because more countries joined the Communities and they elected people as well. In 1993, it was given even more, and power over the commission, when the European Union took the place of the Communities. It is now known as one of the most powerful Parliaments in the world.

Other websites

• Official web site
• Overview on the votes of MEPs Archived 2006-12-31 at the Wayback Machine
• European Parliament Office in Ireland
• UK Office of the European Parliament
• BBC News: European Parliament guide
• Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament Archived 2006-10-19 at the Wayback Machine