1. Politics and Governance
The European Parliament

2. The European Parliament
Brussels
Strasbourg
Luxembourg
Dividing its time between Brussels and Strasbourg in France (with an administrative secretariat in Luxembourg), Parliament is the legislative arm of the EU, sharing responsibility with the Council of Ministers for debating, amending and taking the final vote on proposals for new European laws and the EU budget, and having the power to confirm or reject senior institutional appointments (such as the president of the Commission).

3. How the European Parliament Evolved
The European Parliament (EP) traces its roots back to the first meeting in Strasbourg on 10 September 1952 of the Common Assembly of the ECSC.
It had no power to propose or amend ECSC laws, was an advisory forum for the discussion of proposals from the High Authority.
The Treaties of Rome created a 142-member European Parliamentary Assembly shared by the ECSC, the EEC and Euratom, which met for the first time in Strasbourg in March with Robert Schuman as its president.
It was given joint powers with the Council of Ministers for approving the Community budget, but its opinions on EEC law and policy remained non-binding.

4. How the European Parliament Evolved
The EP crossed a political watershed in 1976 when the European Council agreed to an EP proposal that it should be directly elected.
The first elections were held in June 1979, and with MEPs now given a democratic mandate and meeting in public session, they had the moral advantage of being able to argue that they should be given new powers to represent voter interests and to offset and balance the powers of the other EU institutions.
In 1980 the result of Roquette Frères v. Council Case, in which a French company challenged a Council regulation placing production limits on isoglucose (a starch-based food sweetener). The European Court of Justice established the right of the EP to be consulted on draft legislation, giving it standing to bring cases to the Court.

5. How the European Parliament Evolved
As the membership of the EEC/EU grew, so did the size, the powers and the visibility of the EP.

6. How the European Parliament Structured
The EP is the only directly elected trans-national legislature in the world, and the only directly elected EU institution.
Legislative arm of the EU (but shares powers with Council of Ministers)
Plenary sessions meet in Strasbourg, committees meet in Brussels, administrative offices in Luxembourg
Headed by a president elected from among the party groups in Parliament for renewable five-year terms
Consists of 736 Members of the European Parliament directly elected by voters in the member states for fixed, five-year renewable terms, the number of MEPs being divided among member states approximately on the basis of population
MEPs organized into cross-national party groups, or may sit as independents
Detailed work undertaken by 20 standing committees, and by temporary committees and committees of inquiry
Work supported by a Secretariat
Character determined by a combination of supranationalism, nationalism, and ideology

7. How the European Parliament Structured
The EP has five main components:
Members of the European Parliament,
the President of the EP,
parliamentary committees,
rapporteurs,
the Secretariat.

8. How the European Parliament Structured
Members of the European Parliament
Seats in the EP are divided up among the states roughly on the basis of population. A representative elected from any of the 27 EU member states to serve in the European Parliament. Elected for fixed, renewable five-year terms.

9. How the European Parliament Structured
Members of the European Parliament
Once elected, most MEPs organize themselves into cross-national political groups based on shared ideology and policy positions
Candidates for European elections are chosen according to the rules of their national parties, but once in office they have an independent mandate and cannot always be bound by those parties
MEPs do not necessarily become more pro-integration, that they often think and act like national politicians, and so to think of the EP as supranational in character is misleading.
MEPs are not allowed to hold other significant political offices, whether being a member of a national government or a legislature of a member state, a European Commissioner, a judge on the Court of Justice, or a member of the board of directors of the European Central Bank.

10. How the European Parliament Structured
The President
The leader of the European Parliament, elected by MEPs from among their number, the selection being pre-determined as a result of negotiations among the major party groups.
The president works with vice-presidents representing the EP’s political groups, and has several responsibilities:
To open, chair and close EP debates during plenary sessions.
To apply the rules of parliamentary procedure.
To sign the EU budget and all legislative proposals decided by codecision.
To pass proposals to committees.
To represent Parliament in legal matters and in its relations with other institutions, including national legislatures. He also addresses meetings of the European Council.
To preside over meetings of the Conference of Presidents and the Bureau of the EP

11. How the European Parliament Structured
The President
The EP is managed by three different committees.
The most politically powerful is the Conference of Presidents, consisting of the president and the heads of the EP political groups, and responsible for deciding the timetable and agenda for plenary sessions and for managing EP committees.
The Bureau of the EP functions much like the EP’s governing council, and is responsible for administrative, organizational, and staff issues, for monitoring the rules on party groups, for appointing the EP Secretary General, and for administering the EP budget.
Finally, the Conference of Committee Chairs discusses organizational issues, watches the progress of legislative proposals and brokers deals between the political groups over the drafting of the parliamentary agenda

12. How the European Parliament Structured
Rapporteurs
One of the most important and influential roles in the EP is that of the rapporteur, a MEP who is appointed to a committee to draft a report on a legislative proposal and to recommend a position or political line to be followed.

13. How the European Parliament Structured
Secretariat
Parliament has its own internal bureaucracy, to match those of the Commission and the Council of Ministers.
Based in Luxembourg, the job of the EP Secretariat is to coordinate legislative work and organize plenary sittings and meetings, and to provide MEPs with technical and expert assistance.

14. How the European Parliament Structured
Parliamentary Committees
As with conventional national legislatures, most of the detailed work of the EP is addressed by a network of committees in which MEPs meet to discuss and amend legislative proposals
Convening monthly or bi-monthly in Brussels, there are now 20 standing (permanent) committees ranging in size between 24 and 76 members, their responsibilities reflecting the priorities of European integration.
Winning appointment to a committee is desirable and competitive, because this is where most of the work of shaping legislation is done.
Membership of committees is determined in part by the seniority of MEPs and in part by the size of political groups in the EP.

16. How the European Parliament Structured
Parliamentary Committees
EP also has temporary committees set up to examine a variety of politically pressing issues, including (in recent years) human genetics and other medical technologies (2001), the foot-and-mouth crisis (2002), allegations of illegal CIA activities in Europe (2006–07), climate change (2007– 08), and the global economic crisis (set up in 2009).
Finally, there is a Conciliation Committee that meets when the EP and the Council of Ministers have disagreed on the wording of a legislative proposal. There are 27 members from each side, with representatives of the Commission also attending.

17. What Parliament Does
Most conventional national legislatures have four main powers:
They draft, introduce, discuss, and vote on new legislation.
They have the final say over the national budget.
They usually have powers to question and confirm or reject nominees for senior political office.
Their support is needed (in parliamentary systems, at least) for the formation of the national government.
The European Parliament does not yet have all these powers, but as time has gone on it has become more like a conventional legislature, winning new authority mainly at the cost of the Council of Ministers.

18. What Parliament Does
Under the codecision procedure, shares powers with the Council of Ministers over discussion and approval of new legislative proposals, and of the EU budget
May encourage or pressure the Commission to develop new proposals
Commission, Council of Ministers, and presidency of Council of Ministers must regularly report to the EP on their activities
Right to confirm or reject the European Council's nominees for president of the European Commission and High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
Right of approval over appointments to the College of Commissioners, the management team of the European Central Bank, and the Court of Auditors
May compel removal of the College of Commissioners
Manages the office of the European Ombudsman

19. What Parliament Does Powers over legislation
Most of Parliament’s legislative work, though, is focused on reviewing proposals received from the Commission, at which point it enters a complex process of bargaining with the Council of Ministers.
Consultation procedure: The original legislative procedure used in the EP, by which it could comment on proposals from the Commission but had little more than the power of delay.
Cooperation procedure: A legislative procedure introduced by the Single European Act, giving the EP the right to a second reading on selected proposals. All but eliminated by the Treaty of Amsterdam.
Ordinary legislative procedure: The most common legislative procedure now used in the EP, under which it has the right to as many as three readings on a legislative proposal, giving it equal powers with the Council of Ministers.
Consent procedure: A legislative procedure under which the EP has veto rights in selected areas, including the admission of new member states to the EU, and the conclusion by the EU of new international agreements. (although what would happen if the EP did not give its consent is unclear)

21. What Parliament Does Powers over the budget
Parliament and the Council of Ministers share powers over agreeing the EU budget, making them jointly the budgetary authority of the EU.
If there is strong opposition to the budget then the EP – with a two-thirds majority – can reject it, but it has only done this three times so far (in 1979, 1982, and 1984).

22. What Parliament Does Powers over other institutions
Parliament has several direct powers over other EU institutions that have helped it develop a modest system of checks and balances, and have given EU citizens more of a role (via the EP) in influencing those institutions.
The Commission submits regular reports to the EP, including its annual legislative programme and its report on the implementation of the EU budget.
The presidency of the Council of Ministers must also report to the EP both on its plans and on its achievements.
The EP can submit questions to the Commission and the Council, and can even take the Commission or the Council to the Court of Justice over alleged infringements of the treaties.
Parliament also confirms the nominee of the European Council for president of the European Commission. If the nominee fails to win an EP majority, the Council must submit a second nominee within a month.
The Council’s nominee for High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy must also be confirmed by the EP, along with the College of Commissioners as a whole.
EP has the right to review and confirm the appointment of the president, the vice-president, and the executive board of the European Central Bank.
EP is responsible for appointing and overseeing the work of the European Ombudsman; and must be consulted on appointments to the Court of Auditors.

23. What Parliament Does Powers over other institutions
European Ombudsman: An official appointed and monitored by the European Parliament and charged with investigating complaints of maladministration by any of the EU institutions except the Court of Justice.