The European Parliament is the parliamentary body of the European Union (EU), directly elected by EU citizens once every five years. Together with the Council of Ministers, it comprises the legislative branch of the institutions of the Union. It meets in two locations: Brussels and Strasbourg.

History

The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) established a 'Common Assembly' in September, 1952, its 78 members drawn from the six national Parliaments of the ECSC's constituent

Composition

The European Parliament represents around 450 million citizens of the European Union. Its members are known as Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). Since 13 June 2004, there have been 732 MEPs. Elections occur once in every five years, on the basis of universal adult suffrage. There is not a uniform voting system for the election of MEPs; rather, each member state is free to choose its own system subject to three restrictions:

The system must be a form of proportional representation, under either the party list or Single Transferable Vote system. The allocation of seats to each member state is based on the principle of degressive proportionality, so that, while the size of the population of each country is taken into account.

The most recent elections to the European Parliament were the European elections of 2004, held in June. These elections were the largest simultaneous transnational elections ever held anywhere in the world, since nearly 400 million citizens were eligible to vote.

Powers and functions

In some respects, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers resemble the upper and lower houses of a bicameral legislature. Neither the European Parliament nor the Council of Ministers may initiate EU legislation, this power being reserved by the Commission. However, once a proposal for an EU law or directive has been introduced by the Commission, it must usually receive the approval of both Parliament and Council in order to come into force. The fact that the European Parliament cannot itself propose laws makes it different from most national legislative assemblies.

Parliament may amend and block legislation in those policy areas that fall under the codecision procedure, which currently make up about three quarters of EU legislative acts. Remaining policy areas fall under either the assent procedure or the consultation procedure; under the former Parliament has power to veto but not formally amend proposals, while under the latter it has only a formal right to be consulted. The European Parliament controls the EU budget, which must be approved by Parliament in order to become law.

The President of the European Commission is chosen by the European Council, but must be approved by Parliament before he can assume office. The remaining members of the Commission are then appointed by the President, subject to approval of Parliament.

The European Parliament exerts a function of democratic supervision over all of the EU's activities, particularly those of the Commission. In the event that Parliament adopts a motion of censure, the entire Commission must resign (formally, Commissioners cannot be censored individually). However, a motion of censure must be approved by at least a two-thirds majority in order to have effect. Parliament also appoints the European Ombudsman.

Political groups and parties

The political parties in the European Parliament are organised into a number of political groupings as well as a number of registered European political parties. The makeup of the parliament's groups is fluid, and both national delegations and individual MEPs are free to switch allegiances as they see fit.

European Parliament party groups are distinct from the corresponding European political parties, although they are intimately linked. At the start of Parliament's sixth term in 2004 there were seven groups, as well as a number of non-aligned members, known as non-inscrits. As of 21 July 2004 the composition of the European Parliament was:

WEB-site: http://www.europarl.eu.int/

//Source:  http://www.eutest.ro/directorate/25