The
European Parliament (Europarl or EP) is the
directly elected parliamentary body of the
European Union (EU). Together with the
Council of the European Union (the Council), it forms the
bicameral legislative branch of the
Union's institutions and has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world.
The Parliament and Council form the highest legislative body within the Union. However their powers as such are limited to the competencies conferred upon the
European Community by
member states. Hence the institution has little control over policy areas held by the states and within the other two of the
three pillars of the European Union. The Parliament is composed of 785 MEPs (
Member of the European Parliament) who serve the second largest democratic electorate in the world (after
India) and the largest trans-national democratic electorate in the world (492 million).
It has been directly elected every five years by
universal suffrage since 1979. Although the European Parliament has legislative power that such bodies as those above do not possess, it does not have
legislative initiative like most national parliaments. While it is the "first institution" of the European Union (mentioned first in the treaties, having ceremonial precedence over all authority at European level
), the Council has greater powers over legislation than the Parliament where
codecision procedure (equal rights of amendment and rejection) does not apply. It has, however, had control over the
EU budget since the 1970s and has a veto over the appointment of the
European Commission.
The European Parliament has two meeting places, namely the
Immeuble Louise Weiss in
Strasbourg, France, which serves for plenary sessions and is the official seat and the
Espace Léopold/Leopoldwijk complex in
Brussels, Belgium, the smaller of the two, which serves for preparatory meetings and complementary, non-plenary sessions. The cost of having all MEPs and their staff moving several times a year from one place to another has been of concern to some. The
Secretariat of the European Parliament, the Parliament's administrative body, is based in
Luxembourg.
The
President of the European Parliament (its
speaker) is currently
Hans-Gert Pöttering (
EPP), elected in January 2007. He presides over a multi-party chamber, the two largest groups being the
European People's Party-European Democrats (EPP-ED) and the
Party of European Socialists (PES). The last Union-wide elections were the
2004 Parliamentary Elections, however
Romania and
Bulgaria joined in 2007 and are electing their members this year (''see
European Parliament election, 2007''); the next union-wide parliamentary elections are in 2009 (''see
European Parliament election, 2009'').
History
The Parliament, like the other institutions, was not designed in its current form when it first met on
1952-09-10. One of the oldest common institutions, it began as the "Common Assembly" of the
European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). It was a consultative assembly of 78
parliamentarians drawn from the national
parliaments of member states, having no legislative powers.
This change since its foundation was highlighted by Professor David Farrell of the
University of Manchester;
Its development since its foundation is testament to the evolution of the Union's structures without one clear "master plan". Some such as Tom Reid of the
Washington Post said of the Union, "nobody would have deliberately designed a government as complex and as redundant as the EU".
Even the Parliament's
two seats, which have switched several times, is a result of various agreements or lack of agreements.
Consultative assembly
The body was not mentioned in the original
Schuman Declaration, it was instead proposed by
Jean Monnet on the second day of negotiations as an institution which would counterbalance and monitor the
executive while providing democratic legitimacy.
The wording of the
ECSC Treaty demonstrated the leaders desire for more than a normal consultative assembly by using the term "representatives of the people" and allowed for direct election. Its early importance was highlighted when the Assembly was given the task of drawing up the draft treaty to establish a
European Political Community. In this the "
Ad Hoc" Assembly was established with extra members but after the failure of the proposed
European Defence Community their project was dropped.
Despite this the
European Economic Community and
Euratom were established in 1958 by the
Treaties of Rome. The Common Assembly was shared by all three communities (which had separate
executives) and it renamed itself the "European Parliamentary Assembly". The three communities
merged in 1967 and the body was renamed to the current "European Parliament" in 1962.
In 1970 the Parliament was granted power over areas the
Community's budget, which were expanded to the whole budget in 1975.
Under the Rome Treaties, the Parliament should have become elected. However the Council did not put in place the necessary agreements and only did so after the Parliament threatened to take the Council to the
European Court of Justice. However the Council did not agree on the envisaged uniform voting system.
Elected Parliament
In 1979, its members were
directly elected for the
first time. This set it apart from similar institutions such as those of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe or
Pan-African Parliament which are appointed.
After that first election, the parliament held its first session on
11 July 1979, electing
Simone Veil as its President. Veil was also the first female President of the Parliament since it was formed as the Common Assembly.
The Parliament quickly made use of its legitimacy. For example in 1984, inspired by its previous work on the Political Community, it drafted the "draft Treaty establishing the European Union" (also known as the 'Spinelli Plan' after its rapporteur
Altiero Spinelli). Although it was not adopted, many ideas were later implemented by other treaties.
Further more the Parliament began holding votes on proposed
Commission Presidents from the 1980s, before it was given any formal right to veto.
Since the election the membership of the European Parliament has simply expanded whenever new nations have joined (the membership was also adjusted upwards in 1994 after
German reunification). Following this the
Treaty of Nice imposed a cap on the number of members to be elected, 732.
Like the other institutions, the Parliament's
seat was not yet fixed. The provisional arrangements placed Parliament in
Strasbourg, while the Commission and Council had their seats in Brussels. In 1985 the Parliament, wishing to be closer to these institutions, built a second chamber in Brussels and moved some of its work there despite protests from some states. A final agreement was eventually reached by the
European Council in 1992. It stated the Parliament would remain in Strasbourg but must also hold part sessions in Brussels. This two seat arrangement was contested by Parliament but was later enshrined in the
Treaty of Amsterdam. To this day the
institution's locations are a source of contention.
Recent history
The Parliament had been gaining more powers from successive treaties, namely through the extension of
codecision procedure,
and in 1999, the Parliament forced the resignation of the
Santer Commission.
The Parliament had refused to approve the
Community budget over allegations of fraud and miss-management in the Commission. The two main parties took on a government-opposition dynamic for the first time during the crisis which ended in the Commission resigning on mass, the first of any forced resignation, in the face of a impending censure from the Parliament.
In 2004, following the largest trans-national election in history, the
European Council for the first time took account of the elections when choosing the
President of the European Commission, and Parliament again exerted pressure to force a change in the proposed
Barroso Commission. That connection has been enshrined in the
Lisbon Treaty will be signed on
2007-12-13. When it comes into force, Lisbon Treaty would also see an increase in powers to the Parliament and the maximum number of MEPs increased to 750.
Powers and functions
The Parliament and Council are essentially two chambers in the bicameral legislative branch of the European Union, with legislative power being officially distributed equally between both chambers. However there are some differences from national legislatures; for example, neither the Parliament nor Council have the power of legislative initiative. In
Community matters, this is a power uniquely reserved for the European Commission (the executive). Meaning that while Parliament can amend and reject
legislation, and make a proposal for legislation, it needs the Commission to draft a bill before anything can become law.
The Parliament also has a great deal of indirect influence, through
non-binding resolutions and
committee hearings, as a "pan-European
soapbox" with the ear of
thousands of Brussels-based journalists. There is also an indirect effect on
foreign policy; the Parliament must approve all development grants, including those overseas. For example, the support for
post-war Iraq reconstruction, or incentives for the cessation of
Iranian nuclear development, must be supported by the Parliament. Parliamentary support was also required for the transatlantic passenger data-sharing deal with the United States.
Legislative procedure
With each new treaty, the powers of the Parliament have expanded. Its powers have been primarily defined through the
Union's legislative procedures. The method which has slowly become the dominant procedure (about three-quarters of policy areas) is the
Codecision procedure, where powers are essentially equal between Parliament and Council.
Codecision provides an equal footing between the two bodies. Under the procedure, the Commission presents a proposal to Parliament and the Council. The then sends amendments to the Council which can either adopt the text with those amendments or send back a "common position". That proposal may either be approved or further amendments may be tabled by the Parliament. If the Council does not approve those, then a "Conciliation Committee" is formed. The Committee is composed of the Council members plus an equal number of MEPs who seek to agree a common position. Once a position is agreed, it has to be approved by Parliament again by an
absolute majority.
Other procedures include:
Cooperation, meaning the Council can overrule the Parliament if it is unanimous;
Consultation, which require just consultation of the Parliament; and
Assent procedure, where the Parliament has a veto. The Commission and Council, or just Commission, can also act completely independently of the Parliament, but the use of these procedures are very limited. The procedure also depends upon which type of
institutional act is being used.
The strongest act is a
regulation, an
act or
law which is directly applicable in its entirety. Then there are
directives which bind members to certain goals which they must achieve. They do this through their own laws and hence have room to manoeuvre in deciding upon them. A
decision is an instrument which is focused at a particular person/group and is directly applicable. Institutions may also issue
recommendations and opinions which are merely non-binding, declarations.
In addition to codecision, the Parliament's mandate as the only directly democratic institution has given it leeway to have greater control over legislation than other institutions. In voting on the
Bolkestein directive in 2006, the Parliament voted by a large majority for over 400 amendments that changed the fundamental principle of the law. The ''
Financial Times'' described it in the following terms:
Budget
The legislative branch officially holds the Union's budgetary authority, powers gained through the
Budgetary Treaties of the 1970s. The
EU's budget is divided into compulsory and non-compulsory spending. Compulsory spending is that resulting from
EU treaties (including
agriculture) and international agreements; the rest is non-compulsory. While the Council has the last word on compulsory spending, the Parliament has the last word on non-compulsory spending.
The institutions draw up budget estimates and the Commission consolidates them into a draft budget. Both the Council and the Parliament can amend the budget with the Parliament adopting or rejecting the budget at its second reading. The signature of the Parliament's president is required before the budget becomes law.
The Parliament is also responsible for discharging the implementation of previous budgets, on the basis of the annual report of the
European Court of Auditors. It has refused to approve the budget only twice, in 1984 and in 1998. On the latter occasion it led to the resignation of the
Santer Commission.
Control of the executive
The
President of the European Commission is proposed by the Council (in practice by the
European Council) and that proposal has to be approved by the Parliament (by a simple majority), essentially giving the Parliament a veto, but not a right to propose, the head of the executive. Following the approval of the Commission President, the members of the Commission are proposed by the President in accord with the member-states. Each Commissioner comes before a relevant parliamentary committee hearing covering the proposed portfolio. They are then, as a body, approved or rejected by the Parliament.
In practice, the Parliament has never voted against a President or his Commission, but it did seem likely when the Barroso Commission was put forward. The resulting pressure forced the proposal to be withdrawn and changed to be more acceptable to parliament.
That pressure was seen as an important sign by some of the evolving nature of the Parliament and its ability to make the Commission accountable, rather than being a rubber stamp for candidates. Furthermore, in voting on the Commission, MEPs also voted along party lines, rather than national lines, despite frequent pressure from national governments on their MEPs. This cohesion and willingness to use the Parliament's power ensured greater attention from national leaders, other institutions and the public—who previously gave the lowest ever turnout for the Parliament's elections.
The Parliament also has the power to
censure the Commission if they have a two-thirds majority which will force the resignation of the entire Commission from office. As with approval, this power has never been used but it was threatened to the
Santer Commission, who subsequently
resigned of their own accord. There are a few other controls, such as: the requirement of Commission to submit reports to the Parliament and answer questions from MEPs; the requirement of the President-in-office of the
European Council to present their programme at the start of their
presidency; the right of MEPs to make proposals for legislation and policy to the Commission and Council; and the right to question members of those institutions (e.g. "Commission Question Time" every Tuesday ).
Supervisory powers
The Parliament also has other powers of general supervision, mainly granted by the
Maastricht Treaty.
The
European Ombudsman is elected by the Parliament, who deals with public complaints against all institutions (
EU citizens can petition the Parliament to act on European issues within the Parliament's sphere). The Parliament has the power to set up a Committee of Inquiry, for example over mad cow disease or CIA detention flights—the former led to the creation of the
European veterinary agency. The Parliament can call other institutions to answer questions and if necessary to take them to
court if they break EU law or treaties. Finally, the Parliament has powers over the appointment of the members of the
Court of Auditors and the president and executive board of the
European Central Bank. The bank's president is also obliged to present an annual report to the parliament.
Members
The European Parliament represents around 496 million citizens of the EU. Its members are known in
English as Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). They are elected every 5 years by
universal adult suffrage and sit according to political allegiance. Prior to 1979 they were appointed by their national parliaments. As
states are allocated seats according to population, the total number of MEPs should be 732; however, since
1 January 2007 there are 785 MEPs due to the accession of Romania and Bulgaria. This figure would have dropped back to 732 following the
2009 election however the
Lisbon Treaty will raise the cap to 750 (excluding the President).
The maximum number of seats per country however would be lowered to ninety-six and the minimum raised to six and be distributed according to "degressive proportionality" (the larger the state, the more citizens that are represented per MEP). It is hoped that the new system, including revising the seating well in advance of elections, can avoid political
horse trading when the numbers have to be revised.
Political groups
MEPs in the Parliament are currently organised into eight different political groups with fifteen non-attached members, also known as ''
non-inscrits''. These groups are not, by definition,
European political parties, but are usually composed of them. In some cases there is a single party forming its own group, or it may be numerous parties forming a
coalition, although it should be noted that no parties form coalitions for government at present.
There are three main groups (of more than one hundred MEPs). The
European People's Party-European Democrats (EPP-ED) is the largest, with 278 MEPs. It is a centre-right alliance of the
European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and
European Democrats. The leader of the group is
Joseph Daul, and it is the only group to include members from every EU state.
The
Party of European Socialists (PES) is the second largest group with 201 MEPs. It is a centre-left party led by
Martin Schulz.
The
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) is the third largest force in Parliament with 103 MEPs. It is a liberal-centrist alliance of the
European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party and the
European Democratic Party, led by
Graham Watson.
There are a further five groups, including the greens, nationalists and fringe groups. Recognised groups have to include twenty members from one-fifth of member states.
The political parties comprising the parliamentary groups are themselves composed of national parties. For example, the
British Conservative Party forms part of the European Democrats, which, in turn, forms part of the EPP-ED group. Therefore, the make-up of the Parliament's groups are more fluid, with national or European parties easily able to switch between groups, which often occurs after elections or an enlargement, for example, the formation of
Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty (ITS) after the accession of Romania and Bulgaria.
Groups such as ITS are primarily formed for the rights and financial subsidies offered to formal groups in the Parliament, however the establishment of ITS caused a minor political storm in the parliament due to the ideology of ITS; the members of the group are far-right, so there are concerns about public funds going towards such a group.
There were attempts to change the rules to block the formation of ITS, however that never came to fruition. They were, however, blocked from gaining leading positions on committees—a right that is meant to be afforded to all parties.
Party relations
Given that the Parliament does not form the government in the traditional sense of a Parliamentary system, its politics have developed along more consensual lines rather than majority rule of competing parties and coalitions. Indeed for much of its life it has been dominated by a
grand coalition of the People's Party and Socialist Party. The two major parties tend to co-operate to find a compromise between their two groups leading to proposals endorsed by huge majorities.
However there have been some occasions where real party politics have emerged, for example over the
resignation of the Santer Commission;
When the initial allegations against the Commission emerged, they were directed primarily against
Édith Cresson and
Manuel Marín, both socialist members. When the parliament was considering refusing to discharge the
Community budget,
President Jacques Santer stated that a no vote would be tantamount to a
vote of no confidence. PES supported the Commission and saw the issue as an attempt by the EPP to discredit their party ahead of the 1999 elections. PES leader,
Pauline Green, attempted a vote of confidence and the EPP put forward counter motions. During this period the two parties took on similar roles to a
government-
opposition dynamic, with PES supporting the executive and EPP renouncing its previous coalition support and voting it down.
Elections
|+ 2004 results
|- align="left"
! colspan="2" abbr="Group" | EP group
! Seats
|- align="right"
| style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#ddddff|
| style="text-align: left;" scope="row" | EPP-ED
|268
|- align="right"
| style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#ffdddd|
| style="text-align: left;" scope="row" | PES
|199
|- align="right"
| style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#ffffdd|
| style="text-align: left;" scope="row" | ALDE
|88
|- align="right"
| style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#ddffdd |
| style="text-align: left;" scope="row" | G-EFA
|42
|- align="right"
| style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#ffc0cb |
| style="text-align: left;" scope="row" | GUE/NGL
|41
|- align="right"
| style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#e0ffff |
| style="text-align: left;" scope="row" | UEN
|27
|- align="right"
| style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#faebd7 |
| style="text-align: left;" scope="row" | ID
|33
|- align="right"
| style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#dcdcdc |
| style="text-align: left;" scope="row" | N.I.
|33
|- align="right"
| colspan="2" | Turnout
| 45.5%
|
Elections have taken place, directly in every member-state, every five years since 1979. As of 2004 there have been six. Occasionally, when a member joins mid-term, a
by-election will be held to elect their members. This has happened four times, the last time was when Romania and Bulgaria joined in 2007 (see below). Elections take place across several days according to local custom and, aside from having to be proportional, the
electoral system is chosen by the member-state. This includes allocation of
sub-national constituencies; while most members have a national list, some, like the UK and France, divide their allocation between regions. Seats are allocated to member-states according to their population, with no state having more than 99, but no fewer than 5, in order to maintain proportionality.
The most recent Union-wide elections to the European Parliament were the
European elections of 2004, held in June of that year. They were the largest simultaneous transnational elections ever held anywhere in the world, since nearly 400 million citizens were eligible to vote. The proportion of MEPs elected in 2004 who were female was 30.2%; in 1979 it was just 16.5%. The
next Union-wide elections will be in 2009. There are a number of proposals to "dress up" the next elections to attract greater public attention to them. These include most notably the idea of linking them more closely to the Commission presidency. This would be by having political parties running with candidates for the job, so the largest party would essentially be forming the government, as in the
parliamentary system of government. It is hoped such changes would add legitimacy and counter the falling turnout
which has dropped consistently every year since the first election, and from 1999 it has been below 50%.
In 2007 both
Bulgaria and Romania are electing their MEPs in by-elections, having joined at the beginning of 2007. The Bulgarian election saw the lowest ever turnout for a European election, just 28.6%.
The Romanian elections were delayed due to internal political issues
but have to be held by the end of 2007.
Proceedings
Each year the activities of the Parliament cycle between committee weeks where reports are discussed in committees and interparliamentary delegations meet, political group weeks for members to discuss work within their political groups and session weeks where members spend 3½ days in
Strasbourg for part-sessions. In addition six 2-day part-sessions are organised in
Brussels throughout the year. Four weeks are allocated as constituency week to allow members to do exclusively constituency work. Finally there are no meetings planned during the summer weeks.
The Parliament has the power to meet without being convened by another authority. Its meetings are partly controlled by the treaties but are otherwise up to Parliament according to its own "Rules of Procedure" (the regulations governing the parliament).
During sessions, members may speak after being called on by the President, with a time limit of one minute. Members of the Council or Commission may also attend and speak in debates.
Partly due to the need for translation, and the politics of consensus in the chamber, debates tend to be calmer and more polite than, say, the
Westminster system.
Voting is conducted primarily by a show of hands, that may be checked on request by electronic voting.
Votes of MEPs are not recorded in either case however, that only occurs when there is a roll-call ballot. That is when each MEP in turn is called by name, in alphabetical order, to state their support or opposition. This is a historical system used when the Parliament was much smaller in membership and is rarely used now. Votes can also be a completely secret ballot (for example when the President is elected).
All recorded votes, along with minutes and legislation, are recorded in the
Official Journal of the European Union and can be accessed online.
Members are arranged in a
hemicycle according to their political groups who are ordered mainly by left to right, but some smaller groups are placed towards the outer ring of the Parliament. All desks are equipped with microphones, headphones for translation and electronic voting equipment. The leaders of the groups sit on the front benches at the centre, and in the very centre is a podium for guest speakers. The remaining half of the circular chamber is primarily composed of the raised area where the President and staff sit. Further benches are provided between the sides of this area and the MEPs, these are taken up by the Council on the far left and the Commission on the far right. Both the Brussels and Strasbourg hemicycle roughly follow this layout with only minor differences.
With access to the chamber limited, entrance is controlled by ushers who aid MEPs in the chamber (for example in delivering documents). The ushers also act as a form of police in enforcing the President, for example in ejecting an MEP who is disrupting the session (although this is rare). The first head of protocol in the Parliament was French, so many of the duties in the Parliament are based on the French model first developed following the
French Revolution. The 180 ushers are highly visible in the Parliament, dressed in black
tails and wearing a silver chain, and are recruited in the same manner as the
European civil service. The President is allocated a personal usher.
President
The President, currently
Hans-Gert Pöttering of the EPP, is essentially the
speaker of the Parliament. He or she presides over the plenary when it is in session and the President's signature is required for all acts adopted by co-decision, including the EU budget. The President is also responsible for representing the Parliament externally, including in legal matters, and for the application of the rules of procedure. He or she is elected for two-and-a-half-year terms, meaning two elections per parliamentary term.
A number of notable figures have been President of the Parliament and its predecessors. The first President was
Paul-Henri Spaak, one of the
founding fathers of the Union. Other founding fathers include
Alcide de Gasperi and
Robert Schuman. The two female Presidents were
Simone Veil in 1979 (first President of the elected Parliament) and
Nicole Fontaine in 1999, both Frenchwomen.
During the election of a President, the plenary is presided over by the oldest member of the Parliament. In 2004 and 2007 this was
Giovanni Berlinguer. While the oldest member is in the chair, they hold all the powers of the President, but the only business that may be addressed is the election of the President.
Organisation
Below the President, there are 14
Vice-Presidents who chair debates when the President is not in the chamber. There are a number of other bodies and posts responsible for the running of parliament besides these speakers. The two main bodies are the
Bureau, which is responsible for budgetary and administration issues, and the
Conference of Presidents which is a governing body composed of the presidents of each of the parliament's political groups. Looking after the financial and administrative interests of members are six
Quaestors.
Committees and Delegations are represented by their chairmen in the form of the
Conference of Committee and the
Conference of Delegation Chairmen. The
political groups also play a major role in the parliament.
Committees are composed of MEPs, with a
chairman and three vice-chairmen leading the numerous committee members. The Committees produce reports for debate, usually compiled by a
rapporteur. When drafting legislation, the Commission would consult the relevant committee who could propose amendments. Temporary committees may be set up to deal with a particular issue.
Delegations of the Parliament are formed in a similar manner and are responsible for relations with Parliaments outside the Union.
In addition to Delegations, MEPs also participate in a number of international bodies, for example the
ACP EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, the
Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly, the
Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly, the
Transatlantic Legislators' Dialogue and through
election observation in third countries.
Every year since 1988, on the anniversary of the signing of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Parliament has awarded the
Sakharov Prize to someone (or a number of people) who have dedicated their lives to defend freedoms and human rights.
Translation and interpreting
Speakers in the European Parliament are entitled to speak in any of the
EU's 23 official languages, ranging from
English and
French to
Maltese and
Irish. Simultaneous interpreting is offered in all plenary sessions, and all final texts of legislation are translated. With twenty-three languages, the European Parliament is the most multilingual parliament in the world
and the biggest employer of interpreters in the world (employing 350 full time and 400 free-lancers when there is higher demand).
Citizens may also address the Parliament in
Basque,
Catalan/Valencian and
Galician.
Usually a language is translated from a foreign tongue into a translator's native tongue. Due to the large number of languages, some being minor ones, since 1995 translation is sometimes done the opposite way, out of a translator's native tongue (the "retour" system). In addition, a speech in a minor language may be translated via a third language for lack of interpreters ("relay" interpreting)—for example, when translating
Estonian into
Maltese.
Interpreters need to be proficient in two other Union languages besides their native language. Due to the complexity of the issues, translation is not word for word. Instead, interpreters have to convey the political meaning of a speech, regardless of their own views. This requires detailed understanding of the politics and terms of the Parliament, involving a great deal of preparation beforehand (e.g. reading the documents in question). Difficulty can often arise when MEPs use colourful language, jokes and word play or speak too fast.
While some see speaking their native language as an important part of their identity, and can speak more fluently in debates, the translation and the cost of it has been criticised by some. A 2006 report by MEP
Alexander Stubb highlighted that by only using
English,
French and
German costs could be reduced from
€118,000 per day (for 21 languages then—
Romanian and
Bulgarian having not yet been included) to €8,900 per day.
Although many see the ideal single language as being English due to its widespread usage, there is a campaign to make French the single tongue for all legal texts, due to its more precise legal language, overcoming ambiguity between translations of legislation. Although this would not directly affect translation in the plenary, it would shift the balance towards French when discussing draft legislation.
Seat
The Parliament is based in three different cities with
numerous buildings. A protocol attached to the
Treaty of Amsterdam requires that 12 plenary sessions be held in
Strasbourg (none in August but two in September), which is the Parliament's official seat, while extra part sessions as well as committee meetings are held in
Brussels.
Luxembourg hosts the
Secretariat of the European Parliament.
The Strasbourg seat is seen as a symbol of reconciliation between France and Germany (Strasbourg having been fought over by the two countries in the past). However it is questioned over the cost of having two seats for the parliament. While Strasbourg is the official seat, and sits alongside the
Council of Europe (with which the "mutual cooperation" is being continuously "fostered"
),
Brussels is home to nearly all other major EU institutions, with the majority of Parliament's work already being carried out there. Therefore despite Strasbourg being the main seat, it is the one most questioned, although some do believe Strasbourg should be the single capital.
Critics have described the two-seat arrangement as a "travelling circus",
and there is a strong movement to establish Brussels as the sole seat. This is due to the fact that the other political institutions (the Commission, Council and European Council) are located there, and hence Brussels is treated as the '
capital' of the EU. This movement has received strong backing through numerous figures, including the Commission First-Vice President who stated that "something that was once a very positive symbol of the EU reuniting France and Germany has now become a negative symbol—of wasting money, bureaucracy and the insanity of the Brussels institutions".
The
Green party has also noted the environmental cost in a study led by
Jean Lambert MEP and
Caroline Lucas MEP; in addition to the extra 200 million euro spent on the extra seat, there are over 20,268 tonnes of additional carbon dioxide, undermining any environmental stance of the institution and the Union.
The campaign is further backed by a million-strong online petition started by MEP
Cecilia Malmström.
In 2006 there were allegations of irregularity in the charges made by the city of Strasbourg on buildings the Parliament rented which harmed the city's image further.
A poll of MEPs also found 89% of the respondents (39%) wanting a single seat, and 81% preferring Brussels.
Another, more academic, survey found 68% support.
This has not affected the position of France, which can veto any such move, with
French President Nicolas Sarkozy stating that its seat is "non-negotiable".
Future of the Parliament
The
Lisbon Treaty, to be signed on
2007-12-13, largely retains the reforms outlined in the rejected
Constitutional Treaty.
Overall, powers would be increased. For example, nearly all policy areas would fall under co-decision procedure (now called the "ordinary legislative procedure") meaning that the Parliament would have practically equal powers to those of the Council (now officially the Council of Ministers). In the remaining minority of areas in which the powers remain unequal, the Council must consult the Parliament and/or seek its approval on the legislation. The Parliament also gains greater powers over the entirety of the EU budget, not just non-compulsory expenditure, through the ordinary legislative procedure. In terms of the composition of the Parliament there would be little change, however the minimum number of seats would be increased from 5 to 6 and the maximum number would be reduced from 99 to 96. There would also be basic rules on the distribution of seats in the Parliament, rather than them being negotiated at each enlargement. Decisions about the composition of the Parliament are currently made by the Council, this would remain so but the decision would be made based on a proposal from the Parliament itself.
The European Council would be bound to take into account the latest elections when proposing the Commission President, something that they willingly did after the 2004 election. As currently, the Parliament's consent is needed for the President to take office, however the Lisbon Treaty now uses the word "elect" rather than "approve" to refer to this procedure. This is an area however in which the Council of Ministers plays no part.
It will remain to be seen whether calling it an election will spur political groups to use their power and mandate to force their own candidates upon the European Council in the same way as, for example, the
British House of Commons does in its relation to
their Queen. There have been suggestions that the parliament's political groups may propose their own candidates before the 2009 election.
The closest a party has come to doing this is prior to the 2004 elections when the People's Party mentioned four or five people they'd like to be President. The fractious nature of the European-level parties has in part been why a coherent candidate has not been proposed. However there are plans to strengthen the political parties before the elections.
In addition to the institutional reforms brought by the Lisbon Treaty, in 2007 the President set up the
Special working group on parliamentary reform to improve the efficiency and image of the Parliament. Some ideas include livening up the plenary sessions and a
State of the Union debate.
One of the group's key reform ideas, extra debates on topical issues, was rejected by MEPs
causing
liberal leader
Graham Watson to withdrew from reform group.
However MEPs did back a proposals for greater use of the
European symbols, following their rejection in the Lisbon Treaty. It was suggested the Parliament take the ''
avant-garde'' in using the symbols as it had done in adopting the flag in 1983, which was three years before the Communities as a whole.
An interim report was presented in September 2007 and proposed cutting down time allocated for guest speakers and non-legislative documents. In 2006, 92 "own initiative" reports (commenting rather than legislating) were tables and 22% of debating time was spent debating such reports, while only 18% was spent on legislative bills. The group is due to produce a final report in 2008, and put the recommendations into practice by the 2009 elections
however Graham Watson has stated that he doubts the left-right coalition in Parliament can pass the proposals due to opposition from more conservative members. Other members such as the co-chair of
ID,
Jens-Peter Bonde, had wanted more radical proposals. Bonde did however vote for the report, stating that "it is psychologically important to show that we want to become a more political parliament."
References
Further reading
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