European Parliament

European Parliament

Bulgarian: Европейски парламент
Croatian: Europski parlament
Czech: Evropský parlament
Danish: Europa-Parlamentet
Dutch: Europees Parlement
English: European parliament
Estonian: Euroopa Parlament
Finnish: Euroopan parlamentti
French: Parlement européen
German: Europäisches Parlament
Greek: Ευρωπαϊκό Κοινοβούλιο
Hungarian: Európai Parlament
Irish: Parlaimint na hEorpa
Italian: Parlamento europeo
Latvian: Eiropas Parlaments
Lithuanian: Europos Parlamentas
Maltese: Parlament Ewropew
Polish: Parlament Europejski
Portuguese: Parlamento Europeu
Romanian: Parlamentul European
Slovak: Európsky parlament
Slovene: Evropski parlament
Spanish: Parlamento Europeo
Swedish: Europaparlamentet
9th European Parliament
Type
Type
Term limits
No
History
Founded10 September 1952 (1952-09-10)
Preceded byCommon Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community
Leadership
Roberta Metsola, EPP
since 18 January 2022
First Vice-President:
Othmar Karas, EPP
other Vice-Presidents: See List
since 18 January 2022
Alessandro Chiocchetti
since 1 January 2023
Structure
Seats705[1]
Political seats configuration for the 9th legislature of the European Parliament (2019-2024)
Political groups
Commission (419)
  EPP (178)
  S&D (139)
  Renew (102)
Support (30)
  ECR (25)
  NI (5)
Opposition (256)
  Greens/EFA (72)
  ID (59)
  ECR (43)
  The Left (37)
  NI (45)
Committees
Length of term
5 years
Salary8,932.86 monthly
Elections
Chosen by member state.
Systems include:
First election
7–10 June 1979
Last election
23–26 May 2019
Next election
6–9 June 2024
Motto
In varietate concordia
(United in diversity)
Meeting place
European parliament hemicycle in Strasbourg, France
Louise Weiss
Strasbourg, France
Euroopan parliaementin istuntosali (Brysselissä).jpg
Espace Léopold
Brussels, Belgium
Website
www.europarl.europa.eu
Constitution
Treaties of the European Union

The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts European legislation, following a proposal by the European Commission. The Parliament is composed of 705 members (MEPs). It represents the second-largest democratic electorate in the world (after the Parliament of India), with an electorate of 375 million eligible voters in 2009.[2][3][4]

Since 1979, the Parliament has been directly elected every five years by the citizens of the European Union through universal suffrage. Voter turnout in parliamentary elections decreased each time after 1979 until 2019, when voter turnout increased by eight percentage points, and rose above 50% for the first time since 1994.[5] The voting age is 18 in all EU member states except for Malta, Belgium, Austria and Germany, where it is 16, and Greece, where it is 17.[6]

Although the European Parliament has legislative power, as does the Council, it does not formally possess the right of initiative as most national parliaments of the member states do, with the right of initiative being solely a prerogative of the European Commission.[7][8] The Parliament is the "first institution" of the European Union (mentioned first in its treaties and having ceremonial precedence over the other EU institutions),[9] and shares equal legislative and budgetary powers with the Council (except on a few issues where special legislative procedures apply). It likewise has equal control over the EU budget. Ultimately, the European Commission, which serves as the executive branch of the EU, is accountable to Parliament. In particular, Parliament can decide whether or not to approve the European Council's nominee for President of the Commission, and is further tasked with approving (or rejecting) the appointment of the commission as a whole. It can subsequently force the current Commission to resign by adopting a motion of censure.[7]

The president of the European Parliament is the body's speaker and presides over the multi-party chamber. The five largest political groups are the European People's Party Group (EPP), the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), Renew Europe (previously ALDE), the Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) and Identity and Democracy (ID). The last EU-wide election was held in 2019.

The Parliament's headquarters are officially in Strasbourg, France,[10] and has its administrative offices in Luxembourg City. Plenary sessions are "normally held in Strasbourg for four days a month, but sometimes there are additional sessions in Brussels",[11] while the Parliament's committee meetings are held primarily in Brussels, Belgium.[11][12] In practice, the Parliament works three weeks per month in Brussels and one (four day) week in Strasbourg.

  1. ^ "MEPs by Member State and political group". European Parliament. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  2. ^ Brand, Constant; Wielaard, Robert (8 June 2009). "Conservatives Post Gains In European Elections". The Washington Post. Associated Press. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
  3. ^ Ian Traynor (7 June 2009). "Misery for social democrats as voters take a turn to the right". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
  4. ^ "18 new MEPs take their seats". European Parliament. 10 January 2012. Archived from the original on 11 May 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
  5. ^ "Results of the 2014 European elections". European Parliament. Archived from the original on 3 February 2021. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  6. ^ "Voting age for European elections | Think Tank". European Parliament. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  7. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Parliament's powers was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Pot initiative was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Protocol was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Article 28 of the Treaty on European Union
  11. ^ a b "European Parliament". Europa. 19 April 2010. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
  12. ^ "Consolidated versions of the treaty on European Union and of the treaty establishing the European Community" (PDF). Eur-lex. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 December 2007. Retrieved 12 June 2007.

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