Back Europese Parlement Afrikaans Europäisches Parlament ALS Parlamento Europeu AN البرلمان الأوروبي Arabic لبرلمان لأوروپي ARY Parllamentu Européu AST Avropa Parlamenti Azerbaijani Еўрапейскі парламент Byelorussian Эўрапейскі парлямэнт BE-X-OLD Европейски парламент Bulgarian
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The European Parliament (EP) is one of two 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 of 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.[1][2][3]
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 went above 50% for the first time since 1994.[4] The voting age is 18 in all member states except for Malta and Austria, where it is 16, and Greece, where it is 17.[5]
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 only being a prerogative of the European Commission.[6][7] The Parliament is the "first institution" of the European Union (mentioned first in its treaties and having ceremonial precedence over the other EU institutions),[8] and shares equal legislative and budgetary powers with the Council (except on a few issues where the 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.[6]
The president of the European Parliament is the body's speaker, and presides over the multi-party chamber. The five largest 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 is headquartered in Strasbourg, France,[9] and has its administrative offices in Luxembourg City. Plenary sessions take place in Strasbourg as well as in Brussels, Belgium, while the Parliament's committee meetings are held primarily in Brussels.[10][11]
- ^ Brand, Constant; Wielaard, Robert (8 June 2009). "Conservatives Post Gains In European Elections". The Washington Post. Associated Press. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
- ^ Ian Traynor (7 June 2009). "Misery for social democrats as voters take a turn to the right". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
- ^ "18 new MEPs take their seats". European Parliament. 10 January 2012. Archived from the original on 11 May 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
- ^ "Results of the 2014 European elections". European Parliament.
- ^ Panizza, Roberta (May 2019). "The European Parliament: electoral procedures". European Parliament. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
Parliament's powerswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Pot initiativewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Protocolwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Article 28 of the Treaty on European Union
- ^ "European Parliament". Europa. 19 April 2010. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
- ^ "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.