The European Parliament (Part 2)

Presentation

The European Parliament exists as such since 1962 and the first European elections by direct universal suffrage took place in 1979. The European Parliament has three seats:

• One seat in Strasbourg (France) for plenary sessions (one week per month);
• One seat in Brussels (Belgium) for additional sessions and European Parliament committees;
• One seat in Luxembourg for the Secretariat-General.

The European Parliament is the representative institution for the EU citizens and it brings together the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from the 28 EU Member States. Since 2012, Martin Schulz is the President of the European Parliament.




www.elections2014.eu

 

MEPs have three different powers:

• Legislative power: The European Commission sends draft laws to the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. They will decide whether the law should be adopted or not, according to the principle of co-decision;
• Budgetary power: The European Parliament adopts the EU budget in co-decision with the Council of the EU;
• Power of control: The European Parliament ensures the proper functioning of the other European institutions, especially the European Commission.
  

MEPs

From 2014, MEPs will be 751 and they are divided proportionally by Member State according to their population. After the elections of 2014, the four Member States that will have the biggest number of MEPs will be Germany (96), France (74), the United Kingdom and Italy (73 each). The four Member States that will have less MEPs will be Estonia, Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta (6 each).

MEPs are not divided by country but by political group. These groups are:

• Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats);
• Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament;
• Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe;
• Greens/European Free Alliance;
• European Conservatives and Reformists;
• European United Left - Nordic Green Left;
• Europe of freedom and democracy Group.

MEPs without any political group are “non-attached”.

In order to prepare the plenary sessions, MEPs meet together in committees according to the topic. They prepare and vote draft laws and they examine proposals from the European Commission and the Council of the European Union.

Elections

European elections take place every five years. A candidate must be aged over 18, be a EU citizen and enjoy full rights as a citizen, among other criteria. The candidate has to be on a list to stand for elections.

Each Member State is in charge of the organisation of the elections in its territory. In the United Kingdom and in France, citizens vote for a closed list.

MEPs are elected on a proportional representation basis in a single ballot. In the United Kingdom, the vote took place on Thursday 22nd May 2014 and in France it will take place on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th May 2014.

Candidates are divided into constituencies. In the United Kingdom, there are twelve constituencies:

• London (8 seats);
• South East England (10 seats);
• South West England (6 seats);
• West Midlands (7 seats);
• North West England (8 seats);
• North East England (3 seats);
• Yorkshire and the Humber (6 seats);
• East Midlands (5 seats);
• East of England (7 seats);
• Northern Ireland (3 seats);
• Scotland (6 seats);
• Wales (4 seats).

In France, there are eight constituencies:

• Ile-de-France (15 seats);
• South East (13 seats);
• South West (10 seats);
• North West (10 seats);
• West (9 seats);
• East (9 seats);
• Massif Central - Centre (5 seats);
• Overseas (3 seats).

The official results for the European elections will be available on this website from Sunday 25th May after the closure of the last European ballot at 23.00 CEST in Italy.

Sources: www.touteleurope.eu; www.europarl.europa.eu