The European Parliament reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004
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European Parliament

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The European Parliament is the parliamentary body of the European Union.

The European parliament building in Brussels

Table of contents
1 Introduction
2 Party Groups in the European Parliament
3 Representation
4 Presidents of the European Parliament
5 External links

Introduction

Other organisations of European countries such as NATO, the OSCE, the Council of Europe, and the Western European Union have parliamentary assemblies as well, but the European Parliament is unique in that it is directly elected by the people and has legislative power. The members of the parliamentary assemblies of the OSCE, the Council of Europe, and the Western European Union are appointed by national parliaments.

Although the two institutions of the EU's executive, the European Commission and the European Council, both have their seats in Brussels, a protocol attached to the Treaty of Amsterdam requires the European Parliament to have monthly sessions in Strasbourg. For practical reasons, however, all preparatory legislative work and committee meetings of the parliament take place in Brussels. The parliament only spends four days per month in Strasbourg in order to take the final, plenary votes. Additional plenary meetings are held in Brussels. On several occasions parliament has expressed a wish to choose itself the location of its seat, but in the successive treaties, including the newest Treaty of Nice, European governments keep reserving this right for themselves.

Party Groups in the European Parliament

The parties and makeup of the Parliament as of its fifth term (1999-2004): Note: the European Parliament party groups are distinct from the corresponding political parties, although they are intimately linked. Usually, the European parties also have member parties from European countries which are not members of the European Union.

See also

Representation
Relative influence of voters from different countries according to the Treaty of Nice after new member countries joined (Source: Spiegel Online):
Country pop (mio.)  MEPs  pop/MEP  rel. influence
Luxembourg 0.4     6 66667 12.42
Malta 0.4     5 80000 10.53
Cyprus 0.8     6 133333 6.21
Estonia 1.4     6 233333 3.54
Slovenia 2.0     7 285714 2.89
Latvia 2.4     9 266667 3.10
Ireland 3.7     13 284615 2.91
Lithuania 3.7     13 284615 2.91
Finland 5.2     14 371429 2.22
Denmark 5.3     14 378571 2.18
Slovakia 5.4     14 385714 2.14
Austria 8.1     18 450000 1.84
Sweden 8.9     19 468421 1.76
Portugal 9.9     24 412500 2.00
Hungary 10.0     24 416667 1.98
Belgium 10.2     24 425000 1.94
Czech Republic 10.3     24 429167 1.92
Greece 10.6     24 441667 1.87
Netherlands 15.8     27 585185 1.41
Poland 38.6     54 714815 1.15
Spain 39.4     54 729630 1.13
Italy 57.7     78 739744 1.11
France 59.1     78 757692 1.09
United Kingdom 59.4     78 761538 1.08
Germany 82.1     99 828283 1.00
Total 450.8     732 615846 1.35
The European Parliament represents 374 million citizens of the European Union; starting with the eastern expansion in 2004 this will increase to 450 million people. There are at the moment 626 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), with a proportionally larger representation for smaller member states. This number will increase in 2004 to 732, a number which will remain steady even after the future accession of Romania and Bulgaria by 2009.

As of 2003 (pre-accession), the member states have the following representation:

Elections

Elections to the parliament are held using various forms of proportional representation, as selected by the member states. These forms include regional and national lists and Single Transferable Vote.

The next elections will be held on 10-13 June 2004. Following the enlargement of the Union on 1 May, they will be the largest simultaneous transnational elections ever held in the world, with nearly 400 million citizens eligible to vote. See: European Parliament Election 2004.

Presidents of the European Parliament

Presidents of the Parliamentary Assembly, 1958-1962

Presidents of the European Parliament, 1962-present

External links