European Parliament Maximo Caturla Ordinaga

Introduction The European Parliament (Europarl or EP) is the only directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union (EU). It has been directly elected every five years by universal suffrage since 1979

History of the European Parliament It first met on 10 September 1952.It is one of the oldest common institutions and it began as the "Common Assembly" of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). In 1979, its members were directly elected for the first time. After that first election, the parliament held its first session on 11 July 1979, electing Simone Veil MEP as its President. actually the Parliament had been gaining more powers from successive treaties.

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. With each new treaty, the powers of the Parliament have expanded.

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.

Budget 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 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.

Members 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 Under the existing rules the number of members would be reduced again to 732 following the 2009 election[43][45] however the rules are due to be changed under the Treaty of Lisbon. Instead, there would be 751 members the maximum number of seats allocated to a state would be lowered to ninety-six, from the current ninety-nine, and the minimum number of seats would be raised to six, from the current five. No single group has ever held a majority in Parliament.

Elections Elections have taken place, directly in every member-state, every five years since 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. Members are arranged in a hemicycle according to their political groups who are ordered mainly by left to right.

The President The President, currently Hans- Gert Pöttering MEP of the EPP, is essentially the speaker of the Parliament. He or she is elected for two- and-a-half-year terms, meaning two elections per parliamentary term. The first President was Paul- Henri Spaak MEP, one of the founding fathers of the Union.

Committees and delegations The Parliament has 20 Standing Committees consisting of 28 to 86 MEPs each including a chair, a bureau and secretariat. They meet twice a month in public to draw up, amend to adopt legislative proposals and reports to be presented to the plenary.