1. THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT Paloma Cerdá

2. What is the European Parliament? The European Parliament is the parliamentary body of the EU, elected once every five years. The EP is composed by 785 Eurodiputies, who are choosen by universal suffrage since 1.979. It´s in Strasbourg.

3. FUNCTIONS Legislative function (approved by Parliament and Council.) Budgetary function (together with the Council.) Policy control over the other Euroepan Union institutions. Co-deciding function about international relevant issues. Approve the appointment of a new Commission.. Appoint the European Ombudsman.

4. Aprove of appointment of a new commission Represents and defends the interests of the European Union, its functions are: propose legislation to parliament and the council, manage and implement the policies of the European Union and the budget, enforce laws and, represent the European Union on the international scene The president is Jose Manuel Durao Barroso. Lately it seems that the commission is crumbling and even this remaining 18 months in office, commissioners are leaving and it seems that the commission will remain stagnant

5. PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT Hans-Gert Pöttering was elected as the Parliament president on january 2.007. He is a German Conservative politician close to the German chancellor Angela Merkel.

6. COUNTRIES’ POWER This chart shows the number of seats of each member country. The number of seats depends on the population size of each state. COUNTRIES SEATS Germany99 France, Italy, United Kingdom78 Spain54 Netherland27 Belgium, Greek, Portugal24 Sweden19 Austria18 Denmark, Finland14 Ireland13 Luxembourg6 Poland54 Czech Republic, Hungary24 Slovakia14 Lithuania13 Latvia9 Slovenia7 Estonia, Cyprus6 Romania35 Bulgaria18 Malta5

7. COMPOSITION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

8. CURIOSITIES There are two member states where people is obligated to vote: Belgium and Greek. NEWS: The parliament lately is not supporting any initiative of the European commission