1. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit European Parliament Structure and Powers presented at the Hanoi European Studies Institute on 14/12/2009 Gergely POLNER DG Communication gergely.polner@europarl.europa.eu 2009 Visits and Seminars Unit DG COMMUNICATION EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

2. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit European Union New Member States (2007) Candidate countries EU 25 (2004)

3. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit The European Union European Communities Internal Market, Agriculture, Structural Operations, Monetary Union COMMON DECISION MAKING European Communities Internal Market, Agriculture, Structural Operations, Monetary Union COMMON DECISION MAKING Common Foreign and Security Policy INTER- GOVERNMENTAL COOPERATION Common Foreign and Security Policy INTER- GOVERNMENTAL COOPERATION Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters Third pillar merged into the first pillar with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters Third pillar merged into the first pillar with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty THE EUROPEAN UNION

4. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit Institutional triangle European Parliament  754 members representing the European citizens  Adoption of legislation and budget  Democratic supervision European Commission  27 commissioners  Right of initiative  Implementation of the European policies and budget Council of the EU  27 ministers representing the Member States  Adoption of legislation and budget  Concluding international agreements

5. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit Lisbon Treaty European Parliament  Co-decision: ordinary legislative procedure  More control over the budget European Commission  Subsidiarity check by national parliaments  Citizens’ initiative Council of the EU  More voting by qualified majority  2014: double majority

6. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit Lisbon Treaty President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy High Representative & Vice-President of the Commission Catherine Ashton

7. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit The Presidencies of EU Institutions The Presidency of the Council of the European Union Sweden July - December 2009 Czech Republic Czech Republic January - June 2009 Spain January - June 2010 President of the European Parliament Mr Jerzy Buzek President of the European Commission Mr Jose Manuel Barroso

8. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit Industry groups Consumer groups Environmental NGOs Citizens MEPs’ constituency politics & priorities National governments’ political cultures/priorities UN WTO ILO UNEP IEA WHOIMO UNECE European Council USA European Commission Council of Ministers European Parliament … MEDIA EEA EU Agencies Think Tanks ‘Brussels Rules OK’ – (The Economist, 22 Sept. 2007)

9. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit Budgetary power Parliament decides the EU annual budget together with the Council Enlargement decisions Parliament‘s assent is required for the accession of any new Member States Legislative power Most EU laws are adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU Parliamentary control Parliament supervises other EU institutions and can pass a vote of no-confidence in the European Commission European Parliament Parliament’s powers

10. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit European Parliament Total Seats 2009 2004 732 Treaty of Nice 2007 785 Romania and Bulgaria Accession 736 Treaty of Nice + Accession Treaty (RO & BG) 751 Treaty of Lisbon 2010 754 736 + increase in seats as mentioned by Lisbon Treaty

11. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit Member State SeatsMember State Seats GermanyAustria FranceBulgaria United Kingdom Denmark Italy Finland Spain Slovakia PolandIreland Romania Lithuania Netherlands Latvia Belgium Slovenia Czech Rep. Estonia Greece Cyprus Hungary Luxemburg PortugalMalta Sweden Seat repartition from the 1/12/2009 until the next European elections 754 99 74 73 54 51 33 26 22 20 19 18 13 12 9 8 6

12. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit European Parliament Seats per Member State in EU27 MEMBER STATE GermanyAustria France Bulgaria United Kingdom Denmark Italy Finland Spain Slovakia Poland Ireland Romania Lithuania Netherlands Latvia Belgium Slovenia Czech Estonia Greece Cyprus Hungary Luxembourg PortugalMalta Sweden EU27 2007 18 14 13 9 7 6 5 EU27 2009 Lisbon9 74 73 54 51 33 26 22 20 EU27 2009 Lisbon 19 18 13 12 9 8 6 EU27 2009 Nice 99 72 50 33 25 22 18 EU27 2007 99 78 54 35 27 24 19 EU27 2009 Nice 17 13 12 8 7 6 5 785 736754

13. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit Women in the EP European Parliament 2009 258 women 35,1% seats

14. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit EP Elections Turnout per member state 2009 EU 43,1%

15. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit Political Groups EPP: Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) S&D: Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament ALDE: Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Greens/EFA: Group of the Greens / European Free Alliance EFP: Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group Non-attached Situation as of 15 July 2009 ECR: European Conservatives and Reformists Group GUE/NGL: Confederal Group of the European United Left / Nordic Green Left 265 184 84 55 5454 35 32 2727

16. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit Committees Committee on Foreign Affairs Committee on Development Committee on International Trade Committee on Budgets Committee on Budgetary Control Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee on Employment and Social Affairs Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee on Industry, Research and Energy Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee on Transport and Tourism Committee on Regional Development Committee on Agriculture Committee on Fisheries Committee on Culture and Education Committee on Legal Affairs Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee on Constitutional Affairs Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality Committee on Petitions 20

17. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit Delegations EU-CroatiaGulf States, Yemen EU-Former Yugoslav Republic of MacedoniaIran EU-TurkeyUnited States EU-MexicoCanada EU-ChileCentral America Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and European Economic AreaAndean Community RussiaMercosur South East EuropeJapan UkrainePeople´s Republic of China MoldovaSoutheast Asia, ASEAN Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia Korean Peninsula Armenia, Azerbaijan and GeorgiaAustralia and New Zealand BelarusSouth Africa IsraelNATO Palestinian Legislative CouncilSouth Asia MaghrebIndia MashreqAfghanistan 34

18. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit LIST OF INTERGROUPS IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 1.FIELDSPORTS, FISHING AND CONSERVATION 2.WELFARE AND CONSERVATION OF ANIMALS 3.FAMILLE ET PROTECTION DE L'ENFANCE 4.BALTIC EUROPE 5.FEDERALIST INTERGROUP FOR THE EUROPEAN CONSTITUTION 6.TRADITIONAL NATIONAL MINORITIES CONSTITUTIONAL REGIONS AND REGIONAL LANGUAGES 7.CINEMA, AUDIOVISUAL POLICY AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY 8.FOURTH WORLD EUROPEAN COMMITTEE 9.CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 10.TOURISME 11.DISABILITY INTERGROUP 12.TRADE UNION COORDINATION GROUP 13.ANTI-RACISM AND DIVERSITY 14.SME (SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTREPRENEURS) 15.LESBIAN AND GAY INTERGROUP 16.PRESS, COMMUNICATION AND FREEDOM 17.TIBET 18.CIEL ET ESPACE 19.GLOBALISATION INTERGROUP 20.VITICULTURE-TRADITION-QUALITÉ 21.HEALTH AND CONSUMER 22.URBAN-LOGEMENT 23.AGEING

19. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit The European Commission Legislative power How co-decision works Commission proposal First reading in Council (Council position) Conciliation committee (if necessary) Second reading in Council (if necessary) Second reading in Parliament (if necessary) Final vote in third reading (if necessary) Final vote in third reading (if necessary) The Council of the European Union The European Parliament First reading in Parliament (Parliament opinion)

20. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit Number of Codecision files Completed 1999-2007

21. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit Increasing number of official languages 1957  4 1973  7 1981  8 1986  10 1995  12 2004  21 2007  23

22. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit Tower of Babel ??

23. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit Number of possible language combinations for interpretation BG SV FI SL SK RO PT PL NL MTHU LT ES CS DA LV IT GA FR EL DE ET EN 506possiblecombinations

24. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit SECRETARIAT The European Parliament’s Secretariat is located in Luxembourg and Brussels How the Parliament WorksCOMMITTEEMEETINGS weeks allocated for parliamentary committee meetings in Brussels PLENARYSESSIONS 12 part-sessions in Strasbourg 5 additional sessions in Brussels POLITICALGROUPS 12 weeks allocated for meetings of the political groups in Brussels EXTERNALPARLIAMENTARYACTIVITIES

25. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit EU AS A GLOBAL PLAYER AGRICULTURALEXPENDITURE OTHER EXPENDITURE INCL. ADMINISTRATION SUSTAINABLE GROWTH CompetitivenessCohesion CITIZENSHIP, FREEDOM, SECURITY AND JUSTICE 45% 6% EUR 133.8 billion 31% 6% 11% 1% Budget of the European Union Financial year 2009 RURAL DEVELOPMENT € 2009

26. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit EU Budget Revenue Financial year 2009 € 2009 Miscellanous VAT-basedresource Customs duties, agricultural duties, and sugar levies 17% 17% 1% 65% GNI based resource

27. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought Sakharov Prize Winner 2009: Russian civil rights defence organization Memorial and their three representatives Oleg Orlov, Sergei Kovalev and Lyudmila Alexeyeva, as well as all other human rights defenders in Russia.

28. ©2007 European Parliament, Visits and Seminars Unit EU Information on Internet www.europarl.europa.eu www.europa.eu