Subject: European Union Basics (FAQ), Part3/8
Supersedes: <european-union/basics/part3_826959501@rtfm.mit.edu>
Date: 6 Apr 1996 18:24:36 GMT
References: <european-union/basics/part2_828814601@rtfm.mit.edu>
Summary: This file is part of an eight-part posting containing basic
  information about the European Union and other related or unrelated
  European political organisations. It is hoped to serve both as background
  information for those wishing to discuss European politics on the
  talk.politics.european-union newsgroup, and as a general reference for
  anyone concerned with politics in Europe.
X-Last-Updated: 1996/04/05
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Originator: faqserv@bloom-picayune.MIT.EDU
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                                         EU Basics FAQ: The European Parliament
   [EU Flag]
   
                    QUESTIONS ABOUT THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
                                       
   Personal note: you will notice that in all EU institutions, there is an
   asymmetry between the number of inhabitants of member states and the number
   of representatives they have in the various institutions (e.g. one
   Commissioner for 300,000 Luxemburgers compared to two for 80 million
   Germans). This is a compromise between the supranational principle of
   one-inhabitant-one-vote and the intergovernmental principle of
   one-government-one-vote, and thus an illustration of the general ambiguity
   between supranational and intergovernmental principles that so characterizes
   the European Union.
   
How is the European Parliament composed?

  DIRECT UNIVERSAL ELECTIONS
  
   The European Parliament represents the peoples of the member states. It is
   elected once every five years, through direct universe suffrage in every
   member state.
   
   The last general EP election was held on 9 and 12 June 1994. The next will
   be in June 1999, although Austrians, Finns and Swedes have to elect MEPs
   earlier because their countries had not joined the EU in 1994 yet. Up to
   these elections, MEPs for these countries are appointed by national
   parliaments. In Sweden these elections already took place. Hiski Haapoja[1]
   mentions that for Finland, these elections will take place in October 1996
   together with municipal county elections.
   
  GENERAL COMPOSITION
  
   There are currently 626 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs):
   
      99 elected in Germany;
      
      87 each in France, Italy, the UK;
      
      64 in Spain;
      
      31 in the Netherlands;
      
      25 each in Belgium, Greece, Portugal;
      
      22 in Sweden;
      
      21 in Austria;
      
      16 each in Denmark and Finland;
      
      15 in the Republic of Ireland;
      
      6 in Luxembourg.
      
   MEPs don't usually vote by country of origin. Instead, they organize in
   political groups according to ideology and/or party affiliation. The minimum
   number of MEPs to form a political group is 29 if the members come from one
   member state, 23 if they come from two, 18 if they come from three and 14 if
   they come from four or more member states. No MEP can be a member of more
   than one political group, but no MEP is under an obligation to be part of a
   political group either (even though it does bring advantages in speaking
   time and infrastructure).
   
   Some MEPs call themselves associate (rather than +full;) members of a
   political group; this reflects the fact that they are not bound by the
   common manifesto/platform of the pan-European political party behind the
   group, usually because their national party is not a member of this
   pan-European political party. This difference is irrelevant as far as
   internal Parliamentary procedures are concerned.
   
   See the list of member states[2] in the first part of this FAQ for an
   overview of ISO country abbreviations used below. Links have been added to
   the official or unofficial home pages of some parties; please drop me a
   line[3] if you know any I did not include.
   
      PES/GROUP OF THE PARTY OF EUROPEAN SOCIALISTS
  
   [LOGO PES]
   
      Leader: Ms Pauline Green (Labour, UK)
      
      217 members:
      
  62                     Labour (UK)[4]
                         
  40                     Socialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (DE)[5]
                         
  22                     Partido Socialista Obrero Espaqol[6] (ES)
                         
  16                     Partido democratico della Sinistra (IT)  [7]
                         
  15                     Europe Solidaire (Parti Socialiste) (FR)
                         
  10                     Partido Socialista (PT)[8]
                         
  10                     Panellinio Socialistiko Kinima (GR)  [9]
                         
  8                      Partij van de Arbeid (NL) [10]
                         
  8                      Sozialdemokratische Partei Vsterreichs (AT)[11]
                         
  7                      Socialdemokratiska arbetarepartiet (SE)[12]
                         
  4                      Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue (FI)[13]
                         
  3                      Parti Socialiste[14] (BE)
                         
  3                      Socialdemokratiet (DK)
                         
  3                      Socialistische Partij (BE)
                         
  2                      LSAP - d'Sozialisten (LU)
                         
  2                      Partito socialista italiano-Alleanza democratica
                         (IT)[15]
                         
  1                      Labour Party (IE)[16]
                         
  1                      Social Democratic and Labour Party (UK)
                         
  EPP/EUROPEAN PEOPLE'S PARTY (CHRISTIAN-DEMOCRATS)
  
      Leader: Mr Wilfried Martens (Christelijke Volkspartij, BE)
      
      172 members:
      
  39                     Christlich-Demokratische Union[17] (DE)
                         
  28                     Partido Popular (ES)[18]
                         
  18                     Conservative and Unionist Party (UK)  [19]
                         
  13                     Union pour la Dimocratie Frangaise/Rassemblement pour
                         la Ripublique* (FR)
                         
  10                     Christendemocratisch Appel (NL) [20]
                         
  9                      Nea Demokratia (GR)  [21]
                         
  8                      Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern (DE)
                         
  8                      Partito popolare italiano (IT)
                         
  6                      Vsterreichische Volkspartei (AT)[22]
                         
  5                      Moderata samlingspartiet (SE)[23]
                         
  4                      Christelijke Volkspartij (BE)  [24]
                         
  4                      Fine Gael (IE)
                         
  4                      Kansallinen Kokoomus (FI)[25]
                         
  3                      Konservative Folkeparti (DK)  [26]
                         
  3                      Patto Segni (IT)
                         
  2                      Chrkslich-Sozial Vollekspartei (LU)
                         
  2                      Coalicisn Nacionalista (ES)
                         
  2                      Parti Social-Chritien (BE)
                         
  1                      Christlich Soziale Partei (BE)
                         
  1                      Partido Social Democrata* (PT)
                         
  1                      S|dtiroler Volkspartei (IT)
                         
  1                      Ulster Unionist Party (UK) [27]
                         
  UE/UNION  FOR EUROPE GROUP
  
   The Union for Europe Group was formed in October 1995 as a grouping of two
   formerly separate parliamentary groups: the Forza Europa group consisting of
   the sole Forza Italia party and the traditional +Gaullist; Group of the
   European Democratic Alliance. Through this merger, they replaced the Liberal
   group (ELDR[28], cf. infra) as the third biggest group in the European
   Parliament.
   
      Leader: Mr. Jean-Claude Pasty (Rassemblement pour la Ripublique, FR)
      
      55 members:
      
  29                     Forza Italia (IT)[29]
                         
  14                     Union pour la Dimocratie Frangaise/Rassemblement pour
                         la Ripublique* (FR)
                         
  7                      Fianna Fail[30] (IE)
                         
  3                      Centro Democratico Social/Partido Popular (PT)
                         
  2                      Politiki Anixi (GR) [31]
                         
  ELDR/GROUP OF THE EUROPEAN LIBERAL, DEMOCRATIC AND REFORMIST PARTY
  
      Leader: Mr Gijs de Vries (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie, NL)
      
      52 members:
      
  8                      Partido Social Democrata* (PT)
                         
  5                      Lega Nord (IT)
                         
  6                      Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (NL)  [32]
                         
  4                      Democraten '66 (NL) [33]
                         
  4                      Suomen Keskusta (FI)
                         
  4                      Venstre[34] (DK)
                         
  3                      Parti Riformateur Libiral/Front Dimocratique des
                         Francophones (BE)
                         
  3                      Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten (BE) [35]
                         
  2                      Centerpartiet (SE)[36]
                         
  2                      Convergencia y Unio* (ES)
                         
  2                      Liberal Democrats (UK)  [37]
                         
  2                      Svenska Folkpartiet (FI)
                         
  1                      Demokratesch Partei (LU)
                         
  1                      Folkpartiet liberalerna (SE)[38]
                         
  1                      Independents (IE)
                         
  1                      Liberales Forum (AT)[39]
                         
  1                      Partito reppublicano italiano (IT)
                         
  1                      Radikale Venstre (DK)
                         
  1                      Union pour la Dimocratie Frangaise/Rassemblement pour
                         la Ripublique* (FR)
                         
  GUE/CONFEDERAL GROUP OF THE UNITED LEFT - NORTHERN GREEN LEFT
  
      Leader: Mr Alfonso Puerta Gutierrez (Izquierda Unida - Iniciativa per
      Catalunya, ES)
      
      33 members:
      
  9                      Izquierda Unida (ES)
                         
  7                      Parti Communiste (FR)
                         
  5                      Rifondazione comunista (IT)
                         
  3                      Vdnsterpartiet (SE)[40]
                         
  3                      Coligagao Democratica Unitaria (PT)
                         
  2                      Kommounistiko Komma Elladas (GR)  [41]
                         
  2                      Synaspismos tis Aristeras kai tis Proodou (GR) [42]
                         
  1                      Socialistisk Folkeparti (DK) [43]
                         
  1                      Vasemmistoliitto (FI)
                         
   GRN/GREEN GROUP IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT[44]
  
      Leaders: Ms Claudia Roth (Die Gr|nen, DE) & Mr Alexander Langer
      (Federazione dei Verdi, IT)
      
      28 members:
      
  12                     B|ndnis 90/Die Gr|nen (DE)  [45]
                         
  4                      Miljvpartiet de grvna (SE)[46]
                         
  3                      Federazione dei Verdi (IT)
                         
  2                      Green Party[47] (IE)
                         
  1                      Agalev (BE)  [48]
                         
  1                      Dii Gring GLEI-GAP (LU)
                         
  1                      Ecolo (BE)
                         
  1                      Groen Links (NL)  [49]
                         
  1                      Gr|ne - Die Gr|ne Alternative (AT)[50]
                         
  1                      La Rete-Movimento democratico (IT)
                         
  1                      Vihred Liitto (FI)[51]
                         
  ERA/GROUP OF THE EUROPEAN RADICAL ALLIANCE
  
      Leader: Ms Cathirine Lalumihre (Energie Radicale, FR)
      
      19 members:
      
  13                     Energie Radicale (FR)
                         
  2                      Panella-Riformatori[52] (IT)
                         
  2                      Scottish National Party (UK)[53]
                         
  1                      Convergencia y Unio* (ES)
                         
  1                      Volksunie/Vlaamse Vrije Democraten (BE)
                         
  EN/EUROPE OF NATIONS GROUP
  
      Leader: Mr Jimmy Goldsmith (Majoriti pour l'autre Europe, FR)
      
      19 members:
      
  13                     Majoriti pour l'autre Europe (FR)
                         
  2                      Folkebevfgelsen mod EF (DK)
                         
  2                      Junibevfgelsen (DK)
                         
  2                      Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij[54]/ Gereformeerd
                         Politiek Verbond[55]/  Reformatorisch-Politieke
                         Federatie[56] (NL)
                         
  NI/NON-ATTACHED MEMBERS
  
  10                     Alleanza nazionale (IT)
                         
  11                     Front National (FR)
                         
  5                      Freiheitliche Partei Vsterreichs/Die Freiheitlichen
                         (AT)
                         
  2                      Vlaams Blok (BE)
                         
  1                      Democratic Unionist Party (UK)
                         
  1                      Front National (BE)
                         
  1                      Partito socialista democratico italiano (IT)
                         
   The long list above is represented more concisely in the following table:
   
    PES  EPP   UE ELDR  GUE  GRN  ERA   EN   NI  TOT
AT    8    6    -    1    -    1    -    -    5   21
BE    6    7    -    6    -    2    1    -    3   25
DE   40   47    -    -    -   12    -    -    -   99
DK    3    3    -    5    1    -    -    4    -   16
ES   22   30    -    2    9    -    1    -    -   64
FI    4    4    -    6    1    1    -    -    -   16
FR   15   13   14    1    7    -   13   13   11   87
GR   10    9    2    -    4    -    -    -    -   25
IE    1    4    7    1    -    2    -    -    -   15
IT   18   12   29    6    5    4    2    -   11   87
LU    2    2    -    1    -    1    -    -    -    6
NL    8   10    -   10    -    1    -    2    -   31
PT   10    1    3    8    3    -    -    -    -   25
SE    7    5    -    3    3    4    -    -    -   22
UK   63   19    -    2    -    -    2    -    1   87
TOT 217  172   55   52   33   28   19   19   31  626

What are the powers of the European Parliament?

   The powers of the European Parliament are very complicated and vary
   considerably with the policy area under consideration. In many respects it
   is significantly lacking in formal powers compared with the position of
   national parliaments in functioning democracies, though there has been a
   gradual increase in both its officially recognized and its unofficial powers
   over the years of its existence.
   
   In some policy areas and procedures, the European Parliament has the right
   to amend or reject Commission proposals before the Council takes the final
   decision. There are two weaknesses to this power, which make the EP much
   less powerful than its national counterparts:
   
      The Commission can freely reject EP amendments, without any sanction;
      unlike national governments which face a choice between accepting the
      will of parliament or resigning, when major questions are considered a
      matter of confidence. Therefore, the EP's +Right to Amendment; is in fact
      not much more than a +Right to Advise;. Also, the Commission's opinion of
      EP amendments is crucial to their adoption since the final decision in
      the Council can only depart from the Commission's final proposal by
      unanimous vote.
      
      Under the Cooperation and Assent Procedures, EP amendments and rejections
      are valid only if (a) 60% of votes are in favour and (b) if the MEPs
      voting in favour constitute at least half of all MEPs.
      
   Especially the latter requirement makes it quite difficult to influence the
   political process, and personally I think that democratically perverse
   situations arise when an amendment is declared rejected even if 90% of votes
   are in favour of it, just because only 50% of MEPs have turned up for the
   vote. It would be better, in my view, to require a high quorum of MEPs
   turning up before a vote can take place; MEP votes are the only example I
   know where a quorum is applied to the result of the vote instead of to the
   vote itself. Please note that this paragraph has aroused considerable
   discussion whether this rule is undemocratic or not. Most people seem to
   disagree with me.
   
   In his excellent work on the European Parliament, Martin Westlake[57] puts
   forward a table illustrating the power (or lack of thereof) of the European
   Parliament on the European Union decision making process. It is a grand
   total of all the 322 proposals dealt with under the co-operation procedure
   up to 30 December 1993. As such this table does not include the many areas
   in which the EP has other powers, or no power at all. I will expand on this
   section in a later issue of this list.
   
                        First reading             Second reading
European Parliament     4572 amendments tabled    1074 amendments tabled
European Commission     2499 (54,65%) taken up     475 (44,22%) taken up
Council of Ministers    1966 (43%) accepted        253 (23,55%) accepted
                                           [Source: Westlake 1994, p265]

   These figures both illustrate the substantial influence that the EP does
   indeed have on European decision making, yet they also illustrate that in
   the end the democratic legitimacy of the European decision making process
   may be considered unsatisfactory. After all, what national government can
   afford to ignore around 50% of the amendments that its national parliament
   approves of in majority? And what about the Council of Ministers which
   refuses to take into account more than 75% of the amendments the
   democratically elected assembly has put forward in the second reading of a
   bill, even though the Commission has still approved of a small half of
   these?
   
   There is another area in which the EP's powers have risen considerably.
   Since the Maastricht Treaty,[58] the European Parliament must approve both
   of the President of the Commission and of the Commission in full. It can
   also make the Commission resign with a 2/3 majority. It cannot sack
   individual Commissioners.
   
   The newly elected EP of 1994 has interpreted this decision as such that it
   has the right to question all individual candidate Commissioners thoroughly
   (modelled on the US Senate +hearings; for candidate government ministers)
   before approving of the new Commission as a whole. The new Commission
   president has accepted this interpretation in practice; hearings have taken
   place from 16 to 20 January 1995, and the Commission president has had to
   make some changes to and supplementary promises about the portfolios of his
   fellow Commissioners as a result of the hearings, before his Commission was
   approved with a 417 against 104 majority.
   
Who is the President of the European Parliament?

    MEPs elect the President (or chair) of the European Parliament and his/her
   bureau from their midst, with a mandate of two and a half years. Subsequent
   EP presidents since the first direct elections were:
   
  1979-1982              Ms Simone Veil (LDR[59], France)
                         
  1982-1984              Mr Piet Dankert (PES[60], Netherlands)
                         
  1984-1987              Mr Pierre Pflimlin (EPP[61], France)
                         
  1987-1989              Sir Henry Plumb (Conservative, UK) [Tory MEPs were in
                         the former European Democrats group during Lord
                         Plumb's presidency; in 1992 they followed their former
                         European Democrats group partners, and joined the
                         EPP[62] group.]
                         
  1989-1992              Mr Enrique Baron Crespo (PES[63], Spain)
                         
  1992-1994              Mr Egon Klepsch (EPP[64], Germany)
                         
  1994-1997              Mr Klaus Hdnsch (PES[65], Germany)
                         
Where can I find the European Parliament on the net?

  EMAIL CONNECTIVITY
  
   Many of the civil servants working at the European Parliament have an email
   address with a gateway to the Internet, in the +gw.europarl.org; zone. MEPs
   and their assistants are less likely to be reachable. You could try to ask
   the <postmaster@gw.europarl.org> for a specific person's email address.
   
  DATABASES AND INFOSYSTEMS
  
   The European Parliament is currently preparing its own WorldWideWeb presence
   on the Internet. Up to now, there are only the following electronic
   information services which are not available on the Internet:
   
      News and general press information is available in the menu-based EPISTEL
      system, available via X.25 and PSTN. Subscription is free for accredited
      journalists; others pay ECU 100/month. Information: tel.+32.2.2842128,
      fax +32.2.2305808.
      
      EPOQUE is a documentary database produced by the European Parliament. Its
      first objective is to make information easily accessible internally, but
      it is also intended to provide information on the EP activities to the
      outside world. Access is free, but requires previous registration; EPOQUE
      is available through PSTN in Luxembourg and through X.25. Information:
      fax +352.439317.
      
   
   ___________________________________
   
                               Edited by Roland Siebelink & Bart Schelfhout[66]
                                           corrections and suggestions welcome.
                                                                               
   [Go to Table of Contents][67]

*** References from this document ***
[1] http://eubasics.allmansland.com/about.html#contr
[2] http://eubasics.allmansland.com/general.html#memberstates
[3] mailto:eubasics@allmansland.com
[4] http://www.poptel.org.uk/labour-party/
[5] http://www.spd.de/
[6] http://www.civing.carleton.ca/SiSpain/politics/parliame/socialis.html
[7] http://www.pds.it/pds.htm
[8] http://www.partido-socialista.pt/ps/
[9] http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/umponti0/politics.html
[10] http://www.pvda.nl/
[11] http://www.spoe.or.at/
[12] http://www.sap.se/
[13] http://www.tky.hut.fi/~oodi/SDP/SDP-homepage.html
[14] http://sga.ulb.ac.be/pinstall/legis_95/ps/index.htm
[15] http://www.socialisti.it/
[16] http://194.106.128.3/labour/index.html
[17] http://www.cdu.de/
[18] http://www.docuweb.ca/SiSpain/politics/parliame/popular.html
[19] http://www.conservative-party.org.uk/
[20] http://www.dds.nl/overheid/pdc/678/351/35165.html
[21] http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/umponti0/politics.html
[22] http://www.oevp.co.at/oevp/
[23] http://www.moderat.se/
[24] http://www.cocacola.be/cvp/
[25] http://www.kokoomus.fi/kokoomus/
[26] http://www.dis.dk/dis/org/kons/index.html
[27] http://www.uup.org/
[28] http://eubasics.allmansland.com/parliament.html#ldr
[29] http://www.iunet.it:8988/~forza-it/
[30] http://www.iol.ie/fiannafail/
[31] http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/umponti0/politics.html
[32] http://www.dds.nl/overheid/pdc/678/354/35451.html
[33] http://www.xs4all.nl/~d66ned/d66menu.html
[34] http://www.venstre.dk/
[35] http://www.eunet.be/vld/
[36] http://www.centerpartiet.se/
[37] http://www.libdems.org.uk/
[38] http://www.one.se/liberty/LUF/fphome.html
[39] http://www.lif.co.at/lif/
[40] http://www.kiruna.se/kommun/partier/v/v.html
[41] http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/umponti0/politics.html
[42] http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/umponti0/politics.html
[43] http://molly.sf.dk/
[44] http://www.axl.be/green/
[45] http://www.hrz.uni-oldenburg.de:81/~oliver/bg/bgindex.html
[46] http://www.angelfire.com/free/miljopartiet.html
[47] http://www.iol.ie/resource/green/index.htm
[48] http://box.eunet.be/./agalev/
[49] http://www.dds.nl/~groen-l/
[50] http://www.t0.or.at/gruene/
[51] http://katto.kaapeli.fi/~vihreat/
[52] http://www.riformatori.stm.it/
[53] http://www.snp.org.uk/
[54] http://www.dds.nl/overheid/pdc/678/351/35153.html
[55] http://www.dds.nl/overheid/pdc/678/351/35152.html
[56] http://www.dds.nl/overheid/pdc/678/351/35176.html
[57] http://eubasics.allmansland.com/about.html#mwestlake
[58] http://eubasics.allmansland.com/general.html#maastricht
[59] http://eubasics.allmansland.com/parliament.html#ldr
[60] http://eubasics.allmansland.com/parliament.html#pes
[61] http://eubasics.allmansland.com/parliament.html#epp
[62] http://eubasics.allmansland.com/parliament.html#epp
[63] http://eubasics.allmansland.com/parliament.html#pes
[64] http://eubasics.allmansland.com/parliament.html#epp
[65] http://eubasics.allmansland.com/parliament.html#pes
[66] mailto:eubasics@allmansland.com
[67] http://eubasics.allmansland.com/index.html


