europarl

European Parliament: Brussels - Strasbourg Seat Study — 10 February 2011, 18:42 CET

New research shows that more MEPs and their staff than ever before - some 90 per cent - find the monthly trek between Brussels and Strasbourg intolerable. They say it is wasteful, undermines parliament's effectiveness and is bad for the environment and their health.

European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) - guide — 15 December 2010, 23:23 CET

The European Parliament and Council have today reached agreement on the European Citizens' Initiative, which will for the first time allow citizens to directly suggest new EU legislation. An innovation contained in the Lisbon Treaty, the ECI will allow at least one million citizens from at least one quarter of EU Member States to invite the European Commission to bring forward legislative proposals in areas where the Commission has the power to do so. The organisers of a Citizens' Initiative, a citizens' committee composed of at least seven citizens who are residents of at least seven different Member States, will have one year to collect signatures and the Commission will have three months to examine an initiative and decide how to act on it. On request of the Council, the legislation on the European Citizens' Initiative will start applying only one year after it is published in the Official Journal, meaning that the first initiatives can be considered from early 2012.

COSAC — 22 October 2010, 13:10 CET

COSAC is a Conference of the committees of the national parliaments of the European Union Member States dealing with European affairs as well as representatives of the European Parliament. At the biannual meetings of COSAC, six members represent each parliament. In addition, the national parliaments of the candidate and acceding countries are invited to participate with three observers each. COSAC meetings normally take place in the capital of the country holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Strasbourg plenary session - 17-20 May 2010 - Briefing — 14 May 2010, 23:21 CET

Economic crisis tops Parliament's plenary agenda for the Strasbourg pleanry session on 17-20 May 2010. Other items on the agenda include rules on organ transplants, origin labelling for textiles, rights for self-employed people, working times for bus and lorry drivers, etc.

The 2009 Elections to the European Parliament – Country Reports — 29 April 2010, 17:55 CET

EUDO is pleased to announce the publication of "The 2009 Elections to the European Parliament". How much ‘second-order’ were the European Parliament Elections 2009? Does this election mark continuity with the 2004 election? How can the gains and losses of various parties be explained? What will the direct consequences of this election be for national politics? The explanations for these and other phenomena can be found in our new academic production. Based on the voting advice application EU Profiler|, the majority of the researchers involved in this project contributed to the e-book. It contains 5 introductory chapters, investigating various aspects of this election comparatively, and 24 country reports, offering reliable analyses written by country experts. The originality of this publication is twofold. First, given that a huge part of the citizenry expects comparative, reliable information on this election, and given that other groups in society, including politicians and journalists may also like to have clear, succinct, and understandable analyses which they can use in their own work, the authors of this volume particularly wanted to avoid using overly academic vocabulary and sophisticated statistical analyses so that these chapters are easily understandable as possible. Each chapter is therefore relatively short (5-7 pages), and follows the same structure being composed of four clearly-defined sections: Background, Issues, The Election Campaign and Results. Second, what is particularly worth-mentioning is that this publication will be available on line for free. This way, the range of potential readers is likely to be very large, and will also reach ordinary citizens.

Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs — 17 February 2010, 13:33 CET

Responsibilities, contacts and latest studies of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

Committee on International Trade — 17 February 2010, 13:23 CET

Responsibilities, contacts and latest studies of the Committee on International Trade

Committee on Industry, Research and Energy — 17 February 2010, 13:22 CET

Responsibilities, contacts and latest studies of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy

Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection — 17 February 2010, 13:20 CET

Responsibilities, contacts and latest studies of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection

European Parliament — 16 February 2010, 19:27 CET

<p><img src="../../institutions/ep-strasbourg.jpg" alt="European Parliament photo" height="103" width="100" class="image-right" hspace="10" vspace="5" />The European Parliament represents the citizens of the Member States at EU level. It is the only European institution to be directly elected - a procedure established in June 1979 - and the only multi-national parliament in the world to be voted in through universal suffrage. The 736 Members of the European Parliament are elected once every five years by voters right across the 27 Member States of the European Union on behalf of its 500 million citizens.</p><p>Parliament plays an active role in drafting legislation which has an impact on the daily lives of its citizens: For example, on environmental protection, consumer rights, equal opportunities, transport, and the free movement of workers, capital, services and goods. Parliament also has joint power with the Council over the annual budget of the European Union.</p><p><p><strong>EP Standing Committees</strong></p><p>Parliament has set up 20 standing committees to prepare work for plenary sittings. They are divided into sectors: foreign affairs, development, international trade, budgets, etc. and each has powers appropriate to its area of expertise. The committees are responsible for preparing Parliament’s plenary session work. Their task is to draw up reports on legislative proposals that have been referred to Parliament or on which Parliament has been consulted and on own-initiative reports.</p><ul><li><a href="trade-committee">Committee on International Trade</a></li><li><a href="ema-committee">Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs</a></li><li><a href="ire-committee">Committee on Industry, Research and Energy</a></li><li><a href="internal-market-committee">Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection</a></li></ul><p></p><p> <b>FACT SHEETS</b> <ul> <li><a href="../../institutions/euro-elections-results" target="_blank">European Elections 2009 - Results</a></li> <li><a href="../../institutions/euro-elections-09">European Elections 2009</a></li> <li><a href="../../institutions/decision-making-in-the-european-union">Decision-making in the European Union</a></li> <li><a href="../../institutions/ep-powers-guide">Powers of the European Parliament</a></li> <li><a href="../../institutions/eu-treaties-guide">Treaties of the European Union</a></li> </ul> <hr /> <h2>LATEST NEWS</h2>

European Parliament Hearings of the Commissioners-designate — 17 January 2010, 11:51 CET

Between 11 and 19 January, the European Parliament held a series of public hearings with the 26 candidate Commissioners put forward by the Council and Commission President José-Manuel Barroso. The candidates were invited to public hearings by the appropriate parliamentary committee(s). They answered questions from MEPs to assess their abilities, particularly to deal with the issues in their portfolios. The committees' evaluations were then examined by Parliament's President and political group leaders.