European Parliament

European Parliament

By Nimish Kumar, The International Parliament Journal (IPJ) | March 30, 2021 | | No Comments
Spread the information

-Nimish Kumar.

The European Parliament is an important forum for political debate and decision-making at the EU level. The Members of the European Parliament are directly elected by voters in all Member States to represent people’s interests with regard to EU law-making and to make sure other EU institutions are working democratically.

Organisation

MEPs may take on different roles and join various formal or informal groupings in Parliament that have affect its work. Here is an overview.

The President

Members

Political groups

Committees

Delegations

Political bodies

Intergroups

Powers and procedures

The European treaties have given Parliament a broad range of powers as the EU’s directly-elected body. Learn more in the following sections and find out how the procedures work.

Legislative powers 

Together with the representatives of EU governments in the Council, Parliament is responsible for adopting EU legislation. Under the ordinary legislative procedure, both institutions act as equal co-legislators. In some special cases, other procedures may apply.Go to the page 

Budgetary powers 

Parliament and Council have to agree on the annual EU budget. Find out about the procedure.Go to the page 

Democracy and human rights

The European Parliament has earned a reputation as a dedicated sponsor of people’s basic rights and of democracy.

Within the EU’s only directly-elected institution, MEPs fight against new and old attacks on essential liberties.

Protecting fundamental rights in the EU 

Fundamental rights apply to all people in the EU, no matter their status or origin.

Some of these freedoms are as old as Europe: life and liberty, thought and expression.

But others have had to be redefined to keep pace with the times. Protecting personal data or prohibiting human cloning were far from the minds of the first elected MEPs, some four decades ago.Go to the page 

Defending human rights beyond the EU 

The European Parliament does not believe that people’s basic rights end at the EU’s borders.

MEPs regularly speak out – individually and in unison – about human rights issues in non-EU countries. Because these rights are considered universal, the response is the same whether the violation takes place in Myanmar/Burma, some 8 000 kilometres away, or in Belarus, which borders on the Union.

The battle for human rights has also brought many prominent defenders to the European Parliament.

Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani campaigner for children’s education, Yazidi women who had been prisoners of the Islamic State in Iraq, a doctor from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, political prisoners from Latin America: all have found a voice on the European Parliament’s stage.Go to the page 

Supporting democracy around the globe 

Sustaining democracy is a key element of this effort, spelled out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government.”

MEPs defend democratic systems around the globe. Some have travelled far to observe elections, mediate in conflicts and support fledgling parliaments.

The EU’s own founding texts require that the Union as a whole defends democratic principles in its foreign affairs. But in the European Parliament, this effort strikes closer to home: for MEPs, who have experienced elections and campaigns, democracy is a personal matter.

Secretariat

The Secretariat’s establishment plan and the internal administrative rules for officials and other staff are drawn up by the Bureau. The employees are mostly officials recruited by competition from all the EU countries. They are in the service of the European Parliament.

The Secretariat’s task is to coordinate legislative work and organise plenary sittings and meetings. It also provides technical and expert assistance to parliamentary bodies and Members of Parliament to support them in the exercise of their mandates. The European Parliament must also provide a fully multilingual service for all plenary sittings and meetings.

The European Parliament has Liaison Offices (EPLOs) in the EU capitals, as well as antennae in a regionally relevant city in the most populous Member States, and further afield. It also has a Liaison Office in Washington DC.

EPLOs are responsible for the local implementation of institutional communication activities, with the ultimate goal of ensuring that people understand the importance of the European Parliament well enough to engage in the European democratic process.

The Offices engage with citizens and stakeholders, manage contacts with national, regional and local media, and provide support to Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in the exercise of their official mandates in the Member States.

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/at-your-service/en/stay-informed/liaison-offices-in-your-country
Post tags: