European Parliament

Three key players

The European Parliament- voice of the peopleMartin Schulz, President of of the European Parliament

The European Council and the Council- voice of the Member StatesHerman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council

The European Commission- promoting the common interestJosé Manuel Barroso, Presidentof the European Commission

European Parliament

The EU institutions

Court of Justice

Court of Auditors

Economic and Social Committee Committee of the Regions

Council of Ministers*(The Council) European Commission

European Investment Bank European Central BankAgencies

European Council (summit)*& IGC

*Green= intergovernmental

How EU laws are made

Citizens, interest groups, experts: discuss, consult

Commission: makes formal proposal

Parliament and Council of Ministers: decide jointly

Commission and Court of Justice: monitor implementation

National or local authorities: implement

LEGITIMACY

What is Legitimacy?• The shortest way to explain it:

• The acceptance of the government’s authority by the people, hence of laws, policies and candidates for political office

• The acceptance creates a set of beliefs about authority as a concept (what the basis of it is) AND

• Creates a set of values about authority (democracy, representation, civil rights) AND• Creates patterns of political behaviour (voting, petitions) • Creates a set of institutions to reflect the concept and the values and to implement and

facilitate the behaviour (parliament, courts)

Political Legitimacy• It is a descriptive concept AND• It is a normative concept

Descriptive• Max Weber classification of types of authority:

• Legal• Traditional• Charismatic

• These ideal types are mixed in the real world:• Legal-traditional (prevails in democratic society)• Charismatic-traditional“the basis of every system of authority, and correspondingly of every kind of willingness to obey, is a belief, a belief by virtue of which persons exercising authority are lent prestige” (Max Weber The Theory of Social and Economic Organization, Talcott Parsons (ed.), New York: Free Press, 1964: 382).

Normative• Legitimacy refers to some benchmark of justification and/or

acceptability of political power or authority and obligation. • Thus: why the use of political power by a body (government, for example) is

permissible and as far as it can go (pro tanto) ethical duty to obey its commands (John Rawls, Political Liberalism)

• Thus: legitimacy is linked to the ethical justification of political authority

The European Union: 500 million people – 28 countries

Member states of the European Union

Candidate and potential candidate countries

Structure of the European Parliament

• The President• elected for a renewable term of two and a half years• represents the European Parliament vis-à-vis the outside world and in its relations with

the other EU institutions• ensures that Parliament’s Rules of Procedure are adhered to • assisted by 14 Vice-Presidents

• The Secretary-General• most senior official• heads Parliament's administration• appointed by Parliament's Bureau (14 Vice-Presidents and the 5 Quaestors)• organizes parliamentary business• ensures the smooth running of plenary sessions

Parliamentary Committees I• Members (MEPs) are divided up among a number of specialised

standing committees• Standing Committees:

• 20 committees, • A committee consists of between 24 and 76 MEPs, and has a chair, a bureau and a

secretariat• The committees draw up, amend and adopt legislative proposals and own-initiative reports

• Special Committees: • Parliament may at any time set up temporary committees on specific issues

These special committees have a 12-month mandate, which may be extended• Committees of Inquiry:

• to investigate breaches or poor application of Community law

Parliamentary Committees II• The Conciliation Committee:

• Conciliation is the third and last phase of the European Union’s most important legislative procedure: the co-decision procedure

• In the event of disagreement between Parliament and the Council, a Conciliation Committee is set up, consisting of 28 representatives of the Member States and 28 MEPs

• The committee is responsible for drawing up a joint text, which is put to the Council and Parliament for approval at third reading

• The final agreement of the Council and Parliament is essential if the text is to be adopted.

Political Bodies I• The Conference of Presidents:

• The Conference of Presidents consists of the President of Parliament and the political group chairmen.One representative of the non-attached Members also has a seat in the Conference of Presidents but no voting rights.The Conference of Presidents takes its decisions by consensus or by weighted vote based on the number of Members in each political group

• The Bureau:• It lays down rules for Parliament• Drafts preliminary budget• consists of the President of the European Parliament, the 14 Vice-Presidents and the

five Quaestors elected by Parliament for a period of two and a half years (which can be renewed)

Political Bodies II• College of Quaestors:

• There are five Quaestors• They are responsible for administrative and financial matters directly

concerning Members and their working conditions

• Conference of Committee Chairs:• It works for better cooperation between the committees• Consists of the chairmen of all the standing and temporary committees• It elects its chairman• The Conference of Committee Chairs generally meets once a month in

Strasbourg during plenary sittings.

Political Bodies III• Conference of Delegation Chairs:

• Considers all matters concerning the smooth running of interparliamentary delegations and delegations to the joint parliamentary committees

• The Conference of Delegation Chairs consists of the Chairs of all the standing interparliamentary delegations

• It elects its chairman• It may make recommendations to the Conference of Presidents on the

delegations’ work.• It draws up a draft annual calendar of interparliamentary meetings and

meetings of joint parliamentary committees.• The Bureau and Conference of Presidents may delegate certain tasks to the

Conference of Delegation Chairs.

Political Groups• The Members of the European Parliament sit in political groups • The groups are not organised by nationality, but by political affiliation• There are currently 7 political groups in the European Parliament.

The European political parties

Greens/European Free Alliance58

European Conservatives and Reformists 55

Alliance of Liberals andDemocrats for Europe

85European People’s Party (Christian Democrats)275

Non-attached members 28

Total : 766

Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats

196

European UnitedLeft - Nordic Green Left

34

Europe of Freedom and Democracy35

Number of seats in the European Parliament per political group

(J uly 2013)

The European Parliament – voice of the people

4 Decides EU laws and budget together with Council of Ministers4 Democratic supervision of all the EU’s work

Number of members elected in each country (July 2013)

United Kingdom12

22

74

73

13

I taly

I reland

22Hungary

Greece

99Germany

France

Finland

6Estonia

13Denmark

22Czech Republic

6Cyprus

12Croatia

19Austria

22Belgium

Total 766

72

20Sweden

54Spain

8Slovenia

13Slovakia

33Romania

22Portugal

51Poland

26Netherlands

6Malta

6Luxembourg

12Lithuania

9Latvia

Bulgaria 18