European Parliament

The Members of the European Parliament (MEP) represent the people of the member states of the EU. It is the only directly elected body in the European Union, with MEPs elected every five years by the people of the member states. It meets in Brussels and Strasbourg, as well as having secretariat offices in Luxembourg. It meets for 3 weeks in Brussels, then for one week it decamps to Strasbourg.

The UK is split into 12 European constituencies, one of which covers the whole of Wales. There are four MEPs representing you in the UK constituency of Wales. The last elections were in June 2009 and the four MEPs representing Wales are:

Most MEPs belong to one of the Parliament’s seven politcal groups rather than sitting as national delegations. None of the groups has an overall majority, so they need to co-operate to get things done. The seven political groups are:

· Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats

· Socialist Group in the European Parliament

· Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe

· Union of Europe for the Nations Group

· Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance

· Confederal Group of the European United Left – Nordic Green Left

· Independence/Democracy Group

The European Parliament has three main roles:

· debates and passes European laws, with the Council of Ministers

· scrutinises other EU institutions, particularly the European Commission, to make sure they are working democratically

· debates and adopts the EU budget, again with the Council of Ministers

The European Parliament cannot propose legislation and nor can the Council of Ministers;only the European Commission can do this. However, both the Parliament and the Council of Ministers jointly discuss, propose amendments, and vote to accept or reject most of the proposed laws. Click here for more information on how this works.

The Parliament also has other important powers such as the ability to sack the European Commission, hold hearings on new Commissioners, giving permission to allow other countries to join the EU and has joint responsibility (with the Council of Ministers) for approving the EU budget.