This is what the European Parliament does: what are its most important tasks, powers, and responsibilities for the lives of the citizens of the European Union?
The European Parliament is the only one of the 7 institutions of the European Union to be elected directly by the citizens. Each EU country has a certain number of seats within it, with a distribution based on demographic criteria. Quite simply, countries with a higher number of inhabitants enjoy more seats, even if the principle of degressive proportionality guarantees less populated states a good number of seats per capita. In detail, there is a minimum limit of 6 deputies and a maximum of 96 for each country and overall the Parliament cannot contain more than 750 MEPs.
Precisely with the 2024 European elections, the MEPs become 720, with 15 more deputies.
The European Parliament is an institution of great importance for community life, with legislative, control and budget functions. But let’s find out what this means in detail and what the European Parliament does for the lives of citizens.
What the European Parliament does
The European Parliament amends and approves community legislation together with the European Council (made up of ministers of national governments). European Union legislation includes regulations and decisions, which are automatically binding, directives to be implemented, as well as the multiannual and annual budget.
The proposal for legislation, as well as its implementation, is the responsibility of the European Commission but the European Parliament can turn to the latter proposing a legislative text. The report can be drawn up by all members of Parliament in a parliamentary commission, taking into account collective interests but obviously, also the needs expressed by the citizens of their own nation.
The Parliament and the Council of the European Union have equal powers in ordinary legislation, which includes:
- economic governance;
- immigration;
- power;
- transport;
- environment;
- consumer rights.
For some specific issues, however, Parliament has a consultative role and in some cases, its opinion is essential for the entry into force of the proposed law. As anticipated, the European Parliament also has a control function, for example regarding the approval of the European Commission and the possibility of voting on a motion of no confidence against it. Commission reports and the budget also require parliamentary approval.
However, Parliament is divided into 20 Commissions for the different political areas and into different political groups, which must contain at least 23 deputies and represent at least a quarter of the member states.
Finally, among the various tasks of the European Parliament, there is another of extreme importance: the examination of democratic processes in all member states of the European Union.
The MEPs and the President
Members of the European Parliament must represent the interests and needs of their constituents. This is a very delicate task because it requires listening to local concerns and needs, through contact with associations, groups, and businesses. Proposals and initiatives must be listened to, understood, and evaluated in order to be possibly brought to fruition if this is in the collective interest.
Obviously, the Parliament also has a president elected by the Parliament itself, with a mandate lasting half as long as that of MEPs, i.e. 2 and a half years. The president has the task of ensuring compliance with the rules of procedure and representing the Parliament at both European and national levels. It is then the president who presents Parliament’s point of view on the agenda, and who signs for the promulgation of the laws and the budget of the European Union.
Original article published on Money.it Italy 2024-06-08 15:19:58. Original title: Cosa fa il Parlamento Europeo?
