INTBUS 6 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Committees Of The European Parliament, Direct Election, Supranational Union
15 Oct 2020
School
Department
Course
Professor
ASSIGNMENT 4 – European Parliament
1) How is the European Parliament organised ?
Political parties
- President
o Directs all activities of the parliament
o Presides over debates
o Refers matters to committees
o Represents EP in dealing with other institutions
- Bureau
o President and 14 Vice-Presidents, 5 Quaestors (advisory)
o Drawing EP’s draft estimates
o Decides on composition of the Secretariat
o Conference of presidents: decides on seating arrangement, arrange EP’s programme, draft
agendas, authorizes own initiative reports
o Decisions are made by consensus
o Conference of Committee Chairs (chairs of EP committees) and Conference of Delegation
Chairs (common organisation and plans)
o Made of delegations (inter-parliamentary, joint parliamentary, multilateral
assemblies)
- Committees
o Standing committees : elected after proposal by Conference of Presidents
o Different committees for each policy area (p.222)
o Ensure representation of MS
o Explore ideas of the Commission
o Fostering own initiative reports
o Discuss development with President
o Examine Commission’s proposals → reports by rapporteurs
o Ad hoc committees (specific problems and topics)
o Influence determined by
o Significance of policy
o Extent of policy development
o Power of the Ep within policy area
o Committee expertise
o Committee chairmanship
o Committee cohesiveness
- Transnational federations
o Affiliations of political parties from inside and outside the EU
o European’s people party (EPP) → centre-right parties
o Alliance of Liberals and Democrats of Europe (ALDE) → liberal parties
o Party of European Socialists (PES) → centre-left parties
o Worked together against ‘anti-establishment’
o Leadership, vision and coordination
o Agents of unifications
o Weaknesses: Not involved in day-to-day politics, low status, limited resources, dependent of
EP from administrative and financial support, vague in content
o Attempts to improve status with Spitzenkandidaten
- Political groups
o Internal divisions caused by ideological heterogeneity, national attachments
o Limited control of members due to political power of EP, the fact that they are not a part off
organisational frameworks are functioning in multinational environment, tasks allocated by
parliamentary decisions
o Questionable political balance
o Parties : EPP, S&D, ECR, ALDE, GUE/NGL, Greens/EFA, EFD, ENF (p.216-17)
o Attempt to work more on ideological grounds than on national ones
- National parties
o Candidates chosen by national parties (MEPs inevitably reflect national party concerns)
o EP election campaigns are mostly national election campaigns → results linked to their
domestic implication
o National party groups exist within political groups (links between national groups and national
party leadership are weak)
o Parties have their own priorities and loyalties
- MEPs
o Dual mandates: MEPs used to have domestic mandate on top of the European one but this
was abolished in 2002 → MEP should be a full-time job
o Continuity: lack of continuity in membership was a problem with a lot of resignation before
the end o term. This has settled (probably due to end of dual mandates and more focus on
MEP careers
o Gender: there are now more and more women elected but still a majority of men
o Competence and experience: second-rate parliamentarians compared to national
counterparts, but necessity of high political skills and experience on domestic level → not
inferior to national parliamentarians
- Organisation and operation
o Multi-site problem: Three sites for plenary sessions (Luxembourg, Strasbourg and Brussels)
→ EP would be more efficient if everything was in Brussels but hard lobbying from French and
Luxembourg governments
o Relative independence: in terms of organisational matters and agendas
o Obligations to provide view on Commission proposals
o Executives do not have to control what the EP does
o No clear identification btw EP and EU executive (neither positive or negative)
o Ability to adopt own Rules of Procedure
2) What are its powers and responsibilities ?
Legislative process
Influence in 5 possible ways
1) Participates in policy discussions (with Commission) in pre-proposal legislative stage
2) Adopt its own ideas for suggested legislation
o Own initiative on reports
o Article225 TFEU: may request proposals for the Commission when seen that Union act is required
3) Open new budget lines (expenditure limits only in budgetary process
4) Influence on Commission’s annual work and legislative programme
o Commission has annual programme for legislative proposals
o Programme is considered by EP committee (dialogues btw MEPs and Commission Representatives)
o Programme is voted on in EP plenary session
Document Summary
President: directs all activities of the parliament, presides over debates, refers matters to committees, represents ep in dealing with other institutions. Chairs (common organisation and plans: made of delegations (inter-parliamentary, joint parliamentary, multilateral assemblies) Committees: standing committees : elected after proposal by conference of presidents, different committees for each policy area (p. 222) Fostering own initiative reports: discuss development with president. Examine commission"s proposals reports by rapporteurs: ad hoc committees (specific problems and topics, influence determined by. Ep from administrative and financial support, vague in content: attempts to improve status with spitzenkandidaten. This has settled (probably due to end of dual mandates and more focus on. Organisation and operation: multi-site problem: three sites for plenary sessions (luxembourg, strasbourg and brussels) Ep would be more efficient if everything was in brussels but hard lobbying from french and. Luxembourg governments: relative independence: in terms of organisational matters and agendas, obligations to provide view on commission proposals.
