2. What can your MEP do for you?
3. How are MEPs elected?
4. Do MEPs belong to European political parties?
5. What powers do MEPs have?
6. What do MEPs do in the European Parliament?
7. How much are MEPs paid?
8. Feedback
1. What is the European Parliament?
25 countries make up the European UnionThe European Parliament is of one the three bodies that make decisions about rules and regulations within the European Union. The two other bodies are the European Council, which represents the governments, and the European Commission, which writes the laws. Of these three institutions the parliament is the only one which is directly elected by the citizens of their country, in the form of MEPs. In fact, the European Parliament is the only directly elected international assembly in the world.
There are currently 785 members of the European Parliament, the UK has 78 MEPs.
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2. What can your MEP do for you?
Your local MEP will hold surgeries in your area, just like your local MP. If you have any questions about European law or a problem involving another European country, your MEP should be your first port of call. To find out about surgery times and dates you should contact your MEPs’ constituency offices.
You can also lobby your MEP on European legislation. If you have a good case then it is possible your MEP could get an amendment tabled in the parliament. For example, fisherman and lifeboat crews in the North-East lobbied their MEPs about the effect new rules on emissions would have on the machinery they use to launch their boats. As a result the MEPs were able to argue successfully for an amendment to the le... which made these machines exempt.
You can also talk to your MEP about petitioning the Eur....You can use a petition to influence legislation or raise an issue which hasn’t yet been considered at by the European Union. For more information see the Action Network guide, .
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3. How are MEPs elected?
There are elections for the European Parliament once every five years. Each country is free to organise its own election which means that the voting process in Germany may not be the same as that in England or Cyprus. However, most countries have a system using some form of proportional representation.
The UK system divides the country into 12 electoral regions. The regions are:
- Northern Ireland
- Scotland
- Wales
- Eastern England
- East Midlands
- London
- North-East England
- North-West England
- South-East England
- South-West England
- West Midlands
- Yorkshire and the Humber
Instead of voting for an individual candidate you vote for a political party (except in Northern Ireland). Before the election each party publishes a list of its candidates. The number of seats that a party gets depends on the share of the vote that it receives in each region. So, if a party has 20 candidates on the party list and wins 10 seats, it selects 10 of those candidates to be MEPs. Individual candidates can run but they have to register as a party and put themselves down as the only candidate on that party list.
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4. Do MEPs belong to European political parties?
MEPs vote on most EU legislationTo take full part in parliamentary business MEPs have to belong to one of the Parliament’s political groups. This means that the UK MEPs do not all sit together, nor do they regularly work together.
The political groups work out their positions on policies through discussions and then decide which way they will vote.
The largest political group in the European Parliament is currently the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP-ED), to which the British Conservatives belong.
The second largest block is the Party of European Socialists (PES) which includes the British Labour members. The Liberal Democrats are members of the third largest group, the Alliance for Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). There are eight groups in total. They are:
- European People’s P...
- Party of European S...
- Alliance for Libera...
- European United Lef...
- The Greens and Euro...
- Union for Europe of...
- Identity, Tradition...
- The Independence / ...
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5. What powers do MEPs have?
The MEPs in the European Parliament represent the people of the member states.
They have three main areas of responsibility:
- The power to legislate in conjunction with the Council
- Shared authority over the EU budget with the Council
- Supervision of the other EU institutions
This procedure of approval by the parliament and the council is called ‘co-decision’ and applies to various fields, including the environment, consumer protection, and the free movement of workers. However, there are other areas where MEPs may only give an opinion and which the council can accept or reject as it sees fit.
The parliament and the council also share decision-making on the EU budget. The EU budget does not come into force until it has been signed by the President of the parliament. The only area of spending over which the parliament does not have control is agriculture, where it may only make suggestions. Agriculture also happens to be the largest part of the annual EU budget.
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6. What do MEPs do in the European Parliament?
MEPs have control over budgetThe parliament has a president who serves for two and a half years. There are also 14 vice-presidents. The parliament’s legislative work is divided up among 17 standing committees, each covering a different policy area.
MEPS are also able to set up temporary committees to concentrate on a particular topical issue, for example foot and mouth disease.
MEPs spend one week per month in parliamentary sessions in Strasbourg, where they debate and vote on legislation. The rest of the month there are meetings in Brussels of committees, party (or cross-party) groups and full parliamentary discussions.
They also have a responsibility to spend time in their constituencies, so that they can represent these local concerns at a European level. This involves talking to their constituents, local businesses, development agencies, campaigning and interest groups and any other individuals or organisations. There are three official constituency weeks in the parliament calendar but both the national parties and the constituents expect MEPs to spend more time than this in their constituency.
MEPs have the right to:
- Table a motion for resolution
- Put questions to the leaders of the parliament, council or the commission
- Table an amendment to any text in committee
- Make explanations of vote
- Raise points of order
- Move the inadmissibility of a matter
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7. How much are MEPs paid?
Across Europe MEPs are paid the same as members of their national parliament. In the UK this is £60,277, the same as a backbench member of the House of Commons. From 2009 there will be a common salary across Europe and each MEP will be paid 7000 euros a month.
MEPs also receive allowances to cover the costs of office administration and support staff and travel expenses.
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8. Feedback and comments
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