European Parliament

The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union (EU). Its members, known as Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), represent EU citizens and are elected for five-year terms. Parliament shares responsibility for adopting most EU legislation with the Council of the European Union, exercises budgetary powers, and scrutinises the European Commission and other EU institutions. Its authority derives from the EU treaties rather than from the unrestricted sovereignty associated with some national parliaments. (european-union.europa.eu)

The institution developed from the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community, first convened in 1952, and acquired the name European Parliament in 1962. Direct elections began in 1979, while successive treaties expanded its legislative, budgetary, and supervisory functions. Its development connects the history of European integration with the establishment of representative democracy at a supranational level. (europarl.europa.eu)

Parliament combines transnational political groups, specialised committees, and plenary decision-making within a multilingual institution. Strasbourg is its official seat, Brussels hosts committee meetings and additional plenary sittings, and Luxembourg houses its Secretariat. Understanding its operation requires distinguishing its electoral mandate and internal organisation from its treaty-defined powers, international activities, and mechanisms of public accountability. (europarl.europa.eu)

Constitutional position and institutional relationships

Article 14 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) defines Parliament as the institution representing the Union’s citizens, whose members are directly elected for five-year terms. It distinguishes legislative and budgetary functions, exercised jointly with the Council, from political control, consultation, and election of the European Commission’s President. Representation is therefore Parliament’s constitutional basis, rather than a separate power to determine every aspect of EU policy. Article 10 places this arrangement within the European Union’s system of representative democracy: citizens are represented directly in Parliament, while member states are represented through democratically accountable governments in the two Council institutions. (eur-lex.europa.eu)

The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) supplies more detailed rules. Articles 223–234 concern Parliament’s electoral arrangements, members’ conditions, political parties, requests for legislative proposals, inquiries, petitions, the European Ombudsman, parliamentary proceedings, and censure of the Commission. Other provisions establish its relationships with fellow institutions: Articles 289 and 294 govern ordinary legislation, Article 314 governs adoption of the annual budget, and Article 319 provides for Parliament’s discharge decision on budget implementation. These powers have different legal effects: adopting expenditure authorises spending, whereas discharge scrutinises how an earlier budget was implemented. (eur-lex.europa.eu)

Parliament must be distinguished from three similarly named bodies. The Council of the European Union, normally called the Council in the treaties, comprises national government representatives at ministerial level, meeting in configurations appropriate to the subject under discussion. It is Parliament’s principal legislative and budgetary counterpart. The European Council comprises member states’ heads of state or government, its own President, and the Commission President; it sets overall political directions and priorities but does not exercise legislative functions. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe belongs to a separate international organisation, not the EU. Its representatives are elected by national or federal parliaments or appointed from their membership, rather than directly elected to a Union-wide parliamentary mandate. (consilium.europa.eu)

Within the EU’s institutional division of authority, the European Commission normally initiates legislation and performs executive, budget-management, and treaty-enforcement functions. Article 17(2) TEU requires a Commission proposal for legislative acts unless the treaties provide otherwise. Parliament may request a proposal under Article 225 TFEU, but this does not constitute an unrestricted general right to introduce legislation. Under the ordinary legislative procedure, Parliament and Council must approve an identical text; neither can enact that legislation alone. Their equal legislative standing in fields such as energy and consumer protection does not extend automatically to every policy area: special procedures may instead require Parliament’s consultation or consent. (eur-lex.europa.eu)

Parliament is consequently not a sovereign national legislature possessing unlimited law-making competence. Article 5 TEU restricts EU action to competences conferred by the member states, while Article 13(2) requires each institution to remain within its treaty powers and cooperate sincerely with the others. Appointment and accountability also cross institutional boundaries: the European Council proposes a candidate for Commission President, Parliament elects that candidate, and the Commission as a body requires parliamentary consent before appointment by the European Council. Parliament can compel the Commission’s collective resignation through censure, but this supervisory relationship does not make the Council or European Council parliamentary governments dependent on its confidence. (eur-lex.europa.eu)

Historical development and expansion of powers

The Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community first met in Strasbourg on 10 September 1952. Its members were delegates from national parliaments, rather than directly elected European representatives. Following the establishment of the European Economic Community and Euratom, a single assembly served all three Communities: the 142-member European Parliamentary Assembly held its inaugural meeting on 19 March 1958. It adopted the name “European Parliament” on 30 March 1962, although that designation received formal treaty recognition only through the Single European Act in 1987. (historicalarchives.europarl.europa.eu)

Budgetary authority developed before substantial legislative authority. The Luxembourg Treaty, signed on 22 April 1970, gave Parliament the final say, within specified limits, over “non-compulsory expenditure”—spending not necessarily resulting from the treaties or legislation adopted under them. The Brussels Treaty, signed on 22 July 1975 and effective from 1 June 1977, added the power to reject the budget as a whole and to grant the Commission discharge for its implementation. These were practical instruments of control: the newly elected Parliament rejected the proposed 1980 Community budget in December 1979. (europarl.europa.eu)

Direct elections changed the institution’s representative basis without automatically conferring new legislative powers. The Electoral Act was signed on 20 September 1976, entered into force in July 1978 after national ratification, and was first implemented in elections held from 7 to 10 June 1979. Voters in nine member states elected 410 representatives, replacing the system in which all members held mandates in their national parliaments. Simone Veil became the first president of the directly elected Parliament and the first woman to preside over the institution. (europarl.europa.eu)

The Single European Act, signed on 17 and 28 February 1986 and effective from 1 July 1987, moved Parliament beyond consultation through the cooperation procedure, which introduced a second parliamentary reading in specified legislative fields. It also required parliamentary assent for accession and association agreements. The Maastricht Treaty, signed on 7 February 1992 and effective from 1 November 1993, introduced codecision: in the fields covered, Parliament could prevent legislation from being adopted, rather than merely deliver an opinion. Maastricht also required parliamentary approval of the Commission as a body, strengthening supervision of the executive of the newly established European Union. (europarl.europa.eu)

The Amsterdam Treaty, signed on 2 October 1997 and effective from 1 May 1999, broadened and simplified codecision, permitted agreements at first reading, and required Parliament’s approval of the nominee for Commission President. The Nice Treaty, signed on 26 February 2001 and effective from 1 February 2003, extended legislative powers further and placed Parliament alongside the other principal institutions in its ability to challenge EU acts before the Court of Justice. The Lisbon Treaty, effective from 1 December 2009, renamed codecision the “ordinary legislative procedure” and extended it to more than 40 additional fields, including agriculture, energy and immigration. It also removed the distinction between compulsory and non-compulsory expenditure, bringing the entire annual budget within joint parliamentary and Council decision-making. (europarl.europa.eu)

Membership expanded through successive accessions and adjustments in representation: the arrival of Spain and Portugal in 1986 increased the number of seats from 434 to 518, while German reunification prompted a redistribution that brought the total to 567 for the 1994 elections. Parliament had 751 seats from 2014 until the United Kingdom withdrew from the EU on 31 January 2020. Following Brexit, the departure of 73 British members and redistribution of 27 seats among 14 other member states reduced the total to 705. A subsequent allocation added 15 seats across 12 countries, and voters elected 720 MEPs in the elections of 6–9 June 2024. (europarl.europa.eu)

Elections, seat allocation, and membership

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are directly elected for five-year terms under common European Union principles supplemented by national electoral laws. The 1976 Electoral Act, as amended, requires proportional representation, using either party lists or the single transferable vote (STV), rather than prescribing one uniform electoral system. In closed-list systems, such as those used in Germany and France, voters choose a list whose candidate order is predetermined; preferential-list systems allow voters to influence which candidates take the seats won. Ireland and Malta use STV, under which voters rank individual candidates. The 2024 elections took place from 6 to 9 June, with polling days determined nationally within that period. (europarl.europa.eu)

Constituencies and thresholds also vary nationally. For the 2024 elections, most member states formed a single constituency, while Belgium, Ireland, Italy and Poland used multiple constituencies. National laws may impose a minimum share of votes for participation in seat allocation, subject to an EU ceiling of 5%: France applied 5%, Italy 4%, and Germany no statutory threshold in 2024. These thresholds concern the distribution of seats among competing lists, not the number assigned to each country. The 2018 amendment to the Electoral Act envisaged compulsory thresholds of between 2% and 5% in constituencies exceeding 35 seats, but adoption of that amendment did not itself make those provisions operational; entry into force required approval by every member state under its constitutional procedures. (eprs.europarl.europa.eu)

Seats between member states are allocated according to degressive proportionality: more populous states receive more seats, but each of their MEPs represents more inhabitants than an MEP from a smaller state. Article 14 of the Treaty on European Union establishes a minimum of six seats and a maximum of 96 per member state. The European Council determines the allocation unanimously, on Parliament’s initiative and with its consent. Its decision of 22 September 2023 established 720 seats for the 2024–2029 term: Germany received 96, France 81 and Italy 76, while Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta each received six. This population-based apportionment is distinct from proportional representation within national elections; it does not distribute seats among parties according to an EU-wide vote total. (eur-lex.europa.eu)

EU citizens residing in a member state other than their own have the right to vote and stand there under the same conditions as that state’s nationals, subject to the applicable eligibility and registration requirements. Voting and candidacy ages are separate: in 2024, voting began at 18 in most states, at 16 in Austria, Belgium, Germany and Malta, and at 17 in Greece. Candidacy generally began at 18, but the minimum was 21 in several states, including Ireland, 23 in Romania, and 25 in Greece and Italy. No person may vote more than once or stand in more than one member state at the same European election. Registration declarations and exchanges of information between national authorities are mechanisms for identifying duplicate voting registrations and candidacies. (europarl.europa.eu)

Following national notification of election results, Parliament verifies members’ credentials on a report from its responsible committee; disputes governed exclusively by national electoral law remain outside that verification. Members must declare that they hold no incompatible office. Incompatibilities include membership of a national parliament, office in a member state’s government, and membership of the European Commission. Vacancies arising during a term are filled under national rules, commonly by the next eligible unelected candidate on the original list or by a designated substitute. The mandate nevertheless belongs to the individual MEP: freedom of mandate distinguishes elected office from membership of a national political party or parliamentary group, and changing or leaving either affiliation does not itself vacate the seat. (europarl.europa.eu)

Political groups and parliamentary leadership

National political parties, European political parties and parliamentary political groups are distinct organisations. National parties contest elections within member states; European political parties bring together politically affiliated national parties across the European Union; parliamentary groups organise Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) within the chamber. Their memberships need not coincide: one group may include members associated with several European parties, and joining a group does not necessarily require membership of its corresponding European party. Groups are organised by political affinity rather than nationality. Formation requires at least 23 MEPs elected in at least one quarter of member states—seven in a Union of 27—and notification to Parliament’s President identifying the group’s members, leadership and political declaration. An MEP may belong to only one group. Members without a group are termed non-attached (non-inscrits, NI); they do not collectively constitute another group. (eprs.europarl.europa.eu)

Each political group appoints a chair or co-chairs, a bureau and a secretariat. Groups discuss committee reports, develop common positions and table amendments before plenary votes, but cannot compel individual MEPs to vote a particular way. They nominate representatives for parliamentary offices and coordinate work across committees. Group strength influences the distribution of committee chairs and responsibility for preparing reports, although formal elections and appointments remain necessary. Speaking time combines an allocation shared equally among groups with an additional allocation proportional to membership; non-attached members receive a separate allocation. This gives groups both a collective voice and resources reflecting their numerical strength, without eliminating individual members’ procedural rights. (europarl.europa.eu)

Parliament elects its President, 14 Vice-Presidents and five Quaestors for renewable terms of two and a half years, allowing leadership elections at the beginning and midpoint of a five-year parliamentary term. Presidential candidates may be nominated by a political group or members reaching the procedural “low threshold”, one twentieth of Parliament’s membership. Election is by secret ballot, requiring an absolute majority of valid votes cast in the first three rounds. If necessary, a fourth round is restricted to the two highest-scoring candidates from the third round, with the higher vote total deciding the result. On 16 July 2024, Maltese EPP member Roberta Metsola was re-elected President in the first round with 562 votes. (europarl.europa.eu)

The President chairs plenary sittings, applies the Rules of Procedure and represents Parliament in legal matters, international relations and dealings with other EU institutions. The President also signs legislative acts adopted jointly with the Council and declares the EU budget finally adopted. Vice-Presidents substitute for the President, including when chairing debates or representing Parliament at ceremonies, and undertake assigned responsibilities. They are elected through successive ballots, requiring an absolute majority in the first two rounds and a relative majority in the third. The five Quaestors are elected by the same procedure and handle administrative and financial matters directly affecting members’ working conditions, including access to equipment and services. (europarl.europa.eu)

Two leadership bodies separate internal administration from political planning. The Bureau comprises the President and 14 Vice-Presidents, with the Quaestors participating in an advisory capacity without voting rights. It handles administrative, staffing and financial decisions, prepares Parliament’s preliminary expenditure estimates and appoints the Secretary-General; the President has a casting vote in a tie. The Conference of Presidents brings together Parliament’s President and the political-group chairs, with a non-voting representative of non-attached members. It organises parliamentary business and legislative planning, prepares draft plenary agendas and timetables, and addresses committee and delegation responsibilities and interinstitutional relations. It seeks consensus; where voting is necessary, group chairs’ votes are weighted according to their groups’ membership. (europarl.europa.eu)

Committees, plenary proceedings, and parliamentary administration

Parliament’s committees prepare the business subsequently considered by the plenary assembly. Following a reorganisation approved on 18 December 2024 and implemented in January 2025, Parliament had 22 standing committees and two subcommittees. Standing committees cover defined policy fields, including international trade, agriculture, legal affairs, and internal market and consumer protection. The reorganisation elevated Security and Defence and Public Health from subcommittees to standing committees, each initially comprising 43 members. Subcommittees undertake specialised work within a parent committee’s responsibilities; the remaining two concerned human rights and tax matters. Special committees, by contrast, have temporary mandates addressing specified issues: those established in December 2024 concerned the European Democracy Shield and the housing crisis. Committee membership reflects, as far as possible, Parliament’s overall political balance rather than allocating equal representation to member states. Each committee has a chair, vice-chairs, and an administrative secretariat. (europarl.europa.eu)

For a legislative proposal, the responsible committee appoints a rapporteur to prepare a draft report containing proposed amendments. Other political groups can appoint shadow rapporteurs to follow the dossier, develop their groups’ positions, and negotiate compromises. Committee members debate the draft, table amendments, and vote on the report before its submission to plenary. Committees also prepare own-initiative reports and organise hearings with experts to inform their work. Where a proposal crosses policy boundaries, other committees may provide opinions; a joint committee procedure allows committees with shared responsibilities to deliberate and vote together. Rules revised in 2024 distinguish opinion-giving from joint committee consideration. The Conference of Committee Chairs coordinates cooperation between committees. These preparatory arrangements do not replace the decisions required of Parliament in plenary. (europarl.europa.eu)

Plenary business proceeds through an agenda, debate, and voting. The Conference of Presidents prepares the draft agenda, taking account of recommendations from committee chairs; Parliament settles its order of business at the opening of the part-session. Debates allow rapporteurs, political-group speakers, other members, and representatives of the Commission and Council to address the issue. Speaking time combines an equal allocation among political groups with an additional allocation reflecting their size. Amendments submitted under the applicable rules are voted on before the final text or legislative resolution. Voting normally begins by show of hands, although electronic voting and roll-call votes provide numerical results and, for roll calls, an individual record of members’ votes. (europarl.europa.eu)

The voting threshold depends on the decision. Under the ordinary rule, a majority of votes cast means more votes in favour than against; abstentions are excluded from that calculation. This differs from a majority of Parliament’s component members, which is measured against its full membership rather than attendance or participation in the particular vote. Amendments to Parliament’s Rules of Procedure, for example, require approval by a majority of all members. A quorum exists when one third of Parliament’s component members are present, a separate requirement from the majority needed to adopt a text. (europarl.europa.eu)

The Secretary-General heads Parliament’s administration and is appointed by the Bureau, which determines the Secretariat’s organisation and staffing establishment. Alessandro Chiocchetti took office in January 2023. The Secretary-General organises parliamentary business under the political leadership, supports the conduct of plenary sittings, and coordinates administrative preparation of legislative work. Institutional services provide committee support, research, legal-linguistic work, interpretation, and translation. The Secretary-General is formally required to perform the office with impartiality. Political groups maintain separate secretariats supporting their collective political work, while members choose parliamentary assistants to support their individual mandates. Accredited parliamentary assistants are selected by members but employed through direct contracts with Parliament; their parliamentary employment does not make them part of the impartial committee secretariats. (the-secretary-general.europarl.europa.eu)

Legislative procedures and policy influence

Under the ordinary legislative procedure, defined by Articles 289 and 294 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), Parliament and the Council of the European Union must approve identical wording for a legislative act to be adopted. The procedure normally begins with a European Commission proposal. Parliament adopts its first-reading position, accepting or amending that proposal; if the Council approves Parliament’s position, the act is adopted. Otherwise, the Council adopts its own first-reading position and transmits it to Parliament. Neither institution faces a treaty deadline at first reading. (consilium.europa.eu)

At second reading, Parliament has three months, extendable by one month, to respond. Approval—or failure to take a decision within the deadline—results in adoption of the Council’s position. Parliament may instead reject that position or amend it, in either case requiring a majority of its component members rather than merely a majority of votes cast. Rejection ends the procedure; amendments return the text to the Council. If the Council does not approve all amendments, a Conciliation Committee comprising equal numbers of Council and parliamentary representatives seeks a joint text within six weeks, extendable to eight. An agreed text then requires third-reading approval by both institutions within another six weeks, likewise extendable to eight; neither may amend it at that stage. Failure to agree in conciliation, or to approve the resulting text, defeats the proposed act. (europarl.europa.eu)

Much legislative bargaining occurs through trilogues: informal negotiations involving Parliament, the Council presidency and the Commission. Parliament’s negotiating team includes the responsible committee’s chair or vice-chair, the rapporteur and political groups’ shadow rapporteurs. Negotiations operate within mandates: before Parliament’s first reading, the committee’s adopted report can provide the mandate, subject to plenary control; Parliament’s subsequently adopted positions guide negotiations at later stages. Negotiators report back to the responsible committee, and a provisional agreement must undergo committee consideration and formal parliamentary approval, alongside the Council’s required decisions. A trilogue compromise is therefore not itself legislation and does not replace the treaty-prescribed readings. (eprs.europarl.europa.eu)

The applicable treaty provision determines whether ordinary legislation or a special legislative procedure is used. Under consultation, Parliament delivers an opinion and may propose amendments, but the Council is not bound by its substantive position; obtaining the opinion is nevertheless a procedural requirement. Consultation applies, for example, to several taxation measures. Under consent, Parliament can approve or reject the proposed act but cannot formally amend it, giving it a veto without the amendment powers available under ordinary legislation. These procedures are not alternatives that the institutions may freely select for a particular proposal. (consilium.europa.eu)

Parliament does not possess a general, autonomous power to introduce EU legislation comparable to that of many national legislatures. Article 225 TFEU allows it, acting by a majority of its component members, to request an appropriate Commission proposal where legislation is considered necessary to implement the treaties. If the Commission declines, it must explain its reasons. Parliament also has direct initiative powers in narrowly specified institutional matters, including its own electoral arrangements. Non-legislative resolutions can articulate priorities and press for action, but do not themselves create the binding obligations established by regulations or directives. (eprs.europarl.europa.eu)

Co-legislation extends across environmental protection, energy, transport, immigration and consumer protection, although the precise powers depend on each measure’s legal basis. On 12 March 2024, for example, Parliament approved the recast Energy Performance of Buildings Directive by 370 votes to 199, with 46 abstentions, linking building standards to energy consumption and emissions reduction. Its April 2024 votes on the Migration and Asylum Pact addressed asylum procedures and responsibility-sharing. The right-to-repair directive, finally approved by the Council on 30 May 2024, provided another concrete intervention: it established repair obligations for covered products and a twelve-month extension of the legal guarantee when consumers choose repair rather than replacement. (europarl.europa.eu)

Budgetary authority and financial control

Parliament and the Council of the European Union jointly determine the annual EU budget under Article 314 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The Commission prepares the draft using expenditure estimates from the institutions and submits it by 1 September; the Council forwards its position to Parliament by 1 October. Parliament’s Committee on Budgets coordinates amendments, drawing on opinions from specialised committees. Parliament then has 42 days to approve the Council’s position or amend it by a majority of its component members. Approval—or failure to take a decision within that period—means that the budget is adopted. Amendments normally lead to negotiations with the Council. (europarl.europa.eu)

Unless the Council accepts all parliamentary amendments within ten days, a Conciliation Committee brings together Council representatives and an equal number of MEPs, assisted by the Commission. It has 21 days to agree a joint text, after which Parliament and the Council have 14 days to approve it. Failed conciliation requires a new Commission draft. If no budget is adopted before the financial year begins on 1 January, Article 315 permits spending through “provisional twelfths”: monthly expenditure is generally limited, by budget chapter, to one twelfth of the previous year’s appropriations, subject also to the draft budget’s limits. This maintains essential operations without authorising the full proposed budget. (europarl.europa.eu)

The 2025 budget illustrates the distinction between commitment appropriations, which authorise legal obligations, and payment appropriations, which finance payments falling due during the year, including those arising from earlier commitments. Following conciliation, Parliament approved the budget on 27 November 2024, with approximately €199.44 billion in commitments and €155.21 billion in payments. Its negotiating team included Victor Negrescu, rapporteur for the Commission section, and Niclas Herbst, rapporteur for the other institutional sections. Parliament secured increases for programmes including humanitarian aid and Horizon Europe during negotiations with the Council. (europarl.europa.eu)

Annual appropriations operate within the multiannual financial framework (MFF), which normally covers seven years; the 2021–2027 framework establishes annual expenditure ceilings by policy heading and an overall payments ceiling. The Council adopts the MFF unanimously after obtaining Parliament’s consent by a majority of its component members. Parliament can therefore withhold approval, but cannot unilaterally enact its preferred framework. These expenditure powers do not amount to the general taxation powers associated with national parliaments. Under Article 311, the decision establishing the EU’s own-resources system requires unanimous Council approval after consultation of Parliament and subsequent approval by member states according to their constitutional requirements. (eubudget.europarl.europa.eu)

Retrospective scrutiny takes place through the discharge procedure under Article 319. The Committee on Budgetary Control, distinct from the Committee on Budgets, examines the accounts, the Commission’s reporting, and the findings of the European Court of Auditors, the EU’s independent external auditor. It questions commissioners and senior officials before recommending a plenary decision. The Council supplies a recommendation, but Parliament decides whether to grant, postpone or refuse discharge. The decision normally occurs by 15 May of the second year after the financial year concerned, allowing time for accounts and audit reports to be examined. Discharge assesses implementation rather than authorising future expenditure; accompanying observations require follow-up, and the Commission must report on measures taken when Parliament requests it. Separate decisions address other institutions and bodies, including Parliament’s own administrative expenditure. (eur-lex.europa.eu)

Executive appointments, scrutiny, and legal oversight

Under Article 17(7) of the Treaty on European Union, the European Council, acting by qualified majority and taking account of European elections, proposes a candidate for President of the European Commission. Parliament elects the candidate by a majority of its component members, rather than merely a majority of votes cast. If the candidate fails, the European Council must propose another within one month. On 18 July 2024, Parliament re-elected Ursula von der Leyen by secret ballot with 401 votes in favour; the required majority in the 720-seat Parliament was 361. (eur-lex.europa.eu)

Commissioner-designates undergo individual examination before Parliament votes on the Commission collectively. The Legal Affairs Committee first scrutinises declarations of interests; clearance concerning financial conflicts is a prerequisite for the portfolio hearing. Candidates then answer written questions and appear before the committees responsible for their proposed policy areas, which evaluate their suitability and competence. An adverse evaluation can lead to a replacement nominee or changes in portfolio allocation, but it is not a parliamentary dismissal of an incumbent commissioner. The treaty-level consent vote concerns the President, High Representative, and other commissioners as a body; following consent, the European Council formally appoints the Commission by qualified majority. The hearings for the 2024–2029 Commission took place from 4 to 12 November 2024. (elections.europa.eu)

Continuing scrutiny uses written and oral parliamentary questions, committee exchanges, and plenary statements followed by debate. These instruments require explanations, expose differences over implementation, and provide a public record of institutional responses; they do not themselves annul administrative decisions. Article 230 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union requires the Commission to answer questions put by Parliament or its members. Under Article 226, Parliament may, at the request of one quarter of its component members, establish a temporary committee of inquiry into alleged contraventions or maladministration in implementing EU law. An inquiry cannot investigate the same alleged facts while they are being examined in judicial proceedings, and its work does not replace the jurisdiction of a court. (eprs.europarl.europa.eu)

A motion of censure engages the Commission’s collective political responsibility. Article 234 requires both a two-thirds majority of votes cast and support from a majority of Parliament’s component members. The vote must be open and cannot occur until at least three days after the motion is tabled. If adopted, the commissioners must resign collectively, while the High Representative must resign from duties exercised within the Commission; they continue handling current business until replacement. Unlike an unfavourable confirmation hearing, censure therefore concerns the serving executive as a whole, not an individual nominee. Parliament has no equivalent treaty power to remove a single commissioner through an individual no-confidence vote. (eprs.europarl.europa.eu)

Parliament also elects the independent European Ombudsman after each European election for the parliamentary term, with eligibility for reappointment. The Ombudsman investigates maladministration in EU institutions, bodies, offices, and agencies, excluding the Court of Justice when acting judicially, and reports to Parliament. Election does not entitle Parliament to direct individual investigations. On 17 December 2024, Teresa Anjinho was elected with 344 votes in the second secret ballot. (eur-lex.europa.eu)

Legal oversight additionally operates through proceedings before the Court of Justice of the European Union. Under Article 263, Parliament may seek judicial review and annulment of reviewable EU acts on grounds including lack of competence, infringement of essential procedural requirements, or breach of the treaties. Under Article 265, it may challenge an institution’s unlawful failure to act, after first calling upon it to act. These proceedings place legality before a court rather than making Parliament the final legal arbiter. In Case 13/83, brought against the Council, the Court found a failure to fulfil specified obligations concerning the common transport policy. (eur-lex.europa.eu)

International agreements and external parliamentary relations

Under Article 218(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Parliament’s consent is required before the Council can conclude several categories of international agreement: association agreements; EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights; agreements establishing a specific institutional framework through cooperation procedures; agreements with important budgetary implications; and agreements covering fields governed internally by the ordinary legislative procedure, or by a special legislative procedure requiring parliamentary consent. These provisions encompass major trade agreements. For other agreements not relating exclusively to the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), Parliament is consulted rather than asked for consent; exclusively CFSP agreements are exempt from both requirements under Article 218(6). (europarl.europa.eu)

Parliamentary approval is distinct from negotiation. The Council authorises negotiations, adopts negotiating directives and designates the EU negotiator; the European Commission normally conducts negotiations, while the High Representative has a particular role for predominantly or exclusively CFSP agreements. Article 218(10) requires Parliament to be immediately and fully informed throughout the procedure. Parliament cannot amend the negotiated agreement at the consent stage: it approves or rejects it, although scrutiny and resolutions can communicate its conditions before negotiations end. (eur-lex.europa.eu) On 4 July 2012, Parliament rejected the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement by 478 votes to 39, with 165 abstentions, preventing its conclusion by the European Union. (europarl.europa.eu) Admission of a new member state follows the separate procedure in Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union: Parliament must consent by a majority of its component members before the Council can approve admission unanimously. The accession treaty remains subject to ratification by the contracting states according to their constitutional requirements. (eur-lex.europa.eu)

Relations with foreign legislatures are maintained through standing interparliamentary delegations. In September 2024, Parliament confirmed the composition of 48 delegations for its tenth parliamentary term, four more than in 2019–2024. Their membership is intended to reflect political views, member states and gender fairly; no delegation may draw more than one third of its members from one country. (europarl.europa.eu) These bodies organise recurring meetings with parliamentary counterparts, exchange information and discuss bilateral or regional developments. Unlike parliamentary committees, which prepare reports and legislative decisions for plenary, delegations principally maintain external parliamentary relationships. They cooperate with committees, particularly the Committee on Foreign Affairs, which can propose subjects for discussion with foreign counterparts. (europarl.europa.eu)

The institutional form varies with the relationship. Some delegations conduct bilateral exchanges; others represent Parliament in joint parliamentary committees or parliamentary cooperation bodies involving members from both sides. Multilateral assemblies bring together parliamentarians from several countries or regions. Examples include the European Economic Area Joint Parliamentary Committee and the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly. Parliament can also dispatch ad hoc delegations in response to political developments or to participate in conferences. These arrangements provide channels for parliamentary dialogue rather than authority to negotiate or conclude international agreements on the EU’s behalf. (europarl.europa.eu)

The President represents Parliament internationally and undertakes official visits outside the EU. On 1 April 2022, President Roberta Metsola addressed Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv and met Ukrainian political leaders, expressing Parliament’s support for Ukraine’s European aspirations. (the-president.europarl.europa.eu) Parliament also debates international developments and adopts resolutions concerning conflicts, human rights and relations with non-EU countries. Article 36 of the Treaty on European Union requires the High Representative to consult it regularly on the principal aspects and basic choices of CFSP and keep it informed of developments. Such resolutions state parliamentary positions and can influence EU diplomacy, but do not themselves constitute binding CFSP decisions or replace decisions taken by the European Council and Council under the treaties. (europarl.europa.eu)

Seats, working languages, and institutional infrastructure

The Parliament’s workplaces are distributed by treaty rather than by its own administrative preference. Protocol No 6 to the EU treaties establishes Strasbourg, in France, as its seat, where twelve monthly plenary part-sessions, including the budget session, must take place. Additional plenary part-sessions are held in Brussels, where parliamentary committees also meet. The protocol assigns the General Secretariat and its departments to Luxembourg. These are distinct legal functions: Strasbourg is the official seat, Brussels accommodates committee work and additional plenary business, and Luxembourg is the treaty-designated location of the Secretariat, although staff also work at the other sites. (eur-lex.europa.eu)

The arrangement developed from earlier working practices. In 1952, the Council of Europe made its Strasbourg chamber available to the European Coal and Steel Community’s Common Assembly. Parliamentary work subsequently expanded in Brussels as the Commission and Council concentrated much of their activity there. Member-state governments settled the distribution of institutional seats at the Edinburgh European Council in December 1992; the arrangement was incorporated into the treaties through the Treaty of Amsterdam, signed in 1997. Changing it requires treaty amendment, agreement among all member-state governments, and national ratification; Parliament cannot relocate its seat by an internal vote. The requirements also constrain its calendar: in 1997, the Court of Justice annulled Parliament’s calendar decision insofar as it provided fewer than twelve ordinary Strasbourg part-sessions for 1996. (europarl.europa.eu)

Multilingualism governs participation across these workplaces. All 24 official languages of the European Union have equal status in Parliament, and members have the right to read and write parliamentary documents in the official language of their choice. The linguistic system expanded from Dutch, French, German and Italian in 1958 to 24 languages following successive enlargements and changes in language status, reaching its present number with Croatian in 2013. Each language can be rendered into 23 others, producing 552 possible directional combinations. This infrastructure enables members to conduct parliamentary business without having to adopt a single common debating language. (europarl.europa.eu)

Interpretation and translation perform different tasks. Interpreters render spoken contributions orally during meetings, whereas translators prepare written texts in other languages. Interpretation arrangements vary with the meeting and participants’ requirements under Parliament’s principle of “controlled full multilingualism”: members’ language rights are maintained while services are organised around actual needs. Committee and delegation meetings therefore do not necessarily require the same language provision as plenary sittings. The Directorate-General for Logistics and Interpretation for Conferences provides interpreting services, while the Directorate-General for Translation and Clear Language makes material relating to legislative, budgetary and scrutiny activities accessible in all 24 official languages. (europarl.europa.eu)

Language services also connect parliamentary proceedings with public access. Citizens may submit petitions or request information in any EU official language, and interpretation enables audiences to follow parliamentary debates through live web streaming in different languages. Multilingual documents provide a written route to parliamentary business alongside the spoken proceedings. These services distinguish access to the institution from physical attendance: citizens can engage with parliamentary work in an official language of their choice without travelling to Strasbourg, Brussels or Luxembourg. (europarl.europa.eu)

Citizen participation, transparency, and members’ conduct

Article 227 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union gives any EU citizen, and any natural or legal person residing or having a registered office in a member state, the right to petition Parliament individually or jointly. An admissible petition must concern an EU field of activity and affect the petitioner directly, a condition interpreted broadly. Subjects include environmental protection, consumer protection, free movement and recognition of professional qualifications. Petitions may be submitted by post or through the Petitions Web Portal, launched in 2014, in any official EU language. The Committee on Petitions (PETI) decides admissibility and informs petitioners of its decisions and reasons. This is a parliamentary channel for complaints and requests, not a judicial appeal: Parliament cannot deliver judgments or overturn decisions of national courts. (europarl.europa.eu)

For admissible submissions, PETI may request a preliminary investigation from the Commission, seek information from public authorities, refer issues to another parliamentary committee, or invite petitioners to present their concerns at a meeting. It may also organise hearings and fact-finding visits or propose a plenary resolution. Evidence of incorrect implementation of EU law may prompt Commission action, including infringement proceedings, but admissibility does not itself establish a legal violation or oblige Parliament to pursue a particular remedy. Summaries and associated documents are published on the portal following the admissibility decision; petitioners receive written information about subsequent committee decisions. (europarl.europa.eu)

Public scrutiny also operates through documentary access and published proceedings. Article 15 TFEU and Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 provide the framework for access to institutional documents; Parliament’s Public Register supplies an electronic entry point for locating them. The Legislative Observatory complements the register with procedure files, chronological stages, document links and summaries, allowing readers to trace a proposal through EU decision-making. The plenary website publishes agendas, adopted texts, minutes and voting results, including individual choices where roll-call votes are taken. Plenary debates are also streamed and recorded, providing access to proceedings as well as their documentary record. (europarl.europa.eu)

Members’ conduct is governed by a Code of Conduct that entered into force on 1 January 2012 and was substantially revised in 2023, with the revised framework taking effect on 1 November 2023. It requires members to act solely in the public interest, observe integrity and openness, and avoid agreements that compromise their freedom of voting. Members must disclose private interests and identify, resolve or declare conflicts of interest. The transparency framework also requires publication of scheduled meetings with covered interest representatives and representatives of non-EU public authorities. Assets and liabilities are declared at the beginning and end of each term, but these declarations are accessible to the relevant authorities rather than published as ordinary public-interest declarations. Gifts received in a member’s capacity as an MEP are generally prohibited, subject to exceptions for customary courtesy gifts worth less than €150 and gifts received while officially representing Parliament; official gifts worth more than €150 must be declared and handed over to the President. (europarl.europa.eu)

The eight-member Advisory Committee on the Conduct of Members provides confidential guidance, monitors compliance and examines alleged breaches, advising the President on possible action. Its members are appointed by the President with regard to experience and political and gender balance; its chair rotates every six months. The President, rather than the committee, takes disciplinary decisions under Parliament’s procedures, which provide for penalties and publication requirements. The committee’s 2024 report recorded 11 cases of possible breaches, compared with two in 2023, alongside 954 declarations of private interests and 21,030 published meetings with interest or third-country representatives. These figures distinguish compliance activity and allegations examined from established violations: referral to the committee is not itself a finding of misconduct. (europarl.europa.eu)

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