Sixth European Parliament
# Sixth European Parliament

The sixth European Parliament was the sixth five-year term of the elected European Parliament. It began on Tuesday 20 July 2004 in Strasbourg following the 2004 elections and ended after the 2009 elections.

## Major events

* 10–13 June 2004
   * Elections to the Sixth Parliament.
* 20 July 2004
   * First meeting (constitutive session) of the Sixth Parliament.
   * Giovanni Berlinguer presides as oldest member.
   * Josep Borrell is elected as President of the European Parliament.
* 22 July 2004
   * Parliament approves José Manuel Barroso as President of the European Commission.
* 27 September to 11 October 2004
   * Parliamentary hearings for the European Commissioners.
   * Parliament airs objections to Ingrida Udre, László Kovács, Neelie Kroes, Mariann Fischer-Boel and Rocco Buttiglione.
   * Buttiglione is replaced by Franco Frattini, Ingrida Udre replaced by Andris Piebalgs and László Kovács reshuffled.
* 18 November 2004
   * The Barroso Commission is approved by Parliament.
* 22 November 2004
   * Barroso Commission takes office.
* 12 December 2006
   * Parliament approves Meglena Kuneva and Leonard Orban as new European Commissioners for Romania and Bulgaria.
* 1 January 2007
   * Accession of Romania and Bulgaria, their observers in Parliament become full MEPs.
* 15 January 2007
   * Hans-Gert Pöttering is elected President of the European Parliament.
* 20 May 2007
   * Election of Bulgarian MEPs.
* 25 November 2007
   * Election of Romanian MEPs.
* 20 February 2008
   * Parliament approves the Lisbon Treaty.

## Activity

| | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Reports | 73 | 415 | 481 | 519 | 515 | 268 |
| Resolutions and positions | 80 | 440 | 483 | 494 | 514 | 215 |
| Parliamentary questions | 2525 | 6310 | 7032 | 7765 | 8266 | 3373 |
| Written declarations | 27 | 82 | 91 | 115 | 106 | 52 |

## Major resolutions and positions

| Resolution/position number | Procedure number | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| P6_TA(2006)0552 | COD/2003/0256 | Amended and approved Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006, the REACH regulation |
| P6_TA(2007)0032 | INI/2006/2200 | European Parliament resolution on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transportation and illegal detention of prisoners |
| P6_TA(2006)0490 | COD/2004/0001 | Amended and approved Directive 2006/123/EC, the Bolkestein directive |
| P6_TA(2007)0401 | COD/2004/0047 | Amended and approved Directive 2007/58/EC, the rail competition directive |
| P6_TA(2005)0275 | COD/2002/0047 | Rejected the proposed directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions |
| P6_TA(2007)0199 | COD/2006/0133 | Amended and approved Regulation (EC) No 717/2007, the mobile phone roaming regulation |
| P6_TA(2008)0342 | COD/2006/0130 | Amended and approved Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008, the air pricing clarity regulation |
| P6_TA(2008)0293 | COD/2005/0167 | Amended and approved Directive 2008/115/EC, the illegal immigration directive |
| P6_TA(2005)0132 | INI/2004/2172 | European Parliament resolution on the Common Foreign and Security Policy |

## Committees

### Summary

| Type | Number | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| Standing committee | 20 (+2 subcommittees) | |
| Temporary committee | 3 | See below for list |
| Committee of enquiry | 1 | See below for list |

### Temporary committees

| Code | Committee | Report |
| - | - | - |
| CLIM | Temporary Committee on Climate Change | A6-2008-0495 |
| TDIP | Temporary Committee on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners | A6-2007-0020 |
| FINP | Temporary Committee on policy challenges and budgetary means of the enlarged Union 2007–2013 | A6-2005-0153 |

### Committees of enquiry

| Code | Committee | Report | Sources |
| - | - | - | - |
| EQUI | Committee of Inquiry into the crisis of the Equitable Life Assurance Society | A6-2007-0203 | |

## Delegations

| Type | Number |
| - | - |
| Europe delegations | 10 |
| Non-Europe delegations | 24 |
| Ad-hoc delegations | 1 |

## Political groups

    See membership below for details of size

| Group name | Acronym |
| - | - |
| European People's Party–European Democrats | EPP-ED |
| Party of European Socialists | PES |
| Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe | ALDE |
| Greens/European Free Alliance | G/EFA |
| European United Left-Nordic Green Left | EUL-NGL |
| Independence/Democracy | IND/DEM |
| Union for a Europe of Nations | UEN |
| Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty | ITS |
| Non-Inscrits | NI |

## Leadership

### Presidents

| Term | President (or candidate) | Group | State | Votes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 20 July 2004– 14 January 2007 | Josep Borrell | PES | Spain | 388 |
| 20 July 2004– 14 January 2007 | Bronisław Geremek | ALDE | Poland | 208 |
| 20 July 2004– 14 January 2007 | Francis Wurtz | EUL/NGL | France | 51 |
| 15 January 2007– 14 July 2009 | Hans-Gert Pöttering | EPP-ED | Germany | 450 |
| 15 January 2007– 14 July 2009 | Monica Frassoni | G/EFA | Italy | 145 |
| 15 January 2007– 14 July 2009 | Francis Wurtz | EUL/NGL | France | 48 |
| 15 January 2007– 14 July 2009 | Jens-Peter Bonde | IND/DEM | Denmark | 46 |

### Vice-Presidents

| Group | 2004–2006 | 2007–2009 |
| - | - | - |
| EPP-ED | Alejo Vidal-Quadras Roca Antonios Trakatellis Edward McMillan-Scott Ingo Friedrich Mario Mauro Jacek Saryusz-Wolski Miroslav Ouzký | Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou Alejo Vidal-Quadras Edward McMillan-Scott Mario Mauro |
| PES | Dagmar Roth-Behrendt António Costa Pierre Moscovici | Miguel Angel Martínez Martínez Mechtild Rothe Pierre Moscovici Manuel António Dos Santos Marek Siwiec |
| ALDE | Luigi Cocilovo Janusz Onyszkiewicz | Luigi Cocilovo Diana Wallis |
| G/EFA | Gérard Onesta | Gérard Onesta |
| EUL-NGL | Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann | Luisa Morgantini |
| IND/DEM | n/a | n/a |
| UEN | n/a | Adam Bielan |
| ITS | n/a | n/a |

### Quaestors

| Group | 2004–2006 | 2007–2009 |
| - | - | - |
| EPP-ED | James Nicholson Godelieve Quisthoudt-Rowohl Astrid Lulling | James Nicholson Astrid Lulling Ingo Friedrich |
| PES | Genowefa Grabowska Mia De Vits | Mia De Vits Szabolcs Fazakas |
| ALDE | n/a | Jan Mulder |

### Chairs of the political groups

| Group | Chairs |
| - | - |
| EPP-ED | Hans-Gert Pöttering (until 2007), Joseph Daul (from 2007) |
| PES | Martin Schulz |
| ALDE | Graham Watson |
| G/EFA | Monica Frassoni Daniel Cohn-Bendit |
| EUL-NGL | Alonso José Puerta Francis Wurtz |
| IND/DEM | Jens-Peter Bonde (until 2008), Kathy Sinnott (2008), Hanne Dahl (from 2008) Nigel Farage (full term) |
| UEN | Brian Crowley (until 2009) Cristiana Muscardini |
| ITS | Bruno Gollnisch (2007) |

## Membership

    See List of members of the European Parliament 2004–2009 for the full list.

### Groups

| Group | Seats | Seats | Seats | Seats |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Group | 2004 | 2007 | 2007 | 2009 |
| EPP-ED | 268 | 277 | 288 | 288 |
| PES | 200 | 218 | 215 | 217 |
| ALDE | 88 | 106 | 101 | 104 |
| G/EFA | 42 | 42 | 43 | 43 |
| EUL-NGL | 41 | 40 | 41 | 41 |
| IND/DEM | 33 | 23 | 24 | 22 |
| UEN | 27 | 44 | 44 | 40 |
| ITS | n/a | 20 | n/a | n/a |
| NI | 33 | 14 | 29 | 30 |

### Apportionment

| State | Seats | State | Seats |
| - | - | - | - |
| Germany | 99 | France | 78 |
| United Kingdom | 78 | Italy | 78 |
| Spain | 54 | Poland | 54 |
| Romania | 35 | Netherlands | 27 |
| Greece | 24 | Portugal | 24 |
| Belgium | 24 | Czech Republic | 24 |
| Hungary | 24 | Sweden | 19 |
| Austria | 18 | Bulgaria | 18 |
| Denmark | 14 | Slovakia | 14 |
| Finland | 14 | Ireland | 13 |
| Lithuania | 13 | Latvia | 9 |
| Slovenia | 7 | Estonia | 6 |
| Cyprus | 6 | Luxembourg | 6 |
| Malta | 5 | Total | 732 / 785 |

## Secretariat

| Office | Post | Name |
| - | - | - |
| Office of the Secretary-General | Secretary-General of the European Parliament | Julian Priestley (to 2007) Harald Rømer (2007 to 2009) Klaus Welle (since 2009) |
| Legal Service | Jurisconsult of the European Parliament | Christian Pennera |
| Directorate-General for the Presidency | Director-General | David Harley |
| Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union | Director-General | Riccardo Ribera d'Alcala |
| Directorate-General for External Policies of the Union | Director-General | Dietmar Nickel |
| Directorate-General for Communication | Director-General | Francesca R. Ratti |
| Directorate-General for Personnel | Director-General | Barry Wilson |
| Directorate-General for Infrastructure and Logistics | Director-General | Constantin Stratigakis |
| Directorate-General for Translation | Director-General | Juana Lahousse-Juárez |
| Directorate-General for Interpretation and Conferences | Director-General | Olga Cosmidou |
| Directorate-General for Finance | Director-General | Roger Vanhaeren |
