It has been directly elected every five years by universal suffrage since 1979. Although the European Parliament has legislative power that such bodies as those above do not possess, it does not have legislative initiative like most national parliaments. While it is the "first institution" of the European Union (mentioned first in the treaties, having ceremonial precedence over all authority at European level), the Council has greater powers over legislation than the Parliament where codecision procedure (equal rights of amendment and rejection) does not apply. It has, however, had control over the EU budget since the 1970s and has a veto over the appointment of the European Commission.
The European Parliament has two meeting places, namely the Immeuble Louise Weiss in Strasbourg, France, which serves for plenary sessions and is the official seat and the Espace Léopold/Leopoldwijk complex in Brussels, Belgium, the smaller of the two, which serves for preparatory meetings and complementary, non-plenary sessions. The cost of having all MEPs and their staff moving several times a year from one place to another has been of concern to some. The Secretariat of the European Parliament, the Parliament's administrative body, is based in Luxembourg.[3]
The President of the European Parliament (its speaker) presides over a multi-party chamber, the two largest groups being the European People's Party-European Democrats (EPP-ED) and the Party of European Socialists (PES).
The Parliament, like the other institutions, was not designed in its current form when it first met on September 10, 1952. One of the oldest common institutions, it began as the "Common Assembly" of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). It was a consultative assembly of 78 parliamentarians drawn from the national parliaments of member states, having no legislative powers. This change since its foundation was highlighted by Professor David Farrell of the University of Manchester:[1]
For much of its life, the European Parliament could have been justly labelled a 'multi-lingual talking shop'. But this is no longer the case: the EP is now one of the most powerful legislatures in the world both in terms of its legislative and executive oversight powers.
Its development since its foundation is testament to the evolution of the Union's structures without one clear "master plan." Some such as Tom Reid of the Washington Post said of the Union, "nobody would have deliberately designed a government as complex and as redundant as the EU."[4] Even the Parliament's two seats, which have switched several times, is a result of various agreements or lack of agreements.
The body was not mentioned in the original Schuman Declaration, it was instead proposed by Jean Monnet on the second day of negotiations as an institution which would counterbalance and monitor the executive while providing democratic legitimacy. The wording of the ECSC Treaty demonstrated the leaders desire for more than a normal consultative assembly by using the term "representatives of the people" and allowed for direct election. Its early importance was highlighted when the Assembly was given the task of drawing up the draft treaty to establish a European Political Community. In this the "Ad Hoc" Assembly was established with extra members but after the failure of the proposed European Defence Community their project was dropped.
Despite this the European Economic Community and Euratom were established in 1958 by the Treaties of Rome. The Common Assembly was shared by all three communities (which had separate executives) and it renamed itself the "European Parliamentary Assembly." The three communities merged in 1967 and the body was renamed to the current "European Parliament" in 1962. In 1970 the Parliament was granted power over areas the Community's budget, which were expanded to the whole budget in 1975.
Under the Rome Treaties, the Parliament should have become elected. However the Council did not put in place the necessary agreements and only did so after the Parliament threatened to take the Council to the European Court of Justice. However, the Council did not agree on the envisaged uniform voting system.[5]
In 1979, its members were directly elected for the first time. This set it apart from similar institutions such as those of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe or Pan-African Parliament which are appointed. After that first election, the parliament held its first session on July 11, 1979, electing Simone Veil MEP as its President. Veil was also the first female President of the Parliament since it was formed as the Common Assembly.
The Parliament quickly made use of its legitimacy. For example in 1984, inspired by its previous work on the Political Community, it drafted the "draft Treaty establishing the European Union" (also known as the 'Spinelli Plan' after its rapporteur Altiero Spinelli MEP). Although it was not adopted, many ideas were later implemented by other treaties. Further more the Parliament began holding votes on proposed Commission Presidents from the 1980s, before it was given any formal right to veto.[6] Since the election the membership of the European Parliament has simply expanded whenever new nations have joined (the membership was also adjusted upwards in 1994 after German reunification). Following this the Treaty of Nice imposed a cap on the number of members to be elected–732.
Like the other institutions, the Parliament's seat was not yet fixed. The provisional arrangements placed Parliament in Strasbourg, while the Commission and Council had their seats in Brussels. In 1985 the Parliament, wishing to be closer to these institutions, built a second chamber in Brussels and moved some of its work there despite protests from some states. A final agreement was eventually reached by the European Council in 1992. It stated the Parliament would remain in Strasbourg but must also hold part sessions in Brussels. This two seat arrangement was contested by Parliament but was later enshrined in the Treaty of Amsterdam. To this day the institution's locations are a source of contention.
The Parliament had been gaining more powers from successive treaties, namely through the extension of codecision procedure, and in 1999, the Parliament forced the resignation of the Santer Commission.[7] The Parliament had refused to approve the Community budget over allegations of fraud and miss-management in the Commission. The two main parties took on a government-opposition dynamic for the first time during the crisis which ended in the Commission resigning on mass, the first of any forced resignation, in the face of an impending censure from the Parliament.[8]
In 2004, following the largest trans-national election in history, despite the European Council choosing a President from the largest political group (the EPP), the Parliament again exerted pressure on the Commission. During the Parliament's hearings of the proposed Commissioners MEPs raised doubts about some nominees with the Civil liberties committee, rejecting Rocco Buttiglione from the post of Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security over his views on homosexuality. That was the first time the Parliament had ever voted against an incoming Commissioner and despite Barroso's insistence upon Buttiglione the Parliament forced Buttiglione to be withdrawn. A number of other Commissioners also had to be withdrawn or reassigned before Parliament allowed the Barroso Commission to take office.
In addition to the extension of codecision, the Parliament's democratic mandate has given it greater control over legislation against the other institutions. In voting on the Bolkestein directive in 2006, the Parliament voted by a large majority for over 400 amendments that changed the fundamental principle of the law. The Financial Times described it in the following terms:[9]
The European parliament has suddenly come into its own. It marks another shift in power between the three central EU institutions. Last week's vote suggests that the directly elected MEPs, in spite of their multitude of ideological, national and historical allegiances, have started to coalesce as a serious and effective EU institution, just as enlargement has greatly complicated negotiations inside both the Council and Commission.
In 2007, for the first time, Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini included Parliament in talks on the second Schengen Information System even though MEPs only needed to be consulted on parts of the package. After that experiment, Frattini indicated he would like to include Parliament in all justice and criminal matters, informally pre-empting the new powers they would gain in 2009 under the Lisbon Treaty.[10]
The Parliament and Council are essentially two chambers in the bicameral legislative branch of the European Union, with legislative power officially distributed equally between both chambers. However there are some differences from national legislatures; for example, neither the Parliament nor Council have the power of legislative initiative. In Community matters, this is a power uniquely reserved for the European Commission (the executive). While Parliament can amend and reject legislation, and make a proposal for legislation, it needs the Commission to draft a bill before anything can become law.[11]
The Parliament also has indirect influence, through non-binding resolutions and committee hearings, as a "pan-European soapbox" with the ear of thousands of Brussels-based journalists. There is also an indirect effect on foreign policy; the Parliament must approve all development grants, including those overseas. For example, the support for post-war Iraq reconstruction, or incentives for the cessation of Iranian nuclear development, must be supported by the Parliament. Parliamentary support was also required for the transatlantic passenger data-sharing deal with the United States.[12]
With each new treaty, the powers of the Parliament have expanded. Its powers have been primarily defined through the Union's legislative procedures. The method which has slowly become the dominant procedure (about three-quarters of policy areas) is the Codecision procedure, where powers are essentially equal between Parliament and Council. Codecision provides an equal footing between the two bodies. Under the procedure, the Commission presents a proposal to Parliament and the Council. They then send amendments to the Council, which can either adopt the text with those amendments or send back a "common position." That proposal may either be approved or further amendments may be tabled by the Parliament. If the Council does not approve these, then a "Conciliation Committee" is formed. The Committee is composed of the Council members plus an equal number of MEPs who seek to agree a common position. Once a position is agreed, it has to be approved by Parliament, again by an absolute majority.[13] In addition to codecision, the Parliament's mandate as the only directly democratic institution has given it leeway to have greater control over legislation than other institutions, for example over its changes to the Bolkestein directive in 2006.[9]
Other procedures include: Cooperation, meaning the Council can overrule the Parliament if it is unanimous; Consultation, which requires just consultation of the Parliament; and Assent procedure, where the Parliament has a veto. The Commission and Council, or just Commission, can also act completely independently of the Parliament, but the use of these procedures are very limited. The procedure also depends upon which type of institutional act is being used. The strongest act is a regulation, an act or law which is directly applicable in its entirety. Then there are directives which bind members to certain goals which they must achieve. They do this through their own laws and hence have room to maneuver in deciding upon them. A decision is an instrument which is focused at a particular person/group and is directly applicable. Institutions may also issue recommendations and opinions which are merely non-binding, declarations. There is a further document which does not follow normal procedures; this is a "written declaration" which is similar to an early day motion used in the Westminster system. It is a document proposed by up to five MEPs on a matter within the EU's activities used to launch a debate on that subject. Having been posted outside the entrance to the hemicycle, members can sign the declaration and if a majority do so it is forwarded to the President and announced to the plenary before being forwarded to the other institutions and formally noted in the minutes.
The legislative branch officially holds the Union's budgetary authority, powers gained through the Budgetary Treaties of the 1970s. The EU's budget is divided into compulsory and non-compulsory spending. Compulsory spending is that resulting from EU treaties (including agriculture) and international agreements; the rest is non-compulsory. While the Council has the last word on compulsory spending, the Parliament has the last word on non-compulsory spending.
The institutions draw up budget estimates and the Commission consolidates them into a draft budget. Both the Council and the Parliament can amend the budget with the Parliament adopting or rejecting the budget at its second reading. The signature of the Parliament's president is required before the budget becomes law.
The Parliament is also responsible for discharging the implementation of previous budgets, on the basis of the annual report of the European Court of Auditors. It has refused to approve the budget only twice, in 1984 and in 1998. On the latter occasion it led to the resignation of the Santer Commission.[14][5]
The President of the European Commission is proposed by the Council (in practice by the European Council) and that proposal has to be approved by the Parliament (by a simple majority), essentially giving the Parliament a veto but not propose the head of the executive. Following the approval of the Commission President, the members of the Commission are proposed by the President in accord with the member-states. Each Commissioner comes before a relevant parliamentary committee hearing covering the proposed portfolio. They are then, as a body, approved or rejected by the Parliament.[6] In practice, the Parliament has never voted against a President or his Commission, but it did seem likely when the Barroso Commission was put forward. The resulting pressure forced the proposal to be withdrawn and changed to be more acceptable to parliament.[15] That pressure was seen as an important sign by some of the evolving nature of the Parliament and its ability to make the Commission accountable, rather than being a rubber stamp for candidates. Furthermore, in voting on the Commission, MEPs also voted along party lines, rather than national lines, despite frequent pressure from national governments on their MEPs. This cohesion and willingness to use the Parliament's power ensured greater attention from national leaders, other institutions and the public, who previously gave the lowest ever turnout for the Parliament's elections.[16]
The Parliament also has the power to censure the Commission if they have a two-thirds majority which will force the resignation of the entire Commission from office. As with approval, this power has never been used but it was threatened to the Santer Commission, who subsequently resigned of their own accord. There are a few other controls, such as: the requirement of Commission to submit reports to the Parliament and answer questions from MEPs, the requirement of the President-in-office of the European Council to present their program at the start of their presidency, the right of MEPs to make proposals for legislation and policy to the Commission and Council, and the right to question members of those institutions (e.g. "Commission Question Time" every Tuesday).[6]
The Parliament also has other powers of general supervision, mainly granted by the Maastricht Treaty.[17] The Parliament has the power to set up a Committee of Inquiry, for example over mad cow disease or CIA detention flights—the former led to the creation of the European veterinary agency. The Parliament can call other institutions to answer questions and if necessary to take them to court if they break EU law or treaties. Furthermore it has powers over the appointment of the members of the Court of Auditors[18] and the president and executive board of the European Central Bank. The ECB president is also obliged to present an annual report to the parliament.
The European Ombudsman is elected by the Parliament, who deals with public complaints against all institutions. Petitions can also be brought forward by any EU citizen on a matter within the EU's sphere of activities. The Committee on Petitions hears cases, some 1,500 each year, sometimes presented by the citizen themselves at the Parliament. While the Parliament attempts to resolve the issue as a mediator they do resort to legal proceedings if it is necessary to resolve the citizens dispute.[19]
The parliamentarians are known in English as Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). They are elected every five years by universal adult suffrage and sit according to political allegiance, about a third are women. Prior to 1979 they were appointed by their national parliaments. The number now stands at 751, with each member state having at least six and at most 96 MEPs.
As states are allocated seats according to population, the total number of MEPs should be 732; however, after January 1, 2007 there were 785 MEPs. This was due to the accession of Romania and Bulgaria, as the allocation of seats does not take into account members that join mid-term. Under the existing rules the number of members would have been reduced again to 732 following the 2009 election[20] however the rules were due to be changed under the Lisbon Treaty. Instead, there would be 751 members, however the President would no longer be counted as a voting member once in office so in practice there would be 750 members.[21] In addition, the maximum number of seats allocated to a state would be lowered to ninety-six, from the current ninety-nine, and the minimum number of seats would be raised to six, from the current five. These seats are distributed according to "degressive proportionality," meaning that the larger the state, the more citizens that are represented per MEP.
Before 2009, members received the same salary as members of their national parliament. However, from 2009 a new members statute came into force, after years of attempts, which gave all members an equal monthly pay, of 8,020.53 euro each in 2014, subject to a European Union tax and which can also be taxed nationally. MEPs are entitled to a pension, paid by Parliament, from the age of 63. Members are also entitled to allowances for office costs and subsistence, and traveling expenses, based on actual cost In addition to their pay, members are granted a number of privileges and immunities. To ensure their free movement to and from the Parliament they are accorded by their own states the facilities accorded to senior officials traveling abroad, and by other state governments the facilities of visiting foreign representatives. When in their own state they have all the immunities accorded to national parliamentarians, and in other states they have immunity from detention and legal proceedings. However immunity cannot be claimed when a member is found committing a criminal offense. The Parliament also has the right to strip a member of their immunity.[22]
MEPs in Parliament are organized into seven different parliamentary groups, including fifteen non-attached members known as non-inscrits. The two largest groups are the European People's Party-European Democrats (EPP-ED) and the Party of European Socialists (PES). These two groups have dominated the Parliament for much of its life, continuously holding between 50 and 70 percent of the seats together. No single group has ever held a majority in Parliament.[23]
Groups are often based around a single European political party such as the socialist group. However they can include more than one European party as well as national parties and independents, like the liberal group. For a group to be recognized, it needs 20 MEPs from six different countries. Once recognized groups receive financial subsidies from the parliament and guaranteed seats on Committees, creating an incentive for the formation of groups. However some controversy occurred with the establishment of the Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty (ITS) due to its ideology; the members of the group are far-right, so there were concerns about public funds going towards such a group. There were attempts to change the rules to block the formation of ITS, however that never came to fruition. They were, however, blocked from gaining leading positions on committees–a right that is meant to be afforded to all parties.[24] When this group engaged in infighting, causing the withdrawal of some members, its size fell below the recognizable limit causing its collapse.[25]
Given that the Parliament does not form the government in the traditional sense of a Parliamentary system, its politics have developed along more consensual lines rather than majority rule of competing parties and coalitions. For much of its life it has been dominated by a grand coalition of the People's Party and Socialist Party. The two major parties tend to co-operate to find a compromise between their two groups leading to proposals endorsed by huge majorities. However, there have been some occasions where real party politics have emerged, like the resignation of the Santer Commission;[8]
When the initial allegations against the Commission emerged, they were directed primarily against Édith Cresson and Manuel Marín, both socialist members. When the parliament was considering refusing to discharge the Community budget, President Jacques Santer stated that a "no vote" would be tantamount to a vote of no confidence. PES supported the Commission and saw the issue as an attempt by the EPP to discredit their party ahead of the 1999 elections. PES leader, Pauline Green MEP, attempted a vote of confidence and the EPP put forward counter motions. During this period the two parties took on similar roles to a government-opposition dynamic, with PES supporting the executive and EPP renouncing its previous coalition support and voting it down.[8] Politicization such as this has been increasing, in 2007 Simon Hix of the London School of Economics noted that;[1]
Our work also shows that politics in the European Parliament is becoming increasingly based around party and ideology. Voting is increasingly split along left-right lines, and the cohesion of the party groups has risen dramatically, particularly in the fourth and fifth parliaments. So there are likely to be policy implications here too.
During the fifth term, 1999 to 2004, there was a break in the grand coalition resulting in in a center-right coalition between the Liberal and People's parties.[26] This was reflected in the Presidency of the Parliament with the terms being shared between the EPP and the ELDR, rather than the EPP and PES.[27]
Elections have taken place, directly in every member-state, every five years since 1979. Occasionally, when a member joins mid-term, a by-election will be held to elect their members. This has happened four times, the last time was when Romania and Bulgaria joined in 2007 (see below). Elections take place across several days according to local custom and, aside from having to be proportional, the electoral system is chosen by the member-state. This includes allocation of sub-national constituencies; while most members have a national list, some, like the UK and France, divide their allocation between regions. Seats are allocated to member-states according to their population, with no state having more than 99, but no fewer than 5, in order to maintain proportionality.
The proportion of MEPs elected in 2004 who were female was 30.2 percent; in 1979 it was just 16.5 percent. There were a number of proposals to "dress up" the 2009 elections to attract greater public attention to them. These included most notably the idea of linking them more closely to the Commission presidency. This would be by having political parties running with candidates for the job, so the largest party would essentially be forming the government, as in the parliamentary system of government. It is hoped such changes would add legitimacy and counter the falling turnout[28][29] which had dropped consistently every year since the first election; from 1999 it has been below 50 percent.
Each year the activities of the Parliament cycle between committee weeks where reports are discussed in committees and interparliamentary delegations meet, political group weeks for members to discuss work within their political groups and session weeks where members spend three days in Strasbourg for part-sessions. In addition six two-day part-sessions are organized in Brussels throughout the year. Four weeks are allocated as constituency week to allow members to do exclusively constituency work. Finally there are no meetings planned during the summer weeks. The Parliament has the power to meet without being convened by another authority. Its meetings are partly controlled by the treaties but are otherwise up to Parliament according to its own "Rules of Procedure" (the regulations governing the parliament).[30]
During sessions, members may speak after being called on by the President, with a time limit of one minute. Members of the Council or Commission may also attend and speak in debates.[31][32] Voting is conducted primarily by a show of hands, that may be checked on request by electronic voting.[33] Votes of MEPs are not recorded in either case however, that only occurs when there is a roll-call ballot. Each MEP in turn is called by name, in alphabetical order, to state their support or opposition. This is a historical system used when the Parliament was much smaller in membership and is rarely used now. Votes can also be a completely secret ballot (for example when the President is elected). All recorded votes, along with minutes and legislation, are recorded in the Official Journal of the European Union and can be accessed online.
Members are arranged in a hemicycle according to their political groups who are ordered mainly by left to right, but some smaller groups are placed towards the outer ring of the Parliament. All desks are equipped with microphones, headphones for translation and electronic voting equipment. The leaders of the groups sit on the front benches at the center, and in the very center is a podium for guest speakers. The remaining half of the circular chamber is primarily composed of the raised area where the President and staff sit. Further benches are provided between the sides of this area and the MEPs, these are taken up by the Council on the far left and the Commission on the far right. Both the Brussels and Strasbourg hemicycle roughly follow this layout with only minor differences. With access to the chamber limited, entrance is controlled by ushers who aid MEPs in the chamber (for example in delivering documents). The ushers also act as a form of police in enforcing the President, for example in ejecting an MEP who is disrupting the session (although this is rare). The first head of protocol in the Parliament was French, so many of the duties in the Parliament are based on the French model first developed following the French Revolution. The 180 ushers are highly visible in the Parliament, dressed in black tails and wearing a silver chain, and are recruited in the same manner as the European civil service. The President is allocated a personal usher.
The President is essentially the speaker of the Parliament. The President presides over the plenary when it is in session and the President's signature is required for all acts adopted by co-decision, including the EU budget. The President is also responsible for representing the Parliament externally, including in legal matters, and for the application of the rules of procedure. He or she is elected for two-and-a-half-year terms, meaning two elections per parliamentary term.[34]
In most countries, the protocol of the head of state comes before all others, however in the EU the Parliament is listed as the first institution, and hence the protocol of its President comes before any other European, or national, protocol. The gifts given to numerous visiting dignitaries depends upon the President. President Josep Borrell MEP of Spain gave his counterparts a crystal cup created by an artist from Barcelona which had engraved upon it parts of the Charter of Fundamental Rights among other things.
A number of notable figures have been President of the Parliament and its predecessors. The first President was Paul-Henri Spaak MEP, one of the founding fathers of the Union. Other founding fathers include Alcide De Gasperi MEP and Robert Schuman MEP. The two female Presidents were Simone Veil MEP in 1979 (first President of the elected Parliament) and Nicole Fontaine MEP in 1999, both Frenchwomen.
During the election of a President, the plenary is presided over by the oldest member of the Parliament. In 2004 and 2007 this was Giovanni Berlinguer MEP. While the oldest member is in the chair, they hold all the powers of the President, but the only business that may be addressed is the election of the President.[35]
Below the President, there are 14 Vice-Presidents who chair debates when the President is not in the chamber. There are a number of other bodies and posts responsible for the running of parliament besides these speakers. The two main bodies are the Bureau, which is responsible for budgetary and administration issues, and the Conference of Presidents which is a governing body composed of the presidents of each of the parliament's political groups. Looking after the financial and administrative interests of members are six Quaestors.
The Parliament has 20 Standing Committees consisting of 28 to 86 MEPs each (reflecting the political makeup of the whole Parliament) including a chair, a bureau and secretariat. They meet twice a month in public to draw up, amend to adopt legislative proposals and reports to be presented to the plenary.[36] The rapporteurs for a committee are supposed to present the view of the committee, although notably this has not always been the case. In the events leading to the resignation of the Santer Commission, the rapporteur went against the Budgetary Control Committee's narrow vote to discharge the budget, and urged the Parliament to reject it.[8]
Committees can also set up sub-committees (e.g. the Subcommittee on Human Rights) and temporary committees to deal with a specific topic (e.g. on extraordinary rendition). The chairs of the Committees coordinate their work through the "Conference of Committee Chairmen".[36] When co-decision was introduced it increased the Parliaments powers in a number of areas, but most notably those covered by the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. Previously this committee was considered by MEPs as a "Cinderella committee," however as it gained a new importance, it became more professional and rigorous attracting more and more attention to its work.[5]
Delegations of the Parliament are formed in a similar manner and are responsible for relations with Parliaments outside the EU. There are 34 delegations made up of around 15 MEPs, chairpersons of the delegations also cooperate in a conference like the committee chairs do. They include "Interparliamentary delegations" (maintain relations with Parliament outside the EU), "joint parliamentary committees" (maintaining relations with parliaments of states which are candidates or associates of the EU), the delegation to the ACP EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly and the delegation to the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly.[36] MEPs also participate in other international activities such as the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly, the Transatlantic Legislators' Dialogue and through election observation in third countries.[37]
Speakers in the European Parliament are entitled to speak in any of the EU's 23 official languages, ranging from English and French to Maltese and Irish. Simultaneous interpreting is offered in all plenary sessions, and all final texts of legislation are translated. Citizens may also address the Parliament in Basque, Catalan/Valencian and Galician.
Usually a language is translated from a foreign tongue into a translator's native tongue. Due to the large number of languages, including minor ones, since 1995 translation is sometimes done the opposite way, out of a translator's native tongue (the "retour" system). In addition, a speech in a minor language may be translated via a third language for lack of interpreters ("relay" interpreting)–for example, when translating Estonian into Maltese.
Interpreters need to be proficient in two other Union languages besides their native language. Due to the complexity of the issues, translation is not word for word. Instead, interpreters have to convey the political meaning of a speech, regardless of their own views. This requires detailed understanding of the politics and terms of the Parliament, involving a great deal of preparation beforehand (e.g. reading the documents in question).
While some see speaking their native language as an important part of their identity, and can speak more fluently in debates, the translation and the cost of it has been criticized by some. A 2006 report by Alexander Stubb MEP highlighted that by only using English, French and German costs could be reduced from €118,000 per day (for 21 languages then—Romanian and Bulgarian having not yet been included) to €8,900 per day.[38] Although many see the ideal single language as English due to its widespread usage, there is a campaign to make French the single tongue for all legal texts, due to its more precise legal language, overcoming ambiguity between translations of legislation.
The Parliament is based in three different cities with numerous buildings. A protocol attached to the Treaty of Amsterdam requires that 12 plenary sessions be held in Strasbourg (none in August but two in September), which is the Parliament's official seat, while extra part sessions as well as committee meetings are held in Brussels. Luxembourg hosts the Secretariat of the European Parliament.[3]
The Strasbourg seat is seen as a symbol of reconciliation between France and Germany (Strasbourg having been fought over by the two countries in the past), but questions over the cost have been raised. While Strasbourg is the official seat, and sits alongside the Council of Europe (with which the "mutual cooperation" is continuously "fostered"[39]), Brussels is home to nearly all other major EU institutions.
There is a strong movement to establish Brussels as the sole seat. This is due to the fact that the other political institutions (the Commission, Council and European Council) are located there, and hence Brussels is treated as the 'capital' of the EU. This movement has received strong backing through numerous figures, including the Commission First-Vice President who stated that "something that was once a very positive symbol of the EU reuniting France and Germany has now become a negative symbol–of wasting money, bureaucracy and the insanity of the Brussels institutions."[40] The Green party has also noted the environmental cost in a study led by Jean Lambert MEP and Caroline Lucas MEP; in addition to the extra 200 million euro spent on the extra seat, there are over 20,268 tons of additional carbon dioxide, undermining any environmental stance of the institution and the Union. In 2006 there were allegations of irregularity in the charges made by the city of Strasbourg on buildings the Parliament rented which harmed the city's image further.[41] However the Parliament, the only assembly in the world with more than one seat, does not have the right to choose its own meeting place. This is left up to the Council with the possibility of a change being vetoed by one state.
The Lisbon Treaty largely retains the reforms outlined in the rejected Constitutional Treaty.[42] Overall, powers would be increased. For example, nearly all policy areas would fall under co-decision procedure (now called the "ordinary legislative procedure") meaning that the Parliament would have practically equal powers to those of the Council (now officially the Council of Ministers). In the remaining minority of areas in which the powers remain unequal, the Council must consult the Parliament and/or seek its approval on the legislation. The Parliament also gains greater powers over the entirety of the EU budget, not just non-compulsory expenditure, through the ordinary legislative procedure. Composition of the Parliament will change little, however the minimum number of seats are to be increased from five to six, and the maximum number reduced from 99 to 96. There will also be basic rules on the distribution of seats in the Parliament, rather than negotiated at each enlargement. Decisions about the composition of the Parliament will remain the work of Council but made based on a proposal from the Parliament itself.
In addition to the institutional reforms brought by the Lisbon Treaty, in 2007 the President set up the Special working group on parliamentary reform to improve the efficiency and image of the Parliament. Some ideas include livening up the plenary sessions and a State of the Union debate. One of the group's key reform ideas, extra debates on topical issues, was rejected by MEPs[43] causing liberal leader Graham Watson MEP to withdrew from reform group.[44] However MEPs did back a proposals for greater use of the European symbols, following their rejection in the Lisbon Treaty. It was suggested the Parliament take the avant-garde in using the symbols as it had done in adopting the flag in 1983, which was three years before the Communities as a whole.[45] An interim report was presented in September 2007 which proposed cutting down time allocated for guest speakers and non-legislative documents. In 2006, 92 "own initiative" reports (commenting rather than legislating) were tables and 22 percent of debating time was spent debating such reports, while only 18 percent was spent on legislative bills. [44]
↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Professor Farrell: "The EP is now one of the most powerful legislatures in the world" European Parliament, June 18, 2007. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
↑ 3.0 3.1 Consolidated versions of the treaty on European Union and of the treaty establishing the European Community Eur-lex. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Catherine Hoskyns and Michael Newman, Democratizing the European Union: Issues for the twenty-first Century (Perspectives on Democratization) (Manchester University Press, 2000, ISBN 978-0719056666).
↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Nils F. Ringer, The Santer Commission Resignation Crisis University of Pittsburgh, 2003. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
↑ Mark Beunderman, Frattini seeks to apply new EU treaty rules before 2009 EU Observer, November 9, 2007. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
↑ Budgetary control: 1996 discharge raises issue of confidence in the Commission European Parliament. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
↑ Graham Bowley, Buttiglione affair highlights evolving role of Parliament : Questions arise on democracy at the EU |The New York Times, October 18, 2004. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
↑ Alasdair Murray, Three cheers for EU democracy Centre for European Reform, December 1, 2004. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
↑ Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament. Rule 101: Appointment of the Members of the Court of Auditors European Parliament. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
↑ Mark Rickards, MEPs get taste of people power BBC News, November 3, 2007. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
↑ Renata Goldirova, EU agrees new 'Lisbon Treaty' EU Observer, October 19, 2007. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
↑ 7. Protocol on the privileges and immunities of the European Union EUR-Lex. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
↑ Honor Mahony, MEPs welcome fall of far-right group EU Observer, November 14, 2007. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
↑ Helena Spongenberg, EU wants to dress up 2009 elections on TV EU Observer, February 26, 2007. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
↑ Honor Mahony, European politics to get more political EU Observer, June 27, 2007. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
↑ Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament. Rule 127: Convening of Parliament European Parliament. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
↑ Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament. Rule 141: Calling speakers and content of speeches European Parliament. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
↑ Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament. Rule 142: Allocation of speaking time European Parliament. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
↑ Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament. Rule 164: Disputes on voting European Parliament. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
↑ Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament. Rule 11: Oldest member European Parliament. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
↑ Christa Case, In European Parliament, debate—in 21 languages—can be pricey Christian Science Monitor, September 12, 2006. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
↑ The Council of Europe and the European Union sign an agreement to foster mutual cooperation Council of Europe, May 23, 2007. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
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↑ Brussels European Council 21/22 June 2007: Presidency Conclusions Council of the European Union. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
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Attwool, Elspeth. To the Power of Ten: UK Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament (Centre for Reform Papers). Centre for European Reform, 2000. ISBN 978-1902622170
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A wetland is a transitional environment between permanently aquatic and terrestrial environments that shares characteristics of both environments and where water, which covers the soil or is near the surface for substantial parts of the year, is the key factor in determining the nature of the ecosystem and soil. Although wetlands have aspects similar to both wet and and dry environments, they cannot be classified unambiguously as either aquatic or terrestrial (Barbier et al. 1997). Wetland do not have to be wet all the time, but generally are at least periodically covered by or saturated with water. Among types of wetlands are swamps, marshes, and bogs (defined below). They are found on every continent except Antarctica and from the tundra to the tropics (EPA 2006a).
The great variety of wetland types and the difficulty in defining their boundaries makes establishment of a precise definition difficult and controversial (Barbier et al. 1997). As Barbier et al. (1997) note: "How often and for how long does land have to be flooded before it is considered a wetland? The problems are compounded by the fact that many wetlands evolve over time, starting as open water, but infilling with sediment and vegetation eventually to become dry land." Nonetheless, the importance of establishing a working definition has led various intergovenmental and governmental bodies and academicians to establish definitions. Some of these are reproduced in the definitions of wetlands below.
Wetlands provide innumerable economic, ecological, cultural, recreational, and aesthetic values. The rich biodiversity of wetlands has led to their being described as "biological supermarkets" and "nurseries of life"; their chemical and hydrological functions have led to their characterization as "the kidneys of the landscape" (Barbier et al. 1997; Mitsch and Gosselink 1993). They offer goods such as fish, timber, and peat; supply water; provide flood control; are important for groundwater recharge and discharge, water purification, and nutrient retention; are habitat to a great amount of flora and fauna; and add to the human wonder of nature.
Despite these many values, the historical view of wetlands was that they were "wastelands." Such a perspective found value in draining, diking, and otherwise modifying them in order that the lands serve intensive agricultural, residential, or industrial uses. Some wetlands were lost via mining, waste disposal, pollution, or redirecting the water for more valued purposes. It is estimated that 50 percent of the world's original wetlands have been lost, and 54 percent (87 million hectares) of original wetlands in the United States (Barbier et al. 1997). France, Germany, Italy, and Spain have reported losses from 57-66 percent in the twentieth century (Barbier et al. 1997).
The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, which has been adopted by over 150 nations since being placed into placed into force on December 21, 1975, utilizes the following broad definition:
Article 2.1. "For the purpose of this Convention, wetlands are areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water, the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres." (Article 1.1)
Article 2.1 of this Convention further notes that areas designated wetlands "may incorporate riparian and coastal zones adjacent to the wetlands, and islands or bodies of marine water deeper than six metres at low tide lying within the wetlands."
In the United States, for regulatory purposes related to the Clean Water Act, wetlands are defined by the Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Army Corps of Engineers as (EPA 2006b):
"those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal conditions do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions .
On the other hand, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service defines wetlands as follows (Cowardin et al. 1979):
"Wetlands are lands transitional between terrestrial and aquatic systems where the water table is usually at or near the surface or the land is covered by shallow water. For purposes of this classification wetlands must have one or more of the following three attributes: (1) at least periodically, the land supports predominantly hydrophytes; (2) the substrate is predominantly undrained hydric soil; and (3) the substrate is nonsoil and is saturated with water or covered by shallow water at some time during the growing season of the year."
Mitsch and Gosselink (1986) recognize wetland as an environment "at the interface between truly terrestrial ecosystems and aquatic systems making them inherently different from each other yet highly dependent on both."
Wetlands are found under a wide range of hydrological conditions, but at least some of the time water saturates the soil. The result is a hydric soil, one characterized by an absence of free oxygen some or all of the time, and therefore called a "reducing environment." Plants (called hydrophytes or just wetland plants) specifically adapted to the reducing conditions presented by such soils can survive in wetlands, whereas species intolerant of the absence of soil oxygen (called "upland" plants) cannot survive. Adaptations to low soil oxygen characterize many wetland species.
Intertidal wetlands are found in coastal areas where air temperature, wave action, salinity levels, and sediment movements are moderated by the locational features of the estuarine environment and ecosystem. Wetlands are a vital part of the ecosystem that provide clean drinking water for millions.
There are many types of vegetation in wetlands. Marshes are dominated by soft-stemmed vegetation, while swamps in the United States are dominated by woody plants (EPA 2004). White cedar, tamarack, and white pine are examples of trees found in swamps in the United States. Fens, freshwater peat-forming wetlands, are covered mostly by grasses, sedges, reeds, and wildflowers, while bogs, characterized by spongy peat deposits, have evergreen trees and shrubs and a floor covered by sphagnum moss (EPA 2004). Peatland can be dominated by red maple, silver maple, and elm trees. Some types of trees in peatland can exhibit lower trunks and roots that have adapted to the wet surroundings by forming buttresses. These are strange raised roots that resemble knees. Below the canopy, there are often limited amounts of shrubs such as speckled alder, winterberry, and sweet gale.
Plants such as cattails, bulrushes, sedges, arrowhead, water lilies, blue flag, and floaters like common duckweed may be found in various wetlands. Pondweed is also another type of plant that grows in wetlands, but it is not easily seen.
A bog or muskeg is acidic peat land (peat bog). It is a freshwater wetland, often formed in old glacial lakes and characterized by spongy peat deposits (EPA 2004).
A moor was originally the same as a bog but has come to be associated with this soil type on hill-tops.
A fen is a freshwater, peat-forming wetland with chemically basic (which roughly means alkaline) ground water. This means that it contains a moderate or high proportion of hydroxyl ions (pH value greater than 7).
A carr is a fen that has developed to the point where it supports trees. It is a European term, mainly applied in the north of the United Kingdom.
A fresh-water marsh's main feature is its openness, with only low-growing or "emergent" plants. It may feature grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, and other herbaceous plants (possibly with low-growing woody plants) in a context of shallow water. It is an open form of fen.
A coastal salt marsh may be associated with estuaries and along waterways between coastal barrier islands and the inner coast. The plants may extend from reed in mildly brackish water to salicornia on otherwise bare marine mud. It may be converted to human use as pasture (salting) or for salt production (saltern).
A swamp is wetland with more open water surface and deeper water than a marsh. In North America, it is used for wetlands dominated by trees and woody bushes rather than grasses and low herbs, but this distinction does not necessarily apply in other areas, for instance in Africa where swamps may be dominated by papyrus.
A dambo is a shallow, grass-covered depression of the central and southern African plateau that is waterlogged in the rainy season, and usually forms the headwaters of a stream or river. It is marshy at the edges and at the headwater, but maybe swampy in the center and downstream.
A mangrove swamp or mangal is a salt or brackish water environment dominated by the mangrove species of tree, such as Sonneratia.
A bayou or slough are southern United States terms for a creek among swamp. In an Indian mangrove swamp, it would be called a creek.
A constructed wetland is artificially contrived wetland, intended to absorb flash floods, clean sewage, enhance wildlife or for some other human reason.
A pocosin is a bog-like wetland dominated by fire-adapted shrubs and trees, found mainly in the southeastern United States on the Atlantic Coastal Plain.
In the United States, the four general categories of wetlands, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, are marshes, swamps, bogs, and fens. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) produces and provides information on the characteristics, extent, and status of U.S. wetlands and deepwater habitats and other wildlife habitats. The NWI also produces periodic reports on the status and trends of wetlands in the conterminous U.S. The NWI website includes a Wetlands Mapper in which users can view, download, or print maps of digital wetlands information.
The Pantanal is an example of a wetland system that involves a variety of wetland types. An immense alluvial plain, the Pantanal is considered by many to be the world’s largest, freshwater, wetland system. It is situated along the northernmost part of the Paraguay River and its tributaries and becomes extensively flooded during the rainy season. It extends through millions of hectares of central-western Brazil, eastern Bolivia, and northeastern Paraguay in central South America. Estimates of its size range from 140,000 square kilometers (54,000 square miles) to 210,000 square kilometers (81,000 square miles), making it larger than many countries. Within the Pantanal are diverse types of riverine, lacustrine, and palustrine wetlands, as well as large rivers, lakes, and other standing water and terrestrial ecosystems. Riverine refers to river-related environments, and lacustrine to lake-related environments, while palustrine include inland wetlands that lack flowing water, such as inland marshes, swamps, bogs, and fens.
Wetlands are among the world's most productive environments and provide innumerable economic, ecological, cultural, recreational and aesthetic values. We can look at such values in terms of wetland components, functions, and attributes (Barbier et al. 1997).
Components. The components of wetland systems include such economically beneficial goods as fish, timber, peat, and wildlife. Wetlands likewise provide water supply for domestic, agricultural, and industrial uses, and the structure of wetlands may allow for economical water transport. Some wetland systems offer enriched agricultural land as a result of improving the soil fertility through periodic inundation of flood waters. Fish and wildlife provide opportunities for leisure fishing activities and tourism. Barbier et al. (1997) report that two-thirds of the fish we eat depend upon wetlands at some stage of their life cycle. In Vietnam and Thailand, the Melaleuca wetland forests provide many diverse products, including medicine (Barbier et al. 1997).
Functions. Wetlands also fulfill important functions, such as flood control, groundwater recharge and discharge, water purification through retention of sediments and pollutants, storm protection, water table maintenance, and stabilization of climate. Nutrient retention occurs when nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus accumulate in the sub-soil or vegetation and allow eventual circulation back into the atmosphere. Wetland may serve as sediment settling ponds.
By absorbing the force of strong winds and tides, wetlands protect terrestrial areas adjoining them from storms, floods, and tidal damage. Wetlands remove nutrients from surface and ground water by filtering and by converting nutrients to unavailable forms. Denitrification is arguably the most important of these reactions because humans have increased nitrate worldwide by applying fertilizers. Increased nitrate availability can cause eutrophication, but denitrification converts biologically available nitrogen back into nitrogen gas, which is biologically unavailable except to nitrogen fixing bacteria. Denitrification circulates the nitrogen back into the atmosphere. Denitrification can be detected in many soils, but denitrification is fastest in wetlands soils (Ullah and Faulkner 2006).
Attributes. An attribute of wetlands is biodiversity. Being transitional between aquatic and terrestrial environments, and involving complex interactions among such components as water, soils, topography and biotic communities, wetlands help to preserve biodiversity. This provides not only for a more stable system, but tourism and aesthetic appreciation also are often tied to biodiversity. Many wetlands also provide habitats for resident and migratory fish and wildlife. There also are cultural aspects. For example, the Marsh Arabs of southern Iraq have lived in harmony with the marshes at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and they have a spiritual connection that goes beyond the direct use of the wetland products (Barbier et al. 1997). Likewise, the Fens of East Anglia and Somerset levels in the United Kingdom are important for cultural heritage (Barbier et al. 1997).
The Pantanal of South America provides an example of the above. As a wetland system of exceptional size, the Pantanal embodies many of the aforementioned values in a big way. It has one of the most impressive freshwater fisheries on the earth, serving an exceptional biogenetic reservoir. The Pantanal supports a large number of species and also an abundantly high concentration of animals, perhaps the highest in the New World and comparable to the densest animal populations in Africa (Andrade et al. 1985; Pádua 1991). The Pantanal not only provides an extensive water supply and transport system for its inhabitants, but it serves to remove sediments and pollutants, thus improving the water quality for millions of people downstream. The reduced water velocity in the Pantanal, and its storage of water, create excellent circumstances for mineral uptake by plants, microbial processing, and the settlement of sediments and chemicals such as heavy metals, which are sorbed to sediments (Gottgens 1998). Flood control is another major value of the Pantanal. The Pantanal has a regulatory effect on the Rio Paraguay, extensively reducing and delaying the height of the flood peak and thus reducing the flood risk downstream. Because of the Pantanal, the flood peak of the Paraguay is as much as two to three months later than the Paraná into which it empties, avoiding the cumulative impact of these two flood peaks combining downstream.
Intertidal wetlands provide an excellent example of invasion, modification, and succession. The invasion and succession process is establishment of seagrasses. These help stabilize sediment and increase sediment capture rates. The trapped sediment gradually develops into mud flats. Mud flat organisms become established encouraging other life forms changing the organic composition of the soils.
The mangroves establish themselves in the shallower water upslope from the mudflats. Mangroves further stabilize sediment and over time increase the soil level. This results in less tidal movement and the development of salt marshes. The salty nature of the soil means it can only be tolerated by special types of grasses (e.g. saltbush, rush, and sedge). There is also changing species diversity in each succession.
In the salt marshes, there is greater species diversity, nutrient recycling, and niche specialization making it one of the most productive ecosystems on Earth.
In intertidal wetlands, the majority of natural stress comes from salinity and tidal movements. The intertidal wetlands must be able to survive extreme conditions of mainly salt water at high tide, fresh water at low tide, and times of flood and brackish water at other times. The saline water is a very difficult condition for plants to survive in. The gray mangrove accomplishes this by excluding salt in the root system, salt glands in the leaf, and waxy leaves to minimize water loss. However, it is vulnerable to changes in salinity levels.
Changes to tidal movements through increased run-off or altered drainage can cause the roots of mangroves to be inundated for longer than normal periods affecting their pneumatophones. It can also be pushed past its threshold level if water quality is changed. Thus, even healthy ecosystems are vulnerable to change.
Some species such as oysters and mollusks have been used as indicator species, with any decline in their numbers indicating the ecosystem is under stress. A change in nutrient levels may also affect primary productivity and thus bring about change.
Historically, humans have made large-scale and small-scale efforts to drain wetlands for development or flood them for use as recreational lakes. Wetlands are often filled in to be used by humans for everything from agriculture to parking lots, in part because the economic value of wetlands has only been recognized recently. For example, the shrimp and fish that breed in salt water marshes are generally harvested in deeper water.
As a result, 50 percent of the world's original wetlands are believed to have been lost. Barbier et al. (1997) report that in Portugal 70 percent of the Western Algarve has been converted for agricultural and industrial development and that in the Philippines, 67 percent of the country's mangrove resources were lost between 1920 and 1980. they likewise report a loss of 67 percent of the wetlands in France between 1900 and 1993, 66 percent of the wetlands in Italy between 1938 and 1984, and 60 percent in Spain between 1948 and 1990. They report 54 percent of the United States's original wetlands have been lost, while the Environmental Protection Agency (2004) notes that the United States loses an additional 60,000 acres of wetlands every year, and this is a leading cause of species extinction.
Humans can maximize the area of healthy, functioning intertidal wetlands by minimizing their impacts and by developing management strategies that protect, and where possible rehabilitate those ecosystems at risk.
Since the 1970s, more focus has been put on preserving wetlands for their natural function—sometimes also at great expense. One example is the project by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to control flooding and enhance development by taming the Everglades, a project that has now been reversed to restore much of the wetlands as a natural habitat and method of flood control. Fifty years after ditching and diking the Everglades and affecting the flood-and-drought cycle, over 50 percent of the "River of Glass" has been lost, largely due to conversion to intensive residential and agricultural purposes, and the number of one-legged wading birds plunged by up to 95 percent or more (Swarts 2000). The estimated price tag to restore this is in the many billions of dollars.
Exclusion—Those responsible for the management of wetland areas often facilitate public access to a small, designated area while restricting access to other areas. Provision of defined boardwalks and walkways is a management strategy used to restrict access to vulnerable areas, as is the issuing of permits whilst visiting.
Education—In the past, wetlands were regarded as wastelands. Education campaigns have helped to change public perceptions and foster public support for the wetlands. Due to their location in the catchment area, education programs need to teach about total catchment management programs. Educational programs include guided tours for the general public, school visits, media liaison, and information centers.
Andrade, C. D., A. Magnanini, L. C. Marigo, A. de Oliveira Gomes, and P. H. Britto. 1985. Pantanal. Rio de Janeiro: Assessoria de Comunicação e Marketing.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 2006b. Wetlands definitions. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved May 3, 2008.
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