The faces of the European Parliament 201214

The faces of the European Parliament 201214

Contents
Preface by the President The European Parliament The President of the European Parliament The MEPs and the political groups Political bodies The Conference of Presidents Members of the Conference of Presidents The Bureau The Quaestors Parliaments Bureau Parliamentary committees The EPs standing committees and their chairs Special Committee Delegations The EP delegations and their chairs Multilateral parliamentary assemblies The Secretariat-General 3 5 5 6 10 10 10 12 12 13 16 16 18 19 19 21 22

Preface by the President

The European Union is based on afascinating idea of peace, freedom, stability and prosperity. After centuries suffering from devastating conflicts and the catastrophe of two world wars, anew era dawned with the foundation of the European Union. The absence of war, together with Europes open bor ders, has made one of humankinds oldest dreams come true. Awar between EU Member States is unthinkable today. The common market is adaily reality for half abillion Europeans. Today we live in afree and open Europe aEurope which can be proud of its cultural diversity and its commitment to defending citizens rights and common values. We have managed to turn enemies into friends, overcome national, religious and philosophical differences and grow to gether as aunited Europe. This is because we realised that our interests can no longer be separated from those of our neighbours; either we all lose or we all win. 3

Preface by the President

What does this mean in practice? It means resolving disputes by means of dialogue and consensus; basing decisions on the principles of solidarity and democracy, and not simply defer ring to the more powerful; reconciling the interests of the smaller and larger Member States, of northern and southern Europe and of eastern and western Europe; and placing the common good above individual interests. What asuccess story! But we must never take the EU or the European integration project for granted. These are turbulent times in our history. For many people, they are hard times. In the wake of the fi nancial and economic crisis, many Europeans are losing faith in politics and its institutions. This crisis of confidence also af fects the European integration process. We must grasp the fact that people in Europe have little time for institutional de bates because they are too busy worrying about their chil drens future, their jobs and their pensions. If Europe wants to be a project that is fully alive again, it needs to demonstrate its ability to solve problems that are important to its citizens. The European Parliament is the forum for democracy and debate about the future political course of the EU. We are now entering the second half of this parliamentary term with an eye on the next elections in 2014. Members of the European Parliament are your advocates and as President Iam particularly proud of that fact and proud to preside over such acommitted and open Parliament. This is abody through which you can be heard, as you elect your representatives to defend your key interests. And we want to listen to you. Let us now work for aEurope for ourselves and for coming gen erations that holds out the promise of an economically strong, socially just, free and democratic home for all Europeans.

Martin Schulz President of the European Parliament

 T  he European Parliament
The European Parliament is the parliamentary institution of the European Union (EU). Due to the Lisbon Treaty the total number of MEPs has increased from 736 (MEPs elected in 2009) to 751. Over one third of them are women. The Euro pean Parliament, whose seat is in Strasbourg, has three places of work: Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg.

The President of the European Parliament

The President of the European Parliament is elected for a re newable term of two and a half years, i.e. half the term of aMember of Parliament. The President represents the Euro pean Parliament vis--vis the outside world and in its rela tions with the other Union institutions. The President chairs the plenary sittings of Parliament, the Bureau of Parliament (including 14 Vice-Presidents) and the Conference of Presi dents of the political groups.

Presidents of the European Parliament (19582014)

195860 196062 196264 196465 196566 196669 196971 197173 Robert Schuman Hans Furler Gaetano Martino Jean Duvieusart Victor Leemans Alain Poher Mario Scelba Walter Behrendt 5

197375 197577 197779 197982 The European Parliament 198284 198487 198789 198992 199294 199497 199799 19992002 200204 200407 200709 200912 2012

Cornelis Berkhouwer Georges Spnale Emilio Colombo Simone Veil Pieter Dankert Pierre Pflimlin Lord Plumb Enrique Barn Crespo Egon A. Klepsch Klaus Hnsch Jos Mara Gil-Robles Nicole Fontaine Pat Cox Josep Borrell Fontelles Hans-Gert Pttering Jerzy Buzek Martin Schulz

The MEPs and the political groups

The Members of the European Parliament sit in political groups they are not organised by nationality, but by polit ical affiliation. A political group comprises Members elected in at least one quarter of the EU Member States and has a minimum of 25 Members. There are currently seven political groups in the European Parliament. Members who do not be long to any of the groups are known as non-attached Mem bers. Political groups have their own staff and the Members have parliamentary assistants.

Robert Schuman

List of political groups

1. Group of the European Peoples Party (Christian Democrats) (EPP) The European Parliament 2. Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament (S&D) 3. Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) 4. Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA)

5. European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR)

6. Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) 7. Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group (EFD)

Non-attached Members (NI)

NI
7

The make-up of the European Parliament

The European Parliament

271 EPP

190 S&D

58 Greens/ EFA

85 ALDE

34 GUE/ NGL 30 NI

NI

53 ECR

33 EFD

Distribution of seats by political groups and Member States after the June 2009 elections
EPP Belgium (BE) Bulgaria (BG) Czech Republic (CZ) Denmark (DK) Germany (DE) Estonia (EE) Ireland (IE) Greece (EL) Spain (ES) France (FR) Italy (IT) Cyprus (CY) Latvia (LV) Lithuania (LT) Luxembourg (LU) Hungary (HU) Malta (MT) Netherlands (NL) Austria (AT) Poland (PL) Portugal (PT) Romania (RO) Slovenia (SI) Slovakia (SK) Finland (FI) Sweden (SE) United Kingdom (UK) Total 271 5 7 2 1 42 1 4 7 25 30 35 2 4 4 3 14 2 5 6 29 10 14 4 6 4 5 S&D 5 4 7 4 23 1 3 8 23 14 22 2 1 3 1 4 4 3 5 7 7 11 2 5 2 6 13 190 5 2 1 4 4 12 85 2 4 5 58 27 53 1 1 34 9 33 6 30 1 1 1 6 3 2 11 4 3 4 1 2 1 5 6 1 2 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 3 12 3 4 1 2 6 6 2 1 2 1 2 15 2 14 1 1 3 1 5 1 10 2 1 3 ALDE Greens/ EFA 5 5 9 1 4 1 8 1 4 ECR 1 GUE/ NGL EFD 1 NI 1 2 Total 22 18 22 13 99 6 12 22 54 74 73 6 9 12 6 22 6 26 19 51 22 33 8 13 13 20 73 754 The European Parliament 9

NB: The Treaty of Lisbon, which came into force on 1 December 2009, provides for the European Parliament to have 751 Members. Under the treaty, Germany loses three seats. However, since the treaty came into force after the elections in June 2009, Germany will retain those seats until the next elections in 2014. Until then, the number of MEPs will temporarily rise to 754.

 Political bodies
The Conference of Presidents
The Conference of Presidents is made up of the chairs of the political groups and the President of the European Parlia ment. It makes decisions regarding the organisation of the Parliaments work and on all matters relating to legislative planning: the timetable and agenda for plenary sittings; the composition of the committees and delegations, and their remits; legislative planning. It also has an important role in the relations between the European Parliament and the other EU institutions, third countries and extra-EU organisations.

Members of the Conference of Presidents

President of Parliament and chairs of the political groups
Martin Schulz
President

S&D, DE

10

Joseph Daul
Chair of the Group of the European Peoples Party

EPP, FR

Political bodies

Hannes Swoboda
Chair of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament

S&D, AT

Guy Verhofstadt
Chair of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe

ALDE, BE

Rebecca Harms
Co-chair of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance

Greens/EFA, DE

Daniel Cohn-Bendit
Co-chair of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance

Greens/EFA, FR

Martin Callanan
Chair of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group

ECR, UK

Gabriele Zimmer
Chair of the Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left

GUE/NGL, DE

Nigel Paul Farage

Co-chair of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group

EFD, UK

11

Francesco Enrico Speroni

Co-chair of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group

EFD, IT

Political bodies

The Bureau
The Bureau is made up of the President of the European Parlia ment, the 14 Vice-Presidents and the five Quaestors with ob server status, elected by the assembly for a renewable period of two and a half years. It guides Parliaments internal functioning, including: the European Parliaments budget estimates; administrative and financial organisation; the Secretariat-General and its services.

The Quaestors
They are responsible for administrative and financial matters of direct concern to Members. The five Quaestors sit on the Bureau as advisors and they ensure that Members have the infrastructure necessary to exercise their mandate.

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Parliaments Bureau
President
Martin Schulz (S&D, DE) Political bodies

Vice-Presidents
Gianni Pittella (S&D, IT)

Miguel Angel Martnez Martnez

(S&D, ES)

Anni Podimata

(S&D, EL)

Alejo Vidal-Quadras

(EPP, ES)

Georgios Papastamkos

(EPP, EL)

Roberta Angelilli

(EPP, IT)

13

Othmar Karas

(EPP, AT)

Political bodies

Edward McMillan-Scott

(ALDE, UK)

Isabelle Durant

(Greens/EFA, BE)

Alexander Alvaro

(ALDE, DE)

Rainer Wieland

(EPP, DE)

Oldich Vlask

(ECR, CZ)

Jacek Protasiewicz

(EPP, PL)

Lszl Surjn

(EPP, HU)

14

Quaestors
Astrid Lulling (EPP, LU)

Political bodies

Jim Higgins

(EPP, IE)

Lidia Geringer de Oedenberg

(S&D, PL)

Bogusaw Liberadzki

(S&D, PL)

Ji Matlka

(GUE/NGL, CZ)

15

 P  arliamentary committees
Preparatory work for the Parliaments plenary sittings takes place in the Parliaments 20 committees, which cover every thing from womens rights to health and consumer protec tion. A committee consists of 24 to 76 MEPs, and has a chair, a bureau and a secretariat. Parliament can also set up sub committees and special committees to deal with specific issues as well as committees of inquiry under its supervisory remit. Debates in the committees are open to the public.

The EPs standing committees and their chairs

Committee on Foreign Affairs Elmar Brok (EPP, DE) Subcommittee on Human Rights Barbara Lochbihler (Greens/EFA, DE) Subcommittee on Security and Defence Arnaud Danjean (EPP, FR) Committee on Development Eva Joly (Greens/EFA, FR) Committee on International Trade Vital Moreira (S&D, PT) Committee on Budgets Alain Lamassoure (EPP, FR) 16

 Committee on Budgetary Control Michael Theurer (ALDE, DE) Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs Sharon Bowles (ALDE, UK) Committee on Employment and Social Affairs Pervenche Bers (S&D, FR) Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Matthias Groote (S&D, DE) Committee on Industry, Research and Energy Amalia Sartori (EPP, IT) Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Malcolm Harbour (ECR, UK) Committee on Transport and Tourism Brian Simpson (S&D, UK) Committee on Regional Development Danuta Maria Hbner (EPP, PL) Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development Paolo De Castro (S&D, IT) Committee on Fisheries Gabriel Mato Adrover (EPP, ES) Committee on Culture and Education Doris Pack (EPP, DE) Committee on Legal Affairs Klaus-Heiner Lehne (EPP, DE) Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Juan Fernando Lpez Aguilar (S&D, ES) 17

Parliamentary committees

 Committee on Constitutional Affairs Carlo Casini (EPP, IT) Committee on Womens Rights and Gender Equality Mikael Gustafsson (GUE/NGL, SE) Committee on Petitions Erminia Mazzoni (EPP, IT)

Parliamentary committees

Special Committee
Special Committee on Organised Crime, Corruption and Money Laundering

18

 Delegations
Relations with countries outside the European Union are vital for the European Parliament. It therefore has a series of dele gations which interact with the parliaments of countries that are not members of the European Union. They play an im portant role in helping to develop Europes influence abroad. There are different types of delegations: interparliamentary delegations, whose task is to maintain relations with the parliaments of countries outside the Euro pean Union that have not applied for membership; delegations to the joint parliamentary committees, which maintain contact with the parliaments of countries that are candidates for accession to the European Union and states that have association agreements with the EU; delegations to the multilateral parliamentary assemblies.

The EP delegations and their chairs

Europe, western Balkans and Turkey EUCroatia: Gunnar Hkmark (EPP, SE)  EUFormer Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: Jorgo Chatzimarkakis (ALDE, DE) EUTurkey: Hlne Flautre (Greens/EFA, FR)  Switzerland, EUIceland and Norway and European EconomicArea (EEA): Pat the Cope Gallagher (ALDE, IE)  Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo: Eduard Kukan (EPP, SK) Russia, the Eastern Partnership states, central Asia and Mongolia  EURussia: Knut Fleckenstein (S&D, DE) EUUkraine: Pawe Robert Kowal (ECR, PL)  EUMoldova: Monica Luisa Macovei (EPP, RO) Belarus: Jacek Protasiewicz (EPP, PL)

19

 Delegations

 EUArmenia, EUAzerbaijan and EUGeorgia: Milan Cabrnoch (ECR, CZ)  EUKazakhstan, EUKyrgyzstan and EUUzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia: Paolo Bartolozzi (EPP, IT)

Maghreb, Mashreq, Israel and Palestine Israel: Bastiaan Belder (EFD, NL) Palestinian Legislative Council: Emer Costello (S&D, IE)  the Maghreb countries and the Arab Maghreb Union: Pier Antonio Panzeri (S&D, IT)  the Mashreq countries: Mrio David (EPP, PT) the Arab Peninsula, Iraq and Iran  the Arab Peninsula: Angelika Niebler (EPP, DE) Iraq: Struan Stevenson (ECR, UK)  Iran: Tarja Cronberg (Greens/ALE, FI) the Americas  United States: Christian Ehler (EPP, DE)  Canada: Philip Bradbourn (ECR, UK)  Central America: Emine Bozkurt (S&D, NL)  Andean Community: Luis de Grandes Pascual (EPP, ES)  Mercosur: Luis Yez-Barnuevo Garca (S&D, ES)  EUMexico: Ricardo Corts Lastra (S&D, ES) EUChile: Mara Paloma Muiz de Urquiza (S&D, ES) EUCariforum: David Martin (S&D, UK) Asia/Pacific  Japan: Johannes Cornelis van Baalen (ALDE, NL)  China: Crescenzio Rivellini (EPP, IT) India: Sir Graham Watson (ALDE, UK)  Afghanistan: Thijs Berman (S&D, NL)  South Asia: Jean Lambert (Greens/EFA, UK)  South-east Asia and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN): Werner Langen (EPP, DE)  the Korean Peninsula: Herbert Reul (EPP, DE)  Australia and New Zealand: Mara Bizzotto (EFD, IT) Africa South Africa: Michael Cashman (S&D, UK)  the Pan-African Parliament: Michael Gahler (EPP, DE)

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Multilateral parliamentary assemblies

ACPEU Joint Parliamentary Assembly Louis Michel (ALDE, BE) Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Martin Schulz (S&D, DE) Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat) Jos Ignacio Salafranca Snchez-Neyra (EPP, ES) EuroNest Parliamentary Assembly Kristian Vigenin (S&D, BG) Relations with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Jacek Saryusz-Wolski (EPP, PL) Delegations 21

  The Secretariat-General
The European Parliament is assisted by a secretariat. Its task is to coordinate legislative work and organise part-sessions and other meetings. The Secretariat-General is located in Luxem bourg and Brussels, whilst plenary sittings of Parliament are held in Strasbourg and Brussels. The Secretary-General of the European Parliament is Klaus Welle. The Secretariat-General consists of just under 5600 officials and temporary and contract staff. Its main organisational units are the Secretary-Generals Office, ten directorates- general and the Legal Service, as follows. The Directorate-General for the Presidency is responsible for or ganising and running plenary sittings. The Directorate-General for Internal Policies is responsible for or ganising the work of Parliaments committees in the field of internal policies. The Directorate-General for External Policies is responsible for or ganising the work of Parliaments committees and interparlia mentary delegations in the field of external policies. The Directorate-General for Communication ensures that infor mation is disseminated to the public, the media and opinion leaders. The Directorate-General for Personnel helps ensure that Parlia ments other directorates-general have the human re sources necessary to carry out their work. The Directorate-General for Infrastructure and Logistics is respon sible for managing infrastructure and logistics in Parliaments various places of work. The Directorate-General for Translation prepares the Euro pean Parliaments documents in all the official languages of the Euro pean Union. 22

The Directorate-General for Interpretation and Conferences helps meet the political requirements of multilingualism in Parliament. The Directorate-General for Finance draws up Parliaments budget, supervises its implementation, accompanies the dis charge procedure and keeps and closes the accounts. It provides financial and budgetary expertise for all delegated authorising officers in Parliament, manages Members finances and administers the Internal Audit body. The Directorate-General for Innovation and Technological Support is responsible for information and communication technologies and for publishing and distribution services in the European Parliament. The Legal Service provides legal assistance for Parliaments political bodies and its Secretariat-General. It also assists the parliamentary committees in their legislative work and represents the European Parliament in European and national courts. Alongside the Secretariat-General, all the political groups have a secretariat of their own which varies in size according to the number of MEPs in the group. There are some 900 staff in the group secretariats. Lastly, just over 1600 accredited parliamentary assistants complete the picture. In total, more than 8000 people keep Parliaments wheels turning.

The Secretariat-General 23

QA-31-11-338-EN-C

For more information visit:

www.europarl.europa.eu
This publication was produced by the European Parliaments Directorate-General for Communication. Manuscript completed in January 2012.

Photographic credits European Union, cover, pages 3, 4, 6, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 21, 22; European Union/Architect: Architecture Studio, pages 8, 19; European Union/Architect: Association des architectes du CIC: Vanden Bossche sprl, C.R.V. s.a., CDG sprl, Studiegroep D. Bontinck, Faade and Hemicycle Interior Design- Arch. Michel Bouquillon, pages 17, 20, 22; Yves Fonck/Architect: Architecture Studio, page 2; Bernard Rouffignac/ Architect: Architecture Studio, page 23.

More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://europa.eu). Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2012 doi:10.2861/39467 European Union, 2012 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. Printed in Luxembourg
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