The European Parliament – representation for more than 500 million citizens in two cities
Short description about the European Parliaments and its function.
First of all, the European parliament is probably the only parliament in the world which has two offices in two different countries - Strasbourg and Brussels. Currently it has 766 members who are elected every five years and (after the election in May just 750 members) who represent the second largest democracy in the world – after the Parliament of India.
One of the main responsibilities which the members of the European Parliament have is to take care of the EU budget and monitor the spending politics. Moreover, the European Parliament takes decisions and passes laws together with the “European Commission” and “The Council of the European Union”. For instance a new country like Turkey cannot become a member of the EU without the MEPs approval.
Like every democratic parliament the institution which is mainly located in Brussels has a duty to control the European executive – the European Commission. Together they share the legislative function in Europe. The next President of the European Commission will be elected by the members of the next European Parliament. This is due to the aim to increase the election turnout and to establish a higher media attention for his work. The European Parliament is not very well known in public. The election´s goal is to change this.
Speakers in the EP are multilingual – the EU has got 24 official languages. Due to this figure the parliament is the most multilingual parliament in the world which employs more than 350 interpreters to provide every single document which is published for the members of the parliament in each of the 24 languages.
David Farell, who is a Professor at the University of Manchester, says: “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.” The European parliament is the most active parliament in the world, and since its establishment in 1952 it gets more and more responsibility and rights. For instance, every single member of the European Commission has to stand for a hearing in front of the parliament before his members are going to elect him.
The election is not just about the members of the next parliament. It´s more about our future. It´s about to show our passion for Europe. So please vote - vote for a free and wealthy Europe. The parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg is our symbol for a peaceful time after decades of torture and violence.
