Access to European Union law
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Access to European Union law

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Glossary of summaries

European Parliament

The European Parliament (EP) is the only directly elected EU body, and one of the largest democratic assemblies in the world. Its 705 members represent the EU’s 450 million citizens. They are elected once every 5 years by voters from across the 27 EU Member States. The people elected to the EP are called Members of the European Parliament (MEPs).

The number of MEPs elected in each EU Member State is essentially determined by its population. The distribution of seats until the end of the 2019-2024 parliamentary term is as follows: Belgium: 21, Bulgaria: 17, Czechia: 21, Denmark: 14, Germany: 96, Estonia: 7, Ireland: 13, Greece: 21, Spain: 59, France: 79, Croatia: 12, Italy: 76, Cyprus: 6, Latvia: 8, Lithuania: 11, Luxembourg: 6, Hungary: 21, Malta: 6, the Netherlands: 29, Austria: 19, Poland: 52, Portugal: 21, Romania: 33, Slovenia: 8, Slovakia: 14, Finland: 14 and Sweden: 21.

The distribution of seats for the 2024-2029 parliamentary term will be updated in accordance with European Council Decision (EU) 2023/2061, and the total number of MEPs elected is to be 720.

About 40% of MEPs are women. MEPs may form groups according to their political affinities, not their nationality.

On 15 March 2024, the seats were distributed among seven political groups, as follows:

  • Group of the European People’s Party (178 MEPs),
  • Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament (140),
  • Renew Europe Group (102),
  • Group of the Greens / European Free Alliance (71),
  • European Conservatives and Reformists Group (68),
  • Identity and Democracy Group (59),
  • The Left Group in the European Parliament / Nordic Green Left (37).

On that date, 49 MEPs did not belong to any political group.

The EP’s main functions are as follows.

  • Legislative power: for most EU legal acts, the EP shares legislative power with the Council of the European Union, through the ordinary legislative procedure.
  • Budgetary power: the EP shares budgetary powers with the Council in voting on the annual budget, rendering it enforceable through the President of the EP’s signature and overseeing its implementation.
  • Power of control over the EU’s institutions, in particular the European Commission: the EP can give or withhold approval for the designation of Commissioners and has the power to dismiss the Commission as a body by passing a motion of censure. It also exercises a power of control over the EU’s activities through written and oral questions put to the Commission and the Council. It sets up special committees and committees of inquiry, the remit of which is not necessarily confined to the activities of EU institutions but can extend to action taken by Member States in implementing EU policies.

The Treaty of Lisbon strengthened the EP’s role by placing it on an equal footing with the Council by:

  • extending the ordinary legislative procedure to 40 new fields, including agriculture, energy security, immigration, justice and home affairs, health and structural funds;
  • strengthening the EP’s role in the adoption of the EU budget – the EP is responsible for the adoption of the entire budget together with the Council;
  • enabling MEPs to give their consent on a wide range of international agreements negotiated by the EU, such as international trade agreements;
  • introducing new rights to be informed on the activities of the European Council, the rotating Council presidency and the European External Action Service;
  • giving the EP the right to propose changes to the treaty;
  • extending the EP’s power of scrutiny in electing the President of the European Commission and by approving Members of the Commission by a vote of consent.

MEPs attend EP plenary sessions in Strasbourg and Brussels, and committee and political group meetings in Brussels.

Article 223(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU requires the EP to adopt a statute for MEPs. This lays down rules governing the performance of the duties of MEPs.

A code of conduct requires MEPs to act solely in the public interest and conduct their work with disinterest, integrity, openness, diligence, honesty, accountability and respect for the EP’s reputation.

Article 232 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU requires the EP to adopt rules of procedure – the EP’s internal organisational and operational rules.

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