THE MADE SIMPLE

2014-2019 The European Parliament Made Simple is produced by the American Chamber of Commerce to the (AmCham EU) as a introduction to the workings of the European Parliament for amateurs and experts alike.

Production Team

Editor and project manager Giovanni Mastrobuono Senior Communications Officer

Editorial assistance Alexandrine Gauvin Communications Officer Eli Corso-Phinney Communications Intern

The information contained in this publication has been compiled in good faith and is accurate according to the most recent sources available at the time of going to press. Photographs used with the kind permission of the Audiovisual Libraries of the , Council of the European Union and the European Parliament.

First edition, 2014 ISBN: 978-2-9146856-7-2

Printed in

American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union (AmCham EU) Avenue des Arts 53, B-1000 Telephone: +32 (0)2 513 68 92 Fax: +32 (0)2 513 79 28 [email protected] www.amchameu.eu Foreword Susan Danger Managing Director American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union

t is with great pleasure that I present AmCham EU’s newest guide, The European Parliament Made Simple. The Lisbon Treaty, signed in 2009, gave the European Parliament greater power in EU Idecision-making and an increased role in selecting and approving the European Commission. As a result, this year’s European election has a greater democratic influence than ever before. With this in mind, AmCham EU has published The European Parliament Made Simple to explain the Parliament’s expanded powers and roles, for both the Brussels policy community and public affairs professionals in the EU and US. It is vital that the European Parliament and business continue to work together to further prosperity and create jobs for Europe. As Europe continues to recover from the economic crisis, it is essential for the European Parliament, working within the EU, to help lead the way. AmCham EU is committed to doing its part to keep the transatlantic economy strong and growing. For this to happen, it will be important to continue the process of dismantling trade barriers. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is an important opportunity to strengthen the economic relationship between the EU and US. It is in the best interest of both the EU and US to see this agreement completed in the European Parliament’s new term. On both sides of the Atlantic, we are committed to the prosperity and well being of our citizens. Together, we can ensure that this becomes a reality. I hope this guide will prove beneficial in helping you navigate the Parliament’s structure and better understand its increased competences and powers.

AmCham EU iii INTRODUCTION iv The European Parliament Simple Made INTRODUCTION v 3 6 9 1 vi 49 51 52 55 17 18 25 33 35 36 37 38 40 42 46 15 29 47

Contents

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tive procedure tive ing procedures References Decision-making in the EU The 8th European Parliament 8th European The Functioning of the European Parliament of the European Functioning : : : : wers tation and transparency tation tate abbreviations tate roups EU tion and parliamentary life y legislative procedure (codecision) procedure y legislative ouncil of the European Union ouncil of the European uropean Commission uropean e responsibility lies e responsibility ces of more information of more ces opean Parliament committees opean Parliament opean elections ep-by-step guide through the ordinary legislative procedure the ordinary guide through ep-by-step legislative AmCham CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER Member S in the M AmChams EU member c AmCham Political g Political Eur Decision-mak E The C The Ordinar Special legisla St Implemen Composition of the E Composition Wher Sour Agenda for Action 2014-2019 for Action Agenda EU’s AmCham Managing Director, American of Chamber Director, Managing Susan Danger, by Foreword EU) (AmCham Union the European to Commerce Role and po Eur Organisa INTRODUCTION vi The European Parliament Simple Made opportunity to capitaliseonitstalent, knowledge opportunity themwrong,Get andEurope willlosethe in shapingandbuildingtheglobaleconomy. right, andEurope willcontinue to beakeyplayer Yet theEUfaces choices. somecritical them Get wave andprosperity. ofproductivity and EU citizens can createpolicy-makers a new workforce. together, Acting businessleaders, and cultural traditions andahighlyeducated most respected companies, strong economic foundations, andishometo many oftheworld’s suggests it can. Europe is built on strongHistory appropriately respond to thosechallenges. The questionremains whetherEurope can global competitive environment posechallenges. A hesitant economic recovery andthe changing are escalating andstrainingservices resources. chronically for high. Demands healthandsocial problem across theEU. Public debtlevels are Unemployment continues to beapersistent challenges remain considerable. there isnoroom for complacency, aslong-term many economic have risks been mitigated. But E AmCham EU’s Agenda 2014-2019 forAction result European ofconcerted action, severe economic indecades. crisis As a urope is slowly emerging from the most five years. and updated annually asneededover thenext specific recommendations that willbereviewed areas,of the five action we willbe proposing addressed ifthe EUisto accomplish this. each In areasfive that action we believe needto be growth. thefollowing In pageswe are proposing toward amore strategic anddynamicphaseof The goalisto move beyond management, crisis mapfor thelongterm. the globalgeo-economic waves offuture growth andsecure itsplace on the canpositionitselfto leverage new innovative Europe. With suchpoliciesinplace anintegratedbold policiesthat support and the EU become more competitive through on thecontinent. We are committed to helping more than4.3 million jobs supports and directly investment in Europe totalled in 2013 €2 trillion business inEurope.American Aggregate US European Union(AmCham EU)isthevoice of The ChamberofCommerce American to the consequences willbeprofound. global economic race, thesocialandpolitical and traditions. Europe If falls behind in the INTRODUCTION vii or the future EU Lead by example towards global integration towards example by Lead Develop new models of innovation and entrepreneurship models of innovation new Develop Embrace revolutionary change for industrial leadership change for revolutionary Embrace Drive integration to create an attractive internal market internal an attractive create to integration Drive Build skills f

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ AmCham AmCham EU’s five key action key areas five EU’s AmCham Europe needs to remain a global hub for trade, investment and ideas, while taking while of the and ideas, advantage investment trade, a global hub for remain needs to Europe European that ensure objective should be to The systematically. landscape more global economic Transatlantic The global economy. integrated in an increasingly successfully industries can compete (TTIP) Partnership and Investment the opportunity offers Trade cooperation enhance to agreement a the EU and the US and the possibilitybetween which will have of establishing regulatory standards come. decades to impact business is conducted globally for on the way profound Innovation and entrepreneurship have been hailed as great drivers of growth. The next of The generation of growth. drivers hailed as great been have and entrepreneurship Innovation the same At programmes. incentive be supported need to through and encouraged entrepreneurs businesses and the wider civil societymodels of partnership need fresh time, governments, between thinking dynamic and flexible to foster objective should be to The and promoted. be developed to opportunities economic the future. generate for Europe has built a strong industrial foundation and now is the time to capitalise on its expertise is the time to and now across industrial foundation has built a strong Europe chemicals, security, transport, aerospace, energy, healthcare, all sectors including pharmaceuticals, keep European establish policies to objective should be to The technologies. and digital biotech growth. industry sustainable economic ensure the cutting edge to at Europe needs to complete the Single Market, the Single particularly complete needs to of services, market, the digital in the areas Europe of policies and harmonisation and transportation.energy improve Efforts be made to also need to and a hub investment for destination an attractive make Europe objective should be to The regulation. global regulatory and industrial to standards. which contributes and innovation growth of economic If Europe is to compete in an ever-changing global environment, policies need to be in place to to be in place policies need to global environment, in an ever-changing compete is to If Europe require will This marketplace. well-equippedof the future meet the needs to are its citizens ensure to relevant remain to lives every and skills at training in stage of workers’ development investment the needs of society and the economy. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ INTRODUCTION 8 The European Parliament Simple Made CHAPTER 1:

FUNCTIONING OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT FUNCTIONING OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 2 The European Parliament Simple Made with itssize.In1979,representatives were ments. Sincethenitspowershave grown,along 1958, appointed byMember States’ govern The Parliamentbeganlifeasan advisorybodyin population ofjust400,000hasonly sixMEPs. million, has96MEPsandMalta,withthesmallest State. depends onthepopulationsizeofMember The number of MEPs allocated to a country with theirparliamentarywork. employ parliamentaryassistantswhohelpthem with thenumberofMEPsingroup.also of eachgroupsecretariatvariesinaccordance own secretariat,totallingaround700.Thesize Parliament’s politicalgroupsalsoallhavetheir supported byasecretariatstaffof6,000.The There arecurrently751MEPsintotal.They members oftheEuropeanParliamentorMEPs. The nationalrepresentativesareknownas plenary inStrasbourg. those proposalsthatwerenotcoveredduringthe are alsooccasionally held inBrusselstovoteon are knownasplenaries.Two-day‘miniplenaries’ to voteonproposalsfornewlaws.Thesesessions meets asawhole12timesperyearinStrasbourg laws isdoneinBrusselsandtheentireParliament Luxembourg, themajorityofpreparationworkon (France). Theadministrativeofficesarebasedin Brussels (Belgium), The Parliament is based in three locations: electorate intheworldafterIndia. the 2014election, the second-largest democratic Over 400millionpeoplewereeligibletovotein will representthemintheEuropeanParliament. State holds national elections to decide who institutions. EveryfiveyearseachMember democratically electedbodyoftheEuropean The EuropeanParliamentistheonlydirectly Introduction , with a population of 80.7 Luxembourg and Strasbourg ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Organisation andparliamentarylife European elections Role oftheEuropeanParliament In thischapter:In ­ has theEuropeanParliament.In1979,when As theEUhasexpandedinmembership,so for thefirsttime. directly electedbypeopleintheMemberStates its accession. UK (1MEPeach).Croatiawasgiven12seatson , , theNetherlands, Latvia, , (2 MEPs each); and , came from:Spain(4MEPs);Austria, Croatia’s accession.The18new‘Lisbon’MEPs termination of an MEP’s mandate, as well as 766, because legislation did not allow the ealry the numberofMEPsincreasedtemporarilyto came intoforceafterthelastEuropeanelections, result oftheimplementationtreaty,which MEPs, whichiscappedbytheLisbonTreaty.Asa 410 representatives.ThecurrentEU28has751 the EUhadninemembercountries,therewere Growth oftheParliament * Germanreunification 047128 28 27 751 27 766 27 2014 754 15 2013 736 12* 2012 785 12 2009 626 10 2004 567 1999 518 1994 434 1989 410 1984 198 1979 1973 Year Number Number of MEPs Member Slovenia andthe States 9 9 France and

Role and powers of the European Parliament

European Parliament in Strasbourg European Parliament in Brussels FUNCTIONING OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

The three main roles of the European Parliament reformulated procedure required agreement on are: a joint text (with the Council deciding by qualified majority and the Parliament by an absolute ★★ To pass EU laws; majority of votes cast) within six weeks; however, ★★ Democratic supervision of the other in case the Parliament and the Council did not institutions; and reach an agreement (and if the Conciliation ★★ To approve the budget. Committee convened to overcome those differences failed), the proposal was deemed ‘to Legislative powers have not been adopted’. This was a remarkable innovation as it meant the Parliament’s lack of The Lisbon Treaty introduced a new set of approval in practice amounted to a blocking legislative procedures which simplified and power. The influence of Parliament in the consolidated policy-making in the EU, even if legislative process was significantly increased they retain the essential elements of the previous and paved the way for the later revisions which procedures (co-decision, consultation, assent). consolidated the trend. The Parliament can now participate in the legislative process in essentially two ways: In 2003, the extended the use of the co-decision procedure to new areas, such as Ordinary legislative procedure transport, employment, customs cooperation, social policy, environment, development, The “old” co-decision procedure, which represents countering fraud and data protection the core legislative power of the Parliament, has (previously it only regarded areas such as the been extended by the new text to cover virtually single market, education, vocational training, all areas of EU policy-making under the new title public health, consumer protection, Trans- of “ordinary legislative procedure”. Through this European Networks [TENs] and technological procedure, legislation is adopted jointly by the research and development). In 2009, the Lisbon Parliament and the Council on a proposal from Treaty continued the trend of expanding the the Commission; Parliament and Council act on Parliament’s legislative powers to include crucial an equal footing, meaning neither of them can areas such as agriculture and fisheries, justice adopt legislation without the agreement of the and home affairs and external trade. other. Under the ordinary legislative procedure, The ordinary legislative procedure represents the legislation is adopted in three readings for culmination of a gradual increase of powers by Parliament and Council, with the possibility Parliament since the inception of the “Common to conclude at each reading. The majorities in Assembly” in 1952. Most recently, following the Parliament and Council for adoption of positions implementation of the Amsterdam Treaty, the remain essentially the same as in Nice. Deadlines revised (and renumbered) article 251 presented also remain generally unchanged, although a slightly modified, or ‘simplified co-decision’ national parliaments have eight weeks to procedure whereby the number of Parliamentary undertake a check. readings was reduced from three to two. This

AmCham EU 3 FUNCTIONING OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 4 The European Parliament Simple Made expenditure. entitled toproposeamendments tocompulsory €45 billion annually. The Parliament was also Community’s budget and amounted to around expenditure typically represented over half of the elements, suchasagriculture).Non-compulsory compulsory expenditures(treaty-specified e.g. R&D)andtheCouncilretainingpowerover (structural fundsandother‘creative’spending, final sayovernon-compulsoryexpenditure institution, withtheParliamenthaving The procedureinvolvedtworeadingsineach the implementationofMaastrichtTreaty. control overtheCommunitybudgetfollowing The Parliamentreceivedextensivepowersof powersBudgetary combating discriminationandcitizen’srights. agreements, proceduresforEuropeanelections, the resultsofnegotiationsoninternational this toinclude,forexample,theadoptionof cohesion. TheLisbonTreatyfurtherextended and mattersrelatedtoeconomicsocial conclusion ofcertaininternationalagreements new members,uniformelectoralprocedures,the 7 oftheEUtreaty),aswelltoaccession of fundamental rights by Member States (article applied toanewprovisionregardingbreach Nice Treaty,theprocedure(then-called“assent”) Parliament’s approval is required. Under the In asinglereadingwithoutamendments,the such astaxationandsocialsecurity. in sensitiveareas(withlimitedEUintervention) procedure. Theprocedureistypicallyapplied as anintegralpartofthelegislation-making particularly bytheEuropeanCourtofJustice, opinion carriesnolegalweight,itisregarded, the finaldecision.AlthoughParliament’s the Commission,butitisCouncilthatmakes the Councilcanadoptalegislativeproposalfrom The Parliament’sopinionmustbeobtainedbefore Consultation procedure name. streamlined andintegratedunderacommon match older procedures which have been Council andtheParliament.Theseessentially covers otherformsofinteractionbetweenthe A categoryofspeciallegislativeprocedures Special legislativeprocedures investigate administrativeabuse. However,the Parliament itself, may ask the Ombudsman to the Union,andanylegalbody, aswellthe European citizenorothernational residingin (Scandinavian countries,UKand Spain).Every equivalent bodiesinanumberofEuropeanstates The EuropeanOmbudsmanismodelledon early following the retirement of her predecessor. European Parliament, though O’Reilly was elected of theombudsmanmirrorsmandate taking officeinOctober2013.Normally,theterm the European Parliament to become the third, female EuropeanOmbudsman,waselectedby Parliament inJuly1995.EmilyO’Reilly,thefirst Jacob Söderman,waselectedbytheEuropean and CourtofJustice).ThefirstOmbudsman, of theRegions,Parliament,CourtAuditors Council, EconomicandSocialCommittee,Council institutions andbodiesoftheEU(Commission, civil andsocialrightsintheirinteractionwiththe and democracybysafeguardingcitizens’political, The Ombudsman’sroleistoensuretransparency Ombudsman over allCommunityactivities. The Parliamentexercisesdemocraticsupervision Control powers Commission inFebruary1999. played asignificantroleintheresignationof discharge oftheaccountsfor1997budget The momentumthatbuiltuparoundthe exerting politicalpressureontheCommission. been usedbytheParliamentasameansof 319 EC).Historically,delayingthedischargehas implementation ofpreviousbudgets(Article ‘discharge’ totheCommissioninrespectof The Parliamentisalsorequiredtogivea deciding theEU’sbudget. budgetary measures and has the final say in in chargeofmonitoringtheimplementation the entirebudgetpackage,Parliamentis Ultimately, with its power to adopt or reject to theParliamentwhenitdeemsappropriate. the Councilandisthusabletosubmititdirectly required tosubmitapreliminarydraftbudget At thesametime,Commissionisnolonger expenditures hasbeeneliminatedasaresult). between compulsoryandnon-compulsory cover thetotalityofexpenditures(thedistinction EU budget,asitsauthorityhasbeenextendedto gained greaterpowersovertheentiretyof Under theTreatyofLisbon,Parliamenthas Ombudsman may also act on his or her own initiative. The Ombudsman has the competence Commission President’s Question Hour to conduct inquiries into the institutions in question, and to have access to files related to the case. In cases where an investigation Introduced for the first time in 2009, after José leads to the conclusion of maladministration Manuel Barroso’s re-election as Commission (e.g. administrative irregularities and omissions, President, ‘question hour’ gives all MEPs an abuse of power), the Ombudsman must send a opportunity to question the president of the report to the Parliament and may recommend European Commission on any subject, although ways to remedy the matter. The Ombudsman has they tend to focus on the main issues of the day. been an important voice in the calls for greater The question hour takes place on Tuesday transparency and an effective troubleshooter afternoon of the Parliament’s Strasbourg plenary in the fight against fraud and mismanagement session. It operates similarly to the way heads within the institutions, particularly the of government are questioned by national FUNCTIONING OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT Commission. parliaments in some Member States. There is half an hour of free questioning and half an hour of Committee of Inquiry and Committee of Petition questions on a chosen topic of the day. MEPs have a minute to ask their questions, and President The (TEU) formalised Barroso has one minute to answer. the Parliament’s practice of setting up temporary In addition to new Q&A with the Commission Committees of Inquiry to investigate alleged president, MEPs also enjoy the well-established contravention or mismanagement in the practice of Q&A sessions with Commissioners and Community institutions. These committees are ministers from the national government whose required to submit a report to the Parliament country is holding the Council Presidency. These within 12 months after which they are disbanded. also take place on Tuesday afternoon, but these So far, there have been ten Committees which are more prepared in advance. focused on: MEPs can also send written questions to the Council and Commission. These must be answered 1. The issues of the Community transit system; within three to six weeks. 2. Public responses to the BSE crisis; 3. The communications interception system known as ECHELON; force the Commission as a whole to resign. 4. Human genetics and other new technologies The Treaty on the European Union reinforced of modern medicine; this power by attributing to the Parliament 5. Foot and mouth disease; the right to be consulted on the choice of the 6. Improving safety at sea; President of the Commission, and by making 7. Policy challenges and budgetary means of the Commission as a whole subject to a vote the enlarged Union 2007-2013; of approval by the Parliament. Consequently, 8. The crisis of the Equitable Life Assurance the term of both institutions has been aligned Society; (five years), each time allowing the Parliament 9. The alleged use of European countries by the six months to settle before voting on the new CIA for the transport and illegal detention of Commission and its President. prisoners; and 10. Climate change. Written & oral questions Furthermore, the TEU codifies the right of European citizens to address written requests The MEPs have the right to present oral (at the or complaints to the European Parliament. The plenary session) or written questions to the Parliament deals with the petitions in a specific Commission. This is a source of information as committee (Petitions Committee), which prepares well as a way for the individual MEP to highlight an annual report on its work. important issues.

Approval of the Commission

By voting a motion of censure on the Commission’s annual report of activities, the Parliament can

AmCham EU 5 FUNCTIONING OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 6 The European Parliament Simple Made turnout: an outline of suggested reasons for the low voter actual workof the MEPs.Thefollowing provides of which seem to be directly applicable to the within andoutsidetheParliament,least Possible explanationsforthistrendcanbefound Explaining voterturnout turnout. incoming MemberStates,registereda22.7% age castingavote.Poland,thelargestof only 13%ofthecountry’spopulationvoting worst voterturnoutinaEuropeanelectionwith breaking theUnitedKingdom’srecordfor as awhole.Slovakiahadthedubioushonourof actually experiencedgrowthinvoterturnout Member States, while the older Member States The turnout was mostdisappointinginthenew elections wasonly45.7%. around 77.2%,whileturnoutforthelastEuropean last nationalelectionsawavoterturnoutof European elections.Forexample,inAustria,the turnout innationalelectionscomparedwith There is usually a fairly large gap between voter around 63%comparedtoonly43.09%in2014. At thefirstelectionsin1979,turnoutwas and protestvotesagainstpartiesingovernment. characterised by a low turnout by the electorate last electionswereheldinMay2014and Elections takeplaceonceeveryfiveyears.The European elections 9918 9919 9920 092014 2009 2004 1999 1994 1989 1984 1979 ★★ 62% those traditionally obtained at most local voter interest.Theresultwasnoworsethan In general, only national elections generate 59% 58.4% 56.7% 49.5% ★★ ★★ policies; and with little time spent on actual EU issues and to eitherpro-oranti-Europeanplatforms, the levelofEuropeandebatenarrowsdown of nationalparties.Inothers,suchastheUK, distinguish betweentheEuropeanpolicies Member States, it is often difficult to national governments.Inmanypro-European for oragainstthepoliciesoftheirrespective elections asanopportunitytocastavote issues. VotersoftenusetheEuropean National politicsdominateoverEuropean States; 30% onaverageamongstthenewMember national electionsamongsttheEU15and European electionsthanfortheprevious turnout wasonaverage20%lowerforthe as the‘Euro-gap’whichhasshownthatvoter nations experienceaphenomenonknown or regionalelectionsacrosstheEU.Most a MalteseMEPrepresents75,500people. German MEPrepresents840,000people,while between votersandtheirMEPs.Indeed,a it verydifficulttoestablisharealconnection European Parliamentconstituenciesmakes Furthermore, thesheersizeofEUand but concreteactionremainstobeseen. launching acampaigntoraiseawareness, efforts atEUlevel,includingtheParliament low voterturnouthastriggeredanumberof the Europeanelectorate.Theconcernabout politics ingeneralaretooremovedfrom The EuropeanParliamentand Voter turnoutinEuropeanelections 45.5% 43% 43.09% Number of MEPs per Member State

Member State up to 2004 2004-2007 2007-2009 2009-2012 2012-2014 post-2014 Austria 21 8 18 17 19 18

Belgium 25 24 24 22 22 21

Bulgaria - - 18 17 18 17

Croatia - - - - 12 11

Cyprus - 6 6 6 6 6

Czech Republic - 24 24 22 22 21 FUNCTIONING OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

Denmark 16 14 14 13 13 13

Estonia - 6 6 6 6 6

Finland 16 14 14 13 13 13

France 87 78 78 72 74 74

Germany 99 99 99 99 99 96

Greece 25 24 24 22 22 21

Hungary - 24 24 22 22 21

Ireland 15 13 13 12 12 11

Italy 87 78 78 72 73 73

Latvia - 9 9 8 9 8

Lithuania - 13 13 12 12 11

Luxembourg 6 6 6 6 6 6

Malta - 5 5 5 6 6

Netherlands 31 27 27 25 26 26

Poland - 54 54 50 51 51

Portugal 25 24 24 22 22 21

Romania - - 35 33 33 32

Slovakia - 14 14 13 13 13

Slovenia - 7 7 13 8 8

Spain 64 54 54 50 54 54

Sweden 22 19 19 18 20 20

United Kingdom 87 78 78 72 73 73

Total 626 732 785 736 766 751 Majority 314 367 392 369 384 376

AmCham EU 7 FUNCTIONING OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 8 The European Parliament Simple Made Distribution ofSeats intheEuropeanDistribution Parliament representations areweighted. on populationsize.Togivethesmaller countriesavoiceintheEuropeanParliamentandotherinstitutions their and in Europe.OnaveragethereisoneMEP for624,000peopleinEurope.ThiswouldmeancountriessuchasLuxembourg The smallercountrieshaveahigherrepresentationthantheirpopulation meritsinordertogivethemagreatervoice allocated toEstoniawithapopulationofalmostonemillionmore. contrast, retainedoneMEPforevery75,000constituents,sixintotalitspopulation of450,000.Thisisthesamenumber Germany hasalwaysbeenunder-representedintheParliamentsothiswasseen asredressingthebalance.Luxembourg,by into effect.Thismayseemunfair,buttoputitcontext,inGermany for everyMEPthereare830,000constituents. Germany andLuxembourgweretheonlytwocountriesnottogetasmaller allocationofseatsoncetheNiceTreatyentered existing MemberStatesagreedtoareductionintheallocationofseats Parliament. The twelve Member States that have joined since 2004 needed to be accommodated in the Parliament and to do so the The seats intheEuropeanParliament.ThisseatallocationwasmadeNice Treatysignedin2001. population of80.7million,gets96seats,themostanycountry.Maltawith apopulationofonly400,000receivesjustsix Seats intheEuropeanParliamentareallocatedroughly onthebasisofsizeacountry’spopulation.Germany,with Gibraltar (UK) 6 :MONACO 5 :LIECHTENSTEIN 4 :BOSNIA&HERZEGOVINA 3 : 2 :FYR MACEDONIA 1 : Nice TreatywassignedintheFrenchcityofDecember2001toprepare fortherecentenlargementsofEU. PORTUGAL (21) Malta wouldnothavealargeenough populationtoqualifyforanMEPifallocationwasdecidedpurelyandsimply MOROCCO SPAIN (54) IRELAND REP. OF (11) ICELAND ALGERIA ANDORRA KINGDOM UNITED (73) FRANCE (74) FRANCE The Faeroes (Den.) BELGIUM (21) LUXEMBOURG (6) TUNISIA SWITZERLAND (26) NETHERLANDS 6 Jan Mayen (Nor.) DENMARK (13) GERMANY (96) ITALY (73) 5 NORWAY AUSTRIA (18) CRO SLOVENIA (8) LYBIA MALTA (6) CZECH REP. (21) SWEDEN (20) ATIA (11) (21) 4 (13) POLAND (51) POLAND 1 Russia 3 LITHUANIA (11) (21) 2 (13) FINLAND ROMANIA (32) ESTONIA (6) LATVIA (8) BULGARIA (17) MOLDOVA EGYPT The Palestinian Authority CYPRUS (6) ISRAEL LEBANON RUSSIA SYRIA JORDAN SAUDI ARABIA KAZAKHSTAN Organisation and parliamentary life

President The Conference of Presidents The president is the figurehead of the Parliament The Conference of Presidents consists of the and is elected by the Parliament to serve a president of the European Parliament plus renewable term of two-and-a-half years the chairs of the seven political groups. Its (i.e. half an MEP’s elected term of office). The functions are to draw up the draft agenda for president represents the Parliament to the other the plenary sessions and to distribute dossiers institutions and internationally. He also chairs to the relevant committees. the Parliament’s plenary meetings and key

governing bodies: Political groups FUNCTIONING OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT In the European Parliament, most MEPs sit ★★ The ‘Bureau’ – which lays down the Parliament’s internal rules and budget in pan-EU political groups. These are formed by national political parties according to their ★★ The ‘Conference of Presidents’ – which political affiliation and not by nationality. makes decisions on the organisation of the Parliament’s work and legislative planning. MEPs therefore work largely along political rather than national lines as you might expect. The current president is the socialist MEP, Martin Only very occasionally do national MEPs go Schulz (S&D, DE). His election was secured against their groupings and usually only when through an agreement between the three biggest particular issues are of national importance. political groups in the Parliament. Schulz is the first president of the Parliament to be re-elected, and his election was supported in exchange Who is the ‘The Bureau’? for the three main political groups’ support for Jean-Claude Juncker, the EPP’s ‘spitzenkandidat’, The current Bureau consists of: for the presidency of the European Commission. President of the European Parliament Traditionally, the presidency of the European Parliament transfers to a candidate from one of (S&D) the other political groups at the mid-point of the 14 vice-presidents Parliament’s mandate. Antonia Tajani (EPP) Mairead McGuinness (EPP) The Bureau and the Quaestors (EPP) The Bureau is the key parliamentary internal Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso (EPP) governing body which oversees the admini­ Ildikó Gáll-Pelcz (EPP) strative side of the Parliament’s work as well as Adina-Ioana Vâlean (EPP) its budget. It is made up of the president, 14 (S&D) vice-presidents and 5 quaestors. Nominated by a Corina Cretu (S&D) political group (or at least 40 MEPs) and elected David-Maria Sassoli (S&D) in a secret ballot by a majority of MEPs, the vice- Olli Rehn (ALDE) presidents and questors serve a two-and-a-half Alexander Graf Lambsdorff (ALDE) year term (which can be renewed). Ulrike Lunacek (Greens/EFA) The 14 vice-presidents assist the president in Dimitrios Papadimoulis (GUE/NGL) carrying out his/her duties. For example, they (ECR) chair plenary meetings in his/her absence. Some Quaestors (with observer status) are assigned particular roles, such as overseeing relations with national parliaments. Elisabeth Morin-Chartier (EPP) Bogusław Liberadzki (S&D) The five quaestors are charged with the day-to- Catherine Bearder (ALDE) day running of the administration and finances (EPP) of the European Parliament. In the Bureau, they Karol Adam Karski (ECR) act as advisors and ensure that MEPs have the necessary infrastructure to do their job. It is elected by the Parliament as a whole for a renewable period of two-and-a-half years.

AmCham EU 9 FUNCTIONING OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 10 chairs andvice-chairs,rapporteursalso The politicalgroupselecttheBureau,committee general. providing administrativeback-uptotheMEPsin by drafting reports, arranging meetings and The political group secretariats assist the MEPs which ispaidthroughParliamentfunding. group hasits own secretariatthat supports MEPs, European Parliament(seepage18).Eachpolitical There aresevenpoliticalgroupingsinthe The European Parliament Simple Made 2007 -2009 2004 -2007 2002 -2004 1999 -2002 1997 -1999 1994 -1997 1992 -1994 1989 -1992 1987 -1989 1984 -1987 1982 -1984 1979 -1982 1977 -1979 1975 -1977 1973 -1975 1971 -1973 1969 -1971 1966 -1969 1965 -1966 1964 -1965 1962 -1964 1960 -1962 1958 -1960 1956 -1958 1954 -1956 1954 - 1952 -1954 Parliament presidents 2012 -Present 2009 -2012

Josep BorrellFontelles(Socialist,ES) ,(Liberal,IE) (ChristianDemocrat,FR) José MaríaGil-Robles(ChristianDemocrat,ES) Klaus Hänsch(Socialist,DE) (ChristianDemocrat,DE) Enrique BarõnCrespo(Socialist,ES) Sir HenryPlumb(Conservative,UK) (ChristianDemocrat,FR) (Socialist,NL) Simone Emilo (ChristianDemocrat,IT) George Spénale(Socialist,FR) (Liberal,NL) (Socialist,DE) (ChristianDemocrat,IT) (ChristianDemocrat,FR) (ChristianDemocrat,BE) (ChristianDemocrat,BE) (Liberal,IT) (ChristianDemocrat,DE) (ChristianDemocrat,FR) Hans Furler(ChristianDemocrat,DE) (ChristianDemocrat,IT) Alcide deGasperi(ChristianDemocrat,IT) Paul-Henri Martin Schulz(Socialist,DE) Jerzy Hans-Gert Pöttering(ChristianDemocrat, DE) Buzek (Conservative,PL) Veil (Liberal,FR) Spaak (Socialist,BE) The secretariat coordinates legislative work interpreters. EU countries.Athirdoftheseare translatorsand officials recruitedbycompetition fromallthe up ofaround4,600staff,most ofwhichare Based inLuxembourgandBrussels,itismade confusion withpoliticalgroupsecretariats. as the ‘General Secretariat’ in order to avoid by asecretary-general.Itisoftenreferredto The Parliament also has a secretariat, headed ‘General Secretariat’ European ParliamentSecretariat–the arrangements. guaranteeing thepropertaxandsocialsecurity States arehandledbyqualifiedpayingagents, EU staff.AssistantsbasedinMEPs’Member conditions of employment as non-permanent the Parliament’sadministration,withsame Brussels (or However, since2009,assistantsbasedin assistants, which they recruit themselves. MEPs arealsosupportedbyparliamentary Parliamentary assistants European Parliament. political positioningofeachgroupwithinthe The diagramonpage17representsthesizeand outside politicalgroups. MEPs sitas‘non-attached’(NI)members, Not allMEPsbelongtoapoliticalgroup.Thirty ‘Non-attached’ members To formapoliticalgroup,theremustbe: members ofcommittees. such astheEuropeanPeople’sParty(EPP). are madeupofnationalpartiesnotindividuals), affiliations ofEuropeanpoliticalparties(which regionalist parties. Somepolitical groups are of European green parties and progressive For example,theGreens/EFAgroup consists degree of cohesion as national political parties. political backgrounds,andlackthesame Political groupsthereforeincorporatediverse and thelongeritcanspeakindebates. it receives,themorekeycommitteepostsgets The larger the political group, the more funding ★★ ★★ ★★ A minimumof25MEPs. other; and Some kindofpoliticalaffinitybetweeneach EU countries); represented (i.e.MEPsfromsevendifferent At leastaquarterofallMemberStates Luxembourg/Strasbourg) fall under and organises plenary sessions and meetings. It also provides technical and expert assistance to parliamentary bodies and MEPs. As the Parliament Key positions in the Parliament operates in all 24 official languages of the EU, the secretariat also provides a comprehensive Political group chairs – The leader of a political multilingual service (i.e. translation and grouping. It is this person’s job to work with each interpreting services). Consequently, the national political party to determine the priorities European Parliament is the world’s largest and policies for the political grouping as a whole. employer of interpreters and translators. He or she chairs group meetings and acts as the spokesperson for the party. Between them and Parliamentary committees the bureau of the Parliament, they decide upon There are 20 ‘standing’ committees. These range the allocation of reports between committees and decide upon the plenary agenda. Chairs must also in size from 25 to 76 members. Each covers a

coordinate the work of party administrators. FUNCTIONING OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT specific area of the EU’s activities. Committees tend to meet in the two weeks following a Committee chairs – This MEP chairs committee Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg. The meetings and coordinates the committee work. committees prepare the work for the Parliament. The committee chairs meet with each other for the Conference of Committee Chairs to distribute Membership of the committees largely reflects reports amongst the committees. the national and political balance of the Parliament as a whole. Committee members are – When a Commission proposal is appointed through political negotiations shortly submitted to the Parliament it is allocated to a lead committee. In this committee the various political after the European elections. groups bid for the proposal. The winning political Each committee has a chair, up to four vice- party then appoints one of its MEPs to draft a report chairs and a secretariat. To distribute these posts to submit to the Parliament. This person is known as between political groups, the Parliament uses the . Other political groups will appoint a shadow rapporteur to follow the development of proportional representation. This leads to the the report closely. political groups with the most MEPs receiving the majority of the posts. Coordinators – For each committee, a political group will appoint an MEP to be their lead member. The size and therefore the importance of the This person will work closely with the group committees differs depending upon the topics administrator, bid for reports on behalf of the party with which they deal and increasingly upon the and along with rapporteurs and shadow rapporteurs powers the Parliament has in particular areas. indicate to other MEPs in their political grouping In certain areas the Parliament can only play how to vote during plenary sessions. an advisory role such as economic policy and Administrators – For each committee and for each foreign affairs. However, in other areas such as party represented in the committee, an administrator the environment, transport, energy, consumer is employed by the party to support the work of protection, public health and the internal market, the MEPs and to provide them with guidance on technical issues and/or political orientation. the Parliament is on an equal footing with the Council and therefore has an important say in what laws get adopted. Surprisingly the largest, with about 80 members, is the Foreign Affairs Committee which can only play an advisory role members, it would have 24 substitutes.) on policy. Environment is the second largest with Each political group appoints a coordinator nearly 70 members and another non-legislative for a committee. The committee coordinator committee, Constitutional Affairs, is the smallest is knowledgeable in the policy area in which with just over 20 members. The decision-making the committee deals. They guide other MEPs procedures of the institutions are explained in in the party on voting in that particular area. Chapter 4. For this reason, coordinators hold a great deal In addition to having ‘full’ members, committees of power in the Parliament. Each committee also have ‘substitute’ members. Substitutes is also followed by a member of the political are entitled to attend and speak at committee group secretariat called an administrator. They meetings and, if the full member is absent, provide administrative assistance and political to take part in the vote. There is an equal guidance to the coordinator and the MEPs. number of substitutes as full members (e.g. if All the chairs of the standing and temporary the Constitutional Affairs committee has 24 committees also meet as the Conference of

AmCham EU 11 FUNCTIONING OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 12 The European Parliament Simple Made is responsible: meeting inthecountryorcountriesforwhichit and twovice-chairsgenerallyholdsayearly MEPs. Eachdelegation/JCRisheadedbyachair Committees (JCRs) each made up of around 15 there are44delegations/JointParliamentary In additiontoparliamentarycommittees, committees (JCRs) Delegations andjointparliamentary committees and the drafting of plenary agendas. Presidents abouttheworkofparliamentary recommendations totheConferenceof committee chairs. Together they may make ★★ also generatesover20,000tonnesofCO work addsupto€200millionperyear.In2007,aEuropeanParliamentreport foundthatthe450kmcommute Altogether, itisacostlyaffair,financiallyandenvironmentally. The totalcostofmaintainingthreeplaces journalists andlobbyists. commissioners meetingintheFrenchcityonTuesdayofplenary week.Inadditiontothis,thereare European CommissionofficialsandstaffalsoregularlytraveltoStrasbourg, withthewholecollegeof28 Strasbourg. 100-litre trunks(called‘cantines’).ThesearethencollectedandtransportedbyroadtotheMEPs’ officesin Friday beforetheStrasbourgplenary,MEPs’staffpackdocumentstheyneedforweekaheadinto approximately fourtofivehoursgetfromBrusselsStrasbourgbyroadorrailandanhourplane.Every time travellingbetweenBrusselsandStrasbourgwhentheycouldjustaseasilymeetinBrussels.Ittakes there forafour-daymonthlyplenarysession.TheseareunpopularamongstMEPswhohavetospend Strasbourg andLuxembourg.TheseatisparticularlycontroversialsinceParliamentonlygoes The Parliament’s multiple locations (‘seats’) pose arecurring controversy. Ithasthree official seats:Brussels, The ‘non-negotiable’. not keento opendiscussions, withformer French saying theStrasbourg president Sarkozy seat was Nicholas and complexprocess. The French andLuxembourgish governments have already made it clearthat theyare States. Havingspentmanyyearsdiscussing theLisbonTreaty,fewarekeentoembarkonanotherlengthy institutions canonlybealteredthrough achangeintheEUtreatiesandunanimousvotefromMember Member State governmentsare reluctant to tackle the issue because geographical locations of the by MEPs by sessions wastheEuropean overturned of Justice in to Court combine two plenary MEP CeciliaMalmströmdrewoveronemillionsignatures,butitfailed to leadanychange.A2011attempt 2006,the‘oneseat’campaignorganisedbythen Despite thesecosts,thecontroversylookssettocontinue.In instead ofStrasbourg,aftertheceilinginStrasbourgbuildingcollapsed. the Parliamentdirectlysavedbetween€3-4millionwhenittemporarily heldtwoplenarysessionsinBrussels Israel, theUS,etc.);and that havenotappliedforEUmembership(e.g. develop relationshipswithnon-EUcountries Interparliamentary Strasbourg ‘travelling circus’Strasbourg ‘travelling delegations, which 2 ayear,damagingtheenvironmentandEU’scredibility.In2008, countries. neighbouring countries(EURONEST)andNATO (EMPA), LatinAmerica(EUROLAT),EU’seastern Pacific States(ACP-EUJPA),theMediterranean parliamentarians fromAfrican,Caribbeanand assemblies, whichbringtogetherMEPsand Parliament alsohasfivemultilateral activities. Duringaplenarysession,MEPsdebate sessions’) arethehighpointofParliament’s Plenary sessions(alsoreferredtoasa‘part- Plenaries ★★ EU (e.g.Turkey, that haveAssociationAgreementswiththe have appliedformembershipoftheEU,or which worktogetherwithcountriesthat Joint parliamentary committees (JCRs), The ParliamentbuildinginStrasbourg Albania, etc). Monthly cycle for an MEP

Committee meetings. MEPs sit with their committees and debate reports going through Parliament. They Week 1 will work from a report drafted by one of the MEPs (the rapporteur) and propose amendments.

Committee meetings continue but there is often a two-day ‘mini plenary’ held in Brussels during which Week 2 MEPs will vote on reports not covered in the last plenary in Strasbourg.

Group meetings. MEPs debate the reports in their groups and advise fellow MEPs of major issues arising Week 3 in their committees. They will recommend which way to vote on controversial or important issues ahead of FUNCTIONING OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT the plenary and suggest any amendments for the group to put .

Plenary session in Strasbourg. Plenaries are the highpoint in the Parliament’s work - where all the work done by the committees and political groups culminates and all proposals for laws are adopted or rejected by the Parliament and amendments are voted upon. MEPs also debate issues with key EU figures, Week 4 such as the Commission President or a head of government/state from the Member State holding the EU Presidency. In the four-day Strasbourg plenary (Monday-Thursday), the most important days are Tuesday and Wednesday. and vote on all the proposals going through the the Conference of Presidents of the political Parliament. groups. The Conference of Committee Chairs (composed of the chairs of all the standing Parliament holds a four-day plenary session and temporary parliamentary committees) can (from Monday to Thursday) every month also make recommendations for the plenary (except August) at its Strasbourg seat. It also agenda. holds two-day ‘mini’ plenary sessions in Brussels (Wednesday and Thursday) six times a year. Committee meetings Plenaries are chaired by the president (or by Committee meetings are mainly held in one of the 14 vice-presidents). He/she ensures Brussels. Committee meetings allow MEPs from that the proceedings and voting are correctly a range of political groups who have a particular conducted. Commissioners and representatives interest in a policy area to examine the merits from the Council (i.e. ministers from the Member of Commission proposals and advise their State holding the Council presidency) also colleagues in their political groups accordingly. attend and take part in the debate with MEPs. Working patterns The plenary agenda is prepared in detail by MEPs and Parliament staff divide their work between Strasbourg, Brussels and their constituency according to their monthly working rhythm: a one-week plenary session Distribution of committee chairs (Strasbourg), and three additional four- The number of chair positions held by each day sessions (Brussels), made up of one to political group is shown below: two weeks per month of committee work in preparation for each plenary session (Brussels) EPP 8 and one week per month of political group S&D 7 meetings (usually held in Brussels but can be held in other Member States on occasion). ALDE 3 ECR 2 Generally MEPs arrive in Brussels on Monday and go back to their constituency on Thursday Greens/EFA 1 afternoon. If it is a Strasbourg week, they will GUE/NGL 1 travel to Strasbourg on Monday morning and leave either Thursday night or Friday morning.

AmCham EU 13 FUNCTIONING OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 14 The European Parliament Simple Made a particularsubject. by theMEP,suchasorderinganexpertstudyon used forservicesfromserviceproviderschosen themselves. Up to a quarter of this budget can be MEP. NoneofthesefundsarepaidtotheMEP available for employing staff is €21,209 per From 2014,themaximummonthlyamount register atthemeeting. provided that they signed the official attendance when theyattendmeetingsoutsidetheEU;again, plus accommodationandbreakfastexpenses, eligible for a €152 daily subsistence allowance, a registerinordertoreceiveit.MEPsarealso involved in such attendance. MEPs have to sign accommodation, mealsandallotherexpenses parliamentary meetingswithintheEU.Itcovers – currently€304forattendingofficial MEPs alsogetadailysubsistenceallowance MEPs canclaimamaximumof€4,243peryear. paid. FortraveloutsidetheirownMemberStates, class onrail)andwillbereimbursedforwhatthey ticket (whichcanbebusinessclassonair,orfirst under thenewrulestheywillhavetosubmittheir flight even if they flew with a discount airline. But past, theycouldclaimforanexpensivefirstclass official dutiesinBrusselsandStrasbourg.Inthe In addition,MEPscanclaimtravelrelatedtotheir their constituencies. month tocoverthecostofrunninganofficein get aflat-ratemonthlyallowanceof€4,299per subject thesalarytonationaltaxes).Theyalso and accidentinsurance.MemberStatescanalso Justice (€8,020.53 in 2014; €6,250.37 after EUtax the salaryofajudgeatEuropeanCourt monthly grosssalarythatissetat38.5%of From nowon,allMEPsreceiveastandard introduced. elections, anewsalaryandexpensessystemwas €840 permonth.AftertheJune2009European worst offcomparedtotheirpeers,receivingonly new MemberStates.HungarianMEPswerethe – andabout14timesmorethanMEPsfromsome four timesmorethantheirSpanishcounterparts Italian MEPsearnedaround€12,000permonth, members of theirnational parliaments. As a result, Until 2009MEPsreceivedthesamesalaryas MEPs’ salariesandexpenses Parliament hasnowbeen: As aresultoftheLisbonTreaty,European the EuropeanParliament Impact oftheLisbonTreatyon ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ procedure e.g.trade,agriculture; areas whicharesubjecttothecodecision international agreement encompassing Granted the power of consent over any and agriculture; fields offreedom,securityandjustice,trade 50 newpolicyareas,mostsignificantlyinthe ordinary procedure’)toincludeapproximately extends theuseofcodecision(nowcalled‘the of EUlegislativeissues.TheLisbonTreaty co-legislator, decidingonthevastmajority Placed onequalfootingwiththeCouncilas in 2013. of theLisbonTreatyandCroatianaccession June 2014,asaresultoftheimplementation temporarily andexceptionallyto766until the numberofMEPsinParliamenthasrisen Nice Treaty,therewere736MEPs).However, The numberofMEPssetat751(underthe consent; and and Security P olicy requires the Parliament’s the HighRepresentativeforForeignAffairs its consent.Meanwhile,theappointmentof Previously, Parliamentwasonlyaskedtogive which isnominatedbytheEuropeanCouncil. the PresidentofEuropeanCommission, Given greateroversightpower:MEPselect budget together; and theParliamentdecideentireEU compulsory’ expenditure.Now,theCouncil distinction between‘compulsory’and‘non- budget, following the removal of the EU Given agreaterroleinthesettingof CHAPTER 2:

THE 8TH EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT THE 8TH EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 16 The European Parliament Simple Made and JusticePartytheCzechCivicDemocraticParty. members, makingitthethird-largestgroupinEuropeanParliament.ThelargestpartiesareBritishConservativeParty,PolishLaw of eurosceptic sentiment to increase their seats in the European Parliament. Established shortly after the 2009 elections, the group currently comprises 70 The EuropeanConservativesandReformistsisaeurosceptic,anti-federalist,conservativepoliticalgroupintheParliament,rodewave new FiveStarMovementinItaly. increased euroscepticismintherun-uptoEuropeanelections.TheGroupholds48seats,upfrom 32,andpartofitssuccessisduetothe (IND/DEM) andUnionforaEuropeoftheNations(UEN)groupforgednewallianceasbothgroups. Thisgroupwasperhapsthebiggestbeneficiaryof This staunchlyEuroscepticandanti-federalistgroupwasestablishedfollowingthe2009elections whenMEPsfromtheIndependenceandDemocracy Catalonia. The Greens area combination of environmental parties and smaller regionalist parties suchasPlaid Cymru from Wales and Iniciativa PerCatalunya from 50 seats,downfrom58.Asinpreviouselections,thegrouphassignificantsupportGermany, plusanumberofseatsinFranceandtheUKaswell. The fifthlargestpoliticalgroupintheEuropeanParliament,Greens/EuropeanFreeAlliance had adisappointingelectioncampaignin2014,winning number ofindependentMEPswhosimplychose nottobeapartofonethetraditionalpoliticalgroups Coalition) Romania’sPartidulRomâniaMareand Italy’s LegaNord,allofwhomcampaignonaright-winganti-immigration agenda. Inaddition,there area There are52non-attachedMEPsintheEuropean Parliament.GroupssuchastheAustrianFreedomParty,FrenchNationalFront,Bulgaria’sAtaka(Attack elections duetoastrongshowinginbothItalyandtheUnitedKingdom. members from all EU Member States. The party chair is ,an Italian Social Democrat. Their share of the seats increased by 0.4% in the 2014 The secondlargestgroupingintheParliamentwith191MEPs.S&Dismadeupofleft-leaningsocialistandlabourpartiesandonlygroup defection oftheRomanianNationalLiberalPartytoEPPGroup. election yearfortheALDEastheirtotalnumberfellfrom83seatsto67,dueinlargepartapoorshowingbyBritishLiberal-Democratsandpartial ALDE holdsthecentreground intheEuropeanParliament.ThegroupincludesMEPsfromliberalpartiesacrossEurope.2014representedanunsuccessful seats riseinthelastelection. parties thatretaincontroloftheirMEPs.Therefore,thegrouptendstobedividedoncertainissues. Withatotalof52MEPs,thisgroupsawitsproportion made upofMEPsfromtheNordicGreenLeftAlliancepartiesSwedenandFinland.TheGUE/NGL isaconfederalgroupcomposedofMEPsfromnational The groupunitestheEuropeanUnitedLeftsubgroup,comprisedofCommunistandSocialistpartiesfromacrossEurope,NordicGreen Non-attached members(NI) Europe ofFreedomandDirectDemocracy(EFDD) Greens/European FreeAlliance(Greens/EFA) European UnitedLeft/NordicGreenLeft(GUE/NGL) Alliance ofLiberalsandDemocratsforEurope(ALDE) European ConservativesandReformists(ECR) Progressive AllianceofSocialistsandDemocrats(S&D) European People’sParty(EPP) Political groups2014-2019 Conservatives andReformistsgroup. Democrats (ED),alooseassociationofEuroscepticparties.TheEPP-EDarrangementendedin2009,whentheEDpartieslefttoformEuropean popular parties.From1999to2009,thegroupwasknownasEuropeanPeople’sParty–Democrats(EPP-ED),itincluded The largestgroupingintheParliamentwith221MEPs.Itiscomprisedofcentreandcentre-rightpartiessuchasChristiandemocrats,conservatives ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ European Parliamentcommittees Political groups Composition oftheEuropeanParliament In thischapter:In

Composition of the European Parliament

Result of the European election, 2014

ALDE: 67 EPP: 221

S&D: 191

ECR: 70

Greens/ EFDD: 48 EFA: 50 Non- GUE: 52 attached: 52

751 MEPs

In the European Parliament, national political theory is that this is due to MEPs being too far

parties come under European umbrella parties removed from his or her constituents, resulting THE 8THEUROPEANPARLIAMENT according to their political affiliation. To form in voters not connecting with the MEPs. For a political group, there must be at least seven example, in Germany each MEP represents of the Member States represented, a political 840,000 constituents. Even in Luxembourg, affinity between national parties, and a which has the smallest constituency, each MEP minimum of 25 MEPs. MEPs work largely along political lines rather than along national lines represents approximately 76,500 constituents. as one might expect. Only very occasionally While much of the electorate will vote on do MEPs go against their political grouping national issues rather than European ones, and usually only when particular issues are of national importance. in many pro-European Member States there is often not much difference between the While turnout was disappointing in many of national parties on positions towards the the Central and Eastern European countries, European Union. In other Member States, many of the older Member States actually especially the more eurosceptic ones, experienced a growth in voter turnout as a campaigning often comes down to pro-Europe whole. Slovakia had the dubious honour of versus anti-Europe stances. This, mixed with the worst voter turnout in a European election voter apathy, often gives rise to the emergence with only 13% of the country’s population of of eurosceptic, anti-federalist parties that do voting age casting a vote. Poland, the largest not normally feature in national politics such as of the incoming Member States, registered the Independence Party and a turnout of 22.7%. Although compared to the Catholic League of Polish Families and Self national elections the turnout was poor, it Defence in Poland. was in fact no worse than at local or regional elections. Voters often use the European elections to protest against a governing party. In 2014, the On average it is estimated that there was British parties both lost approximately a 20% reduction in turnout for group to UKIP. France’s governing Socialist the European elections compared with the Party lost out to Marine LePen’s National preceding national general elections. One Front, which won the election in France.

AmCham EU 17 THE 8TH EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 18 The European Parliament Simple Made Breakdown oftheEuropean Parliament (2014-2019) and aneedtofindstablemajority. membership giventheriseofeurosceptics a numberofpartiesre-evaluatedtheirgroup growth amongnon-attachedparties.Inaddition, of newpartieswerereturnedandtherewas euroscepticsm beforetheelections,anumber political parties acrosstheEU. With a waveof to newformationsandalliancesamong changes tothepoliticalgroupingsasaresponse The EuropeanelectioninMay2014sawseveral Austria Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Latvia Italy Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Portugal Poland Romania Slovakia Slovenia Sweden Spain Political groups United Kingdom TOTAL P S&D EPP 2 9 75 05 852 48 52 70 50 67 191 221 013 20 427 34 12 731 17 23 516 15 714 17 5 4 7 5 2 7 1 1 3 5 4 4 2 3 3 5 7 6 5 4 - 20 5 4 4 2 2 4 3 1 2 4 4 1 1 2 1 3 3 5 8 4 1 6 ALDE 1 6 4 2 4 3 3 4 7 4 1 3 1 7 2 1 1 1 8 3 1 ------GREENS/EFA 13 3 2 1 0 1 1 1 6 2 1 1 1 2 1 4 4 6 ------of theEuropeanelections.Assuch,Junckerwas national leaderstotakeintoaccounttheresults by theParliament,Lisbon Treaty required appointed bytheEuropeanCouncilandpproved prime ministerofLuxembourg.Thoughofficially by President Jean-Claude Juncker, the former the presidencyofEuropeanCommissionled in thenewinsititutions.TheEPPcurrentlyholds Parliament andisexpectedtohaveamajorrole parties, isthelargestpartyinEuropean The EPP,consistingofcentre-right,pro-integration - C U/G FDNI EFDD GUE/NGL ECR 19 20 4 2 1 2 4 2 8 1 1 1 1 2 2 ------11 2 3 1 1 8 4 6 4 3 3 4 1 1 ------17 24 1 1 1 2 2 ------23 4 1 2 5 3 5 4 4 1 ------supported by the European Parliament and was succeeded in forming a political group under appointed by , despite the the European Parliament’s rules. lack of support from the UK’s and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, who believed that The Alliance of and Democrats for appointing the EPP’s ‘spitzenkandidat’ gave the Europe (ALDE), the fourth largest party in the Parliament too much power over the Member European Parliament is composed of European States. liberal parties and some members of the former Union for European Nations (mostly centre- The second largest party in the European right parties). The 2014 elections saw the return Parliament is the Progressive Alliance of Socialists of the ALDE group with 67 seats. and Democrats (S&D), which encompasses political parties from the former Party of European The GUE/NGL is the fifth grouping composed Socialists (PES) and the ED wing of the former of MEPs from left-wing national parties. The EPP-ED. Being the second largest party, the S&D group has the chairmanship of one committee. formed an informal ‘grand coalition’ with the EPP Overall the group has a limited reach with just and ALDE and thereby assumed the presidency under 7% of the seats. of the institution in exchange for supporting the The sixth largest group in the European EPP candidate for president of the Commission. Parliament, the Greens-European Free Alliance (Green/EFA) consists of two distinct European The European Conservative and Reformist (ECR) political parties - the party is the third largest party and is composed (EGP) and the European Free Alliance (EFA). The of the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom, alliance has generally limited its membership to (PiS) of Poland, and Alternative progressive parties. These European parties are for Germany (AFD) of Germany. In addition to joined by national parties, such as Dutch Europe these three parties, MEPs representing twelve Transparent (between 2004 and 2009) and the other countries are also members of the ECR. Swedish (since 2009). The ECR grouping was formed after the EPP-ED The remaining EFDD and the NA together grouping was deemed to be too federalist and have just over 13% of the seats and are not critical enough of the EU establishment. characterised by activist and protest votes on the far right. The latter does not meet the

Although the change came into effect just ahead THE 8THEUROPEANPARLIAMENT threshold to form a group in the European of the 2009 elections, the ECR grouping dates Parliament, leaving MEPs to vote on an back to 2005, and possibly earlier. Members of the ad hoc basis and without any chairmanships of ECR were already informally working together in committees or delegations. the Movement for European Reform but had not

The structure of the European Parliament

751 MEPS

Secretariat Bureau 1 secretary- 7 Political Groups president + 14 vice-presidents + 52 non-attached MEPs general + + 5 quaestors 10 directorates- general Enlarged Bureau

Bureau members + chairs of the 7 political groups

44 interparliamentary 20 committees delegations and joint 2 subcommittees parliamentary assemblies

AmCham EU 19 THE 8TH EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 20 The European Parliament Simple Made 2 03 24 12 5 34 20 3 1 1 7 2 5 7 4 5 221 9 32 1 4 4 27 13 2 1 3 4 2 2 4 4 5 191 EU EU 7423352 5651 - 4 17 5 6 15 7 23 5 3 3 2 4 17 112133581 4620 6 14 1 4 16 8 5 3 3 1 2 1 31 IT IT AT LV AT LV EB HR BG BE EB HR BG BE LT LT LU Group chair:ManfredWeber(Germany,ChristianSocialUnion) Reformists, withotherEuropeanpartiesopposedtotheTreatyofLisbon. Conservatives lefttheEPPgrouptoformanotherpoliticalgrouping,Europeanand group intheParliamentdespitelosingUKConservatives.Afterelections,DavidCameron’sBritish 2014 Demokratischen UnionDeutschlands)andFrance’sUMP(UnionpourunMouvementPopulaire). Composition: Centre and centre-right parties suchasGermany’s Christian Democrats (Christlich belongs toapartyaffiliatedtheEPPgroup. It isalsoastrongpoliticalforceintheEUinstitutions.ThePresidentofEuropeanCommission Position intheParliament: ThelargestgroupingintheParliamentwith221MEPs. The LU Group chair:GianniPittella(Italy,DemocraticParty). However, overallthegroupdidwell,winningadditionalseatsinItalyandUK. 2014 group tohaveMEPsfromall28MemberStates. socialist andlabourpartiesfromtheformerPartyofEuropeanSocialists(PES).Itisonlypolitical Composition: Formedafterthe2009Europeanelections,S&Dismadeupofleft-leaning Position intheParliament: SecondlargestgroupingintheParliamentwith191MEPs. and Democrats (S&D) The Progressive Alliance ofSocialists : The EPP Europeanwon a clear victory retaining their position as the largest political elections European People’s (EPP) Party : TheS&D’sshareoftheseatsdroppedslighlty,losingthreeseats. European elections MT MT CY LP PT PL NL CY LP PT PL NL ZD EF RD LH IE HU EL DE FR FI EE DK CZ ZD EF RD LH IE HU EL DE FR FI EE DK CZ RO RO KS SS UK SE ES SI SK KS SS UK SE ES SI SK

European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR)

Position in the European Parliament: Established shortly after the 2009 European elections, the group currently comprises 70 members, making it the third-largest group in the European Parliament. Composition: The European Conservatives and Reformists is a eurosceptic, anti-federalist, conservative political group in the European Parliament. The largest parties in the group are the British Conservative Party, the Polish Law and Justice Party, the German , and the Czech Civic . 2014 European elections: Riding a wave of , the ECR did very well in the 2014 elections, gaining 14 seats and becoming the third largest group in the Parliament. Group chair: (UK, Conservative Party).

EU AT BE BG HR CY CZ DK EE FI FR DE EL HU IE 70 - 4 2 1 - 2 4 - 2 - 8 1 - 1

IT LV LT LU MT NL PL PT RO SK SI ES SE UK 0 1 1 - - 2 19 - - 2 - - - 20 THE 8THEUROPEANPARLIAMENT

The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE)

Position in the Parliament: Holds the centre ground in the European Parliament. Composition: The group has 68 MEPs from liberal parties around Europe. 2014 European elections: Proportionally, ALDE lost out significantly in the 2014 election, being knocked down to fourth place, from third. The party suffered from poor results in the UK and Germany, in addition to the Romanian National defecting to the EPP. Group chair: (Belgium, Open-VLD).

EU AT BE BG HR CY CZ DK EE FI FR DE EL HU IE 68 1 6 4 2 - 4 3 3 4 7 4 - - 1

IT LV LT LU MT NL PL PT RO SK SI ES SE UK --31-7-2111831

AmCham EU 21 The Confederal Group of European / Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL)

Position in the European Parliament: The GUE/NGL is the 5th largest group with 52 MEPs. Composition: The GUE/NGL is a confederal group uniting two small groups: European United Left, comprised of Communist and Socialist parties from across Europe; and the Nordic Green Left, made up of MEPs from the Nordic Green Left Alliance parties of Sweden and Finland. The group therefore tends to be divided on certain issues. 2014 European elections: With a total of 52 MEPs, this group saw its proportion of seats inrease in the last election. Group chair: Gabriele Zimmer (Germany, Die Linke).

EU AT BE BG HR CY CZ DK EE FI FR DE EL HU IE 52 - - - - 2 3 1 - 1 4 8 6 - 4

IT LV LT LU MT NL PL PT RO SK SI ES SE UK 3 - - - - 3 - 4 - - - 11 1 1

The Greens / European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA)

Position in the Parliament: Sixth largest political group in the European Parliament with 50 MEPs. Composition: The Greens/EFA are a combination of environmental parties and smaller regionalist parties, such as Plaid Cymru from Wales in the United Kingdom and Iniciativa Per Catalunya from Catalonia in Spain. 2014 European Elections: The group lost ground during the 2014 election, losing eight seats. Group chair: The group is co-chaired by (Belgium, Ecolo) and (Germany, Bündis 90/Die Grünen).

EU AT BE BG HR CY CZ DK EE FI FR DE EL HU IE 50 3 2 - 1 - - 1 1 1 6 13 - 2 -

IT LV LT LU MT NL PL PT RO SK SI ES SE UK -111-2----1446

22 The European Parliament Made Simple Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy Group (EFDD)

Position in the European Parliament: Staunchly Eurosceptic and anti-federalist. Composition: The group is composed of MEPs from eurosceptic and protest parties. In addition to established parties such as the UK Independence Party, it also includes new protest parties such as the Italian Five Star Movement. 2014 European elections: The group was highly successful in the UK and was able to increase its seat share with new members like the Italian Five Star Movement, though it lost out from parties leaving, including the Italian Northern League. Group chair: The group is co-chaired by Nigel Farage (UK Independence Party) and David Borrelli (Italy, Muovimento Cinque Stelle).

EU AT BE BG HR CY CZ DK EE FI FR DE EL HU IE 48 - - - - - 1 - - - 1 - - - -

IT LV LT LU MT NL PL PT RO SK SI ES SE UK 17 1 2 ------2 24

Non-attached MEPs (NIs)

Position in the European Parliament: There are 52 non-attached MEPs in the European Parliament who do not belong to a political group. Composition: Political parties such as the Austrian Freedom Party, the French National Front, Belgium’s Vlaams Belang, THE 8THEUROPEANPARLIAMENT Bulgaria’s Ataka (Attack Coalition), Romania’s Partidul România Mare and the UK’s British National Party (BNP) all of whom campaign on a right-wing anti-immigration agenda. There are also some non-attached independent MEPs s

EU AT BE BG HR CY CZ DK EE FI FR DE EL HU IE 52 4 1 ------23 2 5 3 -

IT LV LT LU MT NL PL PT RO SK SI ES SE UK 50---44------1

Conference of Presidents

President ★★ Syed Kamall (Chair, ECR, UK) ★★ Martin Schulz (Chair, DE) ★★ Gabriele Zimmer (Chair, GUE/NGL, DE) ★★ David Borrelli (Co-chair, EFDD, IT) Members ★★ Nigel Farage (Co-chair, EFDD, UK) ★★ , (Chair, EPP, DEs) ★★ Gianni Pittella (Chair, S&D, IT) The Conference of Presidents is made up of group ★★ Guy Verhofstadt (Chair, ALDE, BE) leaders. Their main role is to draw up the agenda for ★★ Rebecca Harms (Co-Chair, Greens/EFA, DE) plenary sessions and decide on the composition and ★★ Philippe Lamberts (Co-Chair, Greens/EFA, BE) remits of committees and delegations.

AmCham EU 23 THE 8TH EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 24 The European Parliament Simple Made President NicolasSarkozy. minister, aswasformerFrench before hebecameItalianprime Silvio BerlusconiwasanMEP ★ ★ ★ But this is byno ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ notably: There arealsosomeformerprimeministers, cabinet asministerforimmigration. in ItalianhistorywhoservedEnricoLetta’s such as Cecile Kyenge, the first black minister 2019), some are Among theMEPsinnewParliament(2014- democratic voiceoftheEuropeanParliament. of backgrounds,afactorthataddstothe to thecommissioners.Theycomefromavariety The MEPstendtobeamorevariedmixcompared ★ Parliament: commissioners among the members of the new There are also a few Brandt (MEPfrom1979-1983). 1989-1993) andformerGermanchancellorWilly president ValéryGiscardd’Estaing(MEPfrom Parliaments haveincludedtheformerFrench Who are theMEPs? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Commissioner forRegionalPolicy Danuta Hübner(Poland)–former President oftheCommission for IndustryandEntrepreneurshipVice- (Italy)-formerCommissioner Commission for MonetaryAffairsandVice-Presidentofthe Olli Rehn(Finland)–formerCommissioner Theodor Stolojan(Romania–1991-92) Anneli Jäätteenmäki(Finland–2003) (Poland–1997-2001) Guy Verhofstadt(Belgium–1992-99) 1992) Alojz Peterle(Slovenia–primeminister1990- Humanitarian Aid Commissioner forDevelopment and Louis Michel(Belgium)–former former governmentministers,

means newas previous dictator BenitoMussolini. the granddaughterofItalian Alessandra MussoliniMEPis former European Minister ofRomania. wife ofVictorPonta,Prime Daciana SârbuMEPisthe she waselectedanMEPin1999. young, howeverIlkeSchröder from theDanishPeople’sParty. Thismayseem youngest is26year-oldAnders PrimdahlVistisen was himselfapoliticalprisoner for16years.The authority ontheGreekresistance movementand years old.Geizosisconsideredthegreatestliving newly-elected ManolisGeizosofGreece,whois92 2014 class of MEPs –66 years . Theoldestis There isalsoquiteanagespreadamongthe and modelbeforeenteringpolitics. of actressSophiaLoren,Mussoliniwasan infamous Italianfascistdictator.Alsotheniece Alessandra Mussolini,thegranddaughterof several generations.AmongthenewMEPsis For other,thepoliticalbloodlinestretchesback foreign ministerCarlBildt. Anna Maria Corazza Bildt is the wife of Swedish conservative PolishMEP.ModerateSwedishMEP Polish Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa, sits as a Victor Ponta.JarosławWałęsa,thesonof is thewifeofprimeministerRomania, the newParliamentforexample,DaciânaSarbu For some,beingapoliticianisfamilyaffair.In models beforemovingintopolitics. Barbara Matera(Italy)wereTVpresentersand station. OtherslikeElisabettaGardini(Italy)and anchor forMegaChannel,atopGreektelevision Repubblica; andEvaKaili(Greece),formernews the DailyExpress;MichelaGiuffrida(Italy)ofLa (United Kingdom),formerPoliticalEditorfor fashion models. These includePatrickO’Flynn musicians, sportsstars,TVpresentersand teachers, farmers,architects,journalists, backgrounds includingdoctors,lawyers, Other MEPshavecomefromanumberof ★ ★ Commissioner ofJustice (Luxembourg)–former MEP in1999. 21 whenshewaselectedan Ilke SchröderMEPwasonly was only21when

European Parliament committees

Committee Acronym Chair Vice- Chairs

Ryszard Legutko (ECR, Poland) Javier Couso Permuy (GUE/NGL, Spain) Foreign Affairs (AFET) (EPP, Germany) Ioan Paşcu (S&D, Romania) Andrej Plenković (EPP, Croatia)

The Foreign Affairs Committee is responsible for the common foreign and security policy (CFSP) and the European security and defence policy (ESDP). It addition, it acts to strengthen the EU’s political relations with third countries, negotiates the accession of European states to the EU, and deals with issues concerning human rights and the promotion and protection of democratic values in third countries.

Maurice Ponga (EPP, France) Linda McAvan Paavo Väyrynen (ALDE, Finland) Development (DEVE) (S&D, UK) Kostas Chrysogonos (GUE/NGL, Greece) Nirj Deva (ECR, UK)

The Development Committee is responsible for promoting, implementing and monitoring the development and cooperation policy of the EU, notably talks with developing countries; aid to developing countries; and promotion of democratic values, good governance and human rights in developing countries.

Tokia Saïfi (EPP, France) Yannick Jadot (Greens/EFA, France) International Trade (INTA) (S&D, Germany) (EPP, Romania) (ECR, Czech Republic)

The International Trade Committee is responsible for matters relating to the establishment and implementation of the EU’s common commercial policy and its external economic relations, in particular with the WTO and trade relations with third countries and regional organisations. THE 8THEUROPEANPARLIAMENT (EPP, Finland) (S&D, Germany) Budgets (BUDG) (ALDE, France) Siegfried Mureşan (EPP, Romania) Patricija Šulin (EPP, Slovenia)

The Budgets Committee is responsible for the multiannual financial framework of the EU’s revenue and expenditure and the EU’s system of own resources. It also oversees the Parliament’s budgetary prerogatives, namely the budget of the EU and implementation of interinstitutional agreements in this field.

Derek Vaughan (S&D, UK) Ingeborg Grässle Igor Šoltes (Greens/EFA, Slovenia) Budgetary Control (CONT) (EPP, Germany) Martina Dlabajová (ALDE, Czech Republic) (S&D, Romania)

The Budgetary Control Committee is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the EU’s budget, ensuring that taxpayers’ money is spent efficiently, effectively and according to EU law. It audits the accounts of EU institutions and suggests improvements in order to ensure sound financial management.

Markus Ferber (EPP, Germany) Economic and Roberto Gualtieri (ECON) (S&D, Germany) Monetary Affairs (S&D, Italy) (ECR, Belgium)

The most important function of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee is in relation to the (ECB). The ECB is accountable for its actions to ECON. Every three months, the president of the ECB appears before the Committee to report on monetary policy; both actions taken and future prospects.

AmCham EU * Correct as of 15 September 2014 25 THE 8TH EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 26 The European Parliament Simple Made with outermostandislandregionsofthe EU. Development Fund,theimpactofEUpolicies onregionalaffairs,coordinationoftheEU’sstructuralinstrumentsandcooperatio n The RegionalDevelopmentCommittee isresponsibleforregionalandcohesionpolicy,inparticulartheEuropeanRegional Regional Development networks oftourism,aswelltransportsafety. inland waterways,maritimeandairtransport.Inaddition,itpromotestheestablishment anddevelopmentoftrans-European The TransportandTourismCommitteeisresponsible for mattersrelatingtothedevelopment ofacommonpolicyforrail,road, Transport andTourism the establishmentofinternalmarket. functioning oftheinternalmarket;andpromotionprotectioneconomicinterestsconsumersincontext legislation inthesphereofinternalmarketandcustomsunion,identificationremovalpotentialobstaclesto The InternalMarketandConsumerProtectionCommitteeisresponsibleforthecoordinationatCommunitylevelofnational Consumer Protection Internal Marketand and Measurements,aswellsimilarprojects. European SpaceAgency.IthasoversightdutiesinrelationtotheJointResearchCentreandInstituteforReferenceMaterials manufacturing, information technology andtelecommunications. It alsocoordinates European spacepolicyandhastieswiththe The Industry,ResearchandEnergyCommittee’sareasofresponsibilityrelatetoindustry,especiallytechnology-intensive and Energy Industry, Research European FoodSafetyAuthority. Medicines AgencyandEuropeanCentre for Disease Prevention andControl;foodsafetyissues,includingoversightofthe measures, includingoversightoftheEuropeanEnvironmentAgency;publichealth, The Environment,PublicHealthandFoodCommitteeisresponsibleforenvironmentalpolicyprotection Health andFoodSafety Environment, Public dialogue, thefreemovementofworkersandEuropeanSocialFund. as workingconditions,socialsecurityandprotection,healthsafetymeasuresintheworkplace,vocationaltraining,social The EmploymentandSocial Affairs Committee is responsible for EUemployment policy and all aspectsof social policy,such Social Affairs Employment and omte coy Chair Acronym Committee (REGI) (TRAN) (IMCO) (ITRE) (ENVI) (EMPL) Iskra Mihaylova Michael CramerMichael Thomas Händel Giovanni La ViaLa Giovanni (ALDE, Bulgaria) , Poland) (EPP, (Greens/EFA, Jerzy Buzek Jerzy Vicky Ford (GUE/NGL, (EPP, Italy) Germany) Germany) (ECR, UK) (S&D,Italy) (EPP,Germany) Stanislav Polčák(EPP,CzechRepublic) Younous Omarjee(GUE/NGL,France) István Ujhelyi(S&D,Hungary) Tomasz Poręba(ECR,Poland) Dieter-Lebrecht Koch(EPP,Germany) (ALDE,France) Sergio Cofferati(S&D,Italy) Catherine Stihler(S&D,UK) Robert Rochefort(ALDE,France) Anna MariaCorazzaBildt(EPP,Sweden) Morten Petersen(ALDE,Denmark) Miloslav Ransdorf(GUE/NGL,CzechRepublic) Hans-Olaf Henkel(ECR,Germany) (S&D,Italy) Gilles Pargneaux(S&D,France) Pavel Poc(S&D,CzechRepublic) Daciana Sârbu(S&D,Romania) Benedek Jávor(Greens/EFA,Hungary) (S&D,Netherlands) Ulla Tørnæs(ALDE,Denmark) Danuta Jazłowiecka(EPP,Poland) Marita Ulvskog(S&D,Sweden) Vice- Chairs Committee Acronym Chair Vice- Chairs

Eric Andrieu (S&D, France) Czesław Agriculture and Janusz Wojciechowski (ECR, Poland) (AGRI) Siekierski Rural Development (EPP, Poland) Clara Aguilera García (S&D, Spain) Viorica Dăncilă (S&D, Romania)

The Agriculture and Rural Development Committee is responsible for the operation and development of the common agricultural policy (CAP); legislation on veterinary and plant-health matters, and animal husbandry; improvements in the quality of agricultural products; supplies of raw materials for agriculture; and the Community Plant Variety Office Forestry.

Isabella Lövin (Greens/EFA, Sweden) Alain Cadec Jarosław Wałęsa (EPP, Poland) Fisheries (FISH) (EPP, France) (EPP, Germany) Renata Briano (S&D, Italy)

The Fisheries Committee’s responsibilities relate to the operation and development of the , the conservation of fishery resources, structural policy in the fisheries and aquaculture sectors, and the common organisation of the fisheries products market.

Andrea Bocskor (EPP, Hungary) Silvia Costa Mircea Diaconu (ALDE, Romania) Culture and Education (CULT) (S&D, Italy) Helga Trüpel (Greens/EFA, Germany) Michaela Šojdrová (EPP, Czech Republic)

The Culture and Education Committee is responsible for safeguarding cultural , cultural exchange and artistic creation of the nations in the EU; reviewing the Union’s education policy, both in education systems and in lifelong-learning programmes, such as museums and libraries; and the development of a sports and leisure policy.

Lidia Geringer de Oedenberg (S&D, Poland) Pavel Svoboda Jean-Marie Cavada (ALDE, France) THE 8THEUROPEANPARLIAMENT Legal Affairs (JURI) (EPP, Czech Republic) (EPP, Germany) Mady Delvaux (S&D, Luxembourg)

The Legal Affairs Committee is responsible for the interpretation and application of European law, compliance of EU acts with primary law, the interpretation of international law in its relation to the EU, and the simplification of Community law.

Kinga Gál (EPP, Hungary) Civil Liberties, Justice Claude Moraes Iliana Iotova (S&D, Bulgaria) (LIBE) and Home Affairs (S&D, UK) Jan Albrecht (Greens/EFA, Germany) Barbara Kudrycka (EPP, Poland)

The Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee is responsible for the protection of citizens’, human and fundamental rights within the EU, including the protection of minorities. It also promotes legislation for the protection of natural persons and developing the scope of freedom, security and justice in the EU.

Barbara Spinelli (GUE/NGL, Italy) Danuta Hübner (S&D, Portugal) Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) (EPP, Poland) Kazimierz Ujazdowski (ECR, Poland) (EPP, Portugal)

The Constitutional Affairs Committee is responsible for dealing with institutional matters such as the Treaties of the European Union and the Parliament’s rules of procedure. In addition, it also deals with interinstiutional agreements and consequences of EU enlargement negotiations.

AmCham EU 27 THE 8TH EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 28 The European Parliament Simple Made security policy(CFSP)andtheEuropeandefence(ESDP). The SecurityandDefenceCommitteeassiststheForeignAffairs in theircompetences forthecommonforeignand Security andDefence promotion ofdemocraticvaluesinthirdcountries.ItassiststheForeignAffairsCommitteethesematters. The HumanRightsSubcommitteeisresponsibleforissuesconcerninghumanrights,theprotectionofminoritiesand Human Rights 2 Subcommittees themselves. EU’s sphere of activities. The Committee hears cases, some 1,500 each year, sometimes presented in Parliament by the citizen The PetitionsCommitteeisresponsibleforaddressingthepetitionsbroughtforwardbyanyEUcitizenonamatterwithin Petitions workplace, andtheremovalofallformsdiscriminationbasedonsex. rights intheEU,promotionofwomen’sthirdcountries,equalopportunitiespolicy,especiallywithregardto The Women’sRightsandGenderEqualityCommitteeisresponsibleforthedefinition,promotionprotectionofwomen’s Gender Equality Women’s Rightsand omte coy Chair Acronym Committee (SEDE) (DROI) (PETI) (FEMM) Elena ValencianoElena Martínez-Orozco Martínez-Orozco Cecilia Wikström (ALDE, Sweden) , Poland) (ECR, García Pérez (S&D, Spain) , Spain) (S&D, Iratxe Sabine Lösing(GUE/NGL,Germany) Afzal Khan(S&D,UK) Jaromír Štětina(EPP,CzechRepublic) (EPP,Germany) (Greens/EFA,Germany) László Tőkés(EPP,Hungary) Cristian Preda(EPP,Romania) Pál Csáky(EPP,Slovakia) Marlene Mizzi(S&D,Malta) (EPP,Malta) Rosa EstaràsFerragut(EPP,Spain) Jana Žitňanská(ECR,Slovakia) Vilija Blinkevičiūtė(S&D,Lithuania) Inês Zuber(GUE/NGL,Portugal) Barbara Matera(EPP,Italy) Vice- Chairs CHAPTER 3:

DECISION-MAKING IN THE EUROPEAN UNION DECISION-MAKING IN THE EU 30 The European Parliament Simple Made MEPs votingintheEuropeanParliament’splenarysessionStrasbourg(FR) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Roles oftheEUinstitutionsandnationalparliaments Step-by-step guidethroughtheprocess Special legislativeprocedure Ordinary legislativeprocedure Decision-making procedures Where responsibilitylies In thischapter:In Introduction

he most complex aspect of the European Union is its methods of policy-making. What does supranational (the ‘Community TThere is no single method of taking method’) mean? decisions at European (EU) level. The procedures Decisions and policies adopted using the vary depending on the policy area concerned. ‘Community method’ are formed through the Generally speaking, the main actors in the EU European institutions i.e. the Member States have decision-making process are: the European empowered the European Commission, Council Commission; the European Parliament and European Parliament to make laws in the areas (representing EU citizens) and the Council designated under the ‘European Community’ first (representing the Member State national pillar. governments). Collectively, they form the so-called ‘EU institutional triangle’.

Since the entry into effect of the What does ‘intergovernmental’ mean? (December 2009), there are two main decision- making procedures: Governments acting together to form decisions and policies that will benefit the EU as a whole. ★★ The ordinary legislative procedure This applies to decisions made on the common (commonly known as ‘codecision’) foreign and security policy (CFSP) and some ★★ Special legislative procedures elements of justice and home affairs (JHA). Before the Lisbon Treaty, EU decision-making was organised around the so-called ‘three pillar’ structure established by the Treaty of Maastricht (1992). Each pillar represented a different policy area with different decision-making procedures and methods of cooperation (see diagram on Key statistics in EU decision-making p.32). The Treaty of Lisbon abolished this three-pillar During the July 2009-July 2014 legislature: structure in 2009, incorporating everything into • 317 pieces of legislation were approved through one ‘EU’ bloc. The only significant remnant of the the codecision procedure (now the ordinary legislative procedure); pillar structure is the common foreign security policy (CFSP) and common European security • An increased tendency to agree by consensus in DECISION-MAKING IN THE EU and defence policy (CSDP), which retain their Council; intergovernmental nature. This sets them aside • An increase in the length of time to reach an from the other policy areas, within this new agreement; and structure which generally speaking uses the • 87% of agreements were reached in the first so-called ‘Community method’. Furthermore, reading. under Lisbon, Euratom (the European Atomic The vast majority of Commission proposals are Energy Community) is no longer an integral part dealt with before the end of a parliamentary term. of the EU. The rest are either dealt with in the new legislature Under the Lisbon Treaty, the division of or, in a few cases, have been withdrawn. responsibility for policy competence between Member States and the EU can be described as exclusive, shared or supported.

AmCham EU 31 DECISION-MAKING IN THE EU 32 The European Parliament Simple Made The oftheEU structure (2009-present) Post-Lisbon Treaty (Treaty ofNice) Pre-Lisbon Treaty method’) Supranational (‘Community Community (EURATOM) European AtomicEnergy Community (ECSC,until2002) European CoalandSteel Including policyareassuchas: European Community(EC) Nuclear power Coal andsteelindustry Immigration policy Schengen treaty Asylum policy Social policy Environmental law Research Healthcare Consumer protection infrastructure Trans-European transport Education andculture EU citizenship ) Monetary policy(inthe EU competitionlaw Common fisheriespolicy Common agriculturalpolicy Market Customs unionandSingle Intergovernmental policy (CSDP) security anddefence Common European security policy(CFSP) Common foreignand First pillar

EUROPEAN UNION (‘Community method’) Supranational EUROPEAN UNION EU law. legal astheyarenotbindingunder Decisions arepoliticalratherthan Intergovernmental - Including: and defencepolicy(CSDP) Common Europeansecurity policy (CFSP) Common foreignandsecurity Police missions Peacekeeping Second pillar (EURATOM) Community Atomic Energy European Amsterdam (1999). the firstpillarunderTreatyof but someissuesbecamepartof Originally purelyintergovernmental, Including: Justice andhomeaffairs(JHA) Judicial cooperation Police cooperation Asylum andimmigration Third pillar Where responsibility lies

he European Union has a growing field of competence. Estimates vary considerably Ton how much national legislation derives from the EU. Some calculate as much as 84% whilst others as little as 10%. Although it is difficult to work out an accurate figure, the importance of the EU in policy-making in Europe remains clear. While the scope of responsibilities allocated to the EU has widened over the years, it is important to remember that the EU works on the principle of ‘subsidiarity’. This means all decisions should be made as close to the citizen as possible – at local council level, regionally or by the Member State government before reaching Brussels. Under the Lisbon Treaty, Member State national parliaments gained a new role in checking that EU institutions respect the subsidiarity principle. As the Member States have transferred policy areas to the EU, the European institutions have become more important and relevant to people Subsidiarity in the Member States. Having said this, the EU only A principle that underpins EU policy-making. It has powers given to it by the 28 Member States means that the EU should only introduce laws that under the treaties. As a general rule, Member are necessary at an EU level. Decisions should be States are keen to hold on to powers that will get made as close to the citizen as possible, meaning media attention or are in sensitive policy areas, that the EU should not interfere in policy that can such as foreign affairs and taxation. Issues that be dealt with by local government. are cross-border in nature are best dealt with at the EU level, such as international crime, trade, customs and pollution. More technical issues are Proportionality also more likely to be under the EU’s remit. DECISION-MAKING IN THE EU The scope and strength of policy proposals; Having the EU responsible for certain policy solutions should be proportional to the competencies has its advantages. The problem they are trying to solve. For example environment is an example; the cross-border completely banning the use of cars should not nature of pollution means it is much more be a policy solution for cutting greenhouse gas effective fighting pollution as a block of countries emissions. rather than individual ones. The Member States have also found that cooperation gives them a greater voice. This is true in foreign policy, for example.

AmCham EU 33 DECISION-MAKING IN THE EU 34 The European Parliament Simple Made Who isresponsible for what? The commonforeignandsecuritypolicyisalsogovernedbyaspecialsystem. employment policies. Specific arrangements:therearespecificarrangementsinthetreatiesfor coordinationofeconomicand competence) EU hasacorrespondinginternal International agreements(ifthe International tradepolicy resources Conservation ofmarinebiological States that usetheeuro) Monetary policy(forMember Competition policy Customs union xlsv ra frsosblt on ra frsosblt Exclusiveareasofresponsibility Jointareasofresponsibility Exclusive areasofresponsibility EU Space andenergy humanitarian aid Development cooperationand development andspace Research, technological aspects ofpublichealth Joint securityissueswithregardto justice Area offreedom,securityand Energy infrastructure Trans-European transport Transport Consumer protection Environment responsibility) sea –whichisanexclusiveEU biological resourcesofthe for theconservationof Agriculture andfisheries(except cohesion Economic, socialandterritorial Treaty) Social policy(asdefinedinthe Internal market EU & MEMBER STATES treaties. area thatisnotmentionedinthe The EUhasnocompetenceinany harmonisation. of theseareasbutthiscannotinclude coordination fortheEuropeanaspects The EUmayprovidesupportand Administrative cooperation Civil protection youth andsport Education, professionaltraining, Tourism Culture Industry human healthcare Protection andimprovementof MEMBER STATES Decision-making procedures

he way in which policies are made at the ★★ The ‘ordinary legislative procedure’ EU level is dictated by the various EU (codecision) – in which the Council and Ttreaties. Essentially, it is the policy area European Parliament decide on legislation that determines how the institutions interact together. to make laws. Heavily simplified, it is a three- ★★ The ‘special legislative procedure’ way relationship where the Commission makes • Consent procedure (previously known as proposals for laws while the Parliament and ‘assent’) Council amend and adopt proposals. • Consultation procedure When the Commission drafts a proposal, it allocates a legal basis to it, which is determined The proposal’s legal basis also dictates voting by the subject of the policy proposal. The legal method used in the Council (either qualified basis drives which decision-making procedure majority or unanimity, see page 88). is used:

The key actors in the EU decision-making process

★★ The EU’s driving force The European Commission ★★ Represents the Community interests as a whole

Executive DECISION-MAKING IN THE EU National Parliaments in the Member States The institutional Undertake a triangle ‘subsidiarity check’

Legislative

The Council of the EU The European Parliament Main decision-making body, Directly elected co-legislator representing Member States representing the EU population

AmCham EU 35 DECISION-MAKING IN THE EU 36 The European Parliament Simple Made The EuropeanCommission T representations inMemberStates Location: Brussels(BE),Luxembourg(LU),plus Term ofoffice: 5years(currentterm2014-2019) 33,000 officials(civilservants) Composition: 28Commissioners,supportedby Created Abbreviation /(Acronym) : theCommission(EC) ★ ★ ★ ★ It istheCommission’sroleto: Role Member States. representative officesineachofthe28 Luxembourg. TheCommissionalsohas Belgium butalsohasalargepresencein The CommissionisbasedprimarilyinBrussels, the MemberStatesthatappointedthem. interests oftheEUasawhole,ratherthanfor The Commissionersareexpectedtoactinthe of governmentministersattheEuropeanlevel. Commissioners are more-or-less the equivalent power than an ordinary civil service, asits for Europe.Itdoeshoweverhavemore The Commissioniseffectivelyacivilservice some 33,000civilservants. Member State,whoserveafive-yearterm-and consists of28Commissioners-onefromeach other both politically and economically. It ★ ★ ★ ★ Organization (WTO). organisations suchastheWorldTrade other non-EUcountriesandinternational Represent theEUinnegotiationswith Ensure, aswiththeEuropeanCourtof Act as Initiate and correctlyintheMemberStates; Justice, that EU laws are implemented fully Member Stateshavesignedupto; EU MemberStatesclosertowardeach driver ofEuropeanintegration,pushing he EuropeanCommissionisseenasthe : 1958 guardian of the EU Treaties that the legislation throughproposals;

deciding: individual commissioners.Ithasfourwaysof basis ofproposalsputforwardbyoneormore The Commission decides collectively,on the Decision-making intheCommission 1. 3. 4. 2.

the proposalistacitlyadopted. there arenoreservationsoramendments, in theagendaofaCommissionmeeting.If in whichcasethedossierwill be included act initsname. general andheadsofservice, whothen delegate somedecisionsto directors- By delegation–theCommissioncan service. further todirectors-generalandheadsof used to delegate decision-making powers conditions, thesameprocedurescanbe individuals) isrespected.Undercertain Commissioners actasacollege,not the principleofcollegiality(that to decideinitsname,providedthat empower one By empowerment–theCommissioncan Any amendments withinasetperiodoftime. who thennotifytheirreservationsor circulated inwritingtoallcommissioners, By writtenprocedure–theproposalis and thepresidenthasacastingvote. Commission decides by simple majority commissioner can call for a vote. The the College of Commissioners’) – any commissioners (known as‘meetings of At the weekly meetings of the 28 commissioner can call for a debate, or more of its members The Council of the European Union

Abbreviation: the Council; Council of Ministers Created: 1958 Composition: 28 Member State representations plus secretariat of 3,500 Location: Brussels (BE) and Luxembourg (LU)

The Council of the European Union (known international agreements, negotiated by the as ‘the Council’ or ‘Council of Ministers’) is the Commission, on behalf of the Union between voice of Member States in the EU decision- the EU Member States and other countries or making process. It is where Member State international organisations. government ministers meet to discuss and approve proposals for EU laws. The Council 4. Coordinating police and judicial meets in different formations, according to cooperation in criminal matters the various policy areas. 5. Setting the EU budget with the The presidency of the Council is rotated European Parliament among the Member States, with each Member The Council, together with the Parliament, State taking on the role for six months at a approves the annual budget of the EU which is time. proposed by the Commission. All Member States have permanent repre­ Organisation sentations in Brussels to deal with the day- to-day work of the Council and prepare the The Council is comprised of government ground for meetings of national leaders and representatives from each of the 28 Member ministers. States and acts on three different levels (ministerial; ambassador; working group/ The Council is based in Brussels, though committee). The Council meets regularly some ministerial meetings also take place in at ministerial level in ten different sectoral Luxembourg and elsewhere in the Member councils: States.

★★ (GAC)* DECISION-MAKING IN THE EU Role ★★ (FAC)* The Council has five main roles: ★★ Economic & Financial Affairs (ECOFIN) 1. Pass EU laws Ministers from the Eurozone countries meet The Council co-legislates with the Parliament in ‘’ meetings on most legislation. However, policy areas ★★ which are highly sensitive for Member States Justice & Home Affairs (JHA) still require unanimity in the Council. ★★ Employment, Social Policy, Health & Consumer Affairs (EPSCO) 2. Coordinate broad EU economic policy ★★ Competitiveness (COMPET) Through the Council (and European Council), national leaders set broad economic and ★★ Transport, Telecommunications & Energy political goals for the EU as a whole. (TTE) ★★ Agriculture & Fisheries (AGRIFISH) 3. Develop and implement foreign and security policy ★★ Environment (ENVI) The Council defines and implements the ★★ Education, Youth & Culture (EYC) EU’s common foreign and security policy * Formerly one Council prior to the Lisbon Treaty. The (CFSP) following guidelines from the High Representative for EU Foreign and Security Policy European Council. The Council also concludes chairs the FAC.

AmCham EU 37 DECISION-MAKING IN THE EU 38 The European Parliament Simple Made and thelegislationwillbeadopted). is inagreementthentheprocedureendshere Council adoptsacommonposition(ifthe assessing theParliament’samendments, first readingoftheCommissionproposaland Step 3: Following the completion of its own Council andtheParliament). takes aslongisdeemednecessarybyboththe submits amendmentsinitsopinion(thisstage of theCommission’sproposaland,ifnecessary, Step 2: TheParliamentcarriesoutitsfirstreading First reading national parliaments. Council. Italsosimultaneouslyforwardsitto or adecision–totheEuropeanParliamentand proposal –normallyforaregulation,directive Step 1:The Commission presentsalegislative The process T The ordinarylegislativeprocedure( stages iftheParliamentandCouncilagree. as agreementcanbereachedatanyofthesekey for alldraftlegislationtogothrougheverystage, conciliation. Inpractice,itisoftennotnecessary reading; secondreading and athirdreadingwith The procedurehasthreekeystages:first currently fallingundertheprocedure. years, resulting in no fewer than 85 policy areas 1999, codecisionhasgrowninscopeoverthe and extendedby the TreatyofAmsterdamin Introduced bytheTreatyofMaastricht in 1993 would leadtolegislativeproposalsfailing. for allpartiestocompromise,asafailureagree decision-making process increasestheincentive the MemberStategovernments.Theparityin legislation jointly with the Council, the voice of voice ofEUcitizens,makesdecisionson Under codecision,theEuropeanParliament, Lisbon Treaty. ‘the ordinarylegislativeprocedure’bythe under thecodecisionprocedure,renamed he majority of EUlegislation is adopted Third reading(conciliation) and thelegislationwillbeadopted). Council isinagreement the procedureendshere Parliament’s secondreadingamendments(ifthe and decideswhethertoacceptorrejectthe Step 5:TheCouncilhasasecondreading extendable tofour–respond). Parliament hasatimelimitofthreemonths– the Commissiongivesitsopinion(here containing amendments.Oneachamendment and, ifnecessary,proposesarecommendation reading oftheCouncil’scommonposition Step 4:TheParliamentundertakesasecond Second reading previous 2009-2014legislature). agreements (from72%to87%,comparedthe increase intherelativenumberoffirstreading codecision procedure.Therewasasignificant pieces oflegislationwerepassedthroughthe 2009 legislatureoftheEuropeanParliament,477 has proventobeasuccess.Duringthe2004- Despite itscomplicatedstructure,codecision votes; 376afterthe2014parliamentaryelection). its opinionbyanabsolutemajority(atleast384 reading however,theParliamentmustvoteon simple majorityofMEPs.Duringthesecond The Parliamentvotesonitsfirstreadingbya vote. where thetreatyrequiresuseofaunanimous the Councilvotesbyqualifiedmajority,except All thewaythroughcodecisionprocedure, agreement, thelegislationfails. the conciliationcommitteefailtoreachan text atathirdreading(conciliation).Should Council andtheParliamentformallyadopt Step 6:Ifandwhenthereisagreement,the codecision) The ordinary legislative procedure (codecision procedure)

Proposal from the Commission

European Parliament first reading

Adopted: ★★ If Council approves all Parliament’s amendments ★★ If Parliament approves Council first reading proposal without making any common position amendments

Rejected:

First reading ★★ If Commission withdraws the proposal

Communication from the Commission on common position

Adopted: European Parliament ★★ If Parliament accepts common second reading position ★

★ If Council accepts amended DECISION-MAKING IN THE EU common position

Rejected: ★★ If Parliament rejects common Council position second reading ★★ If Commission withdraws the Second reading proposal

Adopted: ★★ If Council and Parliament agree text from the Conciliation Committee

Conciliation Rejected: ★★ If Conciliation Committee fails to agree joint text ★★ If Council and Parliament reject joint text Conciliation ★★ If Commission withdraws proposal

AmCham EU 39 DECISION-MAKING IN THE EU 40 The European Parliament Simple Made exemptions andcompetitionlaw. legislation concerninginternalmarket The consultation procedure is still used for proposed bytheEuropeanParliament. under noobligationtoaccepttheamendments It mustbenoted,however,thattheCouncilis a unanimousvote. amends aCommissionproposalitmustdosoby In this procedure,as in all others, if the Council and eitherapprovesoramendsitstillfurther. The Councilscrutinisestheamendedproposal does, sendstheCouncilanamendedproposal. if itwillacceptanyofthese changes and,if it into account.TheCommissionultimatelydecides amendments, whichtheCommissionmusttake or rejectitinitsentirety.Itmayalsoputforward proposal totheParliament,whichcanapprove Under thismethod,theCommissionforwardsa The speciallegislativeprocedure Consultation introduce bestpracticeinMember States. the institutionsonvarioustopics.Although suchdocumentsarenotenforceable,theywidelyusedto fromRecommendations andopinionsare notbinding;theyaresimplyrecommendedcourses ofaction Recommendations andopinions persons, e.g.oneMemberStateor a corporationandthatgroupisboundtocomplywithdecision. Decisions areissuedbytheCouncil ortheCommission.Adecisionisappliedtoalimitedanddefinedgroup of Decisions implementation oflegislation. method ofthelegislationnecessarytoachievethatresult.Usually,adirective willspecifyadeadlineforthe national legislationtoachieveaspecificresult.Itisupthe governments todecideontheformand Directives arelessprescriptivethanaregulation.Adirectiveisformof ordertoMemberStatesimplement Directives national legislation. and areenforcedthroughnationalcourtsoncetheybecomelaw.They donotneedtobebroughtinbyany These arelawsthatapplytoeveryone,includingallMemberStates.Regulations becomepartofnationallaw Regulations Secondary legislation ★ ★ by twotreaties: Primary legislationreferstotheEUtreaties.SinceratificationofLisbonTreaty,isnowgoverned Primary legislation Types ofEUlegislation ★ ★ treaties, includingtheLisbonTreaty. The TreatyontheFunctioningofEU(TFEU)–,asamendedbyallsubsequent Lisbon treaties. The TreatyonEuropeanUnion(TEU)–MaastrichtTreaty,asamendedbytheAmsterdam,Niceand

provisions andcombattingdiscrimination. from theEU,subsidiarygenerallegalbasis of newMemberStates,methodswithdrawal The consent procedure applies to the admission majority amongMEPs. prior totheLisbonTreaty)needsanabsolute reject it.Approval(consent,knownas‘assent’ suggest amendments.Itmusteitheracceptor procedure, exceptthattheParliamentcannot This is exactlythesameas consultation Consent (assent) Consent procedure (formerly known as ‘assent’)

Proposal from the Commission

Parliament Parliament accepts the rejects the proposal proposal

Council adopts proposal Proposal is through qualified rejected majority vote (QMV)

Consultation Procedure

Proposal from the Commission The voting method DECISION-MAKING IN THE EU used in the Council depends on the policy area of the proposal and the response of the Parliament to the Parliament opinion proposal (plus non-binding opinions from the EESC & CoR)

Parliament rejection Parliament amendments Parliament approval

Commission reviews amendments, Council adoption using Council adoption unanimous vote from either unanimity or only with Council required QMV depending on unanimous vote to reintroduce policy area those rejected by Commission

AmCham EU 41 DECISION-MAKING IN THE EU 42 It should be pointed out that throughout this indicated byan‘A’or‘B’point. cabinet. Again,decisionson the proposalare in French)whichiscomprised oftheheads abbreviation of‘hebdomadaire’ meaning‘weekly’ At thispointtheproposalgoesbeforeHEBDO(an meeting. observed before the weekly Cabinet members its endorsement,thesameprocedureisthen point). Oncethein-houselegalservicehasgiven left opentofurtherdiscussion (marked asa ‘B’ is eitherapproved(markedasan‘A’point)or consultation, involvingalloftheDGs,whereit Here thetextgoesthroughan‘inter-service’ objectives. cycle, which sets out its priorities and strategic as thestrategicplanningandprogramming proposal intoitsannualworkprogramme,known law. Onceapproved,theCommissionenters individuals thatwillbeaffectedbytheproposed period amongstakeholders–thosegroupsor This isthensubmittedforasix-weekconsultation produced onthebasisofanimpactassessment. for compilingthefirstdraft.Adraftis and desk officer. The desk officeris responsible relevant directorate-general(DG)unit(sub-office) Each legislative proposal is assigned to the Legislative proposalassignedtoaDG of theTreaty. European interestandimplementtheobjectives etc.). Commissionproposalsmustidentifythe unions, pressuregroups,NGOs,businessgroups Member Statesandotherstakeholders(trade the Council,EuropeanParliament, to policyobjectivessetupontherequestof The Commissioninitiateslegislationinresponse Step 1:Commissioninitiates T The European Parliament Simple Made so endsthelegislativeprocess. by alloftheEuropeaninstitutions.Afailuretodo This procedureplacesanemphasisonconsensus follow todemonstratehowtheprocedureworks. procedure (codecision) this is the process we shall level arepassedusingtheordinarylegislative Step-by-step guidethroughtheordinaryprocedure Preparation oftheproposal laws. SincethemajorityoflawsatEU path thatmostproposalstaketobecome his section runs through in more detail the Policy areas undercodecision economic, environmentalandsocialconcerns. tries toensurethereisanadequate balance between one areadonotcomeatagreatercost inanother.This ensure thatthebenefitscomefromaproposalin This is conducted by the Commission and aims to What isan ‘impact assessment’? directorates-general moretimetolookattheproposal. A suspendedopiniondelaystheprocesstogive deliver afavourable,negativeorsuspendedopinion. have animpactontheirpolicyarea.Theymaythen policy areasforthemtojudgewhetherornotitwill to alldirectorates-generaldealingwithdifferent that laststendays,wherebyaproposaliscirculated This isastageintheCommission’sapprovalprocess What isan ‘interservice consultation’? following areas: The codecision procedureprincipallycoversthe ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ Regional DevelopmentFund the EuropeanSocialFundand The implementationofdecisionsregarding Equal opportunities Transparency Customs co-operation Employment The internalmarket The righttomoveandreside Non-discrimination onthebasisofnationality Agriculture andfisheries data protectionadvisorybody Fraud preventionandtheestablishmentofa Environmental policy anddevelopment Research Transport andtrans-Europeannetworks Health andconsumerprotection Culture Education andvocationaltraining Europol andpolicecooperation Criminal mattersandcriminallaw,Eurojust, Freedom, securityandjustice drafting phase the relevant commissioner is regularly updated about the proposal’s content. Key people in the decision-making process in the The legislative proposal is finally adopted by the European Parliament College of Commissioners and forwarded to the Council and the European Parliament (EP) – the Rapporteur – the person charged with drafting next stage in the process. the report in the European Parliament for the lead committee following an issue. The rapporteur is chosen from the political group that bids the most points for a report. First reading Shadow rapporteur – the person from another political group in the lead committee charged with Step 2 (a): Council examines the proposal following the issue and advising his/her political group on the progress and controversial aspects of In the Council, the proposal’s content is a report before advising the group how to vote on discussed by a working group of experts, through proposals. an informal debate, and a general approach Co-rapporteur – the person appointed to draft an is agreed. Under the direction of the country opinion from other committees that have requested holding the presidency of the Council, it is then their opinions be included in reports going through deliberated in further detail by experts from each the Parliament. of the Member States in the Council’s working groups to secure a political agreement. Should they fail to reach an agreement, the Committee assigns a rapporteur, who will draft the report. of Permanent Representatives (Coreper), will be Other political groups also appoint a shadow convened. If Coreper reaches an agreement, the rapporteur, who will be responsible for preparing proposal is submitted to the Council for approval. his/her group’s position and monitoring the work If it does not, the issues are marked for debate by of the rapporteur. At this stage, other committees ministers at Council meetings. may also be asked to submit an opinion.

Step 2 (c): EU advisory bodies invited to submit their positions Extension of codecision by the Lisbon Treaty Although their opinions are not binding, the Under the Lisbon Treaty the number of areas which European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) fall under codecision nearly doubled from 44 to 85 and the Committee of the Regions (CoR) are also areas. invited to set out their respective positions. Among the new areas are: Proposal examined by the parliamentary ★★ Agriculture and fisheries (which previously fell

committee DECISION-MAKING IN THE EU under consultation) The parliamentary committee then convenes ★★ Freedom, security and justice (which previously on a number of occasions to study the fell under consultation) rapporteur’s report. At this point the rapporteur ★★ External trade (Parliament previously not and fellow committee members (or substitute involved at all) members) may put forward amendments to the Commission’s proposal. These amendments, including those proposed by the committees putting forward an opinion, are put to the vote Step 2 (b): European Parliament examines in the responsible committee, by way of a simple the proposal (‘first reading’) majority. Parliamentary committee assigned and ‘rapporteur’ appointed Once adopted in the committee, the amended At the same time as the Council examines the proposal is placed on the agenda of the proposal, the European Parliament carries out European Parliament plenary session. At this its first reading of the proposal. An appropriate stage, amendments – including those adopted parliamentary committee is named and its in parliamentary committee – can only be tabled coordinators will bid for the reports using a by a political group or a minimum of 37 Members points system. The number of points allocated and put to the vote in the European Parliament to political groups are based on the group’s size. plenary. The political group that bids the most points then

AmCham EU 43 DECISION-MAKING IN THE EU 44 The European Parliament Simple Made public. Itisfirstpublishedinone languageand majority –whichisthenmade availabletothe common position – generally agreed by qualified the Parliament’samendments, itwilladopta recommended changes.Ifthe Councilrejects which considerswhethertoadoptorrejectthe its first reading, it is then referred to the Council, When the European Parliament has concluded amendments Step 3:CouncilexaminestheParliament’s position. be explained,theCouncilcanadoptacommon can compileanamendedproposaland,aswill halt the legislative procedure as the Commission original Commissionproposal.Thistendsnotto also adopt a report that completely nullifies the the Parliamentcommittee. The Parliament can its proposal,thedocumentisreferredbackto event oftheCommissionrefusingtowithdraw proposal, the legislative procedure willend.Inthe the votescast.IfCommissionwithdraws the amended text fail to secure a majority of request thewithdrawalofproposalshould European Parliamentcansuspendthevoteand proposal atfirstreading,thepresidentof European ParliamenttorejecttheCommission’s Although theEUtreatiesdonotexplicitlyallow amendment ordebate. can beadoptedbytheplenarywithoutfurther (fewer than 10%of votes against), the report approves the draftreport almost unanimously It isworthnotingthatiftheleadcommittee group. majority, throughaninter-institutionalrelations directorate-general andapproved,bysimple amendments isprepared by the relevant Commission’s positionontheParliament’s position ontheamendmentstabled.The announces andexplainstheCommission’s a debate,inwhichthecommissionerconcerned The voteintheplenaryisgenerallyprecededby Debate andvoteinplenarysessions Second reading cover anyremainingissues. in BrusselsbetweentheStrasbourgsessionsto week. Monthly two-day ‘mini-plenaries’ are also held sessions areheldinStrasbourgeverymonthforone on proposedlegislationandamendments.Plenary These sessionsareattendedbyallMEPstovote What are ‘plenary sessions’? four. Thesecondreadingwillleadtooneofthree opinion whichcan,ifnecessary,beextendedto Parliament nowhasthreemonthstosubmitan months. sensitivity ofthedocument,itcantakeupto15 Depending onthecomplexityandpolitical a commonpositionapprovedisnoteasy. then translatedintoothers.However,getting conditions: but thesemustcomplywithoneofthefollowing The secondreadingcanincludeamendments, is nowunderscrutiny. position andnottheCommission’sproposalthat first readingexceptitistheCouncil’scommon procedure withintheParliamentissimilarto European Parliamentforsecondreading.The This commonpositionisthensentbacktothe Council’s commonposition(secondreading) Step 4:EuropeanParliamentexamines ★ ★ ★ in favouroftheproposal. Unanimity States and62%oftheEU’spopulation. 352 totalvotesintheCouncil;amajority ofMember Qualified majority–thisrequires260votesoutof Member Statesi.e.15outof28States. Simple majority–thisrequirestheof Voting procedures intheCouncil on proposals. the onlywayofofficiallyrecordinghowMEPsvote least 32MEPsmayrequestarollcallvote.Thisis In somesituationspoliticalgroupsoragroupofat requested tovoteelectronically. hands. Iftheresultistooclosetojudge,MEPsare Voting isusuallydonethroughasimpleshowof those presentvoteinfavouroftheproposal. third ofallMEPsarepresentandthatthemajority Absolute majority–thisrequiresthatatleastone Parliament voting ★ ★ ★ Council andtheParliament. It introducesacompromisebetweenthe proposal; or different fromtheCommission’sinitial that didnotappearin,orissubstantially It isrelatedtoapartofthecommonposition Council; first readingthatwerenotacceptedbythe It includesamendmentsadoptedatthe – requiresall28MemberStatesto vote possible outcomes:

★★ The Parliament unanimously accepts the Conciliation Council’s common position (or gives no response within three months) and the act is Conciliation represents the last step in the codecision adopted at the next Council meeting; procedure and the last chance for the institutions to reach agreement on a proposal. ★★ It rejects the common position outright, needing an absolute majority of MEPs and the It takes the form of a committee known as the Conciliation Committee, which includes 28 members legislative process is at an end (the Council of the Council (one from each Member State) and an no longer has the option of convening the equal number of MEPs split proportionally along conciliation committee); or party lines.

★★ The European Parliament approves, again The Conciliation Committee must be set up within by absolute majority, amendments to the six to eight weeks of the Council’s second reading. common position. The Commission can either They then have a further six to eight weeks to form accept or reject the changes and the text is a joint text. sent back to the Council. The joint text then goes to the Parliament and Council to be approved without any possibility of Should the Commission endorse the Parliament’s amending the text. There is a time limit set of six to amendments to the common position, the Council eight weeks where the Parliament and the Council will vote on the new text either unanimously or must vote on the proposal. by qualified majority (depending on the policy If the Parliament or Council reject the text or if the area). Conciliation Committee fails to reach an agreement However, if the Commission is opposed to some the proposal is not adopted and therefore falls. of the Parliament’s amendments, the Council can only decide on their inclusion in the legislative act by a unanimous vote.

Third reading (conciliation) How to track EU legislation Step 5: Conciliation Committee meets There are two websites that track proposals in the In the event that the Council and the Parliament decision-making procedure. fail to reach an agreement, then the Member State holding the Council presidency – in consultation PreLex is an online database, managed by the with the president of Parliament – will set up European Commission, which allows users to follow all Commission proposals (legislative and budgetary a Conciliation Committee in a final attempt to dossiers, conclusions of international agreements) DECISION-MAKING IN THE EU reach a consensus. The Conciliation Committee and communications from their transmission to the has six weeks to approve a joint proposal. If the Council or the European Parliament. committee fails to do this, the draft proposal can no longer be approved and the legislative http://ec.europa.eu/prelex/apcnet.cfm procedure will end. The Legislative Observatory is a similar online database managed by the European Parliament. If a joint text is elaborated, the Council and the http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/ Parliament must repeat their agreement through a third reading, again within a six-week period (which, if required, can be extended to eight). Once the Council (by qualified majority) and the Parliament (by absolute majority) have given their approval, the act can then be officially adopted.

Publication in the Official Journal and entry into force The directive is then published in the EU’s ‘Official Journal’ with a deadline for its implementation of approximately three years by the Member States.

AmCham EU 45 DECISION-MAKING IN THE EU 46 them. must pass a separate act in order to incorporate to thelawarerequired,nationalparliament However incertaincaseswheremajorchanges brought inbymeansofstatutoryinstruments. In theUnitedKingdom,forexample,EUlawsare directive varies according to its legal structure. How eachMemberStateimplementsanew current comitologyrulescontinuetoapply. new legal framework has been adopted, the applied arecurrentlyunderdiscussion.Untila details of how exactly these provisions will be on delegated acts and implementing acts. The be adoptedinaccordancewiththeprovisions Under theLisbonTreaty,newlegislationhasto ‘delegated acts’and‘implementingacts’. ‘non-legislative acts’.Thesearereferredtoas obsolete andreplacedbytwonewtypesof in 2009,theold‘comitologysystem’became After theentryintoforceofLisbonTreaty system wasknownas‘’. conferred implementingpowers.Thiscommittee the Commissionwithitstaskofexercising representatives of the Member States, assisted Treaty, asystemofcommittees,composed Prior totheentryintoforceofLisbon Union. Commission bytheCouncilofEuropean of theimplementingpowersconferredon Each legislativeinstrumentspecifiesthescope P throughout theEU. to play,ensuringthatEUlawiscorrectlyapplied The EuropeanCourtsofJusticealsohavearole exercise itsexecutivepower. implementing conditions,theCommissionmust The European Parliament Simple Made Implementation andtransparency Implementation bytheMemberStates (formerly ‘comitology’) ‘Implementing’ and‘Delegated’acts because itisnecessarytohaveuniform EU lawlieswiththeMemberStates,but rimary responsibilityforimplementing Council). EU institutions(Commission,Parliamentand lead toacommonregisterofallthreemain both oldregistersanditisexpectedtoultimately came intoeffect.Thisregisterisacombinationof In June2011,theJointTransparencyRegister also managedaregisterofinterestorganisations. register (August2010).TheEuropeanParliament were approximately3,000organisationsonthe was oneofthefirstassociationstoregister.There The AmericanChamberofCommercetotheEU regularly engagedwithEuropeaninstitutions. NGOs, tradeunionsandotherentitieswhich voluntary registerforassociations,companies, transparency. In2008,theCommissionsetupa has beenanotherkeyfocusinthedriveforgreater The roleofinterestrepresentationorganisations agendas. provisions, butalllegislativeitemsonCouncil under codecision,aswasthecaseprevious include deliberationsnotjustondraftlegislation Lisbon extendedtheuseofpublicsessionsto introduced inthe1990s.In2009,Treatyof up tothepublicwithsessionsfirstbeing Council meetingshavegraduallybeenopened largely focusedontheCouncil.Overyears, Most oftheeffortsforgreatertransparencyhave and discussioninBrusselsnationalcapitals. making hasbeenatopicofincreasingimportance In recentyears,greatertransparencyinEUlaw- that existing laws are properly implemented. as theCommissionfocusesmoreonensuring figure hasnowdroppedtoaround1,500peryear 7,000 laws were being introduced per year. This the SingleMarkettookshape.Atthatstageupto considerably sinceitspeakintheearlyninetiesas Law-making at the EU level has slowed Transparency oflaw-making Pace ofEUlegislation CHAPTER 4:

REFERENCES In this chapter:

★★ Sources of further information ★★ Member State abbreviations ★★ AmChams in the Member States ★★ AmCham EU member companies

Reflection of the Berlaymont building, the European Commission’s HQ, Brussels (BE) Sources of more information

Eurostat Official EU sources The official statistical office of the European Union which publishes statistics at Europa European level enabling comparisons Europa is the web portal of the European between countries and regions. Union. It provides up-to-date coverage www.ec.europa.eu/ of what is going on in EU institutions and essential information on . EU policy trackers www.europa.eu Monitor EU legislation through these websites: Europe Direct An EU information service which helps answer ★★ Pre-Lex (managed by the European questions about the EU. It is accessible by Commission) www.ec.europa.eu/prelex phone (00800 678 91011) and online (email ★★ The Legislative Observatory (managed by the and web assistance). It also has a network European Parliament) www.europarl.europa. of information centres across the EU. eu/oeil www.ec.europa.eu/europedirect EU public consultations Official EU Bookshop Managed by the publications office of the European Union, the ‘EU Bookshop’ Take part in shaping EU policies! Visit: www. gives you online access to the European ec.europa.eu/yourvoice Union’s official publications. Publications EU Joint Transparency Register can be downloaded for free in PDF format. www.bookshop.europa.eu The European Commission and European Parliament have established a joint register Eur-Lex / Official Journal of the EU providing information about the interest This official EU website gives access to European representatives (lobbyists) who engage with Union law and other public documents. The European institutions. online database contains nearly 3 million www.ec.europa.eu/transparencyregister documents with texts dating back to 1951. It is updated daily and is available in all official EU EU news media languages. The site also gives access to the EU’s ‘official Agence Europe (daily, subscription) journal’. Produced every working day in www.agenceurope.com all official languages of the European Union, the Journal is the official record of all the Europolitics (daily, subscription) EU’s activities, publishing all EU legislation, www.europolitics.info announcements and invitations to tender. EUObserver (daily) www.eur-lex.europa.eu www..com The EU Treaties Office EurActiv (daily) www..com REFERENCES The European Commission’s database containing The European Voice (weekly, subscription) all the bilateral and multilateral treaties or www.europeanvoice.com agreements concluded by the European Union, the European Atomic Energy Community E-sharp magazine (monthly, subscription) (EAEC), and the former European Coal and Steel www.esharp.eu Community (ECSC), and those concluded under EU Media Monitoring (daily) the Treaty on European Union (It does not include www.emm.newsbrief.eu the EU treaties – these can be found on Eur-Lex) www.ec.europa.eu/world/agreements/

AmCham EU 49 REFERENCES 50 The European Parliament Simple Made Washington, DC,USA Transatlantic Relations,JohnsHopkinsUniversity, Competitive orComplacent?, Centerfor Hamilton, DanielS.,(2011)Europe 2020: Washington, DC,USA Transatlantic Relations,JohnsHopkinsUniversity, (2014) Hamilton, DanielS.,andQuinlan,JosephP., Macmillan, ,England. of theEuropeanUnion,7thEdition,Palgrave Nugent, Neil(2010)TheGovernmentandPolitics Press, Cambridge,England. Legal andPoliticalAnalysis,CambridgeUniversity Piris, Jean-Claude(2010)TheLisbonTreaty:A Brussels. to theEULabyrinth,10thEdition,EISPublishing, Guéguen, Daniel(2010)TheNewPracticalGuide England. edition, OxfordUniversityPress,Oxford, Nieves (2013)EuropeanUnionPolitics,Fourth Cini, Michelle,andDr.Perez-SolorzanoBorragan, F: +33(0)388256501 T: +33(0)388174001 Strasbourg F-67006 Place Lenôtre Palais del’Europe France: Strasbourg, F: +32(0)22950138 T: +32(0)229911 B-1047 Brussels Rue Wiertz47 Belgium: Brussels, http://www.europarl.europa.eu European Parliament Visit: http://ec.europa.eu/represent_en.htm in eachoftheMemberStates. The http://ec.europa.eu E-mail: [email protected] F: +32(0)22950138/3940 T: +32(0)229911 B-1049 Brussels Rue delaloi200 The European Commission(Headquarters) Further reading Useful addresses European Commissionhasrepresentationoffices European Commission The TransatlanticEconomy2014,Centerfor information_offices.html http://www.europarl.europa.eu/aboutparliament/en/ each oftheMemberStates. The Email: [email protected] F: +33(0)388256501 T: +12028624734 Washington, DC20037 600 -2175KStreet,NW Liaison OfficeinWashington,DC E-mail: [email protected] F: +352437009 T: +35243001 Luxembourg L-2929 Plateau deKirchberg Centre Européen Luxembourg: http://www.eeas.europa.eu/ E-mail: [email protected] The http://www.european-council.europa.eu E-mail: [email protected] F: T: B-1048 Brussels Rue delaloi175 Justus LipsiusBuilding European Council http://www.consilium.europa.eu E-mail: [email protected] F: T: B-1048 Brussels Rue delaloi175 Justus LipsiusBuilding Council oftheEuropeanUnion +32 (0)22816934 +32 (0)22857381 +32 (0)22816111 +32 (0)22856111 European Parliamenthasinformationofficesin European ExternalActionService Member State abbreviations

Member Flag State Abbreviation

Austria AT

Belgium BE

Bulgaria BG

Croatia HR

Cyprus CY

Czech Republic CZ

Denmark DK

Estonia EE

Finland FI

France FR

Germany DE

Greece EL

Hungary HU

Ireland IE

Italy IT

Latvia LV

Lithuania LT

Luxembourg LU

Malta MT

Netherlands NL

Poland PL

Portugal PT

Romania RO REFERENCES

Slovakia SK

Slovenia SI

Spain ES

Sweden SE

United Kingdom UK

AmCham EU 51 REFERENCES 52 The European Parliament Simple Made Susan Danger,ManagingDirector www.amchameu.eu [email protected] Fax: +32(0)25137928 Tel: +32(0)25136892 1000 Brussels Avenue desArts53 AmCham EU Andrea DokoJelušić,ExecutiveDirector www.amcham.hr [email protected] Fax: +38514836776 Tel: +38514836777 10000 Zagreb Strojarska cesta22 AmCham Croatia Valentin Georgiev,ExecutiveDirector www.amcham.bg [email protected] Fax: +35929742741 Tel: +35929742743 1766 Business ParkSofia,Building2,Floor6 Mladost 4Area AmCham Bulgaria Marcel Claes,ChiefExecutive www.amcham.be [email protected] Fax: +32(0)25133590 Tel: +32(0)25136770 1050 Brussels Rue duTrône60 AmCham Belgium Daniela Homan,ExecutiveDirector www.amcham.at [email protected] Fax: +43(0)131951 Tel: +43(0)13195751 1090 Wien Porzellangasse 39/7 AmCham Austria AmChams States intheMember SPEAKING FOR AMERICANBUSINESS INEUROPE AmCham Miltiades MiltiadouChartis,President www.amchamcyprus.com.cy [email protected] Fax: +35722668630 Tel. +35722889830 1509 Nicosia PO Box21455 AmCham Cyprus Daria Sivovol,ExecutiveDirector www.amcham.ee [email protected] Fax: +3726310521 Tel: +3726310522 10130 Tallinn Tallinn BusinessCenter Harju 6 AmCham Estonia Stephen Brugger,ExecutiveDirector www.amcham.dk [email protected] Fax: +4533932938 Tel: +4533932 1559 Copenhagen Christians Brygge26 AmCham Denmark Weston Stacey,ExecutiveDirector www.amcham.cz [email protected] Fax: +420222329433 Tel: +420222329430 110 00Praha1 Dušní 10 Republic AmCham Czech EU AmCham Finland AmCham Ireland

Eteläranta 6 A 8 6 Wilton Place 00130 , Finland Dublin 2 Tel: +358 40 4664576 Tel: +353 1 6616201 [email protected] Fax: +353 1 6616217 www.amcham.fi [email protected] Kristiina Helenius, Chief Executive Officer www.amcham.ie Mark Redmond, Chief Executive Officer

AmCham France AmCham Italy

77, rue de Miromesnil Via Cantù 1 75008 Paris 20123 Milano Tel: +33 (0) 1 5643 4567 Tel: +39 02 86 90 661 Fax: +33 (0) 1 5643 4560 Fax: +39 02 39 29 6752 [email protected] [email protected] www.amchamfrance.org www.amcham.it Caroline Ryan, Managing Director Simone Crolla, Managing Director

AmCham Germany AmCham Latvia

Börsenplatz 7-11 Torna iela 4, IIa-A, Room 301 60313 am Main LV-1050 Tel: +49 69 929104 - 0 Tel: +371 6721 2204 Fax: +49 69 929104 - 11 Fax: +371 6732 3521 [email protected] [email protected] www.amcham.de www.amcham.lv Andreas L.J. Povel, General Manager Liga Smildzina-Bertulsone, Board Member and Executive Director

AmCham Greece AmCham Lithuania

109-111 Messoghion Avenue Konstitucijos Avenue 26, Forum Palace 115 26 Athens LT-08105 Vilnius Tel: +30 210 699 3559 Tel: + 370 5 261 1181 Fax: +30 210 698 5686 [email protected] [email protected] www.amcham.lt www.amcham.gr Živilė Sabaliauskaitė, Executive Director Elias Spirtounias, Executive Director REFERENCES AmCham Hungary AmCham Luxembourg

Szent István tér 11. 6, Rue Antoine de Saint-Exupery 1051 Budapest V BP 542 Tel: +36 1 266 9880 1432 Luxembourg Fax: +36 1 266 9888 Tel: +352 43 17 56 [email protected] Fax: +352 26 09 47 04 www.amcham.hu [email protected] Irisz Lippai-Nagy, Chief Executive Officer www.amcham.lu Paul-Michael Schonenberg, Chairman and CEO

AmCham EU 53 REFERENCES 54 The European Parliament Simple Made Pierre Attard,President www.amcham-malta.org [email protected] Fax: +35621245223 Tel: +35621245223 Valletta VLT05 Republic Street Exchange Buildings AmCham Malta Anca Harasim,ExecutiveDirector www.amcham.ro [email protected] Fax: +40213124851 Tel: +40213124834 Bucharest –010031 Union InternationalCenter,5thFloor 11 IonCampineanuSt. AmCham Romania Graça Didier,GeneralAdministrator www.amcham.org.pt [email protected] Fax: +351213572580 Tel: +351213572561 1000-154 Lisboa Rua D.Estefânianº155-5ºEsq AmCham Portugal Dorota Dabrowski,ManagingDirector www.amcham.pl [email protected] Fax: +48(22)5205998 Tel: +48(22)5205999 Warszawa ul. EmiliiPlater53,00-113 AmCham Poland Patrick Mikkelsen,ExecutiveDirector www.amcham.nl [email protected] Fax: +31207951850 Tel: +31207951840 1017 HLAmsterdam Vijzelstraat 68-78 The Netherlands AmCham Jake Slegers,ExecutiveDirector Web: www.amcham.sk [email protected] Fax: +421254640535 Tel: +421254640534 811 06Bratislava Hodžovo námestie2 AmCham Slovakia Ajša Vodnik,ExecutiveDirector www.amcham.si [email protected] Tel: +38682051350 1000 Ljubljana Dunajska 156 AmCham Slovenia Jeffries Briginshaw,ManagingDirector www.babinc.org [email protected] Fax: +44(0)2074919172 Tel: +44(0)2072909888 London W1K4AD 75 BrookStreet Business BritishAmerican Peter R.Dahlen,ManagingDirector www.amchamswe.se [email protected] Tel: +46850612610 SE-111 52Stockholm Jakobs torg3 AmCham Sweden Aida Casamitjana,ExecutiveDirector www.amchamspain.com [email protected] Tel: +349111005 28046 Madrid Torre deCristal Pº delaCastellana259C,18ª AmCham Spain Cámara deComercioEE.UU. enEspaña AmCham EU member companies

3M • ABBVIE • ACCENTURE • ACN • ADM • ADOBE SYSTEMS • AFORE CONSULTING SPRL • ALBEMARLE EUROPE SPRL • ALCOA EUROPE • AMERICAN AIRLINES • AMERICAN EXPRESS • AMGEN • AMWAY • APPLE • APPLIED MATERIALS • ARNOLD & PORTER LLP • AT&T INC. • AVON PRODUCTS • BAKER BOTTS LLP • BANK OF AMERICA/MERRILL LYNCH • BARCLAYS • BAXTER WORLD TRADE CORPORATION • BDO INTERNATIONAL • BELL HELICOPTER • BIOGEN IDEC • BRISTOL-MYERS SQUIBB COMPANY • BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO • BRUNSWICK GROUP LLP • BURSON-MARSTELLER • CA TECHNOLOGIES • CARGILL EUROPE • CATERPILLAR • CHEVRON CORPORATION • CHUBB INSURANCE COMPANY OF EUROPE SE • CICERO CONSULTING • CISCO • CITI • CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON LLP • CNH INDUSTRIAL • COGNIZANT • COVINGTON & BURLING LLP • CROWELL & MORING LLP • DAIMLER • DELL • DELTA AIR LINES • DIAGEO • DLA PIPER UK LLP • DOW • DOW CORNING • DUNDEE PRECIOUS METALS INC. • DUPONT DE NEMOURS INTERNATIONAL S.A. • ELI LILLY & COMPANY • EPPA SA/NV • EXXONMOBIL PETROLEUM & CHEMICAL • EY • FACEBOOK • FEDEX EXPRESS • FIDELITY INVESTMENTS • FIRST SOLAR • FLEISHMANHILLARD • FOLEY & LARDNER LLP • FORD MOTOR COMPANY • FRESHFIELDS BRUCKHAUS DERINGER LLP • FTI CONSULTING • GE • GENERAL MOTORS EUROPE • GLAXOSMITHKLINE • GOLDMAN SACHS INTERNATIONAL • GOODYEAR DUNLOP • GOOGLE • GOWAN GROUP • HASBRO EUROPE • HERBALIFE INTERNATIONAL INC. • HEWLETT-PACKARD • HILL+KNOWLTON STRATEGIES • HOGAN LOVELLS • HONEYWELL • HUME BROPHY • IBM • INTEL CORPORATION • INTERNATIONAL PAPER • JOHN DEERE GMBH & CO. KG. • JOHNSON & JOHNSON • JOHNSON CONTROLS • JPMORGAN • KELLER AND HECKMAN LLP • KREAB GAVIN ANDERSON • LATHAM & WATKINS LLP • LEVI STRAUSS & CO. • LIBERTY GLOBAL EUROPE • LINKLATERS LLP • LVMH • LYONDELLBASELL • MARS • MARY KAY INC. • MASTERCARD EUROPE • MATTEL EUROPE • MAYER BROWN EUROPE-BRUSSELS LLP • MCDONALD’S EUROPE • MCKINSEY & COMPANY • MEADWESTVACO CORPORATION • METLIFE • MICHELIN NORTH AMERICA INC. • MICROSOFT • MONSANTO • MORGAN STANLEY INT. • MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS, LLP • MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS • MSD • MWH GLOBAL • NIKE EMEA • NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT LLP • O’MELVENY & MYERS LLP • ORACLE • PARTYLITE • PFIZER • PHILIP MORRIS INTERNATIONAL • PROCTER & GAMBLE • QUALCOMM • QUINN EMANUEL URQUHART & SULLIVAN LLP • REED ELSEVIER • ROCK CREEK GLOBAL ADVISORS LLC • S.W.I.F.T. SCRL • SAS • SHEPPARD MULLIN

RICHTER & HAMPTON LLP • SHIRE • SIDLEY AUSTIN LLP • SKADDEN, ARPS, SLATE, MEAGHER & REFERENCES FLOM • SKY ITALIA • STANDARD & POOR’S • STANLEY BLACK & DECKER • STEPTOE & JOHNSON LLP • SYMANTEC • SYNGENTA • TE CONNECTIVITY • TENNECO • THE AES CORPORATION • THE BOEING COMPANY • THE CARLYLE GROUP • THE CHARLES SCHWAB CORPORATION • THE COCA-COLA COMPANY • THE NIELSEN COMPANY • THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY • THOMSON REUTERS • TIME WARNER • TYCO • UL • UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION • UPS • VAN BAEL & BELLIS • VERIZON • W.L. GORE & ASSOCIATES • WEBER SHANDWICK • WHITE & CASE LLP • WILMER CUTLER PICKERING HALE & DORR LLP • WRAGGE & CO LLP • YAHOO!

AmCham EU 55 REFERENCES 56 The European Parliament Simple Made