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The Faces of the European Parliament 2009–2011

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The Faces of the European Parliament 2009–2011 The faces of the European Parliament 2009–2011 EUROPEAN 20092011 PARLIAMENT FACES Contents ■ Preface by the President 3 ■ The European Parliament 5 ■ The President of the European Parliament 5 ■ The MEPs and the political groups 6 ■ Political bodies 10 ■ The Conference of Presidents 10 ■ Members of the Conference of Presidents 10 ■ The Bureau 12 ■ The Quaestors 12 ■ Parliament’s Bureau 13 ■ Parliamentary committees 16 ■ The EP’s standing committees and their chairs 16 ■ Special Committee 18 ■ Delegations 19 ■ The EP delegations and their chairs 19 2 ■ Multilateral parliamentary assemblies 21 ■ The Secretariat-General 22 Preface by the President The European Parliament, which represents close to 500 million citizens in the 27 Member States, is the heart of our democratic system. It has both an institutional and a so- cial role. It also has another task to fulfi l — that of creating a vision of a new Europe, at a time when it is faced with a number of challenges. In tackling the economic crisis, Europe must speak with one voice. Behind the Iron Curtain, the cry in the streets was once: ‘There can be no freedom without solidarity’. Now we can say: ‘Without solidarity there can be no community’, nor can there be a modern, strong Europe. We must guard against the temptation of protectionism and the re-nationalisation of EU policies. The cohesion policy must therefore remain a prior- ity in the next multiannual fi nancial framework, if we want to achieve full integration of our reunited continent. 3 With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December 2009 new chances and opportunities will occur. The single market is our great achievement. We must protect and consolidate it to ensure that Europe remains competitive. We are facing an energy and climate crisis. The time has come for the Union to have a real common energy policy. In this context we also must develop a coherent and eff ec- tive foreign policy which includes a vision of the global order and partnership. The European Union stands for human rights and minority rights. The Sakharov Prize set up by Parliament to honour human rights defenders is a good example of this. With the Lisbon Treaty in place Parliament enjoys much wider PREFACE BY THE PRESIDENT THE BY PREFACE powers. It therefore needs to ensure that it listens carefully and takes appropriate action. Our priorities in this connection must be more lively debates in plenary and a closer partner- ship with the other institutions and with the national parlia- ments of the 27 Member States. My election as President of the European Parliament is sym- bolic of the dream of a united continent held by the citizens. Old and new Europe are no more. This is now our common Europe, a project that calls for energy and hard work, and one that a generation of Europeans has dreamed of. I am ready to play my part in this work, because those dreams were also my dreams. Jerzy Buzek President of the European Parliament 4 ■ The European ParliamentParliament The European Parliament is the parliamentary institution of the European UnionUnion. (EU).The presentThe present Parliament Parliament, has 785elected mem- in Junebers from2009, all has 27 736 EU memberscountries. fromNearly all one27 EU third countries. of them Over are onewomen. third The of Europeanthem are Parliament,women. The whose European seat isParliament, in Stras- whosebourg, seathas isthree in Strasbourg, places of haswork: three Brussels, places Luxembourg of work: Brussels, and LuxembourgStrasbourg. and Strasbourg. The President of the European Parliament The PresidentPresident of of the the European European Parliament Parliament is elected is elected for afor renew a re-- ablenewable term termof two of and two a andhalf years,a half i.e.years, half i.e.the half term the of lifetimea Member of ofa Parliamentary the European term.Parliament. The President The President represents represents the Europeanthe Euro- peanParliament Parliament vis-à-vis vis-à-vis the outside the outside world world and in and its inrelations its relations with withthe other the otherCommunity European institutions. Union institutions. The President The chairsPresident the chairsplenary the sittings plenary of Parliament,sittings of Parliament, the Bureau the of ParliamentBureau of Par-(in- liamentcluding (including14 Vice-Presidents) 14 Vice-Presidents) and the Conference and the Conference of Presidents of Presidentsof political ofgroups. the political groups. Presidents of the European Parliament (1958–2011)(1958–2009) 1958–19601958 –1960 Robert Schuman 1960–19621960 –1962 Hans Furler 1962–19641962 –1964 Gaetano Martino 1964–19651964 –1965 Jean Duvieusart 1965–19661965 –1966 Victor Leemans 1966–19691966 –1969 Alain Poher 1969–19711969 –1971 Mario Scelba 5 5 1971–1973 Walter Behrendt 1973–1975 Cornelis Berkhouwer 1975–1977 Georges Spénale 1977–1979 Emilio Colombo 1979–1982 Simone Veil 1982–1984 Pieter Dankert 1984–1987 Pierre Pfl imlin 1987–1989 Lord Plumb 1989–1992 Enrique Barón Crespo 1992–1994 Egon A. Klepsch 1994–1997 Klaus Hänsch 1997–1999 José María Gil-Robles 1999–2002 Nicole Fontaine THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT EUROPEAN THE 2002–2004 Pat Cox 2004–2007 Josep Borrell Fontelles 2007–2009 Hans-Gert Pöttering 2009–… Jerzy Buzek The MEPs and the political groups The Members of the European Parliament sit in political groups — they are not organised by nationality, but by politi- cal affi liation. A political group comprises Members elected in at least one quarter of the EU countries and has a minimum of 25 Members. There are currently seven political groups in the European Parliament. Members who do not belong to any of the groups are known as ‘non-attached Members’. Political groups have their own staff and the Members have parliamentary assistants. 6 ROBERT SCHUMAN List of political groups 1. Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) (EPP) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT EUROPEAN THE 2. Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament (S&D) 3. Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) 4. Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) 5. European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR) 6. Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) 7. Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group (EFD) Non-attached Members (NI) NI 7 The make-up of the European Parliament 265 EPP 55 184 Greens/ S&D EFA 84 THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT EUROPEAN THE ALDE 35 GUE/ NGL 28 NI NI 54 ECR 31 EFD 8 Distribution of seats by political groups and Member States after the June 2009 elections EPP S&D ALDE Greens/ ECR GUE/ EFD NI Total EFA NGL Belgium (BE) 5 5 5 4 1 2 22 PARLIAMENT EUROPEAN THE Bulgaria (BG) 6 4 5 2 17 Czech Republic (CZ) 2 7 9 4 22 Denmark (DK) 1 4 3 2 1 2 13 Germany (DE) 42 23 12 14 8 99 Estonia (EE) 1 1 3 1 6 Ireland (IE) 4 3 4 1 12 Greece (EL) 8 8 1 3 2 22 Spain (ES) 23 21 2 2 1 1 50 France (FR) 29 14 6 14 5 1 3 72 Italy (IT) 35 21 7 9 72 Cyprus (CY) 2 2 2 6 Latvia (LV) 3 1 1 1 1 1 8 Lithuania (LT) 4 3 2 1 2 12 Luxembourg (LU) 3 1 1 1 6 Hungary (HU) 14 4 1 3 22 Malta (MT) 2 3 5 Netherlands (NL) 5 3 6 3 1 2 1 4 25 Austria (AT) 6 4 2 5 17 Poland (PL) 28 7 15 50 Portugal (PT) 10 7 5 22 Romania (RO) 14 11 5 3 33 Slovenia (SI) 3 2 2 7 Slovakia (SK) 6 5 1 1 13 Finland (FI) 4 2 4 2 1 13 Sweden (SE) 5 5 4 3 1 18 United Kingdom (UK) 13 11 5 25 1 12 5 72 Total 265 184 84 55 54 35 31 28 736 9 NB: The Treaty of Lisbon, which came into force on 1 December 2009, provides for the European Parliament to have 751 Members. ■ The European ■ Political bodies Parliament The Conference of Presidents The European Parliament is the parliamentary institution of The Conference of Presidents is made up of the chairs of the the European Union. The present Parliament has 785 mem- political groups and the President of the European Parlia- bers from all 27 EU countries. Nearly one third of them are ment. It makes decisions regarding the organisation of the women. The European Parliament, whose seat is in Stras- Parliament’s work and on all matters relating to legislative bourg, has three places of work: Brussels, Luxembourg and planning: Strasbourg. • the timetable and agenda for plenary sittings; • the composition of the committees and delegations, The President of the and their remits; • legislative planning. European Parliament The President of the European Parliament is elected for a re- It also has an important role in the relations between the newable term of two and a half years, i.e. half the lifetime of European Parliament and the other EU institutions, third a Parliamentary term. The President represents the European countries and extra-EU organisations. Parliament vis-à-vis the outside world and in its relations with the other Community institutions. The President chairs the plenary sittings of Parliament, the Bureau of Parliament (in- cluding 14 Vice-Presidents) and the Conference of Presidents Members of the of political groups. Conference of Presidents Presidents of the European Parliament President of Parliament and (1958–2009) chairs of the political groups 1958 –1960 Robert Schuman Jerzy BUZEK EPP, PL 1960 –1962 Hans Furler President 1962 –1964 Gaetano Martino 1964 –1965 Jean Duvieusart 1965 –1966 Victor Leemans 1966 –1969 Alain Poher 1969 –1971 Mario Scelba 5 10 Joseph DAUL EPP, FR Chair of the Group of the European People’s Party POLITICAL BODIES POLITICAL Martin SCHULZ S&D, DE Chair of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament Guy VERHOFSTADT ALDE, BE Chair of
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