The faces of the European Parliament 2012–14 — 2012–14 T arliamen p uropean e he T Contents ■ Preface by the President 3 The faces of The faces ■ 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 ■ Multilateral parliamentary assemblies 21 ■ The Secretariat-General 22 2 Preface by the President The European Union is based on a fascinating idea of peace, freedom, stability and prosperity. After centuries suffering from devastating conflicts and the catastrophe of two world wars, a new era dawned with the foundation of the European Union. The absence of war, together with Europe’s open bor­ ders, has made one of humankind’s oldest dreams come true. A war between EU Member States is unthinkable today. The common market is a daily reality for half a billion Europeans. Today we live in a free and open Europe — a Europe which can be proud of its cultural diversity and its commitment to defending citizens’ rights and common values. We have managed to turn enemies into friends, overcome national, religious and philosophical differences and grow to­ gether as a united Europe. This is because we realised that our interests can no longer be separated from those of our neighbours; either we all lose — or we all win. 3 What does this mean in practice? It means resolving disputes by means of dialogue and consensus; basing decisions on the principles of solidarity and democracy, and not simply defer­ ring to the more powerful; reconciling the interests of the smaller and larger Member States, of northern and southern Europe and of eastern and western Europe; and placing the common good above individual interests. What a success story! But we must never take the EU or the European integration project for granted. These are turbulent times in our history. For many people, they are hard times. In the wake of the fi­ nancial and economic crisis, many Europeans are losing faith Preface by the by PresidentPreface in politics and its institutions. This crisis of confidence also af­ fects the European integration process. We must grasp the fact that people in Europe have little time for institutional de­ bates because they are too busy worrying about their chil­ dren’s future, their jobs and their pensions. If Europe wants to be a project that is fully alive again, it needs to demonstrate its ability to solve problems that are important to its citizens. The European Parliament is the forum for democracy and debate about the future political course of the EU. We are now entering the second half of this parliamentary term with an eye on the next elections in 2014. Members of the European Parliament are your advocates and as President I am particularly proud of that fact and proud to preside over such a committed and open Parliament. This is a body through which you can be heard, as you elect your representatives to defend your key interests. And we want to listen to you. Let us now work for a Europe for ourselves and for coming gen­ erations that holds out the promise of an economically strong, socially just, free and democratic home for all Europeans. Martin Schulz 4 President of the European Parliament ■ The European Parliament The European Parliament is the parliamentary institution of the European Union (EU). Due to the Lisbon Treaty the total number of MEPs has increased from 736 (MEPs elected in 2009) to 751. Over one third of them are women. The Euro­ pean Parliament, whose seat is in Strasbourg, has three places of work: Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg. The President of the European Parliament The President of the European Parliament is elected for a re­ newable term of two and a half years, i.e. half the term of a Member of Parliament. The President represents the Euro­ pean Parliament vis­à­vis the outside world and in its rela­ tions with the other Union institutions. The President chairs the plenary sittings of Parliament, the Bureau of Parliament (including 14 Vice­Presidents) and the Conference of Presi­ dents of the political groups. Presidents of the european Parliament (1958–2014) 1958–60 Robert Schuman 1960–62 Hans Furler 1962–64 Gaetano Martino 1964–65 Jean Duvieusart 1965–66 Victor Leemans 1966–69 Alain Poher 1969–71 Mario Scelba 1971–73 Walter Behrendt 5 1973–75 Cornelis Berkhouwer 1975–77 Georges Spénale 1977–79 Emilio Colombo 1979–82 Simone Veil 1982–84 Pieter Dankert 1984–87 Pierre Pflimlin 1987–89 Lord Plumb 1989–92 Enrique Barón Crespo 1992–94 Egon A. Klepsch ean Parliament P 1994–97 Klaus Hänsch 1997–99 José María Gil-Robles uro e 1999–2002 Nicole Fontaine he t 2002–04 Pat Cox 2004–07 Josep Borrell Fontelles 2007–09 Hans-Gert Pöttering 2009–12 Jerzy Buzek 2012–… Martin Schulz The MEPs and the political groups The Members of the European Parliament sit in political groups — they are not organised by nationality, but by polit­ ical affiliation. A political group comprises Members elected in at least one quarter of the EU Member States and has a minimum of 25 Members. There are currently seven political groups in the European Parliament. Members who do not be­ long to any of the groups are known as ‘non­attached Mem­ bers’. 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) t he e 2. Group of the Progressive Alliance uro of Socialists and Democrats P ean Parliament 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) Non­attached Members (NI) NI 7 the make-up of the european Parliament 271 EPP 190 58 Greens/ S&D EFA ean Parliament P uro e 85 he ALDE t 34 GUE/ NGL 30 NI NI 53 ECR 33 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 t Belgium (BE) 5 5 5 4 1 1 1 22 he e Bulgaria (BG) 7 4 5 2 18 uro Czech Republic (CZ) 2 7 9 4 22 P ean Parliament Denmark (DK) 1 4 3 2 1 1 1 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) 7 8 1 1 3 2 22 Spain (ES) 25 23 2 2 1 1 54 France (FR) 30 14 6 15 5 1 3 74 Italy (IT) 35 22 6 10 73 Cyprus (CY) 2 2 2 6 Latvia (LV) 4 1 1 1 1 1 9 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 4 6 Netherlands (NL) 5 3 6 3 1 2 1 5 26 Austria (AT) 6 5 2 6 19 Poland (PL) 29 7 11 4 51 Portugal (PT) 10 7 1 4 22 Romania (RO) 14 11 5 3 33 Slovenia (SI) 4 2 2 8 Slovakia (SK) 6 5 1 1 13 Finland (FI) 4 2 4 2 1 13 Sweden (SE) 5 6 4 4 1 20 United Kingdom (UK) 13 12 5 27 1 9 6 73 Total 271 190 85 58 53 34 33 30 754 9 NB: The Treaty of Lisbon, which came into force on 1 December 2009, provides for the European Parliament to have 751 Members. Under the treaty, Germany loses three seats. However, since the treaty came into force after the elections in June 2009, Germany will retain those seats until the next elections in 2014. Until then, the number of MEPs will temporarily rise to 754. ■ Political bodies The Conference of Presidents The Conference of Presidents is made up of the chairs of the political groups and the President of the European Parlia­ ment. It makes decisions regarding the organisation of the Parliament’s work and on all matters relating to legislative planning: • the timetable and agenda for plenary sittings; • the composition of the committees and delegations, and their remits; • legislative planning. It also has an important role in the relations between the European Parliament and the other EU institutions, third countries and extra­EU organisations. Members of the Conference of Presidents President of Parliament and chairs of the political groups Martin Schulz S&D, DE President 10 Joseph Daul EPP, FR Chair of the Group of the European People’s Party Political bodies Hannes Swoboda S&D, AT Chair of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament Guy Verhofstadt ALDE, BE Chair of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Rebecca Harms Greens/EFA, DE Co­chair of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance Daniel Cohn­Bendit Greens/EFA, FR Co­chair of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance Martin Callanan ECR, UK Chair of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group Gabriele Zimmer GUE/NGL, DE Chair of the Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left Nigel Paul Farage EFD, UK Co­chair of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group 11 Francesco Enrico Speroni EFD, IT Co­chair of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group The Bureau Political bodies The Bureau is made up of the President of the European Parlia­ ment, the 14 Vice­Presidents and the five Quaestors with ob­ server status, elected by the assembly for a renewable period of two and a half years.