European Parliament – 50th birthday QA-70-07-089-EN-C series 1958–2008 Th ere is hardly a political system in the modern world that does not have a parliamentary assembly in its institutional ‘toolkit’. Even autocratic or totalitarian BUILDING PARLIAMENT: systems have found a way of creating the illusion of popular expression, albeit tamed 50 YEARS OF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT HISTORY and subjugated. Th e parliamentary institution is not in itself a suffi cient condition for granting a democratic licence. Yet the existence of a parliament is a necessary condition of what 1958–2008 we have defi ned since the English, American and French Revolutions as ‘democracy’. Since the start of European integration, the history of the European Parliament has fallen between these two extremes. Europe was not initially created with democracy in mind. Yet Europe today is realistic only if it espouses the canons of democracy. In other words, political realism in our era means building a new utopia, that of a supranational or post-national democracy, while for two centuries the DNA of democracy has been its realisation within the nation-state. Yves Mény President of the European University Institute, Florence BUILDING PARLIAMENT: BUILDING 50 YEARS OF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT HISTORY PARLIAMENT EUROPEAN OF YEARS 50 ISBN 978-92-823-2368-7 European Parliament – 50th birthday series Price in Luxembourg (excluding VAT): EUR 25 BUILDING PARLIAMENT: 50 YEARS OF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT HISTORY 1958–2008 This work was produced by the European University Institute, Florence, under the direction of Yves Mény, for the European Parliament. Contributors: Introduction, Jean-Marie Palayret; Part One, Luciano Bardi, Nabli Beligh, Cristina Sio Lopez and Olivier Costa (coordinator); Part Two, Pierre Roca, Ann Rasmussen and Paolo Ponzano (coordinator); Part Three, Florence Benoît-Rohmer; Conclusions, Yves Mény. The authors are grateful for the close cooperation, expertise, documentation and informed advice pro- vided by Jacques Nancy, Head of the Public Opinion Monitoring Unit, and his colleagues Elise Defourny and Jow- ita Wypych. Graphic design: Artitude www.artitude.be Europe Direct is a service designed to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union. There is a free phone number (*): 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (*) Some mobile phone services do not allow access to 00 800 numbers or may invoice your call. A great deal of further information on the European Union is available on the Internet via the Europa server (http://europa.eu). A bibliography page will be found at the end of this work. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2009 ISBN 978-92-823-2368-7 doi 10.2861/49329 © European Communities, 2009 Reproduction permitted with acknowledgement of source Printed in Belgium BUILDING PARLIAMENT: 50 YEARS OF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT HISTORY 19582008 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................13 PART I: THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT REAFFIRMS ITS LEGITIMACY ......................................33 I. THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ASSERTS ITS POLITICAL LEGITIMACY ................................................33 A. Direct elections and legitimacy of the European Parliament ..............................................................33 A.1 From indirect to direct legitimacy ........................................................................................................34 A.2 1979, a democratic revolution: first elections to the European Parliament ...........................37 1. Electoral participation .........................................................................................................................37 2. Nature and relevance of European elections ...............................................................................38 A.3 Electoral standards and representativeness of the European Parliament ..............................40 1. Minimum threshold: application and percentage .....................................................................43 2. Number of constituencies ..................................................................................................................43 3. Fixed party lists and preferential voting ........................................................................................44 B. Composition of groups within the European Parliament ......................................................................45 B.1 Increase in the number of MEPs between 1958 and 2009 ............................................................45 B.2 Political composition of the European Parliament (1958-2008) ................................................53 1. Political groups in the appointed Parliament ..............................................................................53 2. Groups that emerged following the first direct elections ........................................................55 3. Groups that no longer exist ...............................................................................................................56 C. By its involvement in European representative democracy .................................................................60 C.1. European and national parliaments and the democratic deficit ................................................61 1. The rise to power of the EP ................................................................................................................61 a. From 1958 to 1979: asserting control .....................................................................................61 b. From 1979 to 2008: institutionalisation of real parliamentary control .....................62 2. The gradual mobilisation of national parliaments .....................................................................63 a. Parliaments with binding powers ............................................................................................63 b. Parliaments without direct coercive measures ...................................................................64 C.2. The European Parliament and national parliaments at the service of European democracy.................................................................................................................................67 1. Bilateral parliamentary cooperation ...............................................................................................67 2. Multilateral parliamentary cooperation ........................................................................................68 3. The Convention method .....................................................................................................................70 II. THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ESTABLISHES ITS LEGITIMACY BY OPENING UP TO CIVIL SOCIETY ..........................................................................................................................................86 A. MEPs: from constituencies to Chamber .......................................................................................................89 A.1. First and foremost elected representatives .......................................................................................89 A.2. Just like any other elected representative? .......................................................................................90 B. Lobbying in the European Parliament .........................................................................................................92 B.1. Access to the European Parliament ......................................................................................................93 1. MEPs willing to deal with interest representatives ....................................................................93 2. The difficulty with regulating lobbying in the EP ......................................................................94 B.2. The special role of intergroups ..............................................................................................................97 C. The European Parliament and citizens ........................................................................................................99 C.1. Citizens’ correspondence .......................................................................................................................100 C.2. Examination of petitions ........................................................................................................................100 C.3. The European Ombudsman ..................................................................................................................101 C.4. Visitors and communication policy ....................................................................................................103 C.5. Public hearings ..........................................................................................................................................104 C.6. The European Parliament opens up to public debate ..................................................................106 1. Citizens’ forums ...................................................................................................................................107 2. The Citizens’ Agora .............................................................................................................................108 III. THE BATTLE FOR THE CONSTITUTIONALISATION OF THE UNION .....................................................111