- Preface
- New to this edition
- Brexit Late News
- List of figures
- List of boxes
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- List of abbreviations
- How to use the online resources
- 1. Introduction
- Part 1 The Historical Context
- 2. The European Union: Establishment and Development
- 3. From the Constitutional Treaty to the Treaty of Lisbon and Beyond
- Part 2 Theories and Conceptual Approaches
- 4. Neo-functionalism
- 5. Intergovernmentalism
- 6. Theorizing the European Union after Integration Theory
- 7. Governance in the European Union
- 8. Europeanization
- 9. Democracy and Legitimacy in the European Union
- Part 3 Institutions and Actors
- 10. The European Commission
- 11. The European Council and the Council of the European Union
- 12. The European Parliament
- 13. The Court of Justice of the European Union
- 14. Interest Groups and the European Union
- 15. Citizens and Public Opinion in the European Union
- Part 4 Policies and Policy-making
- 16. Policy-making in the European Union
- 17. Trade and Development Policies
- 18. Enlargement
- 19. The European Union’s Foreign, Security, and Defence Policies
- 20. The Single Market
- 21. The European Union’s Social Dimension
- 22. The Area of Freedom, Security, and Justice
- 23. Economic and Monetary Union
- 24. The Common Agricultural Policy
- 25. Environmental Policy
- Part 5 Issues and Debates
- 26. The Euro Crisis and European Integration
- 27. Brexit
- 28. The Future of the EU
- Glossary
- References
- Appendix—Brexit supplement
- References
- Index
(p. 176) 12. The European Parliament
- Chapter:
- (p. 176) 12. The European Parliament
- Author(s):
Charlotte Burns
- DOI:
- 10.1093/hepl/9780198806530.003.0012
This chapter focuses upon the European Parliament (EP), an institution that has seen its power dramatically increase in recent times. The EP has been transformed from being a relatively powerless institution into one that is able to have a genuine say in the legislative process and hold the European Union’s executive bodies (the Commission and Council, introduced in Chapters 9 and 10) to account in a range of policy areas. However, increases in the Parliament’s formal powers have not been matched by an increase in popular legitimacy: turnout in European elections is falling. Thus, while the EP’s legislative power is comparable to that enjoyed by many national parliaments, it has struggled to connect with the wider European public. The chapter explores these issues in detail. In the first section, the EP’s evolution from talking shop to co-legislator is reviewed; its powers and influence are explained in the next section; the EP’s internal structure and organization are then discussed with a focus upon the role and behaviour of the political groups, and finally, the European Parliament’s representative function as the EU’s only directly elected institution is discussed.
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- Preface
- New to this edition
- Brexit Late News
- List of figures
- List of boxes
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- List of abbreviations
- How to use the online resources
- 1. Introduction
- Part 1 The Historical Context
- 2. The European Union: Establishment and Development
- 3. From the Constitutional Treaty to the Treaty of Lisbon and Beyond
- Part 2 Theories and Conceptual Approaches
- 4. Neo-functionalism
- 5. Intergovernmentalism
- 6. Theorizing the European Union after Integration Theory
- 7. Governance in the European Union
- 8. Europeanization
- 9. Democracy and Legitimacy in the European Union
- Part 3 Institutions and Actors
- 10. The European Commission
- 11. The European Council and the Council of the European Union
- 12. The European Parliament
- 13. The Court of Justice of the European Union
- 14. Interest Groups and the European Union
- 15. Citizens and Public Opinion in the European Union
- Part 4 Policies and Policy-making
- 16. Policy-making in the European Union
- 17. Trade and Development Policies
- 18. Enlargement
- 19. The European Union’s Foreign, Security, and Defence Policies
- 20. The Single Market
- 21. The European Union’s Social Dimension
- 22. The Area of Freedom, Security, and Justice
- 23. Economic and Monetary Union
- 24. The Common Agricultural Policy
- 25. Environmental Policy
- Part 5 Issues and Debates
- 26. The Euro Crisis and European Integration
- 27. Brexit
- 28. The Future of the EU
- Glossary
- References
- Appendix—Brexit supplement
- References
- Index