6th Term of the European Parliament, 2004-2009, July 2004

The new parliamentary term opened on 20th July with 732 MEPs taking up their seats for the five-year period from 2004 to 2009. Details of the results of the European elections of June 2004 can be found at http://www.elections2004.eu.int/elections.html. The data is broken down in various ways and includes turnout statistics, and trends - though incomplete - for the period 1979 to 2004. Election information from the UK perspective can also still be found at the UK site http://www.europecounts.org.uk. Information about the newly elected MEPs is available in the MEPs database on the European Parliament's website at http://wwwdb.europarl.eu.int/ep6/owa/p_meps2repartition?ilg=EN&iorig=home where details of MEPs who held office in the 4th and 5th terms of the European Parliament are also still listed. For the UK, following enlargement, the number of MEPs has been reduced to 78. The website of the London Office of the European Parliament at http://www.europarl.org.uk/uk_meps/MembersMain.htm provides information about the successful candidates and enables enquirers to track down their MEPs easily by region either by selecting the link or by clicking on the relevant area of the interactive map.

The activities of the opening week of the new Parliament are reported in the European Parliament's press service on its website at http://www.europarl.eu.int. Key events were the election of the Spanish Socialist Josep Borell Fontelles as President of the European Parliament for a period of two and a half years. Fourteen Vice-Presidents were also elected, including Edward McMillan-Scott from the UK, who came fourth in the voting league table. Seven political groups were formed with details of the names and numbers of MEPs in each group being listed in the EP's database of MEPs. Decisions were made too about the membership of the various committees and inter-parliamentary delegations and the election of their chairs and vice-chairs. See http://www.europarl.eu.int/committees/home_en.htm and http://www.europarl.eu.int/delegations/default_en.htm for well-structured pages giving full information about membership, dates, activities and documentation. One of the other important tasks of the week was the approval by secret ballot of the nominated candidate for next President of the Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso. The website of the President designate can be found at http://europa.eu.int/comm/commissioners/barroso/index_en.htm.

Finally, on the European Parliament home page it is worth noting the Who's Who link leading to http://www.europarl.eu.int/whoswho/default.htm which gives quick access to details of MEPs, accredited assistants to the EP, and lobbyists as well as addresses of EP offices.