The European Parliament

The 766-member European Parliament (EP) is a key institution of the European Union (EU), a unique political and economic partnership composed of 28 member states. The EP is the only EU institution that is directly elected. Although the EP does not formally initiate EU legislation, it plays a significant role in the EU’s legislative and budgeting processes, and works closely with the two other main EU bodies, the European Commission and the Council of the European Union (also known as the Council of Ministers).

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) serve five-year terms. The most recent EP elections were held in June 2009. The EP currently has seven political groups, which caucus according to political ideology rather than nationality, plus a number of ‘non-attached’ or independent members. The EP has 20 standing committees that are key actors in the adoption of EU legislation and a total of 41 delegations that maintain international parliament-to-parliament relations. The EP is led by a President, who oversees its work and represents the EP externally. Once limited to being a consultative assembly, the EP has accumulated more power over time.

Experts assert that the EU’s latest effort at institutional reform—the Lisbon Treaty, which entered into force on December 1, 2009—increases the relative power of the EP within the EU considerably. The EP now shares legislative power with the Council of Ministers in most policy areas, giving the EP the right to accept, amend, or reject the vast majority of EU laws (with some exceptions in areas such as tax matters or foreign policy). The Lisbon Treaty also gives the EP the power to decide on the allocation of the EU budget jointly with the Council, the right to approve or reject international agreements, and greater decision-making authority on trade-related issues. At the same time, some analysts contend that the EP still lacks the legitimacy of national parliaments. Those of this view note the perpetually low voter turnout for EP elections, and assert that many European citizens remain unaware of the EP’s role within the EU.

The EP has not been shy about exerting its new powers under the Lisbon Treaty, and in some areas, with implications for U.S. interests. Long-standing EP concerns about U.S. data privacy safe guards contributed to the EP’s initial rejection in February 2010 of the U.S.-EU SWIFT agreement allowing U.S. authorities access to European financial data to help counter terrorism (a revised accord was eventually approved in July 2010). EP worries about whether the United States could guarantee a sufficient level of protection for European citizens’ personal data also necessitated a new round of U.S.-EU negotiations on another anti-terrorism measure that permits the sharing of airline Passenger Name Record (PNR) data. Following the recent revelations of U.S. National Security Agency surveillance programs and news reports alleging that U.S. intelligence agencies have monitored EU diplomatic offices, many analysts worry about whether future U.S.-EU information-sharing agreements will be able to secure the necessary EP approval. In addition, EP approval will ultimately be required to allow any eventual U.S.-EU agreement on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) to enter into force.

The Congressional Research Service, a department of the Library of Congress, conducts research and analysis for Congress on a broad range of national and international policy issues. Some of the CRS work is carried out specifically for individual members of Congress or their staff and is confidential. However, there is also much CRS compiled material which is considered public but is not formally published on the CRS website.

For that reason a number of other organisations try to keep track of these publications and make them publicly available via their own websites. Currently, ESO uses the following websites to track these reports and allow access to them in ESO:

EveryCRSReport.com
Federation of American Scientists (FAS)

In some cases hyperlinks allows you to access all versions of a report, including the latest. Note that many reports are periodically updated.

EveryCRSReport.com https://www.everycrsreport.com/

ESO: Information Guide: European Parliament http://www.europeansources.info/record/information-guide-european-parliament/

Federation of American Scientists (FAS): Congressional Research Service [CRS] Reports https://fas.org/sgp/crs/index.html

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