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the European Parliament

does anyone know when the European Parliament was 'founded'? I've tried Wikipedia and Europa and both say it has it's roots in the 1950s but not when it actaully developed into a parliament. I know MEPs became elected in 1979, but was there an act/treaty that did this?

Reply 1

hazzie1

OP

1

lol! I guess no-one knows then!

Reply 2

AATTMM

11

http://www.europarl.eu.int/presentation/default_en.htm

"The European Parliament represents, in the words of the 1957 Treaty of Rome, 'the peoples of the States brought together in the European Community'. Some 375 million European citizens in 15 countries are now involved in the process of European integration through their 626 representatives in the European Parliament.

The first direct elections to the European Parliament were held in June 1979 when, 34 years after the end of Second World War, for the first time in history, the peoples of the nations of Europe, once torn apart by war, went to the polls to elect the members of a single parliament. Europeans could have devised no more powerful symbol of reconciliation.

The European Parliament, which derives its legitimacy from direct universal suffrage and is elected every five years, has steadily acquired greater influence and power through a series of treaties. These treaties, particularly the 1992 Maastricht Treaty and the 1997 Amsterdam Treaty, have transformed the European Parliament from a purely consultative assembly into a legislative parliament, exercising powers similar to those of the national parliaments. Today the European Parliament, as an equal partner with the Council of Ministers, passes the majority of European laws - laws that affect the lives of Europe's citizens."

So I guess it was founded in 1957, but was first eleceted in 1979.

Reply 3

hazzie1

OP

1

thankyou v much, v useful

Reply 4

muncrun

1

Definitely not established in 1957.

The European Parliament has its origins in the 1952 European Coal and Steel Convention, and to begin with was just an assembly with relatively little power; it's main role being that of consultation in the legislative process. The EEC Treaty (Treaty of Rome) and Euratom Treaty were signed in 1957, and the Parliamentary Assembly, as it was then known, was shared with the ECSC.

Reply 5

Rose64

1

'Why does the European Parliament remian so weak?'

The essay I'm currently doing.. anyone got any ideas?

So far I have:
- It's a very large, awkward body, lacking coherence
- The executive sections of the EU (council and commission) are not drawn from Parliament
- MEPs have no clear political mandates
- Many EU decisions are extremely complex in two senses - difficult to understand, difficult to agree and implement
- Parliament has no leaders of its own.

I got most of these points from my McNaughton text book :tongue:

and am obviously elaborating on and explaining them. Anyone got any other ideas?

Reply 6

Greyhound01

1

Rose64

'Why does the European Parliament remian so weak?'

The essay I'm currently doing.. anyone got any ideas?

So far I have:
- It's a very large, awkward body, lacking coherence
- The executive sections of the EU (council and commission) are not drawn from Parliament
- MEPs have no clear political mandates
- Many EU decisions are extremely complex in two senses - difficult to understand, difficult to agree and implement
- Parliament has no leaders of its own.

I got most of these points from my McNaughton text book :tongue:

and am obviously elaborating on and explaining them. Anyone got any other ideas?

I have a few more ideas for you:
Expand on WHY it's a large, awkward and fragmented body. This is mainly because of the party system, and the party system is a HUGE component of the operations of any parliament body in the world. This is for several reasons: 1. there are 5 main 'parties' in the European Parliament but membership is fluid (national parties change the party the affiliate to often). This makes it hard to maintain any kind of collective responsibility, compounded by the fact that, because MEP's only rely on votes within their own nation it is rational for them to act according to their own national interests rather than any collective European interest. 2. these parties are inappropriate because the meanings of key political terms varies a LOT between nations, for example the British Conservative party are affiliated to the main right wing party that has a strong explicit Christian affiliation, something the Conservatives don't have but many center-right European parties do (such as in Spain, Italy, and countries that supported Rome during the Reformation period). Also Labour is affiliated to the European Socialists (how appropriate is that given Tony Blairs apparent hatred of the term!) 3. there is no system whereby parties form a 'coalition government'. Alliances change depending on the issue in question and are very 'ad hoc' 4. there are no Europe wide 'political cleavages' (you will learn more about this term if you study politics at degree level) but the basic definition is that its an issue which divides voters, that they are aware of and vote accordingly with this alliance (the main cleavage in Britain is believed to be "class" E.g. working class vote Labour, middle class vote Tory). Because there are no cleavages it is hard for voters to instinctively vote for the same parties election after election and it's hard for politicians to know their enemy within the parliament. (this is a pretty technical argument but if you mention it you should get loads of extra credit as it's degree-level).

Reply 7

Rose64

1

Woowwee thankyou soo much :biggrin:

you are sooper. I'll add those points immediately, they're fab! Have some rep :smile:

Reply 8

roff

2

hazzie1

thankyou v much, v useful

don't forget to update AATTMM's info a bit, 25 countries in the EU now, probably more than 626 reps in the europarliament as a result

Reply 9

muncrun

1

koldtoast

don't forget to update AATTMM's info a bit, 25 countries in the EU now, probably more than 626 reps in the europarliament as a result

There are currently 731 members of European Parliament. The Treaty of Amsterdam provided for a ceiling of 732 members, although as yet unratified Constitution will further increase this ceiling to ensure greater democratic representation.

Reply 10

bozkurt

hazzie1

does anyone know when the European Parliament was 'founded'?

i think it was founded in 1958.Actually i think im sure!

i hope im correct!!! :cool:

Reply 11

muncrun

1

[QUOTE="bozkurt"]

hazzie1

does anyone know when the European Parliament was 'founded'?

i think it was founded in 1958.Actually i think im sure!

i hope im correct!!! :cool:

You're wrong, I'm afraid. See my earlier post:

Definitely not established in 1957.

The European Parliament has its origins in the 1952 European Coal and Steel Convention, and to begin with was just an assembly with relatively little power; it's main role being that of consultation in the legislative process. The EEC Treaty (Treaty of Rome) and Euratom Treaty were signed in 1957, and the Parliamentary Assembly, as it was then known, was shared with the ECSC.

Reply 12

bozkurt

muncrun

You're wrong, I'm afraid. See my earlier post:

r u sure?

Reply 13

muncrun

1

bozkurt

r u sure?

Yep. I could always quote my EU law textbook if that would make a difference.

Reply 14

AATTMM

11

To the person doing the essay thing. It's also weak because countries can pull out of the EU anytime, so EU laws and stuff may take precedent while countries are in the EU, but if a country pulls out, they don't mean anything.

Reply 15

roff

2

Thankfully...

the European Parliament

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