The European Parliament

Joe Jupille

CELD/CEUCE Workshop“Comparing Democracies”

Boulder, CO, June 7, 2011

Outline

• Preliminaries• The Basics• Composition and Organization• Political Groups

• Issues: Democratic Deficit

The Basics, 1

• The European Union is a union of democratic states, all with their own democratic traditions and institutions.

• The European Parliament (EP) is the direct democratic arm of the European Union. Its members (MEPs) are directly elected by universal suffrage.

• MEPs organize themselves and substantially act along ideological, rather than national lines. “Political groups” (supranational political parties) dominate the work and functioning of the EP.

The Basics, 2• In the EU’s institutional system, the EP serves as the

lower house of the bicameral legislature, representing the people. The Council serves as the upper house, representing the states.

• The EU is neither a pure parliamentary nor a pure presidential (separation-of-powers) system. Comparing and contrasting with the US (see Kreppel 2002) is potentially very fruitful.

• Indeed, many experts consider the EP to be the second most powerful legislative body in the world, after the US Congress.

III. Composition and Organization

– Members of the European Parliament (MEPs)• Composition: Individual (736, capped in future at 750)• Pathway to Power: Direct Elections, 5 year terms (CTEU

art. 14(3)).• Role: Draft, Debate and Vote on Legislation, Budgets,

engage in executive oversight, etc.– Political Groups (i.e., political parties) …

IV. Political Groups• The Members of the European Parliament sit in political groups – they are not

organised by nationality, but by political affiliation. There are currently 7 political groups in the European Parliament.• Each takes care of its own internal organisation by appointing a chair (or two co-

chairs in the case of some groups), a bureau and a secretariat.• The places assigned to Members in the Chamber are decided by political affiliation,

from left to right, by agreement with the group chairmen.• 25 Members are needed to form a political group, and at least one-quarter of the

Member States must be represented within the group. Members may not belong to more than one political group.

• Some Members do not belong to any political group and are known as non-attached Members.

• Before every vote in plenary the political groups scrutinise the reports drawn up by the parliamentary committees and table amendments to them.

• The position adopted by the political group is arrived at by discussion within the group. No Member can be forced to vote in a particular way

Source: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/parliament/public/staticDisplay.do?id=45&pageRank=4&language=EN

EP Seat Distribution, 2009-2014

Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats)

Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament

Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe

Group of the Greens/ European Free Alliance

European Conservatives and Reformists Group

Confederal Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left

Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group

Read more at the EP’s website!

                                                      

Source: Simon Hix, Abdul Noury and Gerard Roland (2009) 'Voting Patterns and Alliance Formation in the European Parliament', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 364, 821-831. (pdf)

Upshot: Party Groups in the EP vote more consistently along ideological lines than along

national lines.

EP Voting Cohesion, 1

                                                      

Source: Simon Hix, Abdul Noury and Gerard Roland (2009) 'Voting Patterns and Alliance Formation in the European Parliament', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 364, 821-831. (pdf)

Upshot: voting cohesion among EP party groups is growing over time.

EP Voting Cohesion, 2

                                                      

Source: Simon Hix, Abdul Noury and Gerard Roland (2009) 'Voting Patterns and Alliance Formation in the European Parliament', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 364, 821-831. (pdf)

Upshot: the high level of voting cohesion among party groups in the European Parliament is not due solely to the

prior ideological agreement of MEPs; there are distinct “party effects” operating.

EP Voting Cohesion, 3

Topics, 1:EU Climate Policy: “20-20-20”

• A reduction in EU greenhouse gas emissions of at least 20% below 1990 levels

• 20% of EU energy consumption to come from renewable resources

• A 20% reduction in primary energy use compared with projected levels, to be achieved by improving energy efficiency.

• … by 2020.

• Tease out the national vs. ideological interests and simulate EP decision making.

Topics, 2:Financial Crisis

• Fiscally sound countries called on to “bail out” countries with fiscal/financial difficulties.

• Tease out the national vs. ideological interests and simulate EP decision making.

Democratic Deficit

• In a variety of ways, the EU’s system for ensuring democratic representation, which is centrally focused around the EP, is flawed in design and/or practice.• Design: not a properly parliamentary system

(Hix).• Design: national parties control elections, but

supranational parties control legislative activity.

Electoral Systems for EP Elections

Upshot:There are still

substantial cross-country

differences in how MEPs are

elected.

Source: Simon Hix and Sara Hagemann (2009) 'Could Changing the Electoral Rules Fix European Parliament Elections?', Politique Europeenne 28, 27-41. (pdf)

Declining Turnout for EP Elections

1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 20090

10203040506070

Overall

1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 20090

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100By Country

Belgium Denmark Germany Ireland France Italy Luxembourg Netherlands

United Kingdom Greece Spain Portugal Sweden Austria Finland Czech Republic

Estonia Cyprus Lithuania Latvia Hungary Malta Poland Slovenia

Slovakia Bulgaria Romania

Summary

• EP is the world’s only directly elected democratic supranational body.

• It is very powerful in the EU, and comparatively extremely powerful.

• Its nature and limitations can be fruitfully compared with those of US Congress and other democratic legislatures.

• Simulations can help students engage.

Links and Resources• http://www.votewatch.eu/• Hix, Simon. What’s Wrong With the EU and How to Fix It. London: Polity, 2008.• http://www.idea.int/vt/index.cfm (IDEA voter turnout database)• Kreppel, Amie. The European Parliament and Supranational Party System.

New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. • Ringe, Nils. Who Decides, and How? Preferences, Uncertainty and Policy

Choice in the European Parliament. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.• Hix, Simon and Bjørn Høyland. The Political System of the European Union, 3rd

edn, London: Palgrave, 2011.• Hix, Simon, Abdul Noury and Gérard Roland. Democratic Politics in the

European Parliament. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.• Rittberger, Berthold. Building Europe’s Parliament. Oxford: Oxford University

Press, 2007.• Fabbrinni, Sergio. Compound Democracies.