The European Parliament

This chapter is concerned with understanding the role of the European Parliament (EP) within the institutional system of the European Union. Unlike the bodies covered in the previous two chapters, the Commission and the Council, the EP has only recently assumed prominence in the EU's governing structures. The first section of the chapter outlines the origins of the Parliament as an essentially marginal institution within the developing structures of European co-operation. The following section then reviews in detail the significant increases in powers experienced by the EP in recent times, and discusses how these have transformed the relative status of the Chamber. After that, the chapter goes on to examine the complex world of the internal politics of the EP—the membership, organization, and working practices of the Parliament. Finally, the last section considers the 'electoral connection': the links between the EP and the European public. The chapter concludes that the European Parliament has been strikingly successful in gaining more powers in recent years, but far less successful as a 'democratic link' between the EU and the public.