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The European Parliament (EP) is the legislative branch of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union, it adopts European legislation, normally on a proposal from the European Commission. The Parliament is composed of 705 members (MEPs). The Parliament represents the second-largest democratic electorate in the world and the largest trans-national democratic electorate in the world.
The European People's Party group is a centre-right political group of the European Parliament consisting of deputies (MEPs) from the member parties of the European People's Party (EPP). It sometimes includes independent MEPs and/or deputies from unaffiliated national parties.. The EPP Group comprises politicians of Christian-democratic, conservative and liberal-conservative orientation.
The European United Left/Nordic Green Left is a political group of the European Parliament established in 1995, and composed of left-wing to far-left members.
The European Commission (EC) is the executive branch of the European Union, responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the EU treaties and managing the day-to-day business of the EU. Commissioners swear an oath at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg City, pledging to respect the treaties and to be completely independent in carrying out their duties during their mandate. The Commissioners are proposed by the Council of the European Union, on the basis of suggestions made by the national governments, and then appointed by the European Council after the approval of the European Parliament. It is common, although not a formal requirement, that the commissioners have previously held senior political positions, such as being a member of the European Parliament or a government minister.
Euroscepticism, also known as EU-scepticism, means criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek reform, to those who oppose EU membership outright and see the EU as unreformable. The opposite of Euroscepticism is known as pro-Europeanism, or European Unionism. Euroscepticism should not be confused with anti-Europeanism, which is a dislike of European culture and European ethnic groups by non-Europeans.
The United Kingdom is a unitary state with devolution that is governed within the framework of a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy in which the monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II, is the head of state while the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, currently Boris Johnson, is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the British government, on behalf of and by the consent of the monarch, and the devolved governments of Scotland and Wales and the Northern Ireland Executive. Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the House of Commons and the House of Lords, as well as in the Scottish Parliament and Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The highest court is the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament.
The European Green Party (EGP), sometimes referred to as European Greens, is the European political party that operates as a federation of political parties across Europe supporting green politics. The EGP cooperates with the European Free Alliance (EFA) to form the Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) parliamentary group in the European parliament.
The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with conservative and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties, not individuals. Founded by primarily Christian democratic parties in 1976, it has since broadened its membership to include liberal-conservative parties and parties with other centre-right political perspectives. On 20 November 2019 the party elected as its President, the former Prime Minister of Poland and President of the European Council, Donald Tusk.
The President of the European Parliament presides over the debates and activities of the European Parliament. They also represent the Parliament within the EU and internationally. The president's signature is required for enacting most EU laws and the EU budget.
Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage, and with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, it is considered the second largest democratic elections in the world.
Manfred Weber is a German politician who has served as Leader of the European People's Party in the European Parliament since 2014. He has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Germany since 2004. He is a member of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, part of the European People's Party.
The Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe was the liberal–centrist political group of the European Parliament from 2004 until 2019. It was made up of MEPs from two European political parties, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and the European Democratic Party, which collectively form the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.
The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) is a Eurosceptic, anti-federalist political group of the European Parliament. The ECR is the parliamentary group of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party European political party, but also includes MEPs from four other European parties and thirteen MEPs without European party affiliation. The group focuses on reforming the European Union (EU) on the basis of Eurorealism as opposed to total rejection of the EU (anti-EU-ism).
The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) is the political group in the European Parliament of the Party of European Socialists (PES). The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats was officially founded as a Socialist Group on 29 June 1953 which makes it the second oldest political group in the European Parliament after the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group (ALDE). It adopted its present-day name on 23 June 2009. Centre-left in orientation, the group mostly comprises social-democratic parties and is affiliated with the Progressive Alliance.
An election to the European Parliament was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million people from 28 member states. In February 2018, the European Parliament had voted to decrease the number of MEPs from 751 to 705 if the United Kingdom were to withdraw from the European Union on 29 March 2019. However, the United Kingdom participated alongside other EU member states after an extension of Article 50 to 31 October 2019; therefore, the allocation of seats between the member states and the total number of seats remained as it had been in 2014. The Ninth European Parliament had its first plenary session on 2 July 2019.
David Maria Sassoli is an Italian politician and journalist, a member of the Democratic Party. An MEP since 2009, he was elected its President on 3 July 2019.
The European Parliament election of 2019 in Lithuania was held on 26 May 2019 to elect delegation from Lithuania to the European Parliament. It was part of the wider 2019 European election. The second round of the 2019 Lithuanian presidential election took place at the same time.
The 9th European Parliament was elected in the 2019 elections and is to last until the 2024 elections.
References
- "Official 'Members of European Parliament'". European Parliament - MEPs. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
