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I Congressional Research Service
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May 16, 2019


The European Parliament and U.S. Interests


A Key EU Institution
Between May 23 and May 26, 2019, the 28 member states
of the European Union (EU) are due to hold elections for
the next European Parliament (EP). As the only EU
institution that is directly elected, the 751 members of the
EP represent the roughly 513 million citizens of the EU.
The EP has accumulated more power over time, most
recently with the EU's 2009 Lisbon Treaty, in an attempt to
improve democratic accountability and transparency in EU
policymaking. Enhanced powers have made the EP a more
important actor on several issues of U.S. concern, including
trade, data privacy, and countering terrorism. Congress-EP
ties are longstanding, and Congress may be increasingly
interested in EP activities given the EP's potential to
influence key aspects of U.S.-EU relations.

Role and Responsibilities
The EP plays a role in the EU's legislative and budget
processes and has a degree of oversight responsibility. The
EP works closely with the two other main EU institutions:
the European Commission, which represents the interests of
the EU as a whole and functions as the EU's executive, and
the Council of the European Union (or the Council of
Ministers), which represents the interests of the EU's
national governments.

Although the European Commission has the right of
legislative initiative, the EP 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, such as taxation and most
aspects of foreign policy). Both the EP and the Council of
Ministers must approve a European Commission proposal
for it to become EU law in a process known as the ordinary
legislative procedure or co-decision. The EP must also
approve the accession of new EU member states (or a
member state's withdrawal) and has the right to approve or
reject international accords, including EU trade agreements.

The EP decides how to allocate the EU's budget jointly
with the Council of Ministers (although neither the EP nor
the Council of Ministers can affect the size of the EU's
annual budget, which is fixed as a percentage of the EU's
combined gross national income). In addition, the EP has a
supervisory role over the European Commission and some
limited oversight over the activities of the Council of
Ministers. The EP monitors the management of EU
policies, can conduct investigations and public hearings,
and must approve each new slate of European
Commissioners every five years.

Structure and Organization
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) serve five-
year terms. Voting for the EP takes place on a national


basis, with the number of MEPs elected in each EU country
based roughly on population size. Although voter turnout
varies greatly from country to country, average turnout in
EP elections is usually relatively low (43% in the last EP
elections in May 2014) and of ongoing concern to the EU.

Political Groups
Once elected, MEPs caucus according to political ideology
rather than nationality. A political group must contain at
least 25 MEPs from a minimum of seven EU countries. No
single group in the EP has an absolute majority, making
compromise and coalition-building key features of the
legislative process. The relative size of the political groups
helps to determine EP leadership positions and committee
posts. In the 2014-2019 EP, there were eight political
groups-containing over 200 national political parties-
that spanned the political spectrum, as well as a number of
non-attached or independent IVEPs (see Figure 1).

Historically, the center-right European People's Party
(EPP) and the center-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists
and Democrats in the European Parliament (S&D) have
been the two largest political groups and have tended to
dominate the EP by cooperating in unofficial grand
coalitions. At the same time, voting blocs on specific
pieces of legislation vary according to different issues and
interests. In the 2014-2019 EP, the centrist and liberal
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) and
the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists
(ECR) both played a kingmaker role at times by
exercising decisive swing votes.

In the 2014 election, candidates and parties considered to be
euroskeptic-that is, critical of the EU or anti-EU to
varying degrees-won an increased number of seats.
Although most euroskeptic parties are on the right or far
right (and are predominantly nationalist and anti-
immigration), some are on the left or far left. The ECR was
one of three right-wing euroskeptic groups in the 2014-
2019 EP. The ECR consisted of MEPs concerned about a
loss of national sovereignty in the EU. Further to the right,
the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD)
group strongly objected to any further EU integration. Both
the ECR and the EFDD included MEPs from the United
Kingdom (UK) who supported the UK's decision to leave
the EU (known as Brexit, which remains pending). In
2015, a smaller but more stridently anti-EU, nationalist
group formed-the Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF).

The other two groups in the EP are on the left of the
political spectrum. The Greens/European Free Alliance
(Greens/EFA) comprises pro-environment parties and
several regional parties (e.g., Scottish, Welsh, Catalonian,
and Basque) with leftist outlooks. The far-left European


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