The European Parliament is the EU’s law-making body that is directly elected since 1979 by EU voters every 5 years. Members of Parliament represent the interests of EU citizens. Of the two forms of democracy – participatory and representative – the parliament is a representative form of democracy. The Treaty of Lisbon brought the European Union and its citizens as close as possible by strengthening both representative and participatory forms of democracy.

A clear example of participatory democracy is the European citizens’ initiative allowing EU citizens to call on the European Commission to propose new legislation. As for representative democracy,  in the institutional triangle of the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council of the European Union, the powers of the European Parliament increased the most, and from a consultative body the European Parliament transformed itself into the most important legislative institution.

The main functions of the European Parliament are as follows:

1. Considering and approving laws together with the Council of the European Union;
2. Considering and approving the budget together with the Council of the European Union;
3. Assessing the performance of the EU institutions (especially of the Commission), measuring the quality of democracy in this process;
4. Approving the composition of the European Commission together with the Council of the European Union.

In addition to the functions mentioned above, the powers of the European Parliament in relation to the European Commission increased significantly: the new composition of the European Commission is to be approved by the European  Parliament. If any candidate member of the European Commission fails to secure the approval of the European Parliament, other candidates too may be rejected. The European Parliament has the right to dismiss the whole European Commission, including the President. Parliamentary committees also regularly check the reports of the commissions and conduct surveys of the commissioners. In addition, the European Parliament is to provide its opinion regarding items on the agenda of the summits the Council of the European Union.

The European Parliament approves the members of the European Commission and can withdraw confidence in commissioners; can create investigative committees to identify possible infringements of EU law; can bring an action before the Court of Justice against another EU body. Furthermore, the main institutions of the European Union are accountable to the European Parliament. The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union have equal powers in deciding on the EU budget. The decision to conclude an international agreement or admit a new member state can only be made once the European Parliament has given its consent. The European Parliament takes its decisions by a majority of the votes cast. However, a different procedure applies in individual areas of competence. For example, under the co-decision procedure, decisions are adopted by a majority of votes of the full composition of the European Parliament.

The European Parliament has no right of legislative initiative. However, it can invite the European Commission to initiate legislation.

According to the Treaty of Lisbon, the number of members of the European Parliament in 2014 was set at 750 Members plus the President – a total of 751 members. However, after Great Britainwithdrew from the European Union on 31 January 2020, the number of MEPs decreased to 705 on 1 February 2020. 27 of the UK’s 73 mandates were re-distributed among the remaining member states (France +5; Spain +5; Italy +3; Netherlands +3; Ireland +2; Sweden +1; Austria +1; Denmark +1; Finland +1; Slovakia +1; Croatia +1; Estonia +1; Poland +1 and Romania +1).  The remaining 46 mandates, according to the decision of the European Union, will be reserved for new member states in the future.

The President of the European Parliament represents the European Parliament within the European Union and also at the international level. Members of the European Parliament are united not by nationality, but by political views. Seats allocated to each political group according to the Member State during the 2019 European elections are as follows (the next European Parliament elections will be held in 2024):

1. European People’s Party (EPP);
2. Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D);
3. Renew Europe (RE);
4. The Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA);
5. Identity and Democracy (ID);
6. European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR);
7. Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE-NGL);
8. Independent candidates who are not members of any parliamentary faction.

The composition of the European Parliament obeys the principle of degressive proportionality, based on the equality of representation. There is no specific formula for distribution of voting powers by country. According to the principle of degressive proportionality, large states are disproportionately represented in the parliament, compared to smaller states. For example, Malta, the smallest country with a population of 0.4 million people, has 6 seats in the  European Parliament, which means 1 seat per 66 thousand people, while Germany with a population of 82.5 million has 96 seats, i.e. 1 seat per 859 thousand people. These quotas were established on the basis of negotiations.

Members of the European Parliament are independent in making decisions and are not subject to the instructions of the member states. They form factions based on political views. To form a political group, consent of 25 MEPs representing at least one fifth of the EU’s Member States is required. A quarum will exist if at least one third of the full composition are present at a meeting. The main sessions of the European Parliament are held in Strasbourg (France), and others – in Brussels (Belgium). Parliament works through committees and plenary sessions. Each member state regulates by its national legislation the elections to the European Parliamnet held in its territory.