President of the European Parliament
The President of the European Parliament directs the activities of the European Parliament and the Parliament under its authority. As President of the Parliament, he has presided over the plenary sessions and represents the Parliament in all external matters, such as in relation to other EU institutions or international level. At the European Council summit he reimbursed the state and government report on the positions of the Parliament. Together with the Chairman of the Council of the EU, he signed the adopted under the ordinary legislative procedure EU legislation before it is published in the Official Journal of the European Union ( Article 297 TFEU). Specifically, the tasks of the President of Parliament are laid down in Article 20 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament.
The President is assisted by a Steering Committee, which is also referred to as an office. The office is responsible for the budget of the Parliament and of Administrative Affairs Authority. It consists of the President, fourteen Vice - Presidents and five Quaestors, representing the interests of Europe as a Member of Parliament. The Bureau members are all elected by the members of the European Parliament from among its members.
Furthermore, the Parliament President shall preside at the Conference of Presidents, consisting of him and the chairmen of the political groups of the European Parliament. The Conference of Presidents shall be responsible in particular for establishing the agenda of Parliament sessions.
Election of the President
The president is elected by Parliament under Article 14, paragraph 4 of the EU Treaty by Parliament from among its members. It requires an absolute majority of the votes cast. If this is not achieved in the first call attempt, new candidates for the presidency, in the second and third choice experiment, added, however, only the two candidates of the participating third, who scored the most votes in the fourth choice experiment. The term of office of the President of Parliament and the other members of the Presidium of the two and a half years, so half a term of Parliament.
Typically, in each case the two largest groups in the European Parliament, namely the Group of the European People's Party (EPP ) and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament (S & D) two terms share in, so in the first half of the legislature a representative of the and one in the second half of a representative of the other faction heads the parliament.
The other members of the Presidency are elected by the Parliament from among its members, in which case, in general the other groups come into play according to their size. In the first half of the 2009-14 legislative session, however, the small fraction Eurosceptic Europe of freedom and democracy were (EFD ) and initially also the national conservative European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR ) is not represented in the Bureau; the GUE / NGL did not constitute a Vice President, but only a quaestor. The ECR MEP Edward McMillan- Scott, who had been elected against the will of his Presidents Vice Presidents of Parliament was subsequently excluded immediately from his group and later joined the liberal ALDE group on. In turn, after the resignation of the ALDE MEPs Silvana Koch -Mehrin, Vice President in July 2011, the ECR - member Giles Chichester was nachgewählt. In the election of the Bureau for the second half of the legislature 18 January 2012 members of all fractions were elected with the exception of the EFD, the GUE / NGL was represented again with a quaestor.
List of Presidents of the European Parliament
Current members of the Bureau
In the second half of the legislature from 2009 to 2014 the German Martin Schulz ( PES) is President of the European Parliament. His deputy (Vice President ) are:
The Quaestors are: