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Home » The European Parliament

The European Parliament

The European Parliament (EP) is elected by the citizens of the European Union to represent their interests. Its origins go back to the 1950s and the founding treaties, and since 1979 its members have been directly elected by the people they represent.

Elections are held every five years, and every EU citizen is entitled to vote, and to stand as a candidate, wherever they live in the EU. The latest elections were in June 2004. Parliament thus expresses the democratic will of the Union's citizens (more than 490 million people), and represents their interests in discussions with the other EU institutions. The present parliament has 785 members from all 27 EU countries. Nearly one third of them are women. In principle, the number of Members of the European Parliament shall not exceed 736 from the next parliamentary term on (i.e. 2009 – 2014). Since Bulgaria and Romania joined the Union in the course of the 2004-2009 parliamentary term, the current maximum number of 732 seats in the EPwill be temporarily exceeded.

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) do not sit in national blocks, but in seven Europe-wide political groups. Between them, they represent all views on European integration, from the strongly pro-federalist to the openly Eurosceptic.