THE EUROPEAN UNION AND IRELAND’S LINKS WITH EUROPE
European Parliament ●● Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are directly elected by the people every five years
●● They supervise the work of the Council of Ministers and the Commission ●● They propose new ideas ●● They vote on the budget
European Parliament by Political Groups Size of the political groups Number of MEP’s in each political group as of 10 September 2015
100 150 200 250
50 0 Proportion of members in each political group
Share of each political group in the total 751 seats in the Parliament 1.9%
217 190
751 MEPs
74 70 52
PPE = European People's Party S&D = Socialists and Democrats European Conservatives and Reformists ADLE = Liberals and Democrats GUE/NGL = Green Party/United Left Verts/ALE = Greens/European Free Alliance EFDD = Freedom and Direct Democracy NI = Nations and Freedom Group
PPE S&D ECR ADLE GUE/ NGL
50
Verts/ ALE
45 39 14 EFDD NI Total 751 seats
To which political groupings are Irish political parties attached?
Council of Ministers ●● This is one of the main decision- making bodies of the EU: it decides EU laws and budget together with the European parliament
●● It is composed of government ministers from the member states depending on the topics to be decided – one Minister from each EU country – e.g. Agriculture, Education, Industry
●● They represent the national interest
European Commission – civil service of EU, headed by commissioners nominated by EU states
Proposes laws 9.9% 5.2% 6% 6.7%
9.3% 6.9%
25.3% 28.9%
Even though MEPs are elected to
represent their own countries, they sit in European-wide political groups. This is balancing the national and EU interest in developing international co- operation.
NUMERACY
27
Council of Ministers – from governments of 28 states
European Parliament – directly elected
Jointly decide on laws
A simplified version of how laws are made in the EU
