President of the European Parliament

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President of the European Parliament
Logo of the Parliament
Incumbent Hans-Gert Pöttering
Appointer	The European Parliament
Term length	two years and six months
Inaugural holder	Paul Henri Spaak
Formation	1952
Website	europarl.europa.eu/president

The President of the European Parliament presides over the debates and activities of the European Parliament. He or she also represents the Parliament within the EU and internationally. The President's signature is required for enacting most EU laws and the EU budget.

Presidents serve two-and-a-half-year terms, normally divided between the two major political parties. There have been twenty-seven Presidents, since the Parliament was created in 1952 to 2007, twelve of whom have served since the first Parliamentary election in 1979. Two Presidents have been women and most have come from the older member states. The current President is Hans-Gert Pöttering.

[edit] Role in Parliament

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The President chairs debates and oversees all the activities of the Parliament and its constituent bodies (ensuring the Parliament's rules of procedure are applied), in this the role is similar to that of a speaker in a national parliament. Below the President, there are 14 Vice-Presidents who chair debates when the President is not in the chamber. The President also chairs the meetings of the Bureau, which is responsible for budgetary and administration issues, and the Conference of Presidents which is a governing body composed of the presidents of each of the parliament's political groups.^[1][2]

Under the Lisbon Treaty, the President would no longer be counted as one of the 750 MEPs (post 2009, 785 in 2008) while in office. This is to keep the number of MEPs officially under the 750 cap.^[3]

[edit] Position in the Union

He or she represents Parliament in all legal matters and external relations, particularly international relations. When the European Council meets, the President addresses it to give the Parliament's position on subjects on the Council's agenda. The President also takes part in Intergovernmental Conferences on new treaties. The President's signature is also required for the budget of the European Union and Union acts adopted under codecision procedure to be adopted. The President also chairs conciliation committees with the Council under these areas.^[1][2]

In most countries, the protocol of the head of state comes before all others, however in the EU the Parliament is listed as the first institution, and hence the protocol of its President comes before any other European, or national, protocol. The gifts given to numerous visiting dignitaries depends upon the President. President Josep Borrell MEP of Spain gave his counterparts a crystal cup created by an artist from Barcelona which had engraved upon it parts of the Charter of Fundamental Rights among other things.^[4]

[edit] Election

Map showing the number of presidents from each state;

Six      Five

Three      Two

One      None

The President is elected for two-and-a-half-year terms, meaning two elections per parliamentary term, hence two Presidents may serve for during any one Parliamentary term. Since the European People's Party and Party of European Socialists began co-operating in the 1980s, they have had a tradition of splitting the two posts between them. In practice this means, in 2004-2009 for example, that the People's Party supported the Socialist candidate for President and, when his term expired in 2007, the Socialists supported the People's Party candidate for President. This results in large majorities for Presidents, although there are some exceptions: for example under the People's Party–Liberal coalition, the President for the second half of the term was a Liberal, rather than a Socialist.^[5]

Starting from the 2009-2014 session of the Parliament the outgoing President presides over the election of the new President, provided that the outgoing President is re-elected as an MEP. If the outgoing President is not re-elected as an MEP then one of the 14 Vice-Presidents takes up the role. While the outgoing President or Vice President is in the chair, they hold all the powers of the President, but the only business that may be addressed is the election of the new President.^[6]

Before the ballot nominations are handed to the chair who announces them to Parliament. If no member holds an absolute majority after three ballots, a fourth is held with only the two members holding the highest number of votes on the previous ballot. If there is still a tie following this, the eldest candidate is declared elected.^[7]

Previously during the election of a President, the plenary was presided over by the oldest member of the Parliament.^[6] In 2004 and 2007 this was Giovanni Berlinguer MEP^[8] and during the first elections in 1979, it was Louise Weiss MEP.^[9] The procedure was changed in order to prevent the far-right French MEP Jean-Marie Le Pen—as the potential oldest member at the age of 81—from hosting the opening of the new session of Parliament after the 2009 election.^[10]

A number of notable figures have been President of the Parliament and its predecessors. The first President was Paul-Henri Spaak MEP, one of the founding fathers of the Union. Other founding fathers include Alcide de Gasperi MEP and Robert Schuman MEP. The two female Presidents were Simone Veil MEP in 1979 (first President of the elected Parliament) and Nicole Fontaine MEP in 1999, both Frenchwomen.^[11]

[edit] 2009-2014

There are rumours that the two largest groups in Parliament, the EPP-ED and PES, have already agreed to share the post of President as they have done for all but two terms of Parliament. The first half of the term will be taken by Jerzy Buzek MEP of the EPP (who would be the first person from a country that joined the EU after 1986 to hold the post), who will then pass it over to Martin Schulz MEP, the current leader of PES.^[12] The previous term has seen a great amount of co-operation between the two groups following on from the 1999-2004 term which saw an EPP-ELDR alliance. Meanwhile, Graham Watson, the leader of ALDE, has stated he wishes to challenge this system of carving up the post, and has present himself as a candidate. He has made a point of running a public campaign, to contrast against the closed-doors agreement of EPP-ED and PES, which he claims is the first such campaign to be run. Through this, he also states he hopes to open up a debate on the role of the President and make the figure more dynamic, to counter balance the growing power of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.^[13]

[edit] List of Presidents of the European Parliament

Simone Veil (1979-1982), first female President and the first president of the elected Parliament.

Pierre Pflimlin (1984-1987)

Nicole Fontaine (1999-2002), the second female President

Dates in office		Name	Party	Group	Country
Presidents of the Common Assembly, 1952–1958
1952–1954		Paul-Henri Spaak	BSP-PSB	SOC	Belgium
1954[14]		Alcide De Gasperi	DC	CD	Italy
1954–1956		Giuseppe Pella	DC	CD	Italy
1956–1958 (1st)		Hans Furler	CDU	CD	West Germany
Presidents of the Parliamentary Assembly, 1958–1962
1958–1960		Robert Schuman	MRP	CD	France
1960–1962 (2nd)		Hans Furler	CDU	CD	West Germany
Presidents of the appointed Parliament, 1962–1979
1962–1964		Gaetano Martino	PLI	LIB	Italy
1964–1965		Jean Duvieusart	RW	CD	Belgium
1965–1966		Victor Leemans	CVP	CD	Belgium
1966–1969		Alain Poher	MRP	CD	France
1969–1971		Mario Scelba	DC	CD	Italy
1971–1973		Walter Behrendt	SPD	SOC	West Germany
1973–1975		Cornelis Berkhouwer	VVD	LIB	Netherlands
1975–1977		Georges Spénale	SPD	SOC	France
1977–1979		Emilio Colombo	DC	CD	Italy
Term	Presidents of the elected Parliament (1979 onwards)
1°	1979–1982	Simone Veil	UDF	ELDR	France
	1982–1984	Piet Dankert	PvdA	PES	Netherlands
2°	1984–1987	Pierre Pflimlin	UDF/RPR	EPP	France
	1987–1989	Charles Henry Plumb	CP	ED	United Kingdom
3°	1989–1992	Enrique Barón Crespo	PSOE	PES	Spain
	1992–1994	Egon Klepsch	CDU	EPP	Germany
4°	1994–1997	Klaus Hänsch	SPD	PES	Germany
	1997–1999	José María Gil-Robles	PP	EPP	Spain
5°	1999–2002	Nicole Fontaine	UMP	EPP–ED	France
	2002–2004	Pat Cox	PD	ELDR	Ireland
6°	2004–2007	Josep Borrell	PSOE	PES	Spain
	2007–2009	Hans-Gert Poettering	CDU	EPP–ED	Germany

[edit] See also

• List of presidents of EU institutions
  • President of the European Council
  • Presidency of the Council of the European Union
  • President of the European Commission
  • President of the European Union

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Duties of the President europarl.europa.eu
• Presidents of the European Parliament European Navigator
• Results of Presidential elections 1979-2007

v • d • e Presidents of the European Parliament Common Assembly: 1952–1958 Paul-Henri Spaak · Alcide De Gasperi · Giuseppe Pella · Hans Furler Parliamentary Assembly: 1958–1962 Robert Schuman · Hans Furler European Parliament (Appointed): 1962–1979 Gaetano Martino · Jean Duvieusart · Victor Leemans · Alain Poher · Mario Scelba Walter Behrendt · Cornelis Berkhouwer · Georges Spénale · Emilio Colombo European Parliament (Elected): 1979–present Simone Veil · Piet Dankert · Pierre Pflimlin · Henry Plumb · Enrique Barón Crespo · Egon Klepsch · Klaus Hänsch · José María Gil-Robles · Nicole Fontaine · Pat Cox · Josep Borrell · Hans-Gert Pöttering Commission President  · President of the European Council  · Council Presidency  · President of Parliament