UB :13025787

ASSESSED COURSEWORK SUBMISSION SHEET

Bradford University Law School
UB Number(s):

13025787

Module Code:

MAN1059M

Module Name:

European Law

Module Tutor:

Tim Connor

Assignment
Title:

Explain the role of the European Parliament in the institutional

balance of the EU. How has that role developed from the
inception of the Union to the present day and how might it
develop in the future?

Word Count:

1711

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Signature(s):

Mohsin Tanveer

UB :13025787
Date:

13/01/2014

Explain the role of the European Parliament in the institutional balance of the
EU. How has that role developed from the inception of the Union to the present
day and how might it develop in the future?

European Parliament is one the most powerful and influential supervisory bodies in the
world. EP is one of the three main institutions of the European Union. It was formally known
as, Assembly, born out of the 1952 European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) Treaty1 as
one of its main institutions, executing supervisory powers over the newly formed community.
European Parliament is an elected body of the European Union. It performs a vigorous
starring role in the EU's legislative and budgeting processes, and acts as a supervisor over
the work of the Council of the European Union (Council of Ministers) and the European
Commission. EP is considered as being one of the major powerful legislatures worldwide.2
EP has 766 directly elected members who are known as (MEPs), they are democratically
elected by the public on a five year term as explained in the Article 223(1) TFEU. However,
the next elections will see the decrease in the numbers of the MEPs to 751 MEPs in 2014.
The headquarters are located in Luxembourg, whilst the meetings of the Parliamentary
Committees and special sessions officially held in Brussels.
In regards to the institutional balance of the EU, EP is not an outright legislative body and
does not have power to legislate; that power is with the Commission, which operates as the
EU's executive and underwriter of the EU treaties. The Council, the EU's chief decisionmaking body is mostly made up of ministers from the member-state governments, which
authorises legislation based on the suggestions made by the Commission, after it consults
with the Parliament. Under Article 289 of the TEFU3, EP have the power to approve, suggest
changes to the legislation or reject legislation. This co-decision procedure has developed as
one of the most important legislative procedures in the Community. As an effect of this, EP's
1 Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community, ECSC Treaty http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/institutional_affairs/treaties/treaties_ecsc_en.htm
2 "Professor Farrell: "The EP is now one the of the most powerful legislatures in the world http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?language=EN&type=IMPRESS&reference=20070615IPR07837
3 Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) Article 289
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position has been given a further boost and subsequently been strengthened by the Treaty
of Amsterdam, as the treaty provides acceleration of the procedure in certain situations. As a
result of this, the outcome of the co-decision procedure has led towards the use of tri-partite
meetings between the Council, Commission and EP, as they seek to reach agreement on the
transcript of legislation before the process can start and they all are treated equally to
maintain balance. In reality, if they cannot agree on the transcript of the legislation then it
cannot be made into law. One can say that EP provide the role of the democratic legitimacy
of the European Union4. Evidently so as it is the only institution of the EU that is elected
democratically and direct as well. In addition to this, EP has become such an important
institution and has become a pivotal part of the Community legislative process, playing a vital
role in the new legislative procedure. One can say that EP has more power now, and it can
look upon as being on an equal level with the other two institutions of the EU.
Now in terms of the challenges to EPs balancing acts of powers in its democratic legitimacy,
Craig and De Burca 5have given a fair reflection of how the EP is now thought to be as
strong as some of the national parliaments of the EU member-state countries. First of all
they state that 'The idea that national parliaments really control the emergence or
content of legislative norms no longer comports with reality.' They also maintain that it
is 'by no means self-evident that the EP has less power over the content of legislation
than do national parliaments.' The quotation above reflects on the emergence of the EP
over the years and how it has been able to gain significant influence over the content of
legislation and exertion of its power over national governments. They further comment on
how the EP's improved record of getting its proposed changes included into the legislation
liken well with those of the national parliaments and the statistics are the evidence of this
very fact.
Not only the EP has made development on the legislative process, it also has been able to
advance and proclaim influence in other areas over the years too. They have been able to
contest the legitimacy of Community acts before the European Court of Justice (ECJ) under
Article 2306. This article gives people the right to contest the legitimacy of Community acts
which has affected them directly or indirectly. Though saying this, article 230(2) also holds a
list of 'privileged applicants' who are able to challenge all of the acts listed in the Community
act. Under this Article 230(2) it specifically states, '[the ECJ shall] have jurisdiction in
actions brought by a Member State, the European Parliament, the Council or the
Commission on the grounds of lack of competence, infringement of an essential procedural
requirement, infringement of this Treaty or of any rule of law relating to its application, or
misuse of powers.' This meant that the status of being a privileged applicant had vigorous
importance and the cases brought under it were a testimony to this fact. As we know that the
EP havent always had their own way, it has had to fight the battle to include itself in article
230(2). In the beginning, the EP was not seen as a privileged applicant and in the 1987
Comitology case the ECJ gave a verdict which stated that the EP did not have a right to
bring proceedings against the Council even if it was trying to do so in order to guard its own
prerogatives. The verdict was eventually overturned in the Chernobyl case in 1988 when the
4Nigel Foster, EU Law, fourth edition, 2013 page, 55
5 Craig and De Burca, EU Law, 3rd ed. Oxford 2002

6 TEU Article 230

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ECJ stated that the EP should be given entitlement of a quasi-privileged applicant allowing to
exercise privileges in defence of its prerogative powers. Eventually the TEU gave recognition
to this by amending article 230(2) to mention that the EP was now a quasi-privileged
applicant and to end with, the amendments were made to the manuscript of the Nice Treaty
to bring the changes up-to-date which now acknowledges the EP as an equal on par with the
other institutions of the EU.
You can say that the recognition TEU gave to EP and the amendments is one illustration of
EPs steady development and increase of its initiatives which it has got over the years since
its interception on the European stage. Furthermore in addition to this, the handling the EP
got in the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe gave us a future picture of the way
EU was likely to progress.
EP was entitled first in the list formulated by Unions Institutions under Article I-19. Article I20(1)7 joins the EP, together with the Council, giving it the legislative and budgetary powers.
The article also gave EP the authority of selecting the President of the Commission. In
addition to this the Constitution made the legislative procedures simpler by increasing the
transparency whilst at the same time it strengthened the escalations the EP had attained so
far. Nonetheless the constitution still kept the element of the legislative procedures the same
way as the co-decision procedure, the procedure was going to be applied to more areas than
ever before, meaning EP maintained its powers without any reduction or confrontation to
them. Sadly this was to be disappointing, the Constitutional Treaty faced huge problems
even though it signified an important stage for the EP, but the treaty was abandoned.
To conclude, from my point of view, the EP has obtained significant powers in the years since
its formation and have been able to have a greater influence over the institutional balance of
the EU overall. Once upon a time the EP was just seen as just a 'talking shop' it is now a
complete recognised member of the European Union that exercises noteworthy power. The
role of EP initially was the power to deliberate on proposals in the legislative process.
However over the years it has managed to gain significant powers and duties and exert
influence over other institutions as well as taking on the responsibilities of outlining the
framework of laws that have emotional impact on the lives of citizens across Europe in
everyday life. Last but not the least, these developments have accelerated since the Single
European Act of 1986 and frankly speaking there is an open agreement amongst the leaders
within the communities that having more European incorporation will have to take adequate
account of the democratic deficit and this will mean the European Parliament is more
stronger in the future, adding to the Lisbon Treaty which already gives Parliament a new right
to propose treaty changes.
Bibliography
Textbooks

Craig and De Burca, EU Law, 3rd ed. Oxford 2002

Nigel Foster, EU Law, fourth edition, 2013 page, 55

Articles

Hartley, The Foundations of European Community Law, 5th ed. Oxford Press

7 Article I-20(1) Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe

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Westlake, A Modern Guide to the European Parliament, Pinter 1994, 28

Holland, European Integration from Community to Union, Pinter 1993, 42

Weiler, European Democracy and its Critique, in Hayward ed. The Crisis of
Representation in Europe, Frank Class 1999

Westlake, The Commission and the Parliament: Partners and Rivals in the European
Policy-Making Process, Butterworths 1994

Boyron, The European Union: How Democratic is it?, Sage 1996

Cases

Brunner v The EU Treaty [1994] CMLR 57

Case 302/87, European Parliament v Council [1988] ECR 5615

Case C-70/88 European Parliament v Council [1990] ECR I-2041

Official Documents

Scope of the Co-decision Procedure, SEC(96) 1225/4, July 1996

Legislation/ Treaties

Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community, ECSC Treaty

Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) Article 289

TEU Article 230

Article I-20(1) Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe

Websites

http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/institutional_affairs/treaties/treaties_ecsc_en.
htm
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?language=EN&type=IMPRESS&reference=20070615IPR07837