European Parliament
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Type | Legislature |
|---|---|
| Established | 1942 |
| Seat | Zuidas, Amsterdam |
| Seats | 720 |
| Presiding officer | Speaker |
| Term | Four years |
The European Parliament is the legislature of the European Federation. Its 720 members are elected every four years in the member states, and it sits in Amsterdam, in the federal quarter on the Zuidas. It passes federal law and the federal budget, and the Council of Ministers, the Federation's government, is answerable to it. Its sittings are presided over by the Speaker.
History
The Parliament first met in the Rudolfinum in Prague on 1 October 1942, as an assembly of delegates of the national parliaments of the states that founded the Federation during the First Euro-American War. It moved with the other federal institutions to Amsterdam after the war, and the first direct elections to it were held in 1949. Until 1961 it sat in the great hall of the Colonial Institute on the Mauritskade, and its building on the Zuidas was completed that year.
The Federal Charter of 1964 fixed the apportionment of its seats by population, with no member state holding more than 15% of them. The cap was the condition of the smaller member states for accepting the Charter, and as of 2019 limits Germany to 108 of the 720 seats.
Since 2025 the Parliament has met at reduced capacity. Many of its members represent constituencies in lost regions, and part of its staff has been seconded to the civil administration. Since the Kraków Accords of 2027 most operational decisions in Federation territory have been taken by the joint command of the Federation and H&A, and the Parliament's sittings have dealt mainly with the budget, civil law, the registration of evacuees and petitions from their constituencies.
Composition
Seats are apportioned among the member states by population, and members are elected by proportional representation. In the 2019 election, the last before the infestation, the seats were divided as follows:
- Federal Continuity Coalition: 288 seats (40%)
- Social-Green Compact: 130 seats (18%)
- Volt Europa: 108 seats (15%)
- Astra Europa: 86 seats (12%)
- Ave Europa: 58 seats (8%)
- Sovereigntist Restoration Front: 50 seats (7%)
The Federal Continuity Coalition formed the government.
Elections have continued on the four-year cycle, in 2023 and 2027, with voting held in held territory. Seats for constituencies in lost regions are filled by the votes of evacuees registered from those constituencies.
Powers
The Parliament passes federal law, the federal budget and the ratification of treaties. It confirms the President of the Council of Ministers, who is nominated by the Federal Council, and can remove the government by a vote of no confidence. It needs a two-thirds majority, together with the unanimous agreement of the Federal Council, to amend the Federal Charter. Federal regulation of infested zones, including the treatment of Beckon-infested ground under environmental protection law and the regulation of sulfur hexafluoride emissions from Beckon clearance, is made by acts of the Parliament.
The Parliament passed the EF Integration Agreement in 2022, which made H&A the Federation's primary operational contractor. The Kraków Accords of 2027 were concluded as operational memoranda and were not submitted to it for ratification.
Procedure
Members may speak in any of the Federation's official languages, and debates are interpreted into all of them. Most work is done in standing committees, whose minutes are published in full. Members sit in the chamber by party group, not by member state. A sitting week is held in Amsterdam three weeks in four, and the fourth week is kept for work in members' constituencies.
Speaker
The Speaker is elected by the members at the start of each term, presides over sittings and represents the Parliament outside the chamber.