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116-580: The alliance was maintained for the April and November 2019 Spanish general elections , as well as for the European Parliament and local elections held on 26 May 2019. The alliance's trademark is currently the subject of a political dispute between the PDeCAT and Puigdemont, the latter having used it as the foundation for a new party using the label . "Together for Catalonia" was registered as

232-414: A snap election , provided that no motion of no confidence was in process, no state of emergency was in force and that dissolution did not occur before one year had elapsed since the previous one. Additionally, both chambers were to be dissolved and a new election called if an investiture process failed to elect a prime minister within a two-month period from the first ballot. Barred this exception, there

348-578: A 'multi-lingual talking shop'." Its development since its foundation shows how the European Union 's structures have evolved without a clear 'master plan'. Tom Reid of The Washington Post has said of the union that "nobody would have deliberately designed a government as complex and as redundant as the EU". Even the Parliament's three working locations , which have switched several times, are

464-562: A President or his Commission, but the threat to do so has produced concessions to Parliament on the Commission's composition or on policy commitments. As described above, when the Barroso Commission was put forward, the Parliament forced the proposal to be withdrawn and changed to be more acceptable to Parliament. That pressure was seen as an important sign by some of the evolving nature of the Parliament and its ability to make

580-428: A coalition ahead of an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least one percent of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates. Concurrently, parties, federations or coalitions that had not obtained

696-506: A contributing factor to the country's political deadlock , reached boiling point after poor PSOE showings in the Basque and Galician elections . A party crisis ensued, seeing Sánchez being ousted and a caretaker committee being appointed by party rebels led by Susana Díaz , who subsequently set out to abstain in Rajoy's investiture and allow a PP minority government to be formed, preventing

812-550: A few exclusive (yet limited in number) functions—such as its role in constitutional amendment —which were not subject to the Congress' override. Voting for the Cortes Generales was on the basis of universal suffrage , which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age and in full enjoyment of their political rights. Additionally, Spaniards abroad were required to apply for voting before being permitted to vote,

928-575: A full-fledged party and the PDeCAT's dissolution into it, a proposal which was supported by members of the CNxR and Action for the Republic (AxR) as well. PDeCAT members replied with another manifesto vindicating the party's identity and legacy, showing their unwillingness to disappear as an organization and criticizing what they perceived as "one thinking" from Puigdemont's supporters. With negotiations foundering, Puigdemont announced on 2 July 2020 that he

1044-464: A great deal of indirect influence, through non-binding resolutions and committee hearings , as a "pan-European soapbox " with the ear of thousands of Brussels-based journalists . There is also an indirect effect on foreign policy ; the Parliament must approve all development grants, including those overseas. For example, the support for post-war Iraq reconstruction, or incentives for the cessation of Iranian nuclear development , must be supported by

1160-514: A half of their seats, the PP sacked Javier Maroto as their campaign manager. Maroto had also failed to hold his seat from Álava in the election, losing it to EH Bildu and signalling the first time since 1979 that the party had not won a seat in the province. Pablo Casado , the PP leader whose right-wing stance and controversial leadership had been labelled by commentators as a "suicide" in light of election results, refused to resign and instead proposed

1276-486: A majority, the three-way split on the centre-right ensured Sánchez's PSOE would be the only party that could realistically garner enough support from third parties to command a majority in the lower house. The PSOE also obtained an absolute majority of seats in the Senate for the first time since 1989 as the PP vote collapsed. Having initially been allocated 121 senators, it was awarded two additional senators from PP after

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1392-546: A mandate in either chamber of the Cortes at the preceding election were required to secure the signature of at least 0.1 percent of electors in the aforementioned constituencies. After the experience of the 2015–2016 political deadlock leading to the June 2016 election and the possibility of a third election being needed, the electoral law was amended in order to introduce a special, simplified process for election re-runs, including

1508-551: A massive financial corruption plot staged by former protegés—as well as accusations of judicial meddling and political cover-up . This prompted left-wing Unidos Podemos to table a no-confidence motion on Mariano Rajoy in June 2017 . While the motion was voted down due to a lack of support from other opposition parties, it revealed the parliamentary weakness of Rajoy's government as abstentions and favourable votes combined amounted to 179, to just 170 MPs rejecting it. Pressure on

1624-552: A month, but sometimes there are additional sessions in Brussels, while the Parliament's committee meetings are held primarily in Brussels, Belgium. In practice, the Parliament works three weeks per month in Brussels and one week (four days) in Strasbourg. The Parliament, like the other EU institutions, was not designed in its current form when it first met on 10 September 1952. One of the oldest common institutions, it began as

1740-491: A result of various agreements or lack of agreements. Although most MEPs would prefer to be based just in Brussels, where it conducts the bulk of its work, at John Major 's 1992 Edinburgh summit , France engineered a treaty amendment whereby the European Parliament's official seat is in Strasbourg. The body was not mentioned in the original Schuman Declaration . It was assumed or hoped that difficulties with

1856-494: A shortening of deadlines, electoral campaigning, the lifting of signature requirements if these had been already met for the immediately previous election and the possibility of maintaining lists and coalitions without needing to go through pre-election procedures again. Below is a list of the main parties and electoral alliances which contested the election: Two opposing coalitions were formed in Navarre at different levels: for

1972-451: A sudden U-turn of the party back into the centre under pressure from party regional leaders one month ahead of the regional and local elections while also raising a hostile profile to both Cs and Vox, attacking them for dividing the vote to the right-of-centre. European Parliament The European Parliament ( EP ) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions . Together with

2088-477: A system known as "begged" or expat vote ( Spanish : Voto rogado ). For the Congress of Deputies, 348 seats were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation , with an electoral threshold of three percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each constituency. Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the provinces of Spain , with each being allocated an initial minimum of two seats and

2204-489: A text, which they do (or not) through successive readings up to a maximum of three. In its first reading, Parliament may send amendments to the Council which can either adopt the text with those amendments or send back a "common position". That position may either be approved by Parliament, or it may reject the text by an absolute majority , causing it to fail, or it may adopt further amendments, also by an absolute majority. If

2320-573: A third election in a row from taking place. Díaz's bid to become new party leader was defeated by party members in a party primary in May 2017 , with Sánchez being voted again into office under a campaign aimed at criticising the PSOE's abstention in Rajoy's investiture. Concurrently, the incumbent PP cabinet found itself embroiled in a string of political scandals which had seen the political demise of former Madrid premier Esperanza Aguirre —amid claims of

2436-551: A trademark by Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) in July 2016, being one of the names proposed to party members in the founding congress of the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT) and after conflicting issues with the registering of the initially chose label, "Catalan Democratic Party"; it was finally as the party was able to be registered as "Catalan European Democratic Party". Following

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2552-520: A trick to ensure public funding was not repeated, as the PDeCAT could now count on such funding itself as a result of it having contested the April election. The alliance's performance in the various elections was mixed. It was able to hold its ground and maintain previous results in the general elections, but was clearly outperformed by ERC. In the 26 May elections, ERC secured victory in the local elections whereas JxCat capitalized on Puigdemont's candidacy to

2668-401: Is 16, and Greece , where it is 17. The European Parliament has legislative power in that the adoption of EU legislation normally requires its approval, and that of the Council, in what amounts to a bicameral legislature. However, it does not formally possess the right of initiative (i.e. the right to formally initiate the legislative procedure) in the way that most national parliaments of

2784-624: Is an instrument which is applicable to a particular person or group. Institutions may also issue recommendations and opinions which are merely non-binding, declarations. The Parliament and the Council are also the Union's budgetary authority since the Budgetary Treaties of the 1970s and the Lisbon Treaty . The EU budget is subject to a form of the ordinary legislative procedure with a single reading giving Parliament power over

2900-600: Is seen as the birth of the modern European Parliament, with Parliament's 50 years celebrations being held in March 2008 rather than 2002. The three communities merged their remaining organs as the European Communities in 1967, and the body's name was changed to the current "European Parliament" in 1962. In 1970 the Parliament was granted power over areas of the Communities' budget , which were expanded to

3016-530: The 2008 general election —which swept the country and won in most constituencies and regions. The right-wing bloc of PP–Cs–Vox was only able to garner 42.9% of the vote and 147 Congress seats (149 including the Navarra Suma alliance in Navarre) to the 165 seats and 43.0% vote share garnered by the two major left-wing parties, PSOE and Unidas Podemos. Even though the left-wing bloc was still 11 seats short of

3132-525: The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe . The liberals gave support after Barroso gave them a number of concessions; the liberals previously joined the socialists' call for a delayed vote (the EPP had wanted to approve Barroso in July of that year). Once Barroso put forward the candidates for his next Commission, another case of MEPs opposing a particular nominee arose. Bulgarian nominee Rumiana Jeleva

3248-552: The Bolkestein directive in 2006. In practice, most legislation is adopted at the first reading stage after the Parliament and the Council, having set out their initial positions, then negotiate a compromise text. These negotiations take place in so-called "trilogue" meetings, in which the Commission is also present. In a few areas, special legislative procedures apply. These include justice and home affairs, budget and taxation, and certain aspects of other policy areas, such as

3364-599: The Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). It was a consultative assembly of 78 appointed parliamentarians drawn from the national parliaments of member states, having no legislative powers. The change since its foundation was highlighted by Professor David Farrell of the University of Manchester : "For much of its life, the European Parliament could have been justly labelled

3480-575: The Cortes Generales —the Congress and the Senate—expired four years from the date of their previous election, unless they were dissolved earlier. The election decree was required to be issued no later than the twenty-fifth day prior to the date of expiry of parliament and published on the following day in the Official State Gazette (BOE), with election day taking place on the fifty-fourth day from publication. The previous election

3596-742: The Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts European legislation, following a proposal by the European Commission . The Parliament is composed of 720 members (MEPs), after the June 2024 European elections, from a previous 705 MEPs. It represents the second-largest democratic electorate in the world (after the Parliament of India ), with an electorate of around 375 million eligible voters in 2024. Since 1979,

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3712-566: The European Council in 1992. It stated the Parliament would retain its formal seat in Strasbourg, where twelve sessions a year would be held, but with all other parliamentary activity in Brussels. This two-seat arrangement was contested by the Parliament, but was later enshrined in the Treaty of Amsterdam . To this day the institution's locations are a source of contention. The Parliament gained more powers from successive revisions of

3828-557: The European Parliament to score a win in Catalonia. Throughout 2019, both the PDeCAT and Puigdemont would maintain discussions over the future of the post-CDC political space and of Together for Catalonia. Following the November 2019 general election, negotiations ensued about the possible dissolution of both the CNxR and the PDeCAT into JxCat, but the latter refused to either disband its party structure or renounce to its ownership of

3944-581: The High Representative . MEPs did not manage to get everything they demanded. However, they got broader financial control over the new body. In December 2017, Politico denounced the insufficient racial diversity among Members of the European Parliament. The subsequent news coverage contributed to create the Brussels So White movement to campaign to rectify this situation. On gender balance, some 37 percent of MEPs were women in

4060-561: The National Court found in the Gürtel case that since 1989 the PP had profited from the kickbacks-for-contracts scheme and confirmed the existence of an illegal accounting and financing structure kept separate from the party's official accounts. Sánchez, who was re-elected as PSOE leader in a leadership contest in 2017 , brought down Rajoy's government in June 2018 through a motion of no confidence . Rajoy resigned as PP leader and

4176-548: The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe or Pan-African Parliament which are appointed. After that first election, the parliament held its first session on 17 July 1979, electing Simone Veil MEP as its president. Veil was also the first female president of the Parliament since it was formed as the Common Assembly. As an elected body, the Parliament began to draft proposals addressing

4292-689: The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), Patriots for Europe (PfE), the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR), and Renew Europe (Renew). The last EU-wide election was held in 2024 . The Parliament's headquarters are officially in Strasbourg , France, and has its administrative offices in Luxembourg City . Plenary sessions are normally held in Strasbourg for four days

4408-1026: The declaration of Catalan independence by the Parliament of Catalonia in October 2017 and the subsequent activation of Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution , Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy dissolved the Catalan parliament and called a regional election for 21 December 2017 . Catalan president Carles Puigdemont self-exiled in Belgium to avoid detention and several ministers of the Executive Council of Catalonia were put in pre-trial detention accused of sedition and rebellion. In this context, several PDeCAT leaders— Artur Mas , Marta Pascal and David Bonvehí—met with Puigdemont in Brussels after him having expressed interest in leading

4524-426: The 1980s, before it was given any formal right to veto their appointment. Since it became an elected body, the membership of the European Parliament has expanded when new nations have joined (the membership was also adjusted upwards in 1994 after German reunification ). Following this, the Treaty of Nice imposed a cap on the number of members to be elected: 732, later raised to 751 by the Treaty of Lisbon . Like

4640-539: The 1992 Treaty of Maastricht , the Member States gave the Parliament the right to approve or reject an incoming Commission. In the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam , they gave it the right to approve or reject an incoming President of the Commission. In 2004, following the largest trans-national election in history, the European Council proposed as Commission President a candidate, José Manuel Barroso , from

4756-564: The 2014-19 Parliament and 40 percent in the 2019-24 Parliament, a greater proposition than in most national Parliaments in Member States In January 2019, MEPs supported proposals to boost opportunities for women and tackle sexual harassment in the European Parliament. In 2022, four people were arrested because of corruption. This came to be known as the Qatar corruption scandal at the European Parliament . In October 2023,

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4872-670: The 47 peninsular provinces was allocated four seats, whereas for insular provinces, such as the Balearic and Canary Islands , districts were the islands themselves, with the larger— Majorca , Gran Canaria and Tenerife —being allocated three seats each, and the smaller— Menorca , Ibiza – Formentera , Fuerteventura , La Gomera , El Hierro , Lanzarote and La Palma —one each. Ceuta and Melilla elected two seats each. Additionally, autonomous communities could appoint at least one senator each and were entitled to one additional senator per each million inhabitants. The term of each chamber of

4988-612: The British would be resolved to allow the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to perform legislative tasks. A separate Assembly was introduced during negotiations on the Treaty as an institution to counterbalance and monitor the executive while providing democratic legitimacy. The wording of the ECSC Treaty demonstrated leaders' desire for more than a normal consultative assembly by allowing for direct election and using

5104-407: The Catalan parliament and called a regional election for 21 December 2017, but it left his PP severely mauled as Cs capitalised on anti-independence support in the region. The scale of PP's collapse in Catalonia and the success of Cs had an impact on national politics, with Ciudadanos rising to first place nationally in subsequent opinion polls, endangering PP's stand as the hegemonic party within

5220-466: The Commission , and is further tasked with approving (or rejecting) the appointment of the Commission as a whole. It can subsequently force the current Commission to resign by adopting a motion of censure . The president of the European Parliament is the body's speaker and presides over the multi-party chamber. The five largest political groups are the European People's Party Group (EPP),

5336-418: The Commission accountable, rather than being a rubber stamp for candidates. Furthermore, in voting on the Commission, MEPs also vote along party lines, rather than national lines, despite frequent pressure from national governments on their MEPs. This cohesion and willingness to use the Parliament's power ensured greater attention from national leaders, other institutions and the public – reversing

5452-539: The Commission's powers but did agree to respond within three months. Most requests are already responded to positively. During the setting up of the European External Action Service (EEAS), Parliament used its control over the EU budget to influence the shape of the EEAS. MEPs had aimed at getting greater oversight over the EEAS by linking it to the Commission and having political deputies to

5568-473: The Commission; and the right to question members of those institutions (e.g. "Commission Question Time " every Tuesday). Regarding written and oral questions, MEPs voted in July 2008 to limit questions to those within the EU's mandate and ban offensive or personal questions. The Parliament also has other powers of general supervision, mainly granted by the Maastricht Treaty . The Parliament has

5684-691: The Congress of Deputies voted to oust Mariano Rajoy from power on 1 June 2018, replaced him as prime minister with PSOE's Pedro Sánchez. On 5 June, Rajoy announced his farewell from politics and his return to his position as property registrar in Santa Pola , vacating his seat in the Congress of Deputies and triggering a leadership contest in which the party's communication vice secretary-general Pablo Casado defeated former deputy prime minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría and became new PP president on 21 July 2018. For most of his government, Sánchez

5800-490: The Council does not approve these, then a " Conciliation Committee " is formed. The committee is composed of the Council members plus an equal number of MEPs who seek to agree a compromise. Once a position is agreed, it has to be approved by Parliament, by a simple majority. This is also aided by Parliament's mandate as the only directly democratic institution, which has given it leeway to have greater control over legislation than other institutions, for example over its changes to

5916-421: The Council has the power in some intergovernmental matters). In Community matters , this is a power uniquely reserved for the European Commission (the executive). Therefore, while Parliament can amend and reject legislation, to make a proposal for legislation, it needs the Commission to draft a bill before anything can become law. The value of a right of initiative has anyway been questioned by noting that in

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6032-467: The December 2015 election and a round of coalition talks throughout the summer saw Mariano Rajoy obtaining the support of Ciudadanos (C's) and Canarian Coalition (CC) for his investiture, but this was still not enough to assure him re-election. Criticism of Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) leader Pedro Sánchez for his electoral results and his stance opposing Rajoy's investiture, said to be

6148-524: The EU treaties, notably through the extension of the ordinary legislative procedure (originally called the codecision procedure), and the right to approve international agreements through the consent procedure. In 1999, the Parliament forced the resignation of the Santer Commission . The Parliament had refused to approve the Community budget over allegations of fraud and mis-management in

6264-520: The EU's Commission-led international negotiations and have a right to information on agreements. Parliament did not secure an explicit vote over the appointment of delegation heads and special representatives for foreign policy, but it was agreed that they will appear before parliament after they have been appointed by the High Representative . Parliament wanted a pledge from the Commission that it would automatically put forward legislation when parliament requests. Barroso considered this an infringement on

6380-573: The European Commission. A notable example was on the Bolkestein directive in 2006, when the Parliament voted by a large majority for over 400 amendments that changed the fundamental principle of the law. The Financial Times described it in the following terms: That is where the European parliament has suddenly come into its own. It marks another shift in power between the three central EU institutions. Last week's vote suggests that

6496-484: The European Council having to make its proposal to Parliament in light of the results of the European elections. Barroso gained the support of the European Council for a second term and secured majority support from the Parliament in September 2009. Parliament voted 382 votes in favour and 219 votes against (117 abstentions) with support of the European People's Party , European Conservatives and Reformists Party and

6612-524: The JxCat's trademark, and on 26 June the party's executive rejected Puigdemont's attempts to absorb the party. The next day, a manifesto was publicly launched by JxCat independents and elected members—including deputies, mayors and local councillors, and unveiled by interior regional minister Miquel Buch —in which all subscribers urged for the re-organization of the Together for Catalonia political space into

6728-456: The May 2019 European Parliament and local elections ; running in 772 Catalan municipalities . It would count with the involvement of figures from the CNxR, who would run as independent members after the party rejected either to run on its own or explicitly give support to any candidacy in these elections. For the November 2019 general election , the formula of including CDC in the ballot as

6844-498: The PDeCAT would provide the core of the platform and the party's organizational structure. This came after both Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and the Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) rejected a new Junts pel Sí coalition. The list emerged as the largest political force within the pro-independence camp, narrowly outperforming ERC despite earlier unfavourable opinion polls, prompting Puigdemont's influence within

6960-589: The PP government of "anti-democratic and totalitarian" repression. The Catalan parliament voted to unilaterally declare independence from Spain, which resulted in the Spanish Senate enforcing Article 155 of the Constitution to remove the regional authorities and impose direct rule. Carles Puigdemont and part of his cabinet fled to Belgium after being ousted, facing charges of sedition, rebellion and embezzlement . Rajoy immediately dissolved

7076-399: The Parliament adopted a resolution to condemn "Hamas' despicable terrorist attacks against Israel". The Parliament and Council have been compared to the two chambers of a bicameral legislature. However, there are some differences from national legislatures ; for example, neither the Parliament nor the Council have the power of legislative initiative (except for the fact that

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7192-441: The Parliament has been directly elected every five years by the citizens of the European Union through universal suffrage . Voter turnout in parliamentary elections decreased each time after 1979 until 2019 , when voter turnout increased by eight percentage points, and rose above 50% for the first time since 1994 . The voting age is 18 in all EU member states except for Malta , Belgium , Austria and Germany , where it

7308-612: The Parliament. Parliamentary support was also required for the transatlantic passenger data-sharing deal with the United States. Finally, Parliament holds a non-binding vote on new EU treaties but cannot veto it. However, when Parliament threatened to vote down the Nice Treaty, the Belgian and Italian Parliaments said that if it did so, they would veto the treaty on the European Parliament's behalf. With each new treaty,

7424-544: The President according to the treaties. Following the approval of the Commission President, the members of the Commission are proposed by the President in accord with the member states. Each Commissioner comes before a relevant parliamentary committee hearing covering the proposed portfolio. They are then, as a body, approved or rejected by the Parliament. In practice, the Parliament has never voted against

7540-476: The Senate election, the alliance was styled as Unidas Podemos Veus Progressistes and included Podemos and IU. The key dates are listed below (all times are CET . The Canary Islands used WET ( UTC+0 ) instead): The table below shows registered vote turnout on election day without including voters from the Census of Absent-Residents (CERA). The election resulted in a victory for Pedro Sánchez 's Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)—its first since

7656-428: The Senate, Geroa Bai , EH Bildu , Podemos and Izquierda-Ezkerra re-created the Cambio-Aldaketa alliance under which they had already contested the 2015 Spanish general election . Concurrently, UPN , Cs and PP formed the Navarra Suma alliance for both Congress and Senate elections. In Galicia, En Marea , the former Podemos– EU – Anova alliance which had been constituted as a party in 2016, broke away from

7772-472: The Senate, the PSOE became the largest party in the chamber for the first time since 1995, winning its first absolute majority of seats in that chamber since the 1989 election . The PP under Casado received its worst result in history after being reduced to 66 seats and 16.7% of the vote in what was dubbed the worst electoral setback for a major Spanish party since the collapse of the UCD in 1982 . Cs saw an increase of support which brought them within 0.8% of

7888-447: The Spanish centre-right spectrum. Massive protests by pensioners groups, long regarded as a key component of the PP's electoral base, demanding pension increases, further undermining the PP's standing. On 24 May 2018, the National Court found that the PP profited from the illegal kickbacks-for-contracts scheme of the Gürtel case , confirming the existence of an illegal accounting and financing structure that had run in parallel with

8004-577: The Spanish government increased after a major constitutional crisis over the issue of an independence referendum unravelled in Catalonia. Initial actions from the Parliament of Catalonia to approve two bills supporting a referendum and a legal framework for an independent Catalan state were suspended by the Constitutional Court of Spain . The government's crackdown on referendum preparations—which included police searches, raids and arrests of Catalan government officials as well as an intervention into Catalan finances—sparked public outcry and protests accusing

8120-399: The campaign, Vox's result signalled the first time since Blas Piñar 's election as a deputy for the National Union coalition in 1979 that a far-right party had won seats in the Spanish Parliament after the country's return to democracy as well as the first time that a far-right party would be able to form a parliamentary group of its own in the Congress of Deputies. After losing more than

8236-409: The commission. The two main parties took on a government-opposition dynamic for the first time during the crisis which ended in the Commission resigning en masse, the first of any forced resignation, in the face of an impending censure from the Parliament. The Parliament had always had the right to dismiss the European Commission in a vote of censure, but it initially had no role in its appointment. In

8352-578: The counting of CERA votes, the Census of Absent-Residents, namely one for Zamora and one for Segovia. Support for the People's Party (PP) plummeted and scored the worst result of its history as well as the worst support for any of the party's incarnations since the People's Alliance results in the 1977 and 1979 elections. The PP was only able to remain the most voted party in five constituencies: Ávila , Lugo , Melilla , Ourense and Salamanca ; and it

8468-684: The creator parties and announced that it would contest the election on its own. Podemos, EU and Equo in Galicia formed a regional branch for the Unidas Podemos alliance branded En Común–Unidas Podemos whereas Anova chose to step out from the election race. In the Balearic Islands, an alliance was formed for the Congress election by More for Majorca (Més), More for Menorca (MpM), Now Eivissa (Ara Eivissa) and Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), named Veus Progressistes ; for

8584-444: The directly elected MEPs, in spite of their multitude of ideological, national and historical allegiances, have started to coalesce as a serious and effective EU institution, just as enlargement has greatly complicated negotiations inside both the Council and Commission. In 2007, for the first time, Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini included Parliament in talks on the second Schengen Information System even though, in this field at

8700-508: The election date in an institutional statement following a Council of Ministers meeting on 15 February. The Cortes Generales were officially dissolved on 5 March 2019 after the publication of the dissolution decree in the BOE, setting the election date for 28 April and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 21 May. The June 2016 general election had resulted in the People's Party (PP) gaining votes and seats relative to its result in

8816-432: The entire budget (before 2009, its influence was limited to certain areas) on an equal footing to the Council. If there is a disagreement between them, it is taken to a conciliation committee as it is for legislative proposals. If the joint conciliation text is not approved by the Council, the Parliament may adopt the budget definitively, but only by a three-fifths majority. The Parliament is also responsible for discharging

8932-554: The first time in history to a PP–Cs–Vox alliance. After the 2019 General State Budget was voted down by the Congress of Deputies on 13 February 2019 as a result of Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT) siding against the government, Sánchez called a snap election to be held on 28 April, one month ahead of the Super Sunday of local , regional , and European Parliament elections scheduled for 26 May. The Valencian regional election

9048-519: The fiscal aspects of environmental policy. In these areas, the Council or Parliament decide law alone after consulting the other (or with its consent). There are different types of European Union law#Legislation . The strongest act is a regulation , an act or law which is directly applicable in its entirety. Then there are directives which bind member states to certain goals which they must achieve. They do this through their own laws and hence have room to manoeuvre in deciding upon them. A decision

9164-489: The functioning of the EU. For example, in 1984, inspired by its previous work on the Political Community, it drafted the "draft Treaty establishing the European Union" (also known as the 'Spinelli Plan' after its rapporteur Altiero Spinelli MEP). Although it was not adopted, many ideas were later taken up in other treaties. Furthermore, the Parliament began holding votes on proposed Commission Presidents from

9280-434: The government losing the vote 191–158; this prompted a snap election to be called for 28 April. The tables below show the composition of the parliamentary groups in both chambers at the time of dissolution. The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry , coalitions and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form

9396-507: The implementation of previous budgets based on the annual report of the European Court of Auditors . It has refused to grant discharge only twice, in 1984 and in 1998. On the latter occasion it led to the resignation of the Santer Commission ; highlighting how the discharge power gives Parliament a great deal of power over the Commission. Parliament also makes extensive use of its budgetary, and other powers, elsewhere; for example in

9512-435: The institution such as more speaking time for rapporteurs, increased committee co-operation and other efficiency reforms. The Lisbon Treaty came into force on 1 December 2009, granting Parliament powers over the entire EU budget , making Parliament's legislative powers equal to the Council's in nearly all areas and describing Parliament's vote on an incoming Commission President Commission President as an "election", with

9628-536: The issue of a uniform voting systems to be decided at a later date. For its sessions the assembly, and later the parliament, until 1999 convened in the same premises as the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe : the House of Europe until 1977, and the Palace of Europe until 1999. In 1979, its members were directly elected for the first time . This sets it apart from similar institutions such as those of

9744-585: The largest political party (the EPP). The Parliament approved him by 431 votes to 251. However, when it came to the vote on the Commission as a whole, MEPs raised doubts about some of the nominees following their performance in the public hearings of them conducted by Parliament's committees. Most notably, the Civil Liberties committee rejected Rocco Buttiglione for the post of Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security over his views on homosexuality. That

9860-411: The member states do, as the right of initiative is a prerogative of the European Commission. Nonetheless, the Parliament and the Council each have the right to request the Commission to initiate the legislative procedure and put forward a proposal. The Parliament is, in protocol terms, the "first institution" of the European Union (mentioned first in its treaties and having ceremonial precedence over

9976-755: The name would be used for their upcoming party. The PDeCAT dubbed this as an illegal act and announced that it would bring the issue to the courts if necessary, as the party still regarded the JxCat's trademark as theirs. As the change did not affect the electoral coalition, which legally comprised the PDeCAT and CDC, an awkward situation could develop if both "Together for Catalonia" (Puigdemont's party) and "Together for Catalonia" (the PDeCAT's coalition) chose to confront each other in any future election under such labels. April 2019 Spanish general election Pedro Sánchez PSOE No government formed and fresh election called. Pedro Sánchez remains acting Prime Minister The April 2019 Spanish general election

10092-457: The national legislatures of the member states 85% of initiatives introduced without executive support fail to become law. Yet it has been argued by former Parliament president Hans-Gert Pöttering that as the Parliament does have the right to ask the Commission to draft such legislation, and as the Commission is following Parliament's proposals more and more Parliament does have a de facto right of legislative initiative. The Parliament also has

10208-458: The only party that could realistically form a government. The Spanish Cortes Generales were envisaged as an imperfect bicameral system. The Congress of Deputies had greater legislative power than the Senate , having the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a prime minister and to override Senate vetoes by an absolute majority of votes. Nonetheless, the Senate possessed

10324-494: The other EU institutions), and shares equal legislative and budgetary powers with the Council (except on a few issues where special legislative procedures apply). It likewise has equal control over the EU budget . Ultimately, the European Commission, which serves as the executive branch of the EU, is accountable to Parliament. In particular, Parliament can decide whether or not to approve the European Council's nominee for President of

10440-407: The other institutions, the Parliament's seat was not yet fixed. The provisional arrangements placed Parliament in Strasbourg , while the Commission and Council had their seats in Brussels. In 1985 the Parliament, wishing to be closer to these institutions, built a second chamber in Brussels and moved some of its work there despite protests from some states. A final agreement was eventually reached by

10556-615: The party into the election, with him ultimately agreeing to run in the upcoming election on the condition that his list transcend the PDeCAT himself, instead proposing a list formed by pro-independence parties for the right of self-determination , against the use of Article 155 and in favour of "amnesty for political prisoners". It was eventually agreed that Puigdemont would run under the "Together for Catalonia" umbrella, structured as his personal list and including non-party members and figures from civil society such as ANC chairman Jordi Sànchez and future Catalan president Quim Torra . whereas

10672-490: The party's official one since 1989 and ruling that the PP helped establish "a genuine and effective system of institutional corruption through the manipulation of central, autonomous and local public procurement". This event prompted the PSOE to submit a motion of no confidence in Rajoy and in Cs withdrawing its support from the government and demanding the immediate calling of an early election. An absolute majority of 180 MPs in

10788-553: The post-CDC space to increase, eventually leading to a rift between the PDeCAT and Puigdemont's sphere, which in July 2018 materialized into a new political platform, the National Call for the Republic (CNxR), which was then transmuted into a political party in January 2019. Together for Catalonia would be renewed as an electoral alliance between the PDeCAT and the late CDC ahead of the April 2019 Spanish general election and

10904-526: The power to set up a Committee of Inquiry, for example over mad cow disease or CIA detention flights – the former led to the creation of the European veterinary agency . The Parliament can call other institutions to answer questions and if necessary to take them to court if they break EU law or treaties. Furthermore, it has powers over the appointment of the members of the Court of Auditors and

11020-497: The powers of the Parliament, in terms of its role in the Union's legislative procedures , have expanded. The procedure which has slowly become dominant is the " ordinary legislative procedure " (previously named "codecision procedure"), which provides an equal footing between Parliament and Council. In particular, under the procedure, the Commission presents a proposal to Parliament and the Council which can only become law if both agree on

11136-425: The previous decline in turnout for the Parliament's elections. The Parliament also has the power to censure the Commission by a two-thirds majority which will force the resignation of the entire Commission from office. As with approval, this power has never been explicitly used, but when faced with such a vote, the Santer Commission then resigned of their own accord . There are other control instruments, such as:

11252-421: The remaining 248 being distributed in proportion to their populations. Ceuta and Melilla were allocated the two remaining seats, which were elected using plurality voting . The use of the electoral method resulted in an effective threshold based on the district magnitude and the distribution of votes among candidacies. As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Congress multi-member constituency

11368-479: The requirement of Commission to submit reports to the Parliament and answer written and oral questions from MEPs; the requirement of the President-in-office of the Council to present its programme at the start of their presidency ; the obligation on the President of the European Council to report to Parliament after each of its meetings; the right of MEPs to make requests for legislation and policy to

11484-470: The setting up of the European External Action Service , Parliament had a de facto veto over its design as it has to approve the budgetary and staff changes. The President of the European Commission is proposed by the European Council on the basis of the European elections to Parliament. That proposal has to be approved by the Parliament (by a majority of members of the Parliament) who thereby "elect"

11600-530: The term "representatives of the people". Its early importance was highlighted when the Assembly was given the task of drawing up the draft treaty to establish a European Political Community . By this document, the Ad Hoc Assembly was established on 13 September 1952 with extra members, but after the failure of the negotiated and proposed European Defence Community (French parliament veto), the project

11716-406: The time, MEPs only needed to be consulted on parts of the package. After that experiment, Frattini indicated he would like to include Parliament in all justice and criminal matters, informally pre-empting the new powers they were due to gain in 2009 as part of the Treaty of Lisbon . Between 2007 and 2009, a special working group on parliamentary reform implemented a series of changes to modernise

11832-485: The vote and within 9 seats of the PP, passing them in several major regions. The far-right Vox party entered Congress for the first time, but it failed to fulfill expectations by scoring 10.3% of the vote and 24 seats, which was less than was indicated in opinion polls during the run-up to the election. The three-way split in the overall right-of-centre vote not only ended any chance of an Andalusian-inspired right-wing alliance, but it also ensured that Sánchez's PSOE would be

11948-479: The whole budget in 1975. Under the Rome Treaties, the Parliament should have become elected. However, the Council was required to agree a uniform voting system beforehand, which it failed to do. The Parliament threatened to take the Council to the European Court of Justice ; this led to a compromise whereby the Council would agree to elections, but with each Member State using its own electoral system, leaving

12064-784: Was dropped. Instead, the European Economic Community and Euratom were established in 1958 by the Treaties of Rome . The Common Assembly was shared by all three communities (which had separate executives) and it renamed itself the European Parliamentary Assembly . The first meeting was held on 19 March 1958 having been set up in Luxembourg City, it elected Schuman as its president and on 13 May it rearranged itself to sit according to political ideology rather than nationality. This

12180-524: Was enabled by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) abstaining from Mariano Rajoy 's investiture after a party crisis resulted in the ousting of Pedro Sánchez as leader. The PP's term of office was undermined by a constitutional crisis over the Catalan issue , the result of a regional election held thereafter, coupled with corruption scandals and protests with thousands of retirees demanding pension increases. In May 2018,

12296-399: Was entitled the following seats: For the Senate, 208 seats were elected using an open list partial block voting system , with electors voting for individual candidates instead of parties. In constituencies electing four seats, electors could vote for up to three candidates; in those with two or three seats, for up to two candidates; and for one candidate in single-member districts. Each of

12412-547: Was forced to step down by Parliament due to concerns over her experience and financial interests. She only had the support of the EPP which began to retaliate on left wing candidates before Jeleva gave in and was replaced (setting back the final vote further). Before the final vote on the Commission, Parliament demanded a number of concessions as part of a future working agreement under the new Lisbon Treaty. The deal includes that Parliament's president will attend high level Commission meetings. Parliament will have an observer seat in

12528-473: Was held on 26 June 2016, which meant that the legislature's term would expire on 26 June 2020. The election decree was required to be published in the BOE no later than 2 June 2020, with the election taking place on the fifty-fourth day from publication, setting the latest possible election date for the Cortes Generales on Sunday, 26 July 2020. The prime minister had the prerogative to dissolve both chambers at any given time—either jointly or separately—and call

12644-453: Was held on Sunday, 28 April 2019, to elect the 13th Cortes Generales of the Kingdom of Spain . All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 208 of 266 seats in the Senate . Following the 2016 election , the People's Party (PP) formed a minority government with confidence and supply support from Ciudadanos (Cs) and Canarian Coalition (CC), which

12760-423: Was no constitutional requirement for simultaneous elections for the Congress and the Senate. Still, as of 2024 there has been no precedent of separate elections taking place under the 1978 Constitution. After the 2019 General State Budget was voted down by the Congress of Deputies on 13 February 2019, it was announced that Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez would be calling a snap election for April. Sánchez confirmed

12876-450: Was not able to remain the largest party in any region, including Galicia, where it lost to the PSOE for the first time ever in any kind of election. Overall, the party lost 3.6 million votes from 2016, with post-election analysis determining that 1.4 million had been lost to Albert Rivera 's Citizens party, 1.6 million to far-right Vox , 400,000 to abstentions and a further 300,000 to PSOE. Scoring below previous expectations throughout

12992-472: Was reliant on confidence and supply support from Unidos Podemos and New Canaries (NCa), negotiating additional support from Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT) and Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) on an issue-by-issue basis. ERC, PDeCAT and En Marea withdrew their support from the government in February 2019 by voting down the 2019 General State Budget , with

13108-408: Was scheduled for 28 April in order for it to take place on the same date as the general election. On a turnout of 71.8%, the ruling PSOE of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez won a victory—the first for the party in a nationwide election in eleven years —with 28.7% of the vote and 123 seats, an improvement of 38 seats over its previous mark which mostly came at the expense of left-wing Unidas Podemos . In

13224-410: Was subsequently succeeded by Pablo Casado . Presiding over a minority government of 84 deputies, Pedro Sánchez struggled to maintain a working majority in the Congress with the support of the parties that had backed the no-confidence motion. The 2018 Andalusian regional election which saw a sudden and strong rise of the far-right Vox party resulted in the PSOE losing the regional government for

13340-494: Was the first time the Parliament had ever opposed an incoming Commissioner and, despite Barroso's initial insistence upon Buttiglione, the Parliament forced Buttiglione to be withdrawn. A number of other Commissioners also had to be withdrawn or reassigned before Parliament voted to allow the Barroso Commission to take office. The Parliament also became more assertive in amending legislative proposals put forward by

13456-498: Was to break up all ties with the PDeCAT and establish a new political party by merging the CNxR, AxR and PDeCAT's splinter elements. A legal and political struggle ensued, as both the PDeCAT under David Bonheví and Puigdemont vied for the control of the "Together for Catalonia" trademark. On 10 July, Puigdemont's supporters took over the label, modifying JxCat's data in the interior ministry register by appointing aligned PDeCAT member Carles Valls Arnó as its leader, while proclaiming that

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