How is the European Parliament's President elected?

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Government & Organizations, Non-profit

4.8 • 13 Ratings

🗓️ 10 July 2024

⏱️ 4 minutes

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Summary

How does the EU regulate the post term activities of members of the EU institutions, as for example, Commissioners and Members of the European Parliament, as opposed to staff members? The European Ombudsman has looked the phenomenon, also called ‘revolving doors’ in the context of several individual cases; on a few occasions this has ended in an unsatisfactory outcome for the institution or body under investigation and prompted the European Ombudsman to make specific recommendations to avoid a repeat of maladministration in future cases.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the European Parliamentary Research Service podcasts.
0:05.0	During its first plenary meeting in Strasbourg, from the 16th to the 19th of July,
0:10.0	the newly elected 720 members of the European Parliament will choose their president for the next two and a half years.
0:17.0	But how does that process work? Stay with us.
0:28.0	As the European Parliament gets ready to elect its 32nd President to hold office for the first half of the 10th parliamentary term, so until January 26, we'll walk you through
0:33.7	the ins and outs of this well-oiled process. Until 1979, Parliament's Presidents were chosen for one, maximum two years,
0:42.3	but that changed with the first European election by universal suffrage.
0:47.3	And since then, the President is elected for a renewable period of two and a half years.
0:52.3	In practical terms, this means that a first election takes place in July immediately after
0:58.4	the election of Parliament at the beginning of the legislative term, and a second midterm
1:03.3	election in January, two and a half years later.
1:06.4	This first election is important because no other business can be dealt with by Parliament until a new
1:11.7	president is appointed. He or she is elected on the basis of nominations proposed by political
1:17.7	groups, with the nominees consent, but may also be nominated by a certain number of members
1:23.1	reaching at least one 20th of total MEPs, which would currently be 38.
1:28.3	The procedure is chaired by the outgoing president, in this case Roberta Metzola,
1:34.3	or by one of the outgoing vice presidents in order of precedents, or in their absence, by the longest-serving MEP.
1:40.3	The vote is by secret ballot. However, if the number of candidates for the election of the
1:45.3	president, vice presidents and questors is less than or equal to the seats to be filled, it'll be by
1:51.6	acclamation. Unless, one-fifth of MEPs, so 144, request a secret ballot, which is unlikely to apply to the presidential election,
2:03.6	where normally more than one candidate runs for the seat.
2:06.6	So once all nominations have been handed to the provisional chair, they're announced in plenary and the vote can start.
	...

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