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Brief facts on the European Parliament

Fri May 29 04:18PM
What does the European Parliament do?

The European Parliament represents people living in the 27 member countries of the European Union (EU). It has powers in a range of areas that affect member countries:

  • animal rights
  • consumer rights
  • the environment
  • international trade
  • regional economic development
  • workers' rights

It has the power to approve, amend or reject new European laws.

How is it made up?

The European Parliament is made up of 785 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) who are elected by 27 EU member countries. The UK is represented by 72 MEPs. In the UK, there are 12 European electoral regions and each region is represented by between three and ten MEPs.

Who is my MEP?

You can go to the website of the European Parliament to find out and who represents your area.

How many of our laws come from Europe?

Roughly 75%

When is the vote?

4th June 2009. Results announced on 7th June.

 

Related content: Who will get your vote on June 4th?

 

Comments21 - 30 of 112

  1. The EU is all about consolidation of power, so that the few can control the many.... do NOT vote for this corrupt and deceitful organisation.. the next stage that they want to reach is going to be a GLOBAL (fascist) government. If you think things are bad now with the surveillance/ID cards and everything, you haven't seen nothing yet! Just say NO to the EU and YES to preserving our national sovereignty!!

    narct2 From narct2 on Sat May 30 12:08AM

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  2. WHO CARES?

    apollo11207 From apollo11207 on Sat May 30 12:20AM

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  3. Comment 3 andyjmck, where is the other half of your wit? you sound as if your quite happy to dribble your way into the EU dictatorship. I guess if you are old enough you will be voting Lib Dem, they vote for everything, EU arrest warrant, email monitoring, Europol, No referendum, bigger gravy boats.

    collier791 From collier791 on Sat May 30 01:23AM

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  4. jonk47. Absolutely correct. The trouble is reporting what is really going to happen in Europe dosn't sell papers. If they try to have a disscussion on tv it just ends up a shouting match. But you are right we need a newspaper with the balls to spell it out in plain english, this should of been done a long time before these elections so that people know exactly what they are voting for

    fnewbolt From fnewbolt on Sat May 30 08:06AM

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  5. It is sad how many people just resort to personal abuse on here. Calling someone an idiot does make your view correct, but it does reinforce the fact that you are biassed.

    castles99uk From castles99uk on Sat May 30 08:12AM

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  6. i agree with jonk47 & would go further & state that it is
    a deliberate dumbing down of UK media channels.
    i suspect that this has evolved in-line with the general UK's
    disenchantment with anything authoritarian, & who can blame them?

    our MP's treat us with utter disdain. Royalty no longer cares.
    the turmoil escalates that ordinary ppl have to put up with:
    serious immigration issues, now it's Muslim's against Muslim's, albeit 'extremist's';
    the totally ineffectual police, more worried about thier Health&Safety policies;
    Brit's morals that are so low, that everybody wants a free handout, regardless of cost, screw you.

    so now heading soon into Europe,
    & we are going to be even further isolated from having any sense of community respect.
    will sadly take, further exposure, of the EMP's extravgant gravy trains, before any reversal can then start taking place.
    relying on British media channels, after several years under Euro disinterest will be a no-no.
    will only interfere with the publication of the public's main interests,
    ie. obtaining freebies,& watching the future Ms.Euro-Jordan's silly exploits.

    borthwick_douglas From borthwick_douglas on Sat May 30 09:15AM

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  7. Sarahledsom (No.15) really asks most of the right questions. The one that I find fascinating concerns the re-emergence of those celebrated Yesterday-men, Mandelson and Clarke. I had thought that Europe had sent Mandelson back to save Brown from the inevitable death penalty the voters are going to inflict upon him and his serfs. That was until Cameron brought back Clarke. Clarke is, of course, a broken down has-been now left to see out his meagre existence in a series of increasingly turgid little sinecures for Companies looking for favours from the Conservatives, like BAT. Not forgetting that this rather shortsighted turncoat gave the game away when he was seen on the same political platform as Tony Blair and the rest of the Europhile tendency.
    Mandelson has in fact been sent back to protect Europe from within the British Establishment. As Sec. of State for Industry he has been "looking after" the GM meltdown and the protection of GM (Europe) eg Vauxhall, Opal, Saab etc. We wouldn't want these "assets" to be bought by competitors and closed down (as capitalism usually does). No. We want to protect the german car Industry and the 5,000 (well, OK, say 2,000) British jobs as well. As Mandelson said, Magna is the preferred bidder but the EU will have to underwrite the deal....why? And whilst I'm at it, did I see a big sign saying "Steyr Magna"? That wouldn't have anything to do with a long-deceased car maker called Steyr-Puch? And a Russian Savings Bank owned by a man called Derapaska, who thought Mandelson would make a nice weekend guest on his boat to keep an idiot called George Osbourne occupied. Not the Mr Derapaska that Mandy dug out of a deep hole when there was a shortage of $4 billion in the Aluminium business Mr D was running. Naah, can't be the same one. As Europe is already bankrupt, I don't suppose a few more make-believe Billions run off the trusted old "John Bull" home printing set will make all that much difference; after all, if you're going to go bust...go big and do it with other people's money. Don't worry Mandy, South America has a much nicer climate than Britain and your European pension will be paid long after you're just a nasty smell in the collective nostrils of the British Political class. By the way, who are Europe going to send to save you? Max Moseley is a bit busy doing Europe's bidding on the Formula 1 stage but I suppose they could have you smuggled out in his private 'plane if the place goes tits up before you've finished selling off the whole of British Industry to the Germans.

    tidswell454 From tidswell454 on Sat May 30 09:35AM

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  8. The EU will never work.
    It's just the @#$% from 27 countries put together in one enormous and expensive dung heap.
    WE NEED TO GET OUT NOW.

    david.g.may From david.g.may on Sat May 30 09:53AM

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  9. Forget the economic arguments, a united Europe is a lot safer than a divided Europe.
    If we pull out of Europe how long will it be before our politicians decide to save more money by pulling out of NATO?

    frankdineen From frankdineen on Sat May 30 11:10AM

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  10. Jan Jananayagam - Independent candidate standing in London - for the true anti-BNP vote!! Strongly pro ethical civil rights, quality, diversity and business

    kajann_p From kajann_p on Sat May 30 01:17PM

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