The European Parliament and U.S. Interests (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Revised Oct. 30, 2024 |
| Report Number |
IF11211 |
| Report Type |
In Focus |
| Authors |
Kristin Archick |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
The European Parliament (EP) is the only directly elected
institution of the 27-country European Union (EU). The
EP’s current 720 members represent the EU’s roughly 450
million citizens. The EP has accumulated more power over
time (most recently with the 2009 Lisbon Treaty) as part of
EU efforts to improve democratic accountability and
transparency in EU policymaking. Congress-EP ties are
long-standing, and the EP’s potential to influence key
aspects of U.S.-EU relations—such as trade, data privacy,
digital policies, and counterterrorism—may be of interest to
Congress. The most recent EP elections were in June 2024.
The EP plays a role in the EU’s legislative and budget
processes and has a degree of oversight responsibility. The
EP works closely with the two other main EU institutions:
the European Commission, which represents the interests of
the EU as a whole and functions as the EU’s executive, and
the Council of the European Union (informally the Council,
or Council of Ministers), which represents the interests of
the EU’s national governments. Although the European
Commission has the right of legislative initiative, the EP
shares legislative power with the Council of the EU in most
policy areas, giving the EP the right to accept, amend, or
reject the vast majority of EU laws (with some exceptions,
such as taxation and most aspects of foreign policy). Both
the EP and the Council of the EU must approve a European
Commission proposal for it to become EU law in a process
known as the ordinary legislative procedure or co-decision.
The EP must approve the accession of new EU members
and international agreements (including on trade) and may
issue nonlegislative resolutions (used, for example, to
provide opinions on foreign policy issues).
With the Council of the EU, the EP decides how to allocate
the EU’s annual budget (fixed as a percentage of the EU’s
combined gross national income). The EP has a supervisory
role over the European Commission, limited oversight over
the Council of the EU, and monitors EU policies, including
through investigations and public hearings. EU member
states are required to take EP election results into account in
choosing the European Commission president, and the EP
must approve each new slate of European Commissioners,
including the president, every five years.
