Editing European Parliament (section)

===Elected Parliament===
[[File:Europa Parlament 1985.jpg|thumb|left|A plenary session in the [[Palace of Europe]] in April 1985, in Strasbourg, France. It was the EP's hemicycle until 1999 when a new building was constructed in Strasbourg, France.]]

In 1979, its members were [[Elections in the European Union|directly elected]] for the [[1979 European Parliament election|first time]]. This sets it apart from similar institutions such as those of the [[Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe]] or [[Pan-African Parliament]] which are appointed.<ref name="ENA History"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Framework |url=http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?Link=/AboutUs/APCE_framework.htm |publisher=[[Council of Europe]] |access-date=5 July 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609093551/http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?Link=%2FAboutUs%2FAPCE_framework.htm |archive-date=9 June 2007 |df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Overview of the Pan-African Parliament |publisher=[[Pan-African Parliament]] |url=http://www.pan-africanparliament.org/AboutPAP_Overview.aspx |access-date=5 July 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929025936/http://www.pan-africanparliament.org/AboutPAP_Overview.aspx |archive-date=29 September 2007 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> After that first election, the parliament held its first session on 17 July 1979, electing [[Simone Veil]] MEP as its president.<ref>{{Cite web|title=40 years ago - The first session of the directly elected European Parliament|url=https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/40-years-ago-the-first-session-of-directly-elected-european-parliament_12503_pk|access-date=2021-03-26|website=Multimedia Centre|language=en}}</ref> 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 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.<ref name="ENA TEU">{{cite web |title=The European Parliament's proposals |publisher=CVCE |url=http://www.cvce.eu/obj/the_european_parliament_s_proposals-en-9169f4c4-6aa2-40d7-af99-9004fb85332c.html |access-date=19 April 2013}}</ref> Furthermore, the Parliament began holding votes on proposed [[President of the European Commission|Commission Presidents]] from the 1980s, before it was given any formal right to veto their appointment.<ref name="Commission Appointment">{{cite web |last=European Parliament Website |title=Oversight over the Commission and Council |url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+PRESS+BI-20041022-1+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220209131410/https://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+PRESS+BI-20041022-1+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN |archive-date=2022-02-09 |access-date=1 July 2007 |website=europarl.europa.eu}}</ref>

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]].<ref name="ENA History"/>

Like the other institutions, the Parliament's [[Seat (legal entity)|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 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 [[Location of European Union institutions|institution's locations]] are a source of contention.<ref name="ENA seats">{{cite web|title=The seats of the institutions of the European Union|url=http://www.cvce.eu/obj/the_seats_of_the_institutions_of_the_european_union-en-cd672879-aeb1-4cad-a0c1-9e4ff75ff660.html|publisher=CVCE|access-date=19 April 2013}}</ref>

The Parliament gained more powers from successive revisions of the EU treaties, notably through the extension of the [[ordinary legislative procedure]] (originally called the codecision procedure),<ref name="ENA legis">{{cite web|title=Power to legislate of the European Parliament|url=http://www.cvce.eu/obj/power_to_legislate_of_the_european_parliament-en-4f35fdb4-323e-49a0-a138-5b11d701d9a3.html|publisher=[[Centre virtuel de la connaissance sur l'Europe|CVCE]]|access-date=19 April 2013}}</ref> and the right to approve international agreements through the consent procedure.

In 1999, the Parliament forced the resignation of the [[Santer Commission]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Topan |first=Angelina |title=The resignation of the Santer-Commission: the impact of 'trust' and 'reputation' |date=30 September 2002|publisher=European Integration Online Papers|url=http://eiop.or.at/eiop/pdf/2002-014.pdf|access-date=19 April 2013}}</ref> The Parliament had refused to approve the [[Budget of the European Union|Community budget]] over allegations of fraud and mis-management in 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.<ref name="Ringe"/>