European Parliament

Like all parliaments, the European Parliament has three fundamental powers:

• the power to legislate
• the power of the purse
• the power to supervise the executive

Members of the European Parliament are elected by direct universal suffrage under a system of proportional representation, either on a regional basis, as for example in Italy, the United Kingdom and Belgium, or on a national basis, as in France, Spain, Austria, Denmark, Luxembourg and others, or under a mixed system (Germany).