Handbuch zum Europäischen Parlament

The European Parliament is the only directly legitimized institution of the European Union: a dynamic, truly supranational and more and more powerful actor. It negotiates on eye-level with the Council of Ministers, holds the European Commission effectively accountable, represents the aggregated interests, ideas and concerns of the Union’s citizens, and supervises the development of the EU together with the national parliaments. As a global player the European Parliament deals with members of parliaments of third countries, negotiates international agreements and watches over the protection of human rights and democracy.

The handbook offers as systematic and practical insight into all functions of the European Parliament. The analysis takes into account the specific conditions of the EU’s institutional system; Parliament’s functions are reviewed both within the interinstitutional context as well as on the basis of the internal rules and routines. The handbook therefore offers a comprehensive, theoretically sound and empirically supported insight into the constitutional reality of the European Parliament. It adresses scientists, students, politicians and practitioners of European Affairs.