The glory and poverty of European Parliament
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University of Tartu professor ordinarius of theory of international relations
Just as the European Union is not a union, neither is the European Parliament the pan-European equivalent of, or substitute for, national assemblies.
Even though the image of the legislature is not considered very good for many reasons, one of which is the easy way it is perceived as having with money, it is one of the three major European Union institutions, the others being the European Commission and the Council of Ministers. And the importance of the institution has grown over time, insofar as legislative amendments have given it additional powers. The importance of parliament is bespoken by the fact that only two days after an unsuccessful referendum on Cyprus, representatives from the Greek and Turkish communities as well as the UN special representative to Cyprus and the EC expansion official took part in a hearing before the parliament’s foreign affairs committee. Such hearings are not conducted before a merely formal and insignificant parliament.