Sixth European Parliament

6th European Parliament
6th European Parliament
20 July 2004 – 7 May 2009
President (1st Half)	Josep Borrell
President (2nd Half)	Hans-Gert Poettering
Commission	Barroso
Political groups	EPP-ED; PES; ALDE; Greens-EFA; EUL-NGL; ID; UEN; ITS; NI;
MEPs	732 (2004–2006); 785 (2007–2009);
Elections	June 2004 (Union); May 2007 (Bulgaria); November 2007 (Romania);
	Nice
	← Fifth; Seventh →;

The sixth European Parliament was the sixth five-year term of the elected European Parliament. It began on Tuesday 20 July 2004 in Strasbourg^[1] following the 2004 elections and ended after the 2009 elections.

Major events[edit]

10–13 June 2004
- Elections to the Sixth Parliament.
20 July 2004
- First meeting (constitutive session) of the Sixth Parliament.
- Giovanni Berlinguer presides as oldest member.
- Josep Borrell is elected as President of the European Parliament.
22 July 2004
- Parliament approves José Manuel Barroso as President of the European Commission.
27 September to 11 October 2004
- Parliamentary hearings for the European Commissioners.
- Parliament airs objections to Ingrida Udre, László Kovács, Neelie Kroes, Mariann Fischer-Boel and Rocco Buttiglione.
- Buttiglione is replaced by Franco Frattini, Ingrida Udre replaced by Andris Piebalgs and László Kovács reshuffled.
18 November 2004
- The Barroso Commission is approved by Parliament.
22 November 2004
- Barroso Commission takes office.
12 December 2006
- Parliament approves Meglena Kuneva and Leonard Orban as new European Commissioners for Romania and Bulgaria.
1 January 2007
- Accession of Romania and Bulgaria, their observers in Parliament become full MEPs.
15 January 2007
- Hans-Gert Pöttering is elected President of the European Parliament.
20 May 2007
- Election of Bulgarian MEPs.
25 November 2007
- Election of Romanian MEPs.
20 February 2008
- Parliament approves the Lisbon Treaty.

Activity[edit]

	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	Source
Reports	73	415	481	519	515	268	[1]
Resolutions and positions	80	440	483	494	514	215	[2]
Parliamentary questions	2525	6310	7032	7765	8266	3373	[3]
Written declarations	27	82	91	115	106	52	[4]

Major resolutions and positions[edit]

Resolution/position number	Procedure number	Notes
P6_TA(2006)0552	COD/2003/0256	Amended and approved Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006, the REACH regulation
P6_TA(2007)0032	INI/2006/2200	European Parliament resolution on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transportation and illegal detention of prisoners
P6_TA(2006)0490	COD/2004/0001	Amended and approved Directive 2006/123/EC, the Bolkestein directive
P6_TA(2007)0401	COD/2004/0047	Amended and approved Directive 2007/58/EC, the rail competition directive
P6_TA(2005)0275	COD/2002/0047	Rejected the proposed directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions
P6_TA(2007)0199	COD/2006/0133	Amended and approved Regulation (EC) No 717/2007, the mobile phone roaming regulation
P6_TA(2008)0342	COD/2006/0130	Amended and approved Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008, the air pricing clarity regulation
P6_TA(2008)0293	COD/2005/0167	Amended and approved Directive 2008/115/EC, the illegal immigration directive
P6_TA(2005)0132	INI/2004/2172	European Parliament resolution on the Common Foreign and Security Policy

Committees[edit]

Summary[edit]

Type	Number	Sources	Notes
Standing committee	20 (+2 subcommittees)	[5]
Temporary committee	3	[6]	See below for list
Committee of enquiry	1	[7]	See below for list

Temporary committees[edit]

Code	Committee	Report	Sources
CLIM	Temporary Committee on Climate Change	A6-2008-0495	[8]
TDIP	Temporary Committee on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners	A6-2007-0020	[9]
FINP	Temporary Committee on policy challenges and budgetary means of the enlarged Union 2007–2013	A6-2005-0153	[10]

Committees of enquiry[edit]

Code	Committee	Report	Sources
EQUI	Committee of Inquiry into the crisis of the Equitable Life Assurance Society	A6-2007-0203	[11]

Delegations[edit]

Type	Number	Sources
Europe delegations	10	[12]
Non-Europe delegations	24	[13]
Ad-hoc delegations	1	[14]

Political groups[edit]

See membership below for details of size

Group name	Acronym
European People's Party–European Democrats	EPP-ED
Party of European Socialists	PES
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe	ALDE
Greens/European Free Alliance	G/EFA
European United Left-Nordic Green Left	EUL-NGL
Independence/Democracy	IND/DEM
Union for a Europe of Nations	UEN
Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty^{[nb 2]}	ITS
Non-Inscrits^{[nb 3]}	NI

Leadership[edit]

Presidents[edit]

Term	President (or candidate)		State	Votes
20 July 2004– 14 January 2007	Josep Borrell	PES	Spain	388
	Bronisław Geremek	ALDE	Poland	208
	Francis Wurtz	EUL/NGL	France	51
15 January 2007– 14 July 2009^[2]	Hans-Gert Pöttering	EPP-ED	Germany	450
	Monica Frassoni	G/EFA	Italy	145
	Francis Wurtz	EUL/NGL	France	48
	Jens-Peter Bonde	IND/DEM	Denmark	46

Vice-Presidents[edit]

Group	2004–2006	2007–2009
EPP-ED	Alejo Vidal-Quadras Roca Antonios Trakatellis Edward McMillan-Scott Ingo Friedrich Mario Mauro Jacek Saryusz-Wolski Miroslav Ouzký	Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou Alejo Vidal-Quadras Edward McMillan-Scott Mario Mauro
PES	Dagmar Roth-Behrendt António Costa Pierre Moscovici	Miguel Angel Martínez Martínez Mechtild Rothe Pierre Moscovici Manuel António Dos Santos Marek Siwiec
ALDE	Luigi Cocilovo Janusz Onyszkiewicz	Luigi Cocilovo Diana Wallis
G/EFA	Gérard Onesta	Gérard Onesta
EUL-NGL	Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann	Luisa Morgantini
IND/DEM	n/a	n/a
UEN	n/a	Adam Bielan
ITS	n/a	n/a

Quaestors[edit]

Group	2004–2006^[3]	2007–2009
EPP-ED	James Nicholson Godelieve Quisthoudt-Rowohl Astrid Lulling	James Nicholson Astrid Lulling Ingo Friedrich
PES	Genowefa Grabowska Mia De Vits	Mia De Vits Szabolcs Fazakas
ALDE	n/a	Jan Mulder

Chairs of the political groups[edit]

Group	Chairs
EPP-ED	Hans-Gert Pöttering (until 2007), Joseph Daul (from 2007)
PES	Martin Schulz
ALDE	Graham Watson
G/EFA	Monica Frassoni Daniel Cohn-Bendit
EUL-NGL	Alonso José Puerta Francis Wurtz
IND/DEM	Jens-Peter Bonde (until 2008), Kathy Sinnott (2008), Hanne Dahl (from 2008) Nigel Farage (full term)
UEN	Brian Crowley (until 2009) Cristiana Muscardini
ITS	Bruno Gollnisch (2007)

Membership[edit]

See List of members of the European Parliament 2004–2009 for the full list.
Groups

Group	Seats
Group	2004 ^{[nb 4]} ^[4]	2007 ^{[nb 5]} ^[5]	2007 ^{[nb 6]} ^[6]	2009 ^{[nb 7]}
EPP-ED	268	277	288	288
PES	200	218	215	217
ALDE	88	106	101	104
G/EFA	42	42	43	43
EUL-NGL	41	40	41	41
IND/DEM	33^{[nb 8]}	23	24	22
UEN	27	44	44	40
ITS	n/a	20	n/a	n/a
NI	33	14	29	30

Apportionment

State	Seats	State	Seats
Germany	99	France	78
United Kingdom	78	Italy	78
Spain	54	Poland	54
Romania^{[nb 9]}	35	Netherlands	27
Greece	24	Portugal	24
Belgium	24	Czech Republic	24
Hungary	24	Sweden	19
Austria	18	Bulgaria^{[nb 9]}	18
Denmark	14	Slovakia	14
Finland	14	Ireland	13
Lithuania	13	Latvia	9
Slovenia	7	Estonia	6
Cyprus	6	Luxembourg	6
Malta	5	Total^{[nb 9]}	732 / 785

Secretariat[edit]

Office	Post	Name	Source
Office of the Secretary-General	Secretary-General of the European Parliament	Julian Priestley (to 2007) Harald Rømer (2007 to 2009) Klaus Welle (since 2009)	[15]
Legal Service	Jurisconsult of the European Parliament	Christian Pennera	[16]
Directorate-General for the Presidency	Director-General	David Harley	[17]
Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union	Director-General	Riccardo Ribera d'Alcala	[18]
Directorate-General for External Policies of the Union	Director-General	Dietmar Nickel	[19]
Directorate-General for Communication	Director-General	Francesca R. Ratti	[20]
Directorate-General for Personnel	Director-General	Barry Wilson	[21]
Directorate-General for Infrastructure and Logistics	Director-General	Constantin Stratigakis	[22]
Directorate-General for Translation	Director-General	Juana Lahousse-Juárez	[23]
Directorate-General for Interpretation and Conferences	Director-General	Olga Cosmidou	[24]
Directorate-General for Finance	Director-General	Roger Vanhaeren	[25]

Notes[edit]

^ The Treaties of Rome and Treaty of Maastricht as amended by the Treaty of Nice and all preceding amending treaties.
^ Created 15 January 2007, disbanded 14 November 2007
^ Independents, not a group
^ Tuesday 20 July 2004: first day of the constitutive session of the Sixth European Parliament. By Friday 23 July 2004, the composition had changed slightly.
^ Composition of 15 January 2007 following the creation of ITS
^ Following Bulgarian and Romanian elections
^ Before 2009 election
^ Four Lega Nord MEPs arrived on 20 July 2004, sat with the Non-Inscrits for one day, then sat with IND/DEM on 21 July 2004, bringing the number of IND/DEM MEPs up to 37. Consequently, "37" is sometimes given as the number of IND/DEM MEPs on 20 July 2004.
^ ^a ^b ^c Bulgaria and Romania joined on 1 January 2007. Prior to 2007 there were 732 seats, following enlargement the Romanian and Bulgarian seats were added bringing it to 785.

References[edit]

^ European Parliament Minutes (Proceedings of the Sitting) on the European Parliament website
^ European Parliament Press Release on election
^ "Debates Wednesday, 21 July 2004 – Strasbourg > Election of Quaestors" from http://www.europarl.europa.eu/
^ 20040720 on the European Parliament website
^ "EU's surprise far-right coalition", BBC, 15 January 2009
^ EPP-ED Overview 2008-02-10

External links[edit]

[NB08-1] The Treaties of Rome and Treaty of Maastricht as amended by the Treaty of Nice and all preceding amending treaties.

[NB06-3] Created 15 January 2007, disbanded 14 November 2007

[NB07-4] Independents, not a group

[NB01-7] Tuesday 20 July 2004: first day of the constitutive session of the Sixth European Parliament. By Friday 23 July 2004, the composition had changed slightly.

[NB02-9] Composition of 15 January 2007 following the creation of ITS

[NB033-11] Following Bulgarian and Romanian elections

[NB04-13] Before 2009 election

[NB05-14] Four Lega Nord MEPs arrived on 20 July 2004, sat with the Non-Inscrits for one day, then sat with IND/DEM on 21 July 2004, bringing the number of IND/DEM MEPs up to 37. Consequently, "37" is sometimes given as the number of IND/DEM MEPs on 20 July 2004.

[NB09-15] Bulgaria and Romania joined on 1 January 2007. Prior to 2007 there were 732 seats, following enlargement the Romanian and Bulgarian seats were added bringing it to 785.

[EuroparlCalendar-2] European Parliament Minutes (Proceedings of the Sitting) on the European Parliament website

[5] European Parliament Press Release on election

[6] "Debates Wednesday, 21 July 2004 – Strasbourg > Election of Quaestors" from http://www.europarl.europa.eu/

[Europarl20040720-8] 20040720 on the European Parliament website

[BBC6254945-10] "EU's surprise far-right coalition", BBC, 15 January 2009

[EPPED20080210-12] EPP-ED Overview 2008-02-10

[nb 1]

[1]

[nb 2]

[nb 3]

[2]

[3]

[nb 4]

[4]

[nb 5]

[5]

[nb 6]

[6]

[nb 7]

[nb 8]

[nb 9]

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