2009 – 2014

Beyond activities described by now, an MEPs have also other possibilities to express their opinion, e.g.:

“Any Member may put questions for written answer to the Council or the Commission in accordance with guidelines laid down in an annex to these Rules of Procedure(1) . The content of questions shall be the sole responsibility of their authors. Questions shall be submitted in writing to the President who shall forward them to the institution concerned. Doubts concerning the admissibility of a question shall be settled by the President. The questioner shall be notified of his decision. If a question cannot be answered within the time limit set it shall, at the request of the author, be placed on the agenda for the next meeting of the committee responsible”
“Questions may be put to the Council or the Commission by a committee, a political group or at least 40 Members with a request that they be placed on the agenda of Parliament. Such questions shall be submitted in writing to the President who shall immediately refer them to the Conference of Presidents.”

“Any Member may table a motion for a resolution on a matter falling within the spheres of activity of the European Union.The motion may not comprise more than 200 words. The committee responsible shall decide what procedure is to be adopted. It may combine the motion for a resolution with other motions for resolutions or reports. It may adopt an opinion, which may take the form of a letter. It may decide to draw up a report under Rule 48.”

“The Chair of the committee to which a proposal for a legislative act is referred shall propose to the committee the procedure to be followed. The committee shall appoint a rapporteur on the proposal for a legislative act from among its members or permanent substitutes. The committee’s report shall comprise: amendments, a draft legislative resolution, and an explanatory statement including a financial statement which establishes the magnitude of any financial impact of the report.”

“If the committee to which a matter was first referred wishes to hear the views of another committee, or if another committee wishes to make known its views on the report of the committee to which a matter was first referred, such committees may ask the President in accordance with Rule 188(3), for one committee to be named as the committee responsible and the other as the committee asked for an opinion. In the case of documents of a legislative nature, the opinion shall consist of amendments to the text referred to the committee accompanied where appropriate by short justifications. Such justifications shall be the responsibility of the rapporteur for the opinion and shall not be put to the vote. If necessary the committee asked for an opinion may submit a short written justification for the opinion taken as a whole.”

“The Conference of Presidents may propose to Parliament that speaking time be allocated for a particular debate. Parliament shall decide on this proposal without debate. Members may not speak unless called upon to do so by the President. Members shall speak from their places and shall address the President. If speakers depart from the subject, the President shall call them to order. The President may draw up, for the first part of a particular debate, a list of speakers that includes one or more rounds of speakers from each political group wishing to speak, in the order of their size, and one non-attached Member.”

“Up to five Members may submit a written declaration of not more than 200 words on a matter falling within the competence of the European Union which does not cover issues that are the subject of an ongoing legislative process. Authorisation shall be given by the President on a case-by-case basis. Written declarations shall be printed in the official languages and distributed. They shall be entered with the names of the signatories, in a register. This register shall be public and shall be kept outside the entrance to the Chamber during part-sessions and in an appropriate location, to be determined by the College of Quaestors, between part-sessions.”

“An attendance register shall be open for signature by Members at each sitting. The names of the Members present, as shown in the attendance register, shall be recorded in the minutes of each sitting.” My attendance rate in period 2004 – 2009 was 97%.

Note: the used citations are from the Rules of the procedure of the EP.