European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is the only directly elected parliamentary body of the European Union. The 785 Members of the European Parliament (or MEPs) serve for a fixed term of five years and have the power to amend, pass or reject European laws, approve the budget of the European Union and decide how this money will be spent. The next European elections will be held on the 4th June 2009.
The European Parliament organises itself within multi-national political groups. There are currently eight political groups: the European People's Party; the Socialist Group; the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe; the Union for Europe of the Nations Group; the Greens/European Free Alliance; the Confederal Group of the European United Left; and the Independence Democracy Group.
Fiona is a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), the third largest Group in the European Parliament, with 100 MEPs.
MEPs sit on one or more of the Parliament's twenty specialist policy committees. They meet several times a month to discuss reports, draw up and amend policy proposals and frequently question Commissioners and representatives of the Council. From environmental protection, consumer rights, equal opportunities, transport, and the free movement of workers, capital, services and goods, the committees play an important role in drafting legislation which, once passed into law, will impact on the daily lives of European citizens.
Fiona sits on the Industry, Research and Energy Committee, the Development Committee and the Election Co-ordination Group. All MEPs are also involved in liaison with countries outside the EU. Fiona is a member of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly where MEPs debate with national parliamentarians from African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.
Parliamentary activities are split between committee weeks when the specialist policy committees meet, political group weeks for members to discuss work within their political groups, extra-parliamentary weeks to allow members to do constituency work and make external visits, and session weeks where members spend 4 days in Strasbourg for plenary (full) sessions of the European Parliament.
As a member of the Campaign for Parliamentary Reform, Fiona supports the ONEseat campaign, a cross-party group of MEPs who want to end the wasteful journeys between Brussels and Strasbourg and hold all parliamentary meetings in Brussels.
Fiona supporting the Oneseat campaign
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