The Structure of the Federal Parliament of Europe

11 November 2024

Resolution submitted by Political Commission 1: Institutional Affairs and Governance. Adopted by the Federal Committee in Cologne on 6 November 2016. Re- adopted by the Federal Committee in Budapest on 10 November 2024.

JEF Europe,

  • Viewing with deep concern the ongoing scepticism and reluctance with which citizens and governments across the European Member States have been viewing the EU’s political integration process;
  • Considering the importance of a Parliament’s role in upholding the will of the people and representing their constituents on the political level by ensuring accountable and transparent governance;
  • Bearing in mind the lack of awareness of the legislative process and of the distance that some EU citizens feel toward their direct representatives;
  • Highlighting the obscurity in decision-making processes and operation of the European Council, the Council of the European Union and the Eurogroup;
  • Stressing the need for a reform of the EU’s political institutions, in particular the EU’s legislative bodies, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, which oftentimes are unable to act in moments of disagreement between national governments;
  • Reiterating its conviction that a federalist perspective, in line with JEF Europe’s principles, as laid down in its political platform, can reinvigorate the public debate on European political integration;
  • Recognising that the current institutional set-up of the European Union needs to be reformed in order to effectively overcome the challenges it is confronted with nowadays;
  • Further stresses that, for the European Union to be closer to its citizens, a reform of its institutions through a constitutional assembly that is inclusive toward the views of European citizens is of utmost importance;
  • Underlines the need to re-launch the European Union’s political integration process with concrete proposals;

JEF Europe therefore,

Proposes, building upon the provisions of JEF Europe’s Political Platform, the following structure and mandate for a Federal Parliament of Europe:

  1. The Federal European Parliament shall be established as a bicameral legislative body composed of two chambers, the Chamber of European Citizens and the Federal Senate;
  2. The current European Parliament shall be transformed into the Chamber of European Citizens, and the current Council of the European Union should be transformed into the Federal Senate.Both chambers shall have one permanent location determined by the respective institutions themselves;
  3. The Chamber of European Citizens’ representatives shall be elected through a mixed proportional list system of one EU-wide list (the so-called ‘transnational lists’) that is drawn up by the European political parties and one list for each national or regional constituency drawn up by the parties active there. Citizens shall have two votes, one for the EU-wide list and one for the constituency list. The EU-wide lists shall elect at least one third of the Assembly’s seats;
  4. Each list has to state clearly which parliamentary group their candidates will join or aim to join and do so well in advance of the elections in order for the citizens to be able to make an informed voting decision. The membership in a faction should provide stability to the work of the Assembly;
  5. The European Senate shall have an equal number of representatives (Senators) from each member state. Senators shall be elected in accordance with a procedure determined by each member state;
  6. The Senators shall have the right to vote on behalf of the Member States. The changing configuration of the Council of Ministers shall be replaced by the work in Senate committees that shall correspond to the committees in the Chamber of European Citizens;
  7. After each European election, the Chamber of European Citizens shall have the task to nominate the President, who will be the head of the European Government. At the beginning of the electoral cycle for the Assembly , each European political party may propose one lead candidate (commonly known as Spitzenkandidat) for this post who will be the head of their EU- wide party list. Alternatively the President can be directly elected through a direct presidential election;
  8. The European President – elect shall nominate the ministers of the European Government, which will have to be confirmed by the Chamber of European Citizens, before the President and the ministers take their posts. The ministers shall not be required to each come from a different member state, nor shall there have to be one minister from each member state;
  9. The European Government shall be responsible before the Chamber of European Citizens. The Assembly can initiate a vote of no confidence in the President. Any such vote of no confidence must at the same time designate a new candidate to become President instead (constructive no confidence vote/impeachment). Individual ministers that lose the confidence of the Chamber of European Citizens, can be dismissed by it on  an individual basis, without the need of immediate replacement;
  10. Both chambers of the Federal Parliament of Europe, as well as the European Government, shall have the right to initiate legislation;
  11. Both chambers of the Federal Parliament of Europe shall make their decisions using simple or absolute majority vote in all matters, except on matters of constitutional reform;
  12. If the two chambers of the Federal Parliament do not agree on a final version of the legislation, the leaders of both chambers will convene a common meeting (Conciliatory Committee) that shall include representatives of each parliamentary group from both chambers, as well as ministers in charge of related portfolios. This meeting may propose a common text that must be passed in that form by both chambers to be approved. If not approved, then the Chamber of European Citizens should decide on the legislative proposal, voting by qualified majority;
  13. Both chambers of the Federal Parliament shall cooperate closely with national and sub-national parliaments in the European Union’s Member States. Nonetheless, on European competencies, the Federal Parliament has ultimate authority while the subsidiarity review mechanism shall remain in place, i.e. the power of a number of national parliaments to force both chambers of the Federal Parliament to reconsider the piece of legislation with regard to the principle of subsidiarity;
  14. The roles of the opposition shall be guaranteed in both chambers of the Federal Parliament, notably regarding the oversight of the majority, the meaningful participation in debates and the contribution to the legislative process;
  15. Both chambers shall strive to uphold standards of transparency and stakeholder involvement in order to create an open and easily-accessible legislative process for all citizens;
  16. Requests that the European Parliament include JEF Europe’s proposals and positions in future reports regarding possible evolutions of the institutional set-up of the EU;
  17. Calls on the President of the European Council to define a road map in order to call for a constitutional assembly, and thereby initiate further public discussion on further political integration in favour of designing a political Federation with a truly federal European Parliament.