Members Of The European Parliament

In Meriden, you are represented by 7 MEPs - 3 Conservatives, 2 Labour, 1 Liberal Democrat and 1 UKIP.

Your three Conservative MEPs are:
Philip Bradbourn MEP
Philip Bushill-Matthews MEP
Malcolm Harbour MEP

Malcolm Harbour MEP, who lives in Solihull, has been nominated by the Team to have special responsibility for all EU matters affecting the Meriden constituency, and should be your first point of contact.

For more information about their work and contact details:
www.torymeps.com

For more information on the 2004 election results see:
www.elections2004.eu.int/

How can MEPs help you?

MEPs can help you if you have a problem at a European level or a query relating to European matters. For example:

- You would like more information or to want to express your view on any forthcoming EU proposals

- You would like to know who to contact in the European commission to get information about future policies

- You think that EU funding might be available for local community projects

- Your business has been prevented from accessing the Single Market, or affectd by unfair trading practices

- You are experiencing problems with public authorities in other EU countries.

West Midlands Euro-Constituency

MEPs do not have individual constituencies like MPs. The UK is divided up into 11 regions with the number of MEPs for each region dependent on the population. The West Midlands region has seats allocated for seven MEPs. For the first time, a system of proportional representation was used at the European elections in 1999 and British voters voted for political parties rather than individual candidates. The number of MEPs each party has in each region depends on the number of votes cast for each party in that region. MEPs serve a fixed 5 year term so the next elections are in June 2009.

The West Midlands constituency of which Solihull and Meriden are part, includes the counties of Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands conurbation, a very large area to be covered and a population of approximately 5.3 million - 9% of the UK total population.

732 MEPs make up the European Parliament from 25 separate countries. The UK is represented by 78 MEPs.

Work of MEPs

MEPs represent their constituents in the European Parliament as MPs do in Westminster. They do not sit in national delegations but according to political affinities, in trans-national groups. The political groups hold regular meetings. The British Conservatives work in close co-operation with the other centre-right political groups within Parliament under the umbrella of the European People's Party and European Democrats (EPP/ED) which is the largest political group in the European Parliament.

MEPs, in the same way as Westminster MPs are away from their constituencies in their respective Parliament generally from Monday-Thursday and back again for Fridays and the weekend. MEPs meet in plenary sitting for one week a month in Strasbourg. The parliamentary committees generally meet for two weeks a month in Brussels for ease of contact with the European Commission and Council. The third week is set aside for meetings of the political groups usually in Brussels. Additional plenary sittings are also held in Brussels. The secretariat is located in Luxembourg.

There are three European institutions in the European Union; the Council of Ministers, the Commission and the Parliament. The Commission traditionally upholds the interests of the Union as a whole, which each national government is represented within the Council and the European Parliament is directly elected by citizens. There are seven other European bodies. These are the Court of Justice, the Court of Auditors, the European Central Bank, the Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions, the European Investment Bank and the European Ombudsman.

The Parliament has three roles:
- Adopting European laws
- Adopting the EU budget with the Council
- Supervising the Commission

MEPs are assigned to 17 committees, 20 inter-parliamentary delegations and 14 delegations to joint parliamentary committees. There is also the Joint Assembly set up under the agreement between the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific States and the EU. Each committee or delegation elects its own 'bureau' comprising a chairman and two or three vice-chairmen.

For more information about the work of the European Parliament look on their website:
www.europarl.eu.int/

You can obtain further details and order a range of free publications from the UK office of the Parliament:
www.europarl.org.uk/

Members Of The European Parliament

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