DISINFO: The European Parliament does not have real powers, EU bureaucrats decide
DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS
  • Outlet: sputnik.by (archived)*
  • Date of publication: May 09, 2019
  • Outlet language(s): Russian
  • Reported in: Issue 149
Tags:
European Parliament European Union Conspiracy theory

DISINFO: The European Parliament does not have real powers, EU bureaucrats decide

SUMMARY

The European Parliament does not have real powers and opportunities to influence the decisions taken by bureaucrats and pragmatic politicians.

RESPONSE

This claim misrepresents the competences of the European Parliament and is consistent with a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about a dysfunctional EU governed by the bureaucrats and elites who are out of touch with the needs of the people. See an earlier case about Brussels bureaucrats.

The European Commission cannot adopt new legislation or amend existing EU legislation without consent from the Council of the EU and the European Parliament. The European Parliament is directly elected by the EU’s population. It approves and removes the president of the European Commission. The European Parliament also has the power to censure the Commission with a vote of two-thirds of its members, thereby forcing the Commission to resign.

As EU co-operation evolved with time, the European Parliament progressed from a purely advisory role to one of co-decision on an equal footing with the Council. The Lisbon Treaty expanded the number of policies which are subject to ordinary legislative procedure to virtually all areas including the areas of freedom, security and justice, external trade, environmental policy and the common agricultural policy.

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Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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