DISINFO: The European Parliament is a façade structure to corrupt national elites
SUMMARY
The European Parliament is mostly a façade structure. It consists of several hundreds of comfortable chairs and provides pensions for politicians, it is a tool to corrupt national elites.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative questioning the EU institutions' legitimacy and powers.
The European Parliament is the EU's only directly-elected EU institution. Since 1979, it is elected by EU voters every 5 years. The last elections were in May 2014.
The European Parliament is one of the to EU law-making bodies. It has constitutional-type and ratification powers. It passes EU laws, together with the Council of the EU, based on European Commission proposals. It has budgetary powers, scrutiny over the executive, it hears citizens’ petitions, and appoints the European Ombudsman. A detailed overview of the European Parliament’s role in the European decision-making process can be consulted here.