FAQs Answered

What do MEPs do?

Over the years, the European Parliament has evolved into an institution with significant law making powers. MEPs have the power to amend, approve or reject nearly all EU legislation. The European Parliament holds the European Commission to account and can force it to resign. The European Parliament also decides on the EU budget and influences how EU money is spent. MEPs represent their region in the European Parliament, lobby for funds and favourable laws and voice the concerns of the people they represent and local businesses.

Is the European Union democratic?

The European Parliament is the directly elected body of the EU and has the important democratic function of carrying out checks and balances with regard to the European Commission and the Council of Ministers. Today, most legislation is passed by the twin-track "co-decision procedure" in which decision-making power is exercised by both the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. The two bodies must come to an agreement on the text of legislation for that legislation to be adopted. Therefore European citizens have both a direct say on European laws through their MEPs and an indirect say through their national government ministers meeting in the Council of Ministers.

You can petition the European Parliament directly on an issue if you believe that European laws have not been properly adhered to. Click here for information on how to submit a petition to the European Parliament.

What can my MEP do for me?

Fiona deals with a great amount of casework in her constituency office. Every year, she and her staff answer thousands of emails, letters and phone calls ranging from organised lobbying campaigns on specific European laws to waste disposal sites, housing problems, asylum and visa cases, cross border issues (international marriage and divorce, property abroad, holiday problems, etc.) and human rights abuses overseas.

You can email Fiona on fiona@fionahallmep.co.uk, call her on 0191 383 0119 or write to her at 55a Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HN.

What are MEP expenses?

At present, members receive the same salary as members of their national parliament. However as of 2009 a new members statute will come into force which gives all members equal pay. This will be subject both to a community tax and to a supplementary UK tax up to standard UK tax levels. A summary of MEPs' allowances is available on the European Parliament website.

Fiona publishes her annual accounts online.

Why should the UK be in the EU?

As a member of the EU, the UK has access to a Single Market of nearly 500 million people - twice the size of the US. This is particularly valuable for a manufacturing and trading region like North East England. UK citizens are free to live and work in the 26 other EU countries. About 57% of the UK's trade is with other EU member states and about 3.5 million jobs are linked directly or indirectly to the export of goods and services to the rest of the EU.

Most of the big issues which face us today - climate change, the economic recession, organised crime - have an international dimension. They cannot be solved by Britain alone, only by close co-operation with international partners, and particularly with our European neighbours.

The UK is a big player within the EU, and British people working in the EU have the advantage that English is now the common language of Europe. Unfortunately, the UK does not always pull its full weight in the European Parliament because of the presence of certain UKIP and Non Aligned MEPs who refuse to take part in the day-to-day work of committees, where all the detailed negotiation on legislation takes place.

Unlike EU member states, countries which are only members of the European Economic Area, such as Norway, do not have any decision-making powers and simply have to accept EU laws passed by MEPs and the Council.

Isn't the EU just a big bureaucracy?

Although the EU is often described as the world's biggest bureaucracy, the City of London and other major European cities actually employ more civil servants and administrators than the whole of the EU, which has a surprisingly small administration: no more than 40,000 of staff work in all its institutions.

Moreover, less than 6% of the EU's budget goes towards administration. That includes all translation services.