Secretariat of the European Parliament

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Secretariat of the European Parliament

Agency overview
Formed	1958; 66 years ago (1958)
Jurisdiction	European Parliament
Headquarters	Konrad Adenauer building, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Agency executive	Alessandro Chiocchetti, Secretary General of the European Parliament
Website	www.europa.eu

The Secretariat of the European Parliament is the administrative body of the European Parliament headed by a Secretary-General. It is based in the Kirchberg district of Luxembourg City and around the Brussels-Luxembourg Station in Brussels and employs around 4,000 officials.

Secretary-General[edit]

The Secretary General of the European Parliament is appointed by the Bureau of the Parliament. The post is responsible for administration and assisting the President, MEPs and the Parliament's bodies. They also deal with the day-to-day running of business and prepare basic reports for budget estimates. The Secretary-General also has to sign, together with the President, all acts adopted by the Parliament and Council.^[1]

The Secretaries-General to date have been;

• Frits de Nerée tot Babberich (1958–1963)
• Hans Nord (1963–1979)
• Hans Joachim Opitz (1979–1986)
• Enrico Vinci (1986–1997)
• Julian Priestley (1997–2007)
• Harald Rømer (2007–2009)
• Klaus Welle (2009–2022)
• Alessandro Chiocchetti (2023-present)

Legal Service[edit]

The Parliament's legal services advises members and bodies on matters of European law, helping in drafting of legislation and representing the Parliament in Courts.

Directorates-General[edit]

Presidency[edit]

The Directorate-General for the Presidency (DG PRES) organises plenary sittings and for follow-up activities including protocol, mail, register, archives and security.^[2]

Internal Policies[edit]

The Directorate-General for Internal Policies (DG IPOL) deals with assisting the work of Parliament's committees and their chairmen as well as coordinating relations and cooperation with the other institutions and national parliaments.^[3] The DG also supplies expert information and research to the members and committees. This is the task of the Policy Departments who produce studies, upon request, on topics for the members. One specific policy department is STOA the Science and Technology Options Assessment unit which advises committees and members on such topics.^[4]

External Policies[edit]

The Directorate-General for External Policies (DG EXPO) deals with assisting the work of Parliament's delegations, committees and their chairmen as well as coordinating relations and cooperation with the other institutions, national parliaments and foreign bodies. It also forms half of the co-secretariat of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly, the Eurolat and the European Eastern neighbours parliamentary assembly secretariat. The DG organises both delegation visits to non EU states and visits to the parliament by external state delegations.^[5][6] The DG also supplies expert information and research to the members and committees on topics relating to external countries. This is the task of the Policy Department who produce studies, upon request, on topics for the members. These studies, being produced by or for the European Parliament, are published on the Europarl website.^[7]

European Parliamentary Research Service[edit]

The European Parliamentary Research Service (DG EPRS) is the European Parliament's in-house research department and think tank. Its mission is to assist Members of the European Parliament in their parliamentary work by providing them with independent, objective and authoritative analysis of, and research on, policy issues relating to the European Union. It is also designed to increase Members' and EP committees' capacity to scrutinise and oversee the European Commission and other EU executive bodies.^[8]

Communication[edit]

The Directorate-General for Communication (DG COMM) deals with public information and media. Its staff includes the spokesperson of the Parliament (currently Jaume Duch Guillot), the press service and a network of public information offices across member states. It also manages the Europarl website.^[9][10]

Personnel[edit]

The Directorate-General for Personnel (DG PERS) deals with the human resources of the other DGs, including giving staff access to vocational training.

Infrastructure and Logistics[edit]

The Directorate-General for Infrastructure and Logistics (DG INLO) manages the buildings of the European Parliament (spread over Strasbourg, Brussels and Luxembourg) and its member-state offices and equipment.

Translation[edit]

The Directorate-General for Translation (DG TRAD) is responsible for written translation of the Parliament's documents.

Interpretation and Conferences[edit]

The Directorate-General for Logistics and Interpretation for Conferences (DG LINC^[11]) manages meeting rooms and interpretation for all meetings organised by the Institution.

Finance[edit]

The Directorate-General for Finance (DG FINS) deals with the Parliaments budgetary and financial affairs. Preparing and checking the budget and monitoring its subsequent implementation. It is also responsible for official accounting and treasury operations as well as MEPs' finances.

Innovation and Technological Support[edit]

The DG Innovation and Technological Support (DG ITEC) consists of The Directorate for Information Technologies (DIT), the central ITC support and computing and network centre and Directorate for Publishing and Distribution which deals with the publication of parliamentary material such as working documents and the official journal.

Security[edit]

The Directorate-General for Security (DG SAFE) works to facilitate Parliament activities, while guaranteeing sufficient protection to people, assets and information and consists of Directorate A: Proximity and Assistance Security and Safety (PASS), Directorate B: Fire, First aid and Prevention and Directorate C: Strategy and Resources.

Staff[edit]

As of August 2017

See also[edit]

• Directorates-General (of the Commission)
• European Parliament in Luxembourg
• Institutions of the European Union
• Location of European Union institutions

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Secretariat of the European Parliament
• Subcommittee on Security and Defence Minutes Meeting of 6 March 2008 Page 5, List of DGs.