The European Parliament (formerly European Parliamentary
Assembly or Common Assembly) is the parliament of the European
Union (EU). EU citizens elect its members once every five years.
Together with the Council of Ministers, it is the law-making
branch of the institutions of the Union. It meets in two
locations: Strasbourg and Brussels. The Parliament is made up of
its 785 members, called "MEPs". Each member speaks for an area
of Europe, for example London, Denmark or Scotland. Anyone can
be elected, they are elected by all the EU citizens, the people
who are citizens of a country in the EU. People have been
elected to Parliament since 1979, before that they came from the
Parliaments of each country. Because MEPs come from lots of
countries, they all speak different languages (23 in 2007). This
means that the Parliament has to have lots of interpreters.
Unlike other international groups of politicians, MEPs do not
sit in groups of countries, but they sit next to people who they
share ideas with. The two large