President of the European Parliament - wikipedia President of the European Parliament President of the European Parliament Logo of the Parliament Incumbent Antonio Tajani since 17 January 2017 Appointer European Parliament Term length Two years and six months, renewable once Inaugural holder Paul Henri Spaak / Robert Schuman Formation 1952 / 1958 Website Official website European Union This article is part of a series on the politics and government of European Union Executive Juncker Commission President Juncker ( EPP ) Vice Presidents College Civil Service Secretary - General Italianer Legislature President Tajani ( EPP ) Largest groups EPP ( Manfred Weber ) S&D ( Gianni Pittella ) 8th session ( 2014 -- 19 ) 751 MEPs Bureau Vice Presidents Quaestor Conference Legislative procedure Council of the EU Presidency Configurations General Foreign Justice and Home Economic Euro Legislative procedure Voting Secretariat Secretary - General Uwe Corsepius Directorates - general COREPER Judiciary Court of Justice Members Rulings General Court Central Bank President Draghi ESCB Euro EMU Eurozone Court of Auditors Budget OLAF Other bodies Agencies Investment Bank CoR EESC Ombudsman National parliaments Policies and issues Foreign relations High Representative Federica Mogherini Ext. Action Service Foreign Policy Defence Policy Customs Union Enlargement Budget Four Freedoms Economic Area Area of FS&J Schengen Area Policies Agricultural Energy Fisheries Regional Citizenship Identity Pro-Europeanism Euroscepticism Integration Supranationalism Federalism United States of Europe Multi-speed Opt - outs Enhanced co-op Withdrawal Elections 1979, 1984, 1989 1994, 1999, 2004, 2009 2014 ( last election ) Political parties Constituencies Referendums Law Treaty on European Union Acquis Primacy Subsidiarity Treaties Rome Single European Act Maastricht Amsterdam Nice Lisbon Article 50 Fundamental Rights Membership Treaties of Accession 1972, 1979, 1985, 1994, 2003, 2005, 2011 European Council President Tusk ( EPP ) Parties List of meetings Other countries Atlas The President of the European Parliament presides over the debates and activities of the European Parliament. They also represent the Parliament within the EU and internationally. The president 's signature is required for enacting most EU laws and the EU budget. Presidents serve two - and - a-half - year terms, normally divided between the two major political parties. There have been twenty - eight presidents since the Parliament was created in 1952, thirteen of whom have served since the first Parliamentary election in 1979. Two presidents have been women and most have come from the older member states. The current president is Antonio Tajani of Italy. Contents 1 Role in Parliament 2 Position in the Union 3 Election 3.1 2009 3.2 2017 3.3 Oldest member 4 List of office holders 4.1 Presidents of the Common Assembly 4.2 Presidents of the Parliamentary Assembly 4.3 Presidents of the appointed Parliament 4.4 Presidents of the elected Parliament 5 See also 6 References 7 External links Role in Parliament The president chairs debates and oversees all the activities of the Parliament and its constituent bodies ( ensuring the Parliament 's rules of procedure are applied ), in this the role is similar to that of a speaker in a national parliament. Below the president, there are 14 vice-presidents who chair debates when the president is not in the chamber. The president also chairs the meetings of the Bureau, which is responsible for budgetary and administration issues, and the Conference of Presidents, which is a governing body composed of the presidents of each of the parliament 's political groups. Position in the Union The president represents Parliament in all legal matters and external relations, particularly international relations. When the European Council meets, the president addresses it to give the Parliament 's position on subjects on the Council 's agenda. The president also takes part in Intergovernmental Conferences on new treaties. The president 's signature is also required for the budget of the European Union and Union acts adopted under codecision procedure to be adopted. The president also chairs conciliation committees with the Council under these areas. In most countries, the protocol of the head of state comes before all others. However, in the EU the Parliament is listed as the first institution, and hence the protocol of its president comes before any other European, or national, protocol. The gifts given to numerous visiting dignitaries depends upon the president. President Josep Borrell MEP of Spain gave his counterparts a crystal cup created by an artist from Barcelona which had engraved upon it parts of the Charter of Fundamental Rights among other things. With the reorganisation of leading EU posts under the Lisbon Treaty, there was some criticism of each posts vague responsibilities. Ukrainian ambassador to the EU Andriy Veselovsky praised the framework and clarified it in his own terms : The President of the European Commission speaks as the EU 's `` government '' while the President of the European Council is a `` strategist ''. The High Representative specialises in `` bilateral relations '' while the European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy deals in technical matters such as the free trade agreement with Ukraine. The Parliament 's president meanwhile articulates the EU 's values such as democratic elections in other countries. Election Map showing the number of presidents from each state ; Six Five Three Two One None The president is elected by the members of Parliament for a two - and - a-half - year term, meaning two elections per parliamentary term, hence two presidents may serve during any one Parliamentary term. Since the European People 's Party and Party of European Socialists began co-operating in the 1980s, they have had a tradition of splitting the two posts between them. In practice this means, in 2004 -- 2009 for example, that the People 's Party supported the Socialist candidate for president and, when his term expired in 2007, the Socialists supported the People 's Party candidate for president. This results in large majorities for presidents, although there are some exceptions : for example from 1999 -- 2004, under a People 's Party -- Liberal deal, the president for the second half of the term was a Liberal, rather than a Socialist. Starting from the 2009 -- 2014 session of the Parliament the outgoing president presides over the election of the new president, provided that the outgoing president is re-elected as an MEP. If the outgoing president is not re-elected as an MEP then one of the 14 vice-presidents takes up the role. While the outgoing president or vice president is in the chair, they hold all the powers of the president, but the only business that may be addressed is the election of the new president. Before the ballot nominations are handed to the chair who announces them to Parliament. If no member holds an absolute majority after three ballots, a fourth is held with only the two members holding the highest number of votes on the previous ballot. If there is still a tie following this, the eldest candidate is declared elected. A number of notable figures have been President of the Parliament and its predecessors. The first president was Paul - Henri Spaak MEP, one of the founding fathers of the Union. Other founding fathers include Alcide de Gasperi MEP and Robert Schuman MEP. The two female presidents were Simone Veil MEP in 1979 ( first president of the elected Parliament ) and Nicole Fontaine MEP in 1999, both Frenchwomen. Jerzy Buzek, former Prime Minister of Poland and member of Solidarity Electoral Action, was elected as the first president from the central and eastern European countries which joined in the 2000s ( more precisely, he is the first person from a country that joined the EU after 1986 to hold the post ). 2009 The two major factions of the European Parliament, the EPP and the S&D, have reached a formal agreement to share the presidency under the 2009 -- 2014 term. Under the agreement, Jerzy Buzek will be president in the first half of the term and a S&D member would be elected in the second half ( 2012 -- 2014 ) of the term. Martin Schulz ( SPD, Germany ), leader of the S&D group, was speculated as the likely nominee, and in the event he was elected on 17 January 2012. Buzek 's presidency is part of the usual People 's Party -- Socialist agreement to have one presidency each of the two during each parliament. For the 2009 -- 2014 term Buzek gets the post for the first term of office of two and a half years, and someone from the Socialists will get it for the second. The 2004 - 2009 parliamentary term saw a great amount of co-operation between the two groups following on from the 1999 -- 2004 term which saw an EPP - ELDR alliance. The Socialist candidate will be Martin Schulz who was unanimously nominated by the group. Diana Wallis ( Liberal ) and Nirj Deva ( Conservative ) have also announced candidacies. Meanwhile, Graham Watson, the leader of ALDE, stated he wished to challenge this system of carving up the post, and presented himself as a candidate. He made a point of running a public campaign, to contrast against the closed - doors agreement of Peoples Party - Socialists, which he claimed was the first such campaign to be run. Through this, he also stated he hoped to open up a debate on the role of the president and make the figure more dynamic, to counterbalance the growing power of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. However, on 8 July 2009 Watson announced that he withdrew his candidacy thus leaving Buzek with only one opponent. The other official candidate was Eva - Britt Svensson, nominated from EUL - NGL. She campaigned with the slogan `` a different voice ''. She was the first MEP from Sweden to candidate to the position. In the first vote of the new Parliament Jerzy Buzek ( EPP, Poland ) was elected Parliament president, winning with 555 votes to 89 votes over his opponent Eva - Britt Svensson ( EUL - NGL, Sweden ). 2017 At the end of Martin Schulz 's term, the presidency for the remainder of the eighth European Parliament ( 2014 -- 2019 ) would have been due by convention to pass to an EPP member. However, the EPP -- S&D agreement appeared broken, making it less certain that Antonio Tajani ( EPP, Italy ) would be elected president. The other contenders were Gianni Pittella ( S&D, Italy ), Guy Verhofstadt ( ALDE, Belgium ), Helga Stevens ( ECR, Belgium ), Eleonora Forenza ( GUE / NGL, Italy ) and Jean Lambert ( Greens / EFA, UK ). On 17 January 2017, Tajani was elected after four rounds of voting, following the withdrawal of Verhofstadt and declaration of support for the EPP candidate by the ALDE. Oldest member Main article : Oldest Member of European Parliament Prior to 2009, the `` oldest member '', the eldest MEP ( similar to the Father of the House ), presided over the chamber during the election of the president rather than the previous president. The member had all the duties of president but the only business that could be addressed was the election of the president. In 2009, the Parliament 's rules were changed so that the outgoing president ( if re-elected as an MEP ) or one of the outgoing vice-presidents would chair the first session of Parliament until a new president was elected. List of office holders See also : History of the European Union Robert Schuman ( 1958 -- 1960 ), first President of the Parliamentary Assembly. The list below includes all presidents as far back as 1952. However official Parliamentary history does not see continuity between the Common Assembly and the post-1958 European Communities Parliamentary Assembly ( the 50th anniversary of the European Parliament was celebrated in 2008, not 2002 ) so Jerzy Buzek would be the 24th president, not the 28th. Presidents of the Common Assembly No Name ( Born -- Died ) Portrait Term of office Party Group Country Paul - Henri Spaak ( 1899 -- 1972 ) 1952 1954 BSP - PSB SOC Belgium Alcide De Gasperi ( 1881 -- 1954 ) 1 January 1954 19 August 1954 DC CD Italy Giuseppe Pella ( 1902 -- 1981 ) 1954 1956 DC CD Italy Hans Furler ( 1904 -- 1975 ) 1956 1958 CDU CD West Germany Presidents of the Parliamentary Assembly No Name ( Born -- Died ) Portrait Term of office Party Group Country Robert Schuman ( 1886 -- 1963 ) 1958 1960 MRP CD France Hans Furler ( 1904 -- 1975 ) 1960 1962 CDU CD West Germany Presidents of the appointed Parliament No Name ( Born -- Died ) Portrait Term of office Party Group Country Gaetano Martino ( 1900 -- 1967 ) 1962 1964 PLI LIB Italy Jean Duvieusart ( 1900 -- 1977 ) 1964 1965 PSC - CVP CD Belgium Victor Leemans ( 1901 -- 1971 ) 1965 1966 PSC - CVP CD Belgium Alain Poher ( 1909 -- 1996 ) 1966 1969 MRP CD France 5 Mario Scelba ( 1901 -- 1991 ) 1969 1971 DC CD Italy 6 Walter Behrendt ( 1914 -- 1997 ) 1971 1973 SPD SOC West Germany 7 Cornelis Berkhouwer ( 1919 -- 1992 ) 13 March 1973 10 March 1975 VVD LIB Netherlands 8 Georges Spénale ( 1913 -- 1983 ) 1977 PS SOC France 9 Emilio Colombo ( 1920 -- 2013 ) 1977 1979 DC CD Italy Presidents of the elected Parliament No Name ( Born -- Died ) Portrait Term of office Party Group Country EP term Simone Veil ( 1927 -- 2017 ) July 1979 January 1982 UDF LD France 1st ( 1979 -- 84 ) Piet Dankert ( 1934 -- 2003 ) January 1982 July 1984 PvdA SOC Netherlands Pierre Pflimlin ( 1907 -- 2000 ) July 1984 January 1987 UDF / RPR EPP France 2nd ( 1984 -- 89 ) Henry Plumb ( 1925 -- ) January 1987 July 1989 Con ED United Kingdom 5 Enrique Barón Crespo ( 1944 -- ) July 1989 January 1992 PSOE SOC Spain 3rd ( 1989 -- 94 ) 6 Egon Klepsch ( 1930 -- 2010 ) January 1992 July 1994 CDU EPP Germany 7 Klaus Hänsch ( 1938 -- ) July 1994 January 1997 SPD PES Germany 4th ( 1994 -- 99 ) 8 José María Gil - Robles ( 1935 -- ) January 1997 July 1999 PP EPP Spain 9 Nicole Fontaine ( 1942 -- ) July 1999 January 2002 UMP EPP France 5th ( 1999 -- 04 ) 10 Pat Cox ( 1952 -- ) January 2002 July 2004 Ind ELDR Ireland 11 Josep Borrell ( 1947 -- ) July 2004 January 2007 PSOE PES Spain 6th ( 2004 -- 09 ) 12 Hans - Gert Pöttering ( 1945 -- ) January 2007 July 2009 CDU EPP Germany 13 Jerzy Buzek ( 1940 -- ) July 2009 January 2012 PO EPP Poland 7th ( 2009 -- 14 ) 14 Martin Schulz ( 1955 -- ) January 2012 July 2014 SPD S&D Germany July 2014 January 2017 8th ( 2014 -- 19 ) 15 Antonio Tajani ( 1953 -- ) January 2017 Incumbent FI EPP Italy See also List of presidents of the institutions of the European Union President of the European Council President of the European Commission Presidency of the Council of the European Union President of the European Union References ^ Jump up to : Parliament began either in 1952 with the Common Assembly or 1958 with the Parliamentary Assembly. ^ Jump up to : `` The President of the European Parliament ''. Europa ( web portal ). Archived from the original on 8 June 2008. Retrieved 19 November 2007. ^ Jump up to : `` Duties of the President ''. European Parliament. Retrieved 12 June 2007. Jump up ^ `` Parliament 's Protocol Service ''. European Parliament. 28 July 2006. Retrieved 28 October 2007. Jump up ^ Rettman, Andrew ( 15 March 2010 ) Ukraine gives positive appraisal of new - model EU, EU Observer Jump up ^ Settembri, Pierpaolo ( 2 February 2007 ). `` Is the European Parliament competitive or consensual... `` and why bother '' ? '' ( PDF ). Federal Trust. Retrieved 7 October 2007. ^ Jump up to : `` Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament. Rule 11 : Oldest member ''. European Parliament. Retrieved 12 June 2007. Jump up ^ `` Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament. Rule 13 : Election of President -- opening address ''. European Parliament. Retrieved 22 November 2007. Jump up ^ `` Former E.P. Presidents ''. European Parliament. Retrieved 15 June 2007. Jump up ^ ( 1 ) Jump up ^ `` Next EP president to be a Pole ? ''. Brusselsblogger.blogactiv.eu. 2008 - 04 - 22. Retrieved 2017 - 01 - 16. Jump up ^ `` PES congratulate Martin Schulz on nomination for European Parliament Presidency ''. Retrieved 2011 - 12 - 03. Jump up ^ `` Wallis launches bid to be Parliament president ''. Retrieved 2011 - 11 - 30. Jump up ^ `` The man to stop Schulz ? ''. Retrieved 2011 - 12 - 03. Jump up ^ Watson, Graham ( 7 January 2009 ) Make me president : The next president of the European parliament should be a Lib Dem, and prove that not all Brits are anti-Europe, The Guardian Jump up ^ `` GUE - NGL Press Release ''. Guengl.eu. Retrieved 2010 - 03 - 15. Jump up ^ `` News on the Parliament Website ''. Europarl.europa.eu. Archived from the original on 22 July 2009. Retrieved 15 March 2010. Jump up ^ `` Surprise in the European Parliament : an election campaign ''. Politico. 12 January 2017. Jump up ^ `` All you need to know about the election of the new Parliament president ''. European Parliament. 13 January 2017. Jump up ^ died in office External links President of the European Parliament -- Official Website Duties of the President europarl.europa.eu Presidents of the European Parliament European Navigator Results of Presidential elections 1979 -- 2007 Presidents of the European Parliament Common Assembly : 1952 -- 1958 Paul - Henri Spaak Alcide De Gasperi Giuseppe Pella Hans Furler Parliamentary Assembly : 1958 -- 1962 Robert Schuman Hans Furler European Parliament ( appointed ) : 1962 -- 1979 Gaetano Martino Jean Duvieusart Victor Leemans Alain Poher Mario Scelba Walter Behrendt Cornelis Berkhouwer Georges Spénale Emilio Colombo European Parliament ( elected ) : 1979 -- present Simone Veil Piet Dankert Pierre Pflimlin Henry Plumb Enrique Barón Crespo Egon Klepsch Klaus Hänsch José María Gil - Robles Nicole Fontaine Pat Cox Josep Borrell Hans - Gert Pöttering Jerzy Buzek Martin Schulz Antonio Tajani Commission President President of the European Council Council Presidency President of Parliament European Union portal Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=President_of_the_European_Parliament&oldid=815523525 '' Categories : Presidents of the European Parliament Hidden categories : Use dmy dates from April 2011 All articles with dead external links Articles with dead external links from December 2017 Articles with permanently dead external links Talk Contents About Wikipedia Беларуская Български Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Eesti Español Esperanto Français 한국어 Հայերեն Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית ქართული Lietuvių Magyar Македонски მარგალური Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Română Русский Simple English Suomi Svenska Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 15 December 2017, at 10 : 21. 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Question: who elects the president of the european parliament
Answer: the members of Parliament