Researches On The Legislative Power Of The European Parliament

Being one of the most import legislatures of the European Union (hereinafter called the Union), the European Parliament's (hereinafter called the Parliament) legislative power has been gradually increasing with every new treaty. Now the European Parliament, together with the Council of the European Union, shall exercise the legislative power in certain affairs in the Union. However, the academic circles on the law of the European Union in China still prefer to concentrate on the Council or the Court of Justice or the Union itself rather than the Parliament, the changing legislative body.The Treaty of Lisbon will enter into force in Jan. 2009 unless unpredictable things happen. The Parliament will exercise its legislative power on most of the Union's legislations. Based on the rules of the Treaty of Lisbon, the author will analyze the development as well as the legislative power of the Parliament, using the methods of the interpretation of the laws, comparative studies and empirical analysis. The author will introduce the theory of multi-level level governance in order to interpret the peculiarity of the legislative power of the Parliament. Finally the thesis will illustrate the prospect of the legislative power of the Parliament and indicate its special influences on the law of international organization. The thesis is constituted by the preface, text and conclusion, except for preface and conclusion, there are four chapters in the text.Chapter one is about the development of the Parliament. It introduces the different compositions and functions of the Parliament conferred by each treaty, especially the Treaty of Lisbon.Chapter two is about the operation of the legislative power. The first part is a brief introduction of the function of the Parliament. The second part is about the changing legislative power of the Parliament. The third part is about the operation of the legislative power under the Treaty of Lisbon. And the last part is about the comparison of the differences of the legislative power between the Treaty of Lisbon and current treaty. Chapter three is the multi-level analysis of the legislative power. Firstly it introduces the multi-level governance theory. Then it will dispose the interaction between the actors from different levels and the exercitation of the Parliament's legislative power.Chapter four is about the prospect of the Parliament's legislative power. First it explains the deficits of the current legislative procedure and introduces the amendments made by the Treaty of Lisbon. Second it concludes the regular pattern of Parliamentary legislation during its current term of office and predicts the legislative trends. Finally it indicates influences on the development of the law of international organization after comparing the legislative power between the European Parliament and legislative bodies of other international organizations.