European Parliament
The European Parliament is the only directly-elected EU body. Members of the Parliament represent you, the citizen.
Members of the European Parliament make decisions which affect you directly. The car you drive, the air you breathe, the mobile phone in your pocket, the food you eat, the water you drink, the worker you employ, the bank you borrow from, the waste you discard...
It is a place where people from 28 member states come together to disagree, a place where political ideas and ideals meet, sometimes to clash, sometimes to be reconciled. Alliances are formed, deals are struck, compromises made, in other words, it's the usual, sometimes glorious, sometimes inglorious, business of democratic politics.
If you have questions about the European Parliament you can contact our Citizens' Enquiries Unit (@ http://ow.ly/L4dej ). For questions on the EU, you may also call Europe Direct (a free of charge phone line in 24 languages) - 00 800 67 89 10 11.