EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

The European Parliament is a major agenda-setter in the area 
of European policy and the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) plays a key role in the work of the Parliament. It has responsibility for such matters as the economic and monetary policies of the EU, taxation and competition policies, free movement of capital and the regulation of financial services (banks, insurance, pension funds, asset/fund management, accounting, international monetary and financial systems etc.). Moreover, as the great majority of Parliament's work is done at Committee level, it is ECON that does most Parliamentary work on these key economic and monetary policy areas. This puts ECON at the centre of the Parliament's work on the current economic and financial crisis and gives ECON significant influence on the policy agenda in the EU and internationally.



THE PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
The President is elected for a renewable term of two and a half years, i.e. half the lifetime of a Parliament. The President represents the European Parliament vis-à-vis the outside world and in its relations with the other EU institutions. The actual president is Martin Schulz.