Members of the European Parliament are elected by direct universal suffrage under a system of proportional representation, either on a regional basis, as for example in Italy, the United Kingdom and Belgium, or on a national basis, as in France, Spain, Austria, Denmark, Luxembourg and others, or under a mixed system (Germany).

Common democratic rules apply everywhere, especially the right to vote at the age of 18, equality between men and women and a secret ballot. In some Member States, such as Belgium, Luxembourg and Greece, voting is compulsory.

Since the Maastricht Treaty came into force in 1993, any citizen of a Member State of the European Union who lives in another State of the Union may vote or stand for election in his or her country of residence.

Members of the European Parliament receive the same parliamentary allowance as members of their national parliament. This allowance is paid by each Member State and is topped up by the European Parliament with an amount to cover the costs incurred by MEPs in the performance of their duties and the recruitment of assistants. These allowances may be cut if Members do not take part regularly in the work of the plenary sittings.

At Parliament's request, provision has been made in the Amsterdam Treaty for a common statute for all Members of the European Parliament. This statute should be adopted shortly and will remove the disparities in salary between Members of different nationalities and ensure greater transparency.

In the Chamber, Members sit in political groups, not in national delegations. Parliament currently has eight political groups, plus some 'non-attached' Members. These political groups include members from over one hundred national political parties.

• EPP- ED Group of the European People's Party and European Democrats
• PES Group of the Party of European Socialists
• ELDR Group of the European Liberal, Democratic and Reformist Party
• Greens/EFA Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
• EUL/NGL Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left
• UEN Group of the Union for a Europe of Nations
• EDD Europe of Democracies and Diversities Group
• TDI Technical Group of Indipendent Members - Mixed Group

Members of the European Parliament meet in plenary sitting for one week a month in Strasbourg where the European Parliament has its seat.

The parliamentary committees generally meet for two weeks a month in Brussels, for ease of contact with the Commission and Council. The third week is set aside for meetings of the political groups and the fourth for the plenary sitting in Strasbourg. Parliament also holds additional plenary sittings in Brussels. The secretariat is located in Luxembourg.

Although its seat is in Strasbourg, the European Parliament, for historical reasons, has three places of work. The three Communities were not set up at the same time. The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was established in Luxembourg in 1952 while the European Atomic Energy Community (ECSC), often called EURATOM, and the European Economic Community (EEC) were established mainly in Brussels in 1958. Strasbourg first became the seat of the Council of Europe, and then in 1952, of the European Parliament, to symbolise Franco-German reconciliation. The European Council meeting in Edinburgh (1992) and the Amsterdam Treaty (1997) formalised the location of the Institutions in the three places.

Simultaneous interpretation of all parliamentary and committee debates is provided in the Union's eleven official languages: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. Similarly, all parliamentary documents are translated into and published in these eleven languages.

Parliament's work is generally organised on the following lines:

• the relevant parliamentary committee (for instance, the Committee on the Environment for legislation on pollution) appoints a Member as 'rapporteur' to draft a report on the Commission proposal under consideration;
• the rapporteur submits his draft report to the committee for discussion;
• after consideration, the draft report is put to the vote and possibly amended;
• the report is then discussed in plenary, amended and put to the vote. Parliament thus adopts its position on the matter.
• This is the procedure for the adoption of legislation, which may require two readings, as in the case of the codecision procedure (see glossary)

As well as adopting legislative proposals and the budget, Members of the European Parliament also scrutinise the work of the Commission and the Council by putting oral questions or questions on topical issues to Members of the Commission and Council in the plenary sittings.