The President of the European Parliament oversees all the activities of the European Parliament and its constituent bodies. He or she presides over its plenary sittings and chairs the meetings of the Bureau and Conference of Presidents. He or she represents Parliament in all external relations, particularly international relations.

The Bureau is the regulatory body responsible for Parliament's budget and for administrative matters. It consists of the President, fourteen Vice-Presidents, and five Quaestors who are responsible for administrative matters relating directly to MEPs. All the members of the Bureau are elected for a period of 30 months, elections being held at the start of and midway through each five-year Parliamentary Term.

The Conference of Presidents is made up of the President of Parliament and the political group chairmen, and the body responsible for Parliament's political organisation.

List of Presidents of the European Parliament

Presidents of the Common Assembly, 1952-1958

Presidents of the Parliamentary Assembly, 1958-1962

Presidents of the appointed Parliament, 1962-1979

Presidents of the directly elected Parliament, 1979-present

Election of President, July 20, 2004

The President requires an overall majority of votes cast in order to be elected. If this is not attained on the first ballot, new candidates can join the second and third ballots, but a fourth ballot is confined to the top two candidates from the third.

In practice in 2004 the European People's Party supported the candidate of the Party of European Socialists, who easily achieved a majority on the first ballot. It is expected that the PES will support an EPP-ED candidate for the second half of this Parliamentary Term.

Vice-Presidents

Elected (unopposed) July 20, 2004 in order of precedence

Quaestors

Elected July 21, 2004