6th European Parliament
20 July 2004 – 7 May 2009
President (1st Half)	Josep Borrell
President (2nd Half)	Hans-Gert Poettering
Commission	Barroso
Political groups	EPP-ED PES ALDE Greens-EFA EUL-NGL ID UEN ITS NI
MEPs	732 (2004–2006) 785 (2007–2009)
Elections	June 2004 (Union) May 2007 (Bulgaria) November 2007 (Romania)
Nice[nb 1]
← Fifth Seventh →

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v t e

The sixth European Parliament was the sixth five-year term of the elected European Parliament. It began on Tuesday 20 July 2004 in Strasbourg^[1] following the 2004 elections and ended after the 2009 elections.

• 10–13 June 2004
  • Elections to the Sixth Parliament.
• 20 July 2004
  • First meeting (constitutive session) of the Sixth Parliament.
  • Giovanni Berlinguer presides as oldest member.
  • Josep Borrell is elected as President of the European Parliament.
• 22 July 2004
  • Parliament approves José Manuel Barroso as President of the European Commission.
• 27 September to 11 October 2004
  • Parliamentary hearings for the European Commissioners.
  • Parliament airs objections to Ingrida Udre, László Kovács, Neelie Kroes, Mariann Fischer-Boel and Rocco Buttiglione.
  • Buttiglione is replaced by Franco Frattini, Ingrida Udre replaced by Andris Piebalgs and László Kovács reshuffled.
• 18 November 2004
  • The Barroso Commission is approved by Parliament.
• 22 November 2004
  • Barroso Commission takes office.
• 12 December 2006
  • Parliament approves Meglena Kuneva and Leonard Orban as new European Commissioners for Romania and Bulgaria.
• 1 January 2007
  • Accession of Romania and Bulgaria, their observers in Parliament become full MEPs.
• 15 January 2007
  • Hans-Gert Pöttering is elected President of the European Parliament.
• 20 May 2007
  • Election of Bulgarian MEPs.
• 25 November 2007
  • Election of Romanian MEPs.
• 20 February 2008
  • Parliament approves the Lisbon Treaty.

	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	Source
Reports	73	415	481	519	515	268	[1]
Resolutions and positions	80	440	483	494	514	215	[2]
Parliamentary questions	2525	6310	7032	7765	8266	3373	[3]
Written declarations	27	82	91	115	106	52	[4]

Resolution/position number	Procedure number	Notes
P6_TA(2006)0552	COD/2003/0256	Amended and approved Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006, the REACH regulation
P6_TA(2007)0032	INI/2006/2200	European Parliament resolution on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transportation and illegal detention of prisoners
P6_TA(2006)0490	COD/2004/0001	Amended and approved Directive 2006/123/EC, the Bolkestein directive
P6_TA(2007)0401	COD/2004/0047	Amended and approved Directive 2007/58/EC, the rail competition directive
P6_TA(2005)0275	COD/2002/0047	Rejected the proposed directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions
P6_TA(2007)0199	COD/2006/0133	Amended and approved Regulation (EC) No 717/2007, the mobile phone roaming regulation
P6_TA(2008)0342	COD/2006/0130	Amended and approved Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008, the air pricing clarity regulation
P6_TA(2008)0293	COD/2005/0167	Amended and approved Directive 2008/115/EC, the illegal immigration directive
P6_TA(2005)0132	INI/2004/2172	European Parliament resolution on the Common Foreign and Security Policy

Type	Number	Sources	Notes
Standing committee	20 (+2 subcommittees)	[5]
Temporary committee	3	[6]	See below for list
Committee of enquiry	1	[7]	See below for list

Code	Committee	Report	Sources
CLIM	Temporary Committee on Climate Change	A6-2008-0495	[8]
TDIP	Temporary Committee on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners	A6-2007-0020	[9]
FINP	Temporary Committee on policy challenges and budgetary means of the enlarged Union 2007–2013	A6-2005-0153	[10]

Code	Committee	Report	Sources
EQUI	Committee of Inquiry into the crisis of the Equitable Life Assurance Society	A6-2007-0203	[11]

Type	Number	Sources
Europe delegations	10	[12]
Non-Europe delegations	24	[13]
Ad-hoc delegations	1	[14]

See membership below for details of size

Group name	Acronym
European People's Party–European Democrats	EPP-ED
Party of European Socialists	PES
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe	ALDE
Greens/European Free Alliance	G/EFA
European United Left-Nordic Green Left	EUL-NGL
Independence/Democracy	IND/DEM
Union for a Europe of Nations	UEN
Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty[nb 2]	ITS
Non-Inscrits[nb 3]	NI

Term	President (or candidate)	Group		State	Votes
20 July 2004– 14 January 2007	Josep Borrell		PES	Spain	388
	Bronisław Geremek		ALDE	Poland	208
	Francis Wurtz		EUL/NGL	France	51
15 January 2007– 14 July 2009[2]	Hans-Gert Pöttering		EPP-ED	Germany	450
	Monica Frassoni		G/EFA	Italy	145
	Francis Wurtz		EUL/NGL	France	48
	Jens-Peter Bonde		IND/DEM	Denmark	46

Group	2004–2006	2007–2009
EPP-ED	Alejo Vidal-Quadras Roca Antonios Trakatellis Edward McMillan-Scott Ingo Friedrich Mario Mauro Jacek Saryusz-Wolski Miroslav Ouzký	Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou Alejo Vidal-Quadras Edward McMillan-Scott Mario Mauro
PES	Dagmar Roth-Behrendt António Costa Pierre Moscovici	Miguel Angel Martínez Martínez Mechtild Rothe Pierre Moscovici Manuel António Dos Santos Marek Siwiec
ALDE	Luigi Cocilovo Janusz Onyszkiewicz	Luigi Cocilovo Diana Wallis
G/EFA	Gérard Onesta	Gérard Onesta
EUL-NGL	Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann	Luisa Morgantini
IND/DEM	n/a	n/a
UEN	n/a	Adam Bielan
ITS	n/a	n/a

Group	2004–2006[3]	2007–2009
EPP-ED	James Nicholson Godelieve Quisthoudt-Rowohl Astrid Lulling	James Nicholson Astrid Lulling Ingo Friedrich
PES	Genowefa Grabowska Mia De Vits	Mia De Vits Szabolcs Fazakas
ALDE	n/a	Jan Mulder

Group	Chairs
EPP-ED	Hans-Gert Pöttering (until 2007), Joseph Daul (from 2007)
PES	Martin Schulz
ALDE	Graham Watson
G/EFA	Monica Frassoni Daniel Cohn-Bendit
EUL-NGL	Alonso José Puerta Francis Wurtz
IND/DEM	Jens-Peter Bonde (until 2008), Kathy Sinnott (2008), Hanne Dahl (from 2008) Nigel Farage (full term)
UEN	Brian Crowley (until 2009) Cristiana Muscardini
ITS	Bruno Gollnisch (2007)

See List of members of the European Parliament 2004–2009 for the full list.

Groups

Group	Seats
	2004 [nb 4] [4]	2007 [nb 5] [5]	2007 [nb 6] [6]	2009 [nb 7]
EPP-ED	268	277	288	288
PES	200	218	215	217
ALDE	88	106	101	104
G/EFA	42	42	43	43
EUL-NGL	41	40	41	41
IND/DEM	33[nb 8]	23	24	22
UEN	27	44	44	40
ITS	n/a	20	n/a	n/a
NI	33	14	29	30

Apportionment

State	Seats		State	Seats
Germany	99		France	78
United Kingdom	78		Italy	78
Spain	54		Poland	54
Romania[nb 9]	35		Netherlands	27
Greece	24		Portugal	24
Belgium	24		Czech Republic	24
Hungary	24		Sweden	19
Austria	18		Bulgaria[nb 9]	18
Denmark	14		Slovakia	14
Finland	14		Ireland	13
Lithuania	13		Latvia	9
Slovenia	7		Estonia	6
Cyprus	6		Luxembourg	6
Malta	5		Total[nb 9]	732 / 785

Office	Post	Name	Source
Office of the Secretary-General	Secretary-General of the European Parliament	Julian Priestley (to 2007) Harald Rømer (2007 to 2009) Klaus Welle (since 2009)	[15]
Legal Service	Jurisconsult of the European Parliament	Christian Pennera	[16]
Directorate-General for the Presidency	Director-General	David Harley	[17]
Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union	Director-General	Riccardo Ribera d'Alcala	[18]
Directorate-General for External Policies of the Union	Director-General	Dietmar Nickel	[19]
Directorate-General for Communication	Director-General	Francesca R. Ratti	[20]
Directorate-General for Personnel	Director-General	Barry Wilson	[21]
Directorate-General for Infrastructure and Logistics	Director-General	Constantin Stratigakis	[22]
Directorate-General for Translation	Director-General	Juana Lahousse-Juárez	[23]
Directorate-General for Interpretation and Conferences	Director-General	Olga Cosmidou	[24]
Directorate-General for Finance	Director-General	Roger Vanhaeren	[25]

• European Parliament
• Explanation of codecision
• European Parliament positions
• European Parliament and European Council common positions
• European Parliament Conciliation Committee Joint texts