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The European Parliament began meeting in 1954 in the building that originally belonged to the Council of Europe. It remained theirs until 2007.
In 2012 the European Parliament bought the building and land then demolished it and rebuilt it to their needs.
There are now over 750 members elected to the European Parliament. The original MEPs met for the first time in Strasbourg on the 19 March 1958 as the European Parliamentary Assembly but they changed their name to the “European Parliament” on 30 March 1962.
The European Parliament has a rich cultural heritage playing an essential role in the development of Europe over the past seventy years.
Before the introduction of direct elections Members of the European Parliament were appointed by each of the Member States’ national parliaments. They all had a dual mandate.
When Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined on January 1st, 1973, the number of MEPs increased to 198. That was the first enlargement.
The second enlargement was on January 1st, 1981, with 24 Greeks MEPs were elected to Parliament.
The third enlargement was January 1st 1986 and the number of seats increased from 434 to 518 by the arrival of 60 Spanish and 24 Portuguese MEPs appointed by their national parliaments.
Today there is 751 seats filled and was to be reviewed again in the view of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom which took effect 1st February.
The European Parliament has a big role and history about cultural agenda and relations.
On May 22nd, 2018, the European Commissions adopted a new European Agenda for Culture.
The new agenda proposes three strategic objectives with social, economic and external dimensions.
They also have international cultural relations this is a joint communication presented by the Commission and the European External Action Service. This has the aim of encouraging cultural cooperation between the EU and its partnering countries. The EU is committed to fostering international cultural relations. Intercultural dialogue is an ongoing priority of the EU. This includes multilingualism, youth, research and integration.
