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5. The decision-making process

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS

Parliamentary questions are questions that MEPs address to other institutions and bodies of the European Union and as such constitute a direct instrument of parliamentary control over them.

According to the EP rules, parliamentary questions are divided into three categories:

• Oral: can be submitted by a parliamentary committee, a political group, or at least 5% of the members of the Parliament to the Council, the Commission or the Vice-President of the Commission/ High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Oral questions are included in the agenda of the EP sessions (art. 136).

• Question time to the Commission: can take place in each session on one or more horizontal themes. The question time has a maximum duration of 90 minutes, during which the questions of the MEPs alternate with the answers of the commissioners (art. 137);

• Written: can be addressed by a MEP, a political group, or a parliamentary committee to the President of the European Council, the Council, the Commission, or the Vice-President of the Commission/ High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (art. 138).