The European Parliament (EP) is one of two bodies that, together, provide the European Union's (EU) legislative function. While the Council of the European Union (Council) represents the governments of the EU's 27 member states, MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) are directly elected by the citizens themselves. At present, the EU's 490 million people are represented by 736 MEPs who stand for election every five years, with the last election held in June 2009. EU countries are allocated seats according to population. Accordingly, Germany has the most members, with 96, and Cyprus, Estonia, Luxembourg and Malta have the least, with 6 each.
Although each country has an apportioned number of seats, MEPs are not organized in national blocks, but in seven political groups. The two largest groups are the European People's Party and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. A small number of MEPs are not affiliated with any political group.
The European Parliament cannot initiate laws, but generally has the same legislative powers as the Council. On budget matters, it shares equal powers with the Council. The European Parliament does have the singular power to veto the European Commission, which is the executive body of the EU.