European parliament: Belgium has been home to the European parliament since 1958. Brussels was chosen as the city to house this parliament. The European Union (EU) is located to the east of the city centre and more than 18,000 Eurocrats are needed to control the decisions made by this parliament. The EU area is very busy during week days but lays idle at the weekends. The new European Parliament Building, which was built in 1998 is an amazing glass and steel structure and is a must see. The rest of Europe is pretty much controlled from this seat of power in Brussels. The parliament is the parliamentary body of the European Union and is unique in that its members are directly elected by the people of Europe and it also has legislative power. The parliament's power includes decision making in most of the EU's policy areas and it has the power to accept, amend or reject any proposals that come before it. It also has an important monetary function in that it adopts the final budget of the European Union. The parliament represents 450 million citizens of the EU. Since June of 2004 there are 732 Members of Parliament.
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