Sixth European Parliament

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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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.

See membership below for details of size

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

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

Groups

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

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