existence and the logic it has triggered make it impossible to remove the issue from the European project , despite resistance and opposition from many national governments and parts of the EU .
The European Parliament has also effectively fought on two occasions to compel , first , the European Community and , later , the European Union to make political and institutional leaps in a federal direction . This happened in the first legislative term , under Spinelli ’ s leadership , as recounted in one of the essays published in this volume , when Parliament was still a consultative institution with the sole power to reject the Community budget proposal . The second occasion was during the parliamentary term ending in June 2024 , following the process triggered by the Conference on the Future of Europe . We will reflect briefly on that moment at the end of the preface .
With the transition to the European Union and the considerable development of the Community system linked to the single market , alongside the requirements arising from the new international framework , Parliament has also acquired some political competences , on matters related to the single market and competition , and some , albeit very partial , supervisory power over the European Commission . However , it does not yet have the powers that are due to an assembly elected by the citizens , precisely because the European Union is not a federal Union . Therefore , despite transnational lists , it is not elected on the basis of a uniform electoral law throughout the Union , a factor that weakens the Europeanisation of the electoral debate . In addition , it has no powers of legislative initiative , taxation and budget , and it does not yet have oversight over the European Commission .
This is why every European election should be , firstly , a test of the political direction that voters want the European Union to take on matters of its competence , whether towards the right or the left . Secondly , given that these matters of EU competence do not concern fundamental issues affecting political sovereignty – from
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