Unionsparlamentet

The Union Parliament is the supreme legislature of The Baltic Union, located in Stockholm. The Union Parliament has 379 members, and is elected every four years based on proportional basis. The assembly is led by a presidium of a president and five vice presidents. The members are allocated to twelve standing committees, as well as four procedural committees. Almost all public agencies of The Baltic Union are subordinate to the government, but three ombudsmen, the Parliamentary Intelligence Committee and the Office of the Auditor General are directly subordinate to parliament.

Parliament was established by the 2001 Act fo Union.

Procedure
The legislative procedure goes through five stages. First a bill is introduced to parliament either by a member of government or, in the case of a private member's bill, by any individual representative. Parliament will refer the bill to the relevant standing committee, where it will be subject for detailed consideration in the committee stage. The first reading takes place when parliament debates the recommendation from the committee, and will make a vote. If the bill is dismissed, the procedure ends. The second reading takes place at least three days after the first reading, in which parliament debates the bill again. A new vote is taken, and if successful, the bill is submitted to the King. If parliament comes to a different conclusion in the second reading, a third reading will be held at least three days later, repeating the debate and vote, and may adopt the amendments from the second reading or finally dismiss the bill. Once the bill has reached the King, the bill must be signed by the King and countersigned by the Prime Minister. It then becomes Union Law from the date stated in the act or decided by the government.

Presidium
The presidium is chaired by the President of the Parliament and consists of the president and the five vice presidents of the Union Parliament.

Standing committees
The members of parliament are allocated into twelve standing committees, of which eleven are related to specific political topics. The last is the Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs. The standing committees have a portfolio that covers that of one or more government ministers.

Other committees
There are four other committees, that run parallel to the standing committees. The Enlarged Committee on Foreign Affairs consists of members of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence, the presidium and the parliamentary leaders. The committee discusses important issues related to foreign affairs, trade policy and national safety with the government. Discussions are confidential. The European Committee consists of the members of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence and the parliamentary delegation to the european organizations.

The Election Commitee consists of 37 members, and is responsible for internal elections within the parliament, as well as delegating and negotiating party and representative allocation within the presidium, standing committees and other committees. The Preparatory Credentials Committee has 16 members and is responsible for approving the election.

Appointed agencies
Four public agencies are appointed by parliament rather than by the government. The Office of The Auditor General is the auditor of all branches of the public administration and is responsible for auditing, monitoring and advising all state economic activities. The Parliamentary Ombudsman is an ombudsman responsible for public administration. It can investigate any public matter that has not been processed by an elected body, the courts or within the military. The Ombudsman for The Armed Forces is an ombudsman responsible for the military. The Parliamentary Intelligence Commitee is a seven-member body responsible for supervising public intelligence, surveillance and security services. Parliament also appoints the five members of the Baltic Nobel Committee that award the Nobel Peace Price.

Party groups
Each party represented in parliament has a party group. It is led by a group board and chaired by a parliamentary leader. It is customary for the party leader to also act as parliamentary leader, but since party leaders of government parties normally sit as ministers, governing parties elect other representatives as their parliamentary leaders.

Current party representation after the election in 2010: