The Secretary-General is the European Parliament's most senior official. He heads Parliament's administration.
The Secretary-General is appointed by Parliament's Bureau, a political body consisting of the President, the 14 Vice-Presidents and the five Quaestors, under Rule 207 of Parliament's Rules of Procedure.
The Secretary-General is responsible for:
- Organising parliamentary business under the leadership of the President, the Bureau and the Conference of Presidents;
- Ensuring the smooth running of plenary sittings and assisting the President and Vice-Presidents during part-sessions. He is assisted by the Deputy Secretary-General in promoting and ensuring the necessary cooperation and coordination amongst Directorates-General in relation to plenary business and legislative planning, liaising with the secretariats of the political groups in this regard, coordinating inter-institutional relations at official and technical level in the field of legislative planning, and ensuring compliance with all the provisions of the Rules of Procedure relating to parliamentary business;
- Verifying and signing all acts adopted jointly by Parliament and the Council, together with the President of the European Parliament;
- Assisting the President in preparing the meetings of the Conference of Presidents, and assisting the President and the chairs of the political groups during their meetings. He chairs the preparatory meetings with the secretaries-general of the political groups;
- Assisting the President in preparing meetings of Parliament's Bureau. The Secretary-General is responsible for drafting proposals for decisions to be taken by the Bureau members (Rule 25.3). He also prepares the report on the basis of which the Bureau draws up Parliament's preliminary draft budget estimates (Rule 102). The Bureau may also delegate specific types of decisions to the Secretary-General.