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The President of the European Parliament oversees all the activities of the European Parliament and its constituent bodies. He or she presides over its plenary sittings and chairs the meetings of the Bureau and Conference of Presidents. He or she represents Parliament in all external relations, particularly international relations.
The Bureau is the regulatory body responsible for Parliament's budget and for administrative matters. It consists of the President, fourteen Vice-Presidents, and five Quaestors who are responsible for administrative matters relating directly to MEPs. All the members of the Bureau are elected for a period of 30 months, elections being held at the start of and midway through each five-year Parliamentary Term.
The Conference of Presidents is made up of the President of Parliament and the political group chairmen, and the body responsible for Parliament's political organisation.
| Dates in office | Name | Group | Country |
| 1952-1954 | Paul Henri Spaak | Socialist | Belgium |
| 1954 | Alcide De Gasperi (died in office August 19) | Christian Democrat | Italy |
| 1954-1956 | Giuseppe Pella | Christian Democrat | Italy |
| 1956-1958 | Hans Furler | Christian Democrat | Federal Republic of Germany |
| Dates in office | Name | Group | Country |
| 1958-1960 | Robert Schuman | Christian Democrat | France |
| 1960-1962 | Hans Furler | Christian Democrat | Federal Republic of Germany |
| Dates in office | Name | Group | Country |
| 1962-1964 | Gaetano Martino | Liberal | Italy |
| 1964-1965 | Jean Pierre Duvieusart | Christian Democrat | Belgium |
| 1965-1966 | Victor Leemans | Christian Democrat | Netherlands |
| 1966-1969 | Alain Poher | Christian Democrat | France |
| 1969-1971 | Mario Scelba | Christian Democrat | Italy |
| 1971-1973 | Walter Behrendt | Socialist | Federal Republic of Germany |
| 1973-1975 | Cornelis Berkhouwer | Liberal | Netherlands |
| 1975-1977 | Georges Spénale | Socialist | France |
| 1977-1979 | Emilio Colombo | Christian Democrat | Italy |
The President requires an overall majority of votes cast in order to be elected. If this is not attained on the first ballot, new candidates can join the second and third ballots, but a fourth ballot is confined to the top two candidates from the third.
In practice in 2004 the European People's Party supported the candidate of the Party of European Socialists, who easily achieved a majority on the first ballot. It is expected that the PES will support an EPP-ED candidate for the second half of this Parliamentary Term.
| Candidates | Group | Country | Votes |
| Josep Borrell Fontelles | PES | Spain | 388 |
| Bronislaw Geremek | ALDE | Poland | 208 |
| Francis Wurtz | EUL/NGL | France | 51 |
Elected (unopposed) July 20, 2004 in order of precedence
| Mia de Vits | PES | Belgium |
| Genowefa Grabowska | PES | Poland |
| Astrid Lulling | EPP-ED | Luxembourg |
| Jim Nicholson | EPP-ED | United Kingdom |
| Godelieve Quisthoudt-Rowohl | EPP-ED | Germany |
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