Can it initiate legislation? Any examples of legislation that were drafted by meps?
> The European Parliament has legislative power in that the adoption of EU legislation normally requires its approval, and that of the Council, in what amounts to a bicameral legislature. However, it does not formally possess the right of initiative (i.e. the right to formally initiate the legislative procedure) in the way that most national parliaments of the member states do, as the right of initiative is a prerogative of the European Commission.[7][8] Nonetheless, the Parliament and the Council each have the right to request the Commission to initiate the legislative procedure and put forward a proposal.[9]
What is your conclusion from this? What point do you want to make? Don't leave your readers guessing.
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government.
The purpose of a parliament is to make decisions about what the law says. Something that cannot decide what the law is, is therefore not a parliament. The EU Parliament isn't really a parliament.
To be clear, I’m absolutely not against the European Parliament having legislative powers but that would require the UE to become a federation and we are still far from this.
You're thinking of EU Directives, which have to be transposed into national law by some deadline. EU Regulations (e.g. GDPR) are considered legally enforceable all on their own, though still have a delay.
> Something that cannot decide what the law is
Good thing the EU parliament decides what the law is, then.
It's not.
> It can only acquiesce to or slow down the Commission's decisions.
That's not all it can do.