Brussels, 19/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - “Nobody gains seats and nobody loses more than one” - such is the “pragmatic” solution retained by the European Parliament's constitutional affairs committee on the redistribution of seats ahead of the 2014 European elections. On Tuesday 19 February, the committee adopted the report by Roberto Gualtieri (S&D, Italy) and Rafal Trzaskowski (EPP, Poland) on the composition of the European Parliament for the 2014-2019 parliamentary term.
After the 2014 elections, the Parliament is due to comprise 751 members - in other words 15 members fewer - in order to respect the Lisbon Treaty. So as to keep member states' losses to a minimum, 12 countries would each lose one seat while the others would not gain any, according to the pragmatic solution proposed by the Parliament's constitutional affairs committee.
The solution retained for the 2014-2019 parliamentary term should avoid a “traumatic reallocation of seats, with heavy losses for medium and small member states and huge increases for big ones”. This is also the solution which is “most likely to win a majority within the Parliament and unanimity in the Council”, the rapporteurs Gualtieri and Trzaskowski state.
The objective is to keep member states' losses to a minimum while respecting as far as possible the “degressive proportionality” principle - whereby MEPs from larger member states represent more citizens than those from smaller ones.
12 member states would each lose a seat. The solution proposed by the constitutional affairs committee would involve each of the following countries losing a seat at the next European elections so that the result would be: Romania (32 MEPs as opposed to the current 33), Greece (21), Belgium (21), Portugal (21), Czech Republic (21), Hungary (21), Austria (18), Bulgaria (17), Ireland (11), Croatia (11), Lithuania (11), Latvia (8). The draft was approved in the constitutional affairs committee by 21 votes in favour with one abstention. In a close vote, (10 votes for and 9 against) the committee recommended that Austria, rather than Sweden, be one of the countries that loses a votes. Sweden would keep its current 20 MEPs. This is the least unfair solution in terms of population.
Malta, Luxembourg, Cyprus and Estonia would each keep their six MEPs - the minimum possible under the Lisbon Treaty. No member states would obtain an additional seat.
The remaining three seats under the 15-seat reduction would necessarily come from Germany, whose share under the Treaty must be cut from 99 seats to 96 (maximum allowed by the Lisbon Treaty). These three extra seats were part of a transitional arrangement that expires at the end of the current parliamentary term.
France would keep 74 MEPs, the UK and Italy 73, Spain 54 and Poland 51.
2019 outlook. This allocation of seats should be revised sufficiently far in advance of the start of the 2019-2024 parliamentary term, the MEPs state. The constitutional affairs committee undertook a new proposal before the end of 2015 to establish a durable and transparent system for allocating seats among EU member states “in an objective manner”, before each European election.
This system should take account of any increase in the number of member states and demographic trends “without exceeding the possibility of reserving a number of seats to members elected on transnational lists”, the MEPs add.
Overhauling the Council of Ministers' voting system. The new system for allocating seats in the Parliament should be considered together with an overhaul of voting methods in the Council of Ministers, as part of an overall reform of the EU treaties. This reform should be shaped in a European convention, “on the understanding that the treaties base EU democracy on the representation of both citizens and member states”.
The Parliament has the right to submit a proposal on its composition to the EU heads of state and government in the European Council. The European Council must then decide by a unanimous vote. This decision can enter into force only with the Parliament's consent. (LC/transl.fl)