Brussels, 13/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 13 March, MEPs endorsed by a large majority (536 votes for, 111 against and 44 abstentions) the allocation of seats ahead of the European elections which are due to take place on 22-25 May 2014 (see EUROPE 10789). This allocation is made according to the principle of degressive proportionality, to which the European Parliament added the principle of limited loss to one seat maximum (except Germany) - which is not provided for in the Lisbon Treaty.
No member state gains any seats but Romania (32 MEPs compared to 33 currently), Greece (21), Belgium (21), Portugal (21), the Czech Republic (21), Hungary (21), Bulgaria (17), Ireland (11), Lithuania (11) and Latvia (8) will each lose one at the 2014 elections. Austria, rather than Sweden, also loses a seat (dropping from 19 to 18, while Sweden remains at 20). Croatia will have 11 seats, compared to the 12 initially planned. In line with the Lisbon Treaty - which sets the maximum number of seats for a member states at 96 - Germany loses three seats, going down from 99 to 96. France (74), the United Kingdom (73), Italy (73), Spain (54), Poland (51), the Netherlands (26), Denmark (13), Slovakia (13), Finland (13), Slovenia (8) and the “small countries” of Malta, Luxembourg, Cyprus and Estonia (6 seats each, the minimum possible) keep their allocation.
The revision of the allocation of seats ensues from the Lisbon Treaty - according to which the European Parliament must number 751 MEPs maximum, as compared to 754 currently, and taking account of the fact that Croatian MEPs will soon join the Parliament.
Risk of disagreement at the Council. This proposal will now be put to the European Council in which a unanimous decision is necessary. MEPs underline “the urgent need to adopt” this decision as soon as Croatia's EU membership treaty comes into force, so that the member states can, in due course, adopt the national arrangements needed for the organisation of the elections. Some countries might refuse this allocation due to the non respect of degressive proportionality.
Outlook for 2019 elections and revision of voting system at the Council. In their resolution, the MEPs also commit to quickly presenting a proposal aimed at improving the practical arrangements for holding the 2014 elections, and at presenting - before the end of 2015 - a new proposal for the decision-making of the European Council, to establish - sufficiently far in advance of the beginning of the 2019-2024 legislature - a sustainable and transparent system which, before each election of the European Parliament, will allow seats to be allocated objectively between the states. This allocation will be made according to the principle of degressive proportionality, taking account of the increase in the number of member states and demographic developments, and not excluding the possibility of reserving a certain number of seats for members elected on transnational lists. The minimum (6) and maximum (96) number of seats per state should be fully used so that the range of seats is as similar as possible to the range of populations of the member states, the MEPs state. In their opinion, an MEP from a more populated member state should represent more citizens than an MEP from a less populated member state. Conversely, the more populated a state is, the more right it has to a higher number of seats.
The MEPs would like the establishment of the system of allocating seats to go hand in hand with a re-assessment of the voting system at the Council as part of the necessary revision of the treaties, and they state that they will put together proposals on this during a future Convention. (CG/transl.fl)