In the run-up to the European elections of 2019, Danuta Hübner (EPP, Poland) and Pedro Silva Pereira (S&D, Portugal) have put a suggestion to the constitutional affairs committee of the European Parliament of reducing the number of seats in the Parliament to 700, whilst at the same time carrying out a new “fair and objective” division of the number of seats for each member state.
According to the draft report of the two MEPs dated 7 September and of which EUROPE has had sight, the cut - from 751 under the current legislative period to 699 from 2019 onwards - the number of MEP seats would afford the European institution sufficient margin in the event of future enlargements of the European Union and the possible creation of a single European constituency, which has the backing of Parliament itself as well as of Italy and France (see EUROPE 11856).
Hübner and Silva Pereira have based the calculation of the new distribution key for the seats on the following principles: - no country should lose any seats compared to the current situation; - not all of the 73 seats that will be vacated when the UK leaves the EU will be used; - the principle of degressive proportionality will be applied, so that the countries with lower populations do not end up with more MEPs than more populous countries.
If the European Council should unanimously adopt the proposal tabled by the two MEPs, the composition of the European Parliament following the 2019 European elections would be as follows: - Germany: 96 MEPs (96 MEPs in the 2014-2019 legislative period); - France: 78 MEPs (74); - Italy: 76 (73); - Spain: 58 (54); - Poland: 51 (51); - Romania: 32 (32); - Netherlands: 28 (26); - Belgium: 21 (21); - Greece: 21 (21); - Czech Republic: 21 (21); - Portugal: 21 (21); - Hungary: 21 (21); - Sweden: 21 (20); - Austria 19 (18); - Bulgaria: 17 (17); - Denmark: 14 (13); - Finland: 14 (13); - Slovakia: 14 (13); - Ireland: 13 (11); - Croatia: 12 (11); - Lithuania: 11 (11); - Slovenia: 8 (8); - Latvia: 8 (8); - Estonia: 7 (6); - Cyprus: 6 (6); - Luxembourg: 6 (6); - Malta: 6 (6). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)