In a vote on the draft 'Hübner/Silva Pereira' report on the composition of the EP on Tuesday 23 January, the Parliamentary committee on constitutional affairs (AFCO) of the European Parliament is to suggest putting the number of seats in Parliament for the forthcoming legislative period at 705.
This figure is the result of a compromise put together by the main political groups on Thursday 18 January, whilst the co-rapporteurs, Danuta Hübner (EPP, Poland) and Pedro Silva Pereira (S&D, Portugal) had initially proposed a hemi-cycle of 700 MEPs (see EUROPE 11857). The French, Spanish and Italian delegations of the EPP group, however, are reportedly not convinced.
In decreasing order, the breakdown per country of the number of MEPs will be as follows: - Germany: 96 MEPs (96 MEPs in the 2014-2019 legislative period); - France: 79 MEPs (74); - Italy: 76 (73); - Spain: 59 (54); - Poland: 52 (51); - Romania: 33 (32); - Netherlands: 29 (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).
The MEPs will also reiterate their hopes that a European constituency will be created, allowing some 30 MEPs to be elected from transnational lists (see EUROPE 11941). Such a change in election procedure would have to be enshrined in a change to EU electoral law.
On Friday 23 February, the informal European summit will discuss these institutional matters. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)