The European Commission adopted on Wednesday 28 November two proposals to change the composition of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), due to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union.
The CoR and the EESC each have 350 seats and their term of office will come to an end 25 January 2020 and 20 September 2020 respectively. It is, therefore, necessary that the EU Council adopts a decision on the composition of the two Committees, as the UK's withdrawal will result in 24 vacant seats, as of 30 March 2019.
The Commission proposes to give Cyprus, Estonia and Luxembourg an extra seat in both the CoR and the EESC.
These three Member States lost a seat after the previous decision in 2015 on the composition of the committees, due to Croatia's accession to the EU.
The remaining seats would be left vacant as a reserve for possible future enlargements.
This would mean that for the period 2020-2025, both committees would be composed of 329 members each. It is now for the Council, acting unanimously, to adopt this proposal. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)