On Thursday 15 June in Strasbourg, the European Parliament adopted by a narrow majority (312 votes in favour, 201 against, 44 abstentions) the position of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO), which advocates increasing the number of seats in the European Parliament from the current 705 to 716 for the 2024-2029 term (see EUROPE 13200/25).
The European Parliament is proposing that the European Council allocate additional seats to Member States that are under-represented (i.e. have a higher ratio of population to number of MEPs than countries of a similar size). As a result, Spain and the Netherlands could obtain two additional seats, while Denmark, Ireland, Latvia, Austria, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland would obtain one additional seat.
However, the recommended solution does not affect the seats already allocated to over-represented countries.
None of the amendments tabled were adopted, in particular the separate amendments tabled by the French delegations of The Left and Renew Europe groups, which advocated giving more seats to Belgium (22) and France (83). In the end, it was mainly MEPs from the EPP, ECR and ID groups who opposed the final report.
MEPs call on the AFCO Committee to resume its work on a permanent mechanism based on a mathematical formula for allocating European Parliament seats “in an objective, fair, durable and transparent way, respecting the principle of degressive proportionality”.
Electoral law. Finally, according to the Parliament, 28 seats from the reserve created after Brexit should enable candidates on transnational lists to be elected within a pan-European constituency. This can only happen if the Council of the EU supports the reform of European electoral law advocated by MEPs (see EUROPE 12944/1).
Yet on Tuesday, during a debate in Strasbourg, the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Jessika Roswall, spoke of the difficulty of making progress on an issue that goes to the heart of Member States’ electoral traditions. She also mentioned the fact that five national parliaments had raised objections to the reform of the Electoral Law, citing the principle of subsidiarity.
According to Ms Roswall, “it is better to focus on what really makes a difference for EU citizens”.
This statement greatly angered a number of MEPs, including Domènec Ruiz Devesa (S&D, Spanish) and Guy Verhofstadt (Renew Europe, Belgian), who are ardent supporters of the creation of a European electoral constituency.
On Tuesday 27 June, the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU will present the ‘General Affairs’ Council with a preliminary report on a questionnaire asking Member States which provisions of the reform of the Electoral Law they are prepared to accept.
The European Council should be asked to approve the proposed composition of the European Parliament at the summit on Thursday 29 and Friday 30 June.
See the ‘Gozi/Vincze’ report: https://aeur.eu/f/7i9 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)