Brussels, 11/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 11 October, the European Parliament adopted by 378 votes to 154 and 109 abstentions the report by Lamassoure/Severin on the assignment of seats at the EP after the 2009 European elections when, as the new EU treaty provides, there will not be more than 750 seats at the Assembly. The text voted last week at the foreign affairs committee (see EUROPE 9514) has remained unchanged especially with regard to seat assignment: Germany (96 seats), France (74), United Kingdom (73), Italy (72), Spain (54), Poland (51), Romania (33), Netherlands (26), Greece (22), Portugal (22), Belgium (22), Czech Republic (22), Hungary (22), Sweden (20), Austria (19), Bulgaria (18), Denmark (13), Slovakia (13), Finland (13), Ireland (12), Lithuania (12), Latvia (9), Slovenia (8), Estonia (6), Cyprus (6), Luxembourg (6) and Malta (6).
“Mission accomplice”, Alain Lamassoure (EPP-ED), the co-rapporteur, said with delight after the vote. “The text was adopted by 60% of MEPs present, and by 70% of the votes”, that is, the “broad majority” that the Council wanted, said Lamassoure. The co-rapporteur now waits for the heads of state and government at the informal Lisbon summit (18-19 October) to approve the MEPs' position as such “so that it can be included in the overall political agreement needed to sign, ratify and implement the new Union treaty before the European elections in June 2009”.
Inhabitants or citizens? While stressing that the proposed breakdown is the “only realistic solution” for the 2009-2014 legislature, the EP acknowledges that it is not made to last for ever and that it will be necessary in future to have a “more stable system based on degressive proportionality”. Hence the EP's request to review the system “sufficiently before the beginning of the 2014-2019 legislature with a view to allowing the European Parliament to reallocate seats between member states before each new election, in an objective manner based on the principle of degressive proportionality”. A compromise amendment approved on Thursday during the plenary session calls for this revision to be used to advantage to study the technical and political possibility of replacing the number of inhabitants - as established each year by the European Union Statistical Office (Eurostat) - by the number of European citizens. The three EP representatives at the IGC (Elmar Brok, Andrew Duff, Enrique Baron Crespo) are invited to ask the IGC for a declaration along these lines to be annexed to the treaty. It remains to be seen whether this declaration of intent meets with Italy's satisfaction as Italy, as we know, is calling for seats to be assigned according to the number of citizens in each country (EUROPE 9520).
When it comes to allocating seats, the EP does not envisage any more new accessions (Croatia plans to join in 2009 and other Western Balkan countries may follow by 2014) but suggests that future memberships allow the ceiling of 750 seats to be temporarily surpassed until the end of the legislature (as was the case when Romania and Bulgaria joined).
Debate. During the debate on Wednesday afternoon, Alain Lamassoure had urged MEPs saying it is necessary to stop “national outbidding as, if there is no unanimity in Council, we shall have to remain at the 736 set out in the Treaty of Nice”. He admitted that his solution is only provisional and that, in future, it will be necessary to have an “almost mathematical formula, automatically applying to future enlargements”. The EP must show that it is able to decide without the Commission or Council when it has an opportunity to do so, the other co-rapporteur, Adrian Severin (PES, Romania), said. “Let's prove that we are real Europeans”, he exclaimed. Speaking on behalf of the EPP-ED Group, Ingo Friedrich supported the proposed solution but called on Parliament to support German members when they seek to get the decision across to their citizens as “only the Germans will be losing seats compared to the Nice Treaty”. Richard Corbett, on behalf of the PES, called for an “impressive majority'” for this report. He said he was surprised at the Italian government's attitude that is requesting the same number of seats as France for “questions of national prestige” after having agreed to the principle of degressive proportionality. Andrew Duff of Britain, speaking for the ALDE, said he too supported the proposal, saying that the Parliament should give a strong and clear message to show that it is able to take a complicated and brave decision. He, also, considers that the EP should in future examine the possibility of making a distinction between nationals, citizens, residents and voters. Johannes Voggenhuber of Austria asserted that the Greens/EFA Group is opposed to the report “as the representation of citizens is not respected”. “MEPs must understand what a Parliament is - it does not represent states but citizens”, he said. Sylvia Kaufmann explained that the GUE/NGL Group was divided but supported the solution proposed. Displeased, Bernard Wojciechowski of Poland (IND/DEM) felt the Lamassoure/Severin report only goes to “prove that European solidarity is a myth and that national self-interest always prevails”.
According to Luca Romagnoli (ITS), the report should have been rejected, because it is anti-Italian and does not take account of Italy's role in the European project. Speaking on behalf of the non-aligned, Slovakian Irena Belohorska (SK) said she supported the proposal because the principle of proportionality had to be applied to the whole of employment policy in the EU institutions, which should have more officials from the new EU member states. (hb)