In February 2018, the Christian Democrat family in the European Parliament torpedoed the call for transnational lists for the 2019 European elections (see EUROPE B11956A1). In the meantime, the European Council had endorsed the reform of Parliament, reducing the size of the Chamber to 705 MEPs after Brexit, thus freeing up a ‘reserve’ of 46 seats (see EUROPE B11968A2).
Following the 2019 elections, EU leaders had refused to sign up to the ‘Spitzenkandidaten’ process whereby the...