Activites

• 2007/10/11 Text adopted by Parliament, single reading
  • T6-0429/2007 summary

    The European Parliament adopted a resolution drafted by Alain LAMASSOURE (EPP-ED, FR) and Adrian SEVERIN (PES, RO) on the composition of the European Parliament. The report adopted by 378 votes in favour to 154 against, with 109 abstentions. Parliament recalled that at its meeting of 21 and 22 June 2007, the European Council had asked the European Parliament to submit a draft initiative for a decision on the future composition of the European Parliament. This decision had to respect the criteria laid down in TEU i.e a total number of representatives of the citizens of the Union which did not exceed seven hundred and fifty members, this representation being achieved in a degressively proportional manner, with a minimum threshold of six members per Member State, while no Member State may be allocated more than ninety-six seats. The report proposes to divide the seats of the next Parliament on the basis of 750 members. The number of representatives in the European Parliament elected in each Member State will be allocated as follows, with effect from the 2009-2014 legislature : Germany: 96 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 Malta : 6 The principle of degressive proportionality provided for in the Treaty on European Union will be applied as follows: - the minimum and maximum numbers set by the Treaty must be fully utilised to ensure that the allocation of seats in the European Parliament reflects as closely as possible the range of populations of the Member States; - the larger the population of a Member State, the greater its entitlement to a large number of seats; - the larger the population of a Member State, the more inhabitants are represented by each of its Members of the European Parliament. This decision must be revised sufficiently long in advance of the beginning of the 2014-2019 parliamentary term with the aim of establishing a system which in future will make it possible, before each fresh election to the European Parliament, to reallocate the seats between the Member States in an objective manner, based on the principle of degressive proportionality, taking account of any increase in their number and in demographic trends in their population as duly ascertained. Parliament felt that it was desirable not to take account at this stage of the impact of possible future enlargements, which, in the corresponding acts of accession, might result in the ceiling of 750 being temporarily exceeded. This was the procedure adopted at the time of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union. Members also called for an examination of the technical and political feasibility of taking account, not the number of inhabitants as ascertained annually by Eurostat, but of the number of European citizens. Following the adoption of a compromise amendment, Parliament called on its representatives at the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) to forward to the Conference a draft Declaration concerning Article 2 of draft Protocol No 10 on transitional provisions, and called on the IGC to annex that Declaration to its Final Act. That Declaration states that the  Conference invites the Parliament to make a proposal for the election of its members by direct universal suffrage, which more precisely defines the term 'citizens' as provided for in Article 9a(2) of the Treaty on European Union. That proposal should be drawn up in good time before the next elections in 2014.

  • Results of vote in Parliament
• 2007/10/11 Commission response to text adopted in plenary
  • SP(2007)6028
  • DG Secretariat General, BARROSO José Manuel
• 2007/10/10 Debate in Parliament
• 2007/10/03 Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • A6-0351/2007
• 2007/10/03 Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • A6-0351/2007
• 2007/10/02 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
• 2007/09/06 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2007/09/05 Committee draft report
  • PE392.381

Documents

• Committee draft report: PE392.381
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A6-0351/2007
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A6-0351/2007
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T6-0429/2007
• Results of vote in Parliament: Results of vote in Parliament
• Commission response to text adopted in plenary: SP(2007)6028

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)