Activities of Gilles LEBRETON related to 2023/2104(INL)
Legal basis opinions (0)
Amendments (25)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 6
Citation 6
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the European Parliament is the only institution of the Union where citizens are directly represented; whereas the citizens’ well founded expectation to be fairly represented in this institution is a matter of democratic legitimacy; whereas, in any event, the European Parliament cannot be compared to a national parliament in terms of representativeness;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas the European Council has repeatedly requested that Parliament propose an objective, fair, durable and transparent method to allocate the seats in the European Parliament ; whereas, despite considering the issue , Parliament has not put forward a proposal for such an allocation method so far; whereas there is a renewed call for Parliament to present a proposal as European Council Decision (EU) 2023/2061 of 22 September 2023 establishing the composition of the European Parliament requests that by the end of 2026 and in advance of the proposal on its composition, the European Parliament should propose an objective, fair, durable and transparent seat allocation method implementing the principle of degressive proportionality, without prejudice to the institutions’ prerogatives under the Treaties; whereas the European Council Decision further states that, taking into account the impact of possible future developments, such a method should safeguard a sustainable maximum number of members of the European Parliament;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)
Recital G a (new)
Ga. whereas the seats in the European Parliament left by the United Kingdom after Brexit have been partly redistributed among the Member States; whereas in the interest of the European tax payers it would have been preferable not to redistribute part of the seats left by the United Kingdom, but to deduct them from the total number provided for by the Treaty;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H – indent 4
Recital H – indent 4
– when allocating seats in the European Parliament, consideration is to be given to demographic developments in the Member States, as well as to factors such as contribution to the EU budget.
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas further to these principles, athe future seat allocation methods should be objective and transparent in terms of procedural application and data used, fair in terms of the equality of votes, and durable with respect to its application irrespective of variations in the populations of the Member States, the number of Member States, and the total number of EP seats;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas, it is necessary to ensure that the allocation method is flexible enough to accommodatn light of the future EU enlargements and possible changes to applicable Union law, and in particular to the Treaties or EU electoral law, it is not possible to establish a permanent allocation method;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J a (new)
Recital J a (new)
Ja. whereas the establishment of a European constituency for the election of 28 members on transnational lists is not feasible, as it would alter the proportions between population and the number of seats allocated in the EP;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. WelcomesTakes note of the fact that European Council Decision (EU) 2023/2061 has tasked the Parliament with proposing an objective, fair, durable and transparent seat allocation method implementing the principle of degressive proportionality, without prejudice to the prerogatives of the institutions under the Treaties; emphasises in this regard that the competence to decide on the composition of the Parliament lies with the European Council;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses that a seat allocation method offers great potential for, rebus sic stantibus, establishing a seat allocation method providing in the future a permanent system to allocate the seats of the European Parliament in an objective, fair, durable and transparent way is not possible;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Strongly believes thatWelcomes expert advice for a permanentdetermining a system of allocation is readily available; stresses that, given existing political realities, finding the mosta suitable system, while reflecting on adaptations and alternatives, is keynot possible;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Underlines that any method chosen should be transparent; continues. therefore. to support using Eurostat data as the official source of population figures for the calculations, which is publicly available; fully supports that the same population figures are used as basis for the calculations on the EP composition and the qualified majority in Council;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Points out that thfuture methods chosen should be understandable, avoiding a level of complexity that citizens cannot understand;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Notes that degressive proportionality is assessed on the basis of the representation ratio of the citizens of a given Member State, meaning the ratio of the population of a Member State relative to its number of seats before rounding; observes that degressive proportionality entails that the ratio varies for the various Member States; further notes that the larger the population, the higher the entitlement to a number of seats for a specific Member State, while the ratio population to MEP also increases; notes and accepts that degressive proportionality entails an underrepresentation of citizens from Member States with a larger population and an overrepresentation of citizens of Member States with a smaller population; believes that this principle iscan be justified givenunder the current EU institutional framework, but it alters per se the mathematical relationship between the population and the number of seats in the European parliament; believes that an objective, fair, durable and transparent seat allocation method cannot be established under the current framework;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Underlines that the establishment of a European constituency for the election of 28 members on transnational lists is not feasible, as it would alter the proportions between population and the number of seats allocated in the EP, undermining the determination of an objective, fair, durable and transparent method of seat allocation and its effectiveness; expresses therefore its opposition to this proposal;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Is of the opinion that a permanent system based on a formula needs to be durable and therefore flexible enough to account for changes in population figures, forcannot be established today, also in light of the future enlargements and for possible changes of applicable legislative provisions, such as the electoral law or treaty changes;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Stresses that any future fair method must include elements that balance the interests of citizens from all Member States, such as the contribution to the EU budget from each Member State, while also respecting the overall balance of the institutional system as laid down in the Treaties when it comes to the indirect decision-making power of Union citizens, represented by MEPs in the European Parliament and by their governments in the Council;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Calls in the interest of the European tax payers for reflection on the need to maintain the current upper limit of 751 seats provided for by the Treaty; considers, in this regard, that it would have been preferable not to redistribute part of the seats left by the United Kingdom, but to deduct them from the total number provided for by the Treaty; calls for reducing the number of seats in the European Parliament;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Stresses the need for any method chosen in the future to maintain the advantages of the known formulas, while minimising their disadvantages; points out that ‘base seat’ elements of the seat allocation system can be used to ensure the democratic representation of citizens from smaller Member States, while the proportional elements ensure that the larger a Member State’s population , the greater the number of seats allocated to it; highlights that seats allocated in proportion to the square root of the population of Member States contribute to ensuring that degressive proportionality is achieved and the citizens of small and medium-sized Member States are democratically represented; believes that the combination of these elements can be converted into a mathematical formula and used as the basis of the most suitable allocation system; believes that suchan allocation system should be proposed for the term 2029-2034 and adopted in the form of a political decision;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Proposes that the new seat allocation system should be applied for the allocation of seats among Member States forom the parliamentary term following the next parliamentary term after the adoption of this resolution ;
Amendment 116 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex I – Article 2 – paragraph 1
Annex I – Article 2 – paragraph 1
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex I – Article 3 – point 1 – introductory part
Annex I – Article 3 – point 1 – introductory part
1. The number of representatives in the European Parliament elected forom the parliamentary term following the next parliamentary term after the adoption of this decision onwards is to be calculated as follows: