35 Amendments of Charles GOERENS related to 2023/2104(INL)
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 a (new)
Citation 6 a (new)
– having regard to its resolutions of 9 June 2022 on the call for a Convention for the revision of the Treaties, and of 22 November 2023 on proposals of the European Parliament for the amendment of the Treaties,
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 b (new)
Citation 6 b (new)
– having regard to the European Council Conclusions of 14 and 15 December 2023,
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 c (new)
Citation 6 c (new)
– having regard to the Enlargement Package adopted by the European Commission on 8 November 2023,
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 d (new)
Citation 6 d (new)
– having regard to its resolution of 28 February 2024 on deepening EU integration in view of future enlargement,
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas the basis for the calculation of the number of seats per member states is to be based on Eurostat data on these member states’ resident population in accordance with a method established by means of Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council ; whereas the calculationfigures includes mobile EU citizens;
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas the European Council has repeatedly requested that Parliament proposeon several occasions outlined the benefits of an objective, fair, durable and transparentclear 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 transparParliament, in its legislative resolution of 15 June 2023 on the composition of the European Parliament, committed to resume works on a permanent seat allocation method implementing the principle of degressive proportionality, without prejudice to the institutions’ prerogatives under the Treaties; whereas the European Council Decision (EU) 2023/2061 of 22 September 2023 establishing the Composition of the European Parliament, 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 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas European Council Decision (EU) 2023/2061 of 22 September 2023 establishing the composition of the European Parliament for the 2024-2029 legislative term increases the size of Parliament from 705 to 720 members; whereas the Treaty currently sets an upper limit of 751 members; whereas the current solution used to avoid seat losses by individual member states of tapping into the remaining reserve of seats until the upper limit is reached is neitherot sustainable nor contributes to a more equitable allocation of seats; whereas this situation underlines the need for an agreementthe reopening of discussions on an objective, fair, durable and transparentclear seat allocation method;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas further to these principles, a future seat allocation method should be objective, and transparentclear in terms of procedural application and data used, fair in terms of the equality of votes, and durable with respect to its application irrespective ofadaptable to variations in the populations of the Member States, and the number of Member States, and the total number of EP seatsEP seats Parliament aims at using;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas it is necessary to ensure that the allocation method is flexible enough to accommodate future EU enlargements and possible changes to applicable Union law, and in particular to the Treaties or EU electoral law;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J a (new)
Recital J a (new)
Ja. Whereas compliance with the principle of sincere cooperation, as enshrined in Articles 4.3 and 13.2 TEU, involves mutual efforts towards the attainment of the Union’s objectives; whereas the call on Parliament to identify a permanent system of seat allocation is not matched by similar efforts on the Council side to pursue works on Parliament’s proposal for the reform of the Electoral Law;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J a (new)
Recital J a (new)
Ja. whereas the perspective of enlargement imposes an in-depth reform of the Union’s institutional architecture and policies that would affect the composition of the European Parliament;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Welcomes that European Council Decision (EU) 2023/2061 has tasked the Parliament with proposingRecalls that Parliament, in its legislative resolutions of 15 June and of 13 September 2023 has committed to resume works on an objective, fair, durable and transparentclear seat allocation method implementing the principle of degressive proportionality, without prejudice to the prerogatives of the institutions under the Treaties
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Points out that Treaty requirementsthe decision-making procedure established by the Treaty, together with political realities, have led to ad hoc negotiated agreements on the composition of the European Parliament every mandate; observes that the reason for the politicisationunanimity vote requirement isn the aim of everyEuropean Council gives Member States incentives to minimise seat losses and maximise seat gains in absolute or relative terms; emphasises that in the last two decisions concerning the allocation of seats, seats were allocated that became available after the United Kingdom left the EU; highlights that, in the long-term, this strategy is not sustainable, given the Treaty limitation of a maximum of 751 seats and the potentially distortive effects of a political solution, rendering an agreement on an equitable allocation in the future more difficultrequest of Parliament to allocate 28 seats to a Union-wide constituency;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Recalls that, in its legislative resolution of 22 November 2023 on proposals of the European Parliament for the amendment of the Treaties, Parliament has proposed amendments to Article 14(2) underlines that these amendments aim at making the composition of the European Parliament Parliament’s competence, subject to the Council’s consent, and at overcoming unanimity voting in the procedures regulating the European Parliament's composition;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses that a seat allocation method offers great potential for providing in the future a permanent system to allocate the seats of the European Parliament in an objective, fair, durable and transparent wayclear way; regrets that, in absence of Treaty changes, the adoption of said allocation method requires an unanimous vote of the European Council;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Stresses that in choosing the most suitable formulaseat allocation system, priority needs to be given to objective and evidence-based criteria; further believes that changes to the relevant Treaty provisions can be considered ;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Notes that the Treaty on European Union Art. 14 (2) lays down a number of numerical criteria for the allocation of seats among Member States, by imposing minimum and maximum limits for the number of seats allocated and by setting the number of MEPs overall; further notes that the Treaty also specifies that the allocation of seats shall be degressively proportional; underlines that any formulaseat allocation system must comply with these criteria;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Underlines that any method chosen should be transparent; continues. therefore.Continues 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 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Points out that the method chosen should be understandable, avoiding a level of complexity that citizens cannot understandstraightforward, unambiguous, and accessible to EU citizens ;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Is of the opinion that a permanent system based on a formulaallocation mechanism needs to be durable and therefore flexible enough to account for changes in population figures, for future enlargements and for possibleadaptable to changes in population figures, and to changes of applicable legislative provisions, such as the electoral law or treaty changes;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Stresses that a fair method must include elements that balance the interestsensure the fair representation of citizens from all Member States, 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 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Notes that the definition of degressive proportionality, as recognised by the European Parliament1 and the European Council2 , does not imply a particular method for seat allocation in the EP, but that, mathematically, there are an infinite number of options to choose from; _________________ 1 Legislative resolutions of 15 June 2023 on the composition of the European Parliament and of 13 September 2023 on the draft European Council decision establishing the composition of the European Parliament (00013/2023 – C9- 0319/2023 – 2023/0900(NLE)) 2 European Council Decision (EU) 2023/2061 of 22 September 2023 establishing the composition of the European Parliament
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Points to the existence of a vast number3 of previous recommendations concerning the formula; a potential models of permanent seat allocation system ; _________________ 3 These formulas include the Cambridge Compromise, the Power method, the Parabolic method, the D’Hondt method, the 0.5 DPL method and the FPS method.
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Observes that previous recommendations for seat allocation comprised several elements; notes that these included a fixed base number of seats for all Member States, and an allocation of remaining seats in proportion to respective population figures with a minimum of six and a cap of 96 seats; stresses that these recommendations, such as the so-called ‘Cambridge Compromise’, have been criticised for not respecting Treaty criteriabreaching Treaty requirements, such as degressive proportionality, in certain circumstances;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Further notes that the ‘Cambridge Compromise’ has been criticised for neglecting the interests of citizensoverlooking the fair representation of medium-sized Member States, entailing considerable seat losses for these countries; recalls that in order to counterbalance this tendency of the ‘Cambridge Compromise”, an extensive reform of the qualified voting mechanism currently in force in the Council; regretfully acknowledges that, , due to high political hurdles, such as Treaty change, these reforms were never pursued;
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Stresses the need for any method chosen 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 such allocation system should be proposed and adopted in the form of a political decision;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Recalls the European Council decision of December 2023 to formally open accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, to grant candidate status to Georgia, calling for the acceleration of the accession process of Western Balkans, of North Macedonia, other than to monitor the compliance with the membership criteria of Bosnia Herzegovina; recalls that the perspective of enlargement imposes an in-depth reform of the Union’s institutional architecture and policies;
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Highlights as well the benefits of the “Power compromise” or "Power law" model, comprising of a number of base seats attributed equally to all Member States; of a divisor ensuring that the sum of seats does not exceed a pre-established number; and of a power parameter, which yields a degressively proportional allocation of seats;
Amendment 106 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 b (new)
Paragraph 17 b (new)
17b. Stresses that, irrespectively of the identification of a permanent mechanism of allocation of seats for the composition of the European Parliament 2029-2034, any reassessment of the number of seats of the European Parliament, and of the requirements necessary to ensure a representative and democratic composition in an enlarged Union, shall be carefully reviewed in the context of the upcoming process of revision of the Treaties, triggered by Parliament through its report of 23 November 2023;
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 b (new)
Paragraph 17 b (new)
17b. Underlines that the “Power Compromise” ensures that the resulting composition respects the minimum and maximum allocation of seats established by the Treaties, the representativeness of medium-sized countries, and the principle of degressive proportionality;
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 c (new)
Paragraph 17 c (new)
17c. Is of the view that the adoption of any allocation system should be part of a package deal including the proposal for a reform of the European Electoral law of May 2022;
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 d (new)
Paragraph 17 d (new)
17d. Highlights that maintaining the number of seats of the European Parliament at 751 in an enlarged Union of potentially more than thirty Member States would dramatically broaden electoral inequality and cause distortions in the representation of Union citizens; Believes that the number of seats should be increased in the context of future enlargements, while ensuring that the European Parliament remains at a workable size;
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Proposes that the newCalls on the newly elected Parliament to pursue works on a proposal for a seat allocation system should be applied for, ,applicable to the allocation of seats among Member States forom the parliamentary term following the next parliamentary term after the adoption of this resolution ;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Believes that the seat allocation system will make it easier for the European Parliament to swiftly adopt its proposal to the European Council concerning the composition of the European Parliament; resolves to make this seat allocation system the basis of its proposal to the European Council; points out that Parliament’s consent is required on the European Council decision on the composition of the European Parliament; further resolves not to give its consent to the European Council decision, if that decision deviates from the allocation resulting from the application of allocation system proposed by Parliament;
Amendment 124 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex I
Annex I