This Friday, the European Council validated the new composition of the European Parliament with 720 deputies (15 more), a measure that should have no budgetary impact and will allow member states to prepare for the European elections in June 2024.
In a statement, the European Council indicates that it has adopted the decision that “establishes the number of representatives of each Member State that will be elected in the European Parliament for the 2024-2029 legislature.”
“In its decision, the European Council invited the budgetary authority and the Commission to ensure that the increase in the number of posts provided for in this decision is budget neutral within the scope of Section 1 of the general budget of the Union “he highlights.
This decision, he highlights, “will allow Member States to adopt the necessary internal measures to organize the elections to the European Parliament.”
The reconfiguration of the chamber in the next legislature does not modify the number of Portuguese MEPs (21).
According to demographic changes in the European Union (EU) since the 2019 European elections, Spain, France and the Netherlands gain two MEPs each, while Belgium, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Slovakia, Ireland, France, Slovenia and Latvia gain They are left with one more. .
Initially, 11 new seats were planned, but the decision by EU leaders resulted in 15 additional seats, spread across 12 countries, a change criticized by MEPs.
The reconfiguration then has a total of 720 seats, since due to the departure of the United Kingdom from the EU in 2020 and the redistribution carried out at the time, the number of MEPs increased from 751 to 705.
The distribution of seats in the European Parliament is based on the principle of degressive proportionality, which takes into account the demographic size of the Member States.
In total, the number of MEPs cannot exceed 750, plus the president, with the representation of citizens being regressively proportional to the size of the population, with a minimum threshold of six MEPs per Member State and a maximum of 96 seats, according to with what is established by the EU Treaty.
The European Parliament is made up of representatives of EU citizens and is the only European institution elected by direct suffrage.
The next European elections will be held between June 6 and 9, 2024.
Source: TSF
