Row looms over allocation of seats in EU parliament

A major row is looming over how additional seats for MEPs will be allocated after the next European elections.

Under the proposed reform treaty, 16 more seats will be ‘up for grabs’ after the elections in 2009.

When parliament resumes after the Summer recess, French centre-right deputy Alain Lamassoure is due to produce a report for the constitutional affairs committee suggesting how the seats should be allocated.

But, already, several member states are jockeying for position, arguing their case for extra MEPs.

According to a parliamentary spokesman, the Poles are well-placed, along with the Spanish and, possibly, the Dutch.

“The Poles say they are entitled to the lion’s share of the extra seats by way of compensation for the concessions they believe Poland made in negotiations on the treaty,” said the spokesman.

“However, the Spanish delegation is considered as being under-represented so they, too, have a legitimate claim.

“But the Dutch MEPs have always said that they were short-changed in the way seats were allocated as a result of the Nice treaty, so they are also pushing very hard for their numbers to be increased.”

“Clearly, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes negotiating to be done on this one.”

Although no final decision has yet been taken, what is clear, is that, after 2009, the maximum number of seats in any one national delegation will be cut from 99 to 96.

Germany - the only nation with more than 96 MEPs – stands to lose three seats after the election.

At the same time, the minimum number of MEPs from any one state will increase to six which means Malta gets one extra MEP.

• Previous article
• Next article