New deal on share-out of EU parliament seats

MEPs have reached a deal on the way seats will be allocated after the next European elections in 2009.

Under the agreement, Germany will lose three seats when the current legislative term ends but still have the largest number of MEPs, totalling 96.

They will be followed by France (74,currently 78), the UK (73, now 78), Italy (72, now 78), Spain (54, now 54), Poland (51,now 54) and Romania (33,now 25).

At the same time, Malta’s allocation will increase by one but its delegation will remain the smallest with just six MEPs, the same as Estonia, Luxembourg and Cyprus.

Under a reform agreed at an EU summit in June, parliament will in future be limited to a total of 750 seats (currently it is 785) and no member state will have more than 96 seats or less than six.

The new allocation was agreed by a large majority by the constitutional affairs committee which approved a report drawn up by Romanian Socialist Adrian Severin and French centre-right deputy Alain Lamassoure.

An expected furore over the way the seats would be distributed did not materialise.

Lamassoure welcomed the outcome, saying, “The distribution of seats will reflect the demographic diversity of member states, while ensuring an over-representation to less populous countries.

“Despite the extreme sensitivity of the issue, members managed to focus on the benefit to the EU, rather than on national or party interests.”

Political groups will vote on the deal in plenary on 11 October in Brussels, paving the way for member state endorsement.

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