Aanpassing Verdrag van Lissabon voor extra europarlementariërs door EP goedgekeurd (en)
Parliament voted on Thursday to allow 18 new Members of the European Parliament to take their seats during the current legislature. MEPs approved an amendment to the Lisbon Treaty that would enable this change, but they did not deem it necessary to call a Convention to discuss the treaty amendment.
The number of Members needs to be increased because the last European Parliament elections were held under the rules of the Nice Treaty, which sets the number of MEPs at 736, while the new Lisbon Treaty, which entered into force on 1st December 2009, provides for 751 seats.
"This is the political result of the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty, and it is an exceptional temporary solution and will only take place in this legislature", said rapporteur Íñigo Méndez de Vigo (EPP, ES) in the plenary debate.
Treaty change needed to allow interim total of 754 Members
The allocation of new seats was decided during the Lisbon Treaty negotiations. Twelve countries will be sending extra MEPs to Brussels and Strasbourg: Spain will get four new seats, Austria, France and Sweden will send two, while Bulgaria, Italy, Latvia, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia and the United Kingdom will each get one extra Member.
The only country to have fewer MEPs under the new treaty is Germany, which loses three seats, from 99 to 96. However, as all 99 current German Members will keep their seats until the end of this term, the number of MEPs will temporarily rise to 754. For this to be possible, a treaty change is necessary.
Council therefore made a proposal to amend the Lisbon Treaty and consulted Parliament, which by today's vote has now approved the proposal. The treaty amendment still needs to be ratified by all 27 Member States. Meanwhile, the 18 new MEPs could be invited as observers but Parliament has not yet made any decisions on when this might happen.
No Convention needed
Parliament also agreed with Council's recommendation not to summon a Convention to officialise the treaty change. Calling a Convention is a possibility written into the Lisbon Treaty and Parliament's consent is needed for any treaty changes to take place without a Convention.
The resolution on the treaty change was adopted by 479 votes in favour, 122 against and 15 abstentions. The recommendation on not convening a Convention was adopted by 499 votes in favour, 94 against and 4 abstentions. Both were drafted by Mr Méndez de Vigo.
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