The European Parliament today approved the composition of the hemicycle after the 2024 European elections, in a reconfiguration that will include 15 new seats in the next legislature until 2029, with Portugal retaining a total of 21 MEPs.
The green light (subject to approval by the European Council) was given at the plenary meeting of the European Assembly in the French city of Strasbourg with 515 votes in favor, 74 votes against and 44 abstentions.
Judging by demographic changes in the European Union (EU) after the 2019 European elections, Spain, France and the Netherlands gain two MEPs each, while Belgium, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Slovakia, Ireland, France, Slovenia and Latvia lose another MEP . .
Portugal has retained the same number of MEPs, 21, who will be elected in the European elections in June 2024.
There were initially 11 new seats planned, but a decision by EU leaders resulted in 15 additional seats spread across 12 countries, a change that was criticized by members of the European Parliament.
The reconfiguration will therefore have a total of 720 seats, as due to the UK’s exit from the EU in 2020 and the redistribution carried out at that time, the number of MEPs increased from 751 to 705.
The distribution of seats in the European Parliament is based on the principle of descending proportionality, which takes into account the demographic size of the member states.
In total, the number of MEPs cannot exceed 750 plus the president, and citizen representation is regressively proportional to population, with a minimum threshold of six MEPs from each member state and a maximum of 96 seats, as established. according to the EU agreement.
The European Parliament is composed of representatives of EU citizens and is the only directly elected European institution.
The next European elections will take place from 6 to 9 June 2024.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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