Proposal for a

DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL

establishing the composition of the European Parliament

THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL,

Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and in particular Article 14(2) thereof,

Having regard to the initiative of the European Parliament,

Having regard to the consent of the European Parliament,

Whereas:

(1) The first subparagraph of Article 14(2) of the Treaty on European Union lays down the criteria for the composition of Parliament, namely representatives of the Union's citizens not exceeding seven hundred and fifty in number, plus the President, representation being degressively proportional, with a minimum threshold of six members per Member State, and no Member State being allocated more than ninety-six seats,

(2) Article 10 of the Treaty on European Union provides, inter alia, that the functioning of the Union shall be founded on representative democracy with citizens being directly represented at Union level in the European Parliament and Member States being represented by their governments, themselves being democratically accountable to their national Parliaments or citizens, in the Council. Article 14(2) of the Treaty on European Union on the composition of the European Parliament therefore applies within the context of the wider institutional arrangements set out in the Treaties, which also include the provisions on decision making in the Council,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1 In the application of the provisions of Article 14(2) of the Treaty on European Union, the following principles shall be respected: — the allocation of seats in the European Parliament shall fully utilise the minimum and maximum thresholds per Member State set by the Treaty on European Union in order to reflect as closely as possible the sizes of the respective populations, — degressive proportionality shall be defined as follows: the ratio between the population and the number of seats of each Member State before rounding to whole numbers shall vary in relation to their respective populations in such a way that each Member of the European Parliament from a more populous Member State represents more citizens than each Member from a less populous Member State and, conversely, that the larger the population of a Member State, the greater its entitlement to a large number of seats, — the allocation of seats shall reflect demographic developments in Member States.

Article 2 The total population of the Member States is calculated by the Commission (Eurostat) on the basis of the most recent data provided by the Member States, in accordance with a method established by means of Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1).

Article 3 1. The number of representatives in the European Parliament elected in each Member State is hereby set as follows for the 2019-2024 parliamentary term: Belgium 21 Bulgaria 17 Czech Republic 21 Denmark 14 Germany 96 Estonia 7 Ireland 13 Greece 21 Spain 59 France 79 Croatia 12 Italy 76 Cyprus 6 Latvia 8 Lithuania 11 Luxembourg 6 Hungary 21 Malta 6 Netherlands 29 Austria 19 Poland 52 Portugal 21 Romania 33 Slovenia 8 Slovakia 14 Finland 14 Sweden 21 2. However, in case the United Kingdom is still a Member State of the Union at the beginning of the 2019-2024 parliamentary term, the number of representatives in the European Parliament per Member State taking up office shall be the one provided for in Article 3 of the European Council Decision 2013/312/EU (2) until the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union becomes legally effective. Once the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union becomes legally effective, the number of representatives in the European Parliament elected in each Member State shall be the one indicated in paragraph 1 of this Article. All representatives in the European Parliament who fill the additional seats resulting from the difference between the number of seats allocated in the first and second subparagraphs of this paragraph shall take up their seats in Parliament at the same time.

Article 4 Sufficiently far in advance of the beginning of the 2024-2029 parliamentary term, the European Parliament shall submit to the European Council, in accordance with Article 14(2) of the Treaty on European Union, a proposal for an updated allocation of seats.

Article 5 This Decision shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.