2013/312/EU: European Council Decision of 28 June 2013 establishing the composition of the European Parliament

• Articles: 5

Article 1

In the application of the principle of degressive proportionality provided for in the first subparagraph of Article 14(2) of the Treaty on European Union, the following principles shall apply:

—

the allocation of seats in the European Parliament shall fully utilise the minimum and maximum numbers set by the Treaty on European Union in order to reflect as closely as possible the sizes of the respective populations of Member States,

—

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.

Article 2

The total population of the Member States shall be calculated by the Commission (Eurostat) on the basis of data provided by the Member States, in accordance with a method established by means of a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.

Article 3

Pursuant to Article 1, the number of representatives in the European Parliament elected in each Member State is hereby set as follows for the 2014-2019 parliamentary term:

Belgium

21

Bulgaria

17

Czech Republic

21

Denmark

13

Germany

96

Estonia

6

Ireland

11

Greece

21

Spain

54

France

74

Croatia

11

Italy

73

Cyprus

6

Latvia

8

Lithuania

11

Luxembourg

6

Hungary

21

Malta

6

Netherlands

26

Austria

18

Poland

51

Portugal

21

Romania

32

Slovenia

8

Slovakia

13

Finland

13

Sweden

20

United Kingdom

73

Article 4

This Decision shall be revised sufficiently far in advance of the beginning of the 2019-2024 parliamentary term on the basis of an initiative of the European Parliament presented before the end of 2016 with the aim of establishing a system which in future will make it possible, before each fresh election to the European Parliament, to allocate the seats between Member States in an objective, fair, durable and transparent way, translating the principle of degressive proportionality as laid down in Article 1, taking account of any change in their number and demographic trends in their population, as duly ascertained thus respecting the overall balance of the institutional system as laid down in the Treaties.

Article 5

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