07 February 2018

POLITICO: Parliament votes down plan for pan-European MEPs

After months of intense negotiations and internal divisions, the European Parliament rejected by a large majority the creation of a new class of MEP representing a whole-EU constituency.

On Wednesday, MEPs voted by 368 in favor and 274 against an amendment to a report on the composition of the European Parliament that proposed to delete so-called transnational lists from a proposal to adapt the legislative post Brexit. It is a setback for French president Emmanuel Macron who promoted the change as a way to boost interest and voter turnout in EU elections.

The initial report, drafted by MEPs Danuta Hübner and Pedro Silva Pereira, called on the assembly to hold 46 of the 73 seats which will be lost after the U.K. departure in reserve for possible new class of MEPs representing pan-European constitutencies and for countries that might join the EU in the future.

MEPs however voted in favor of reducing from 751 to 705 the number of MEPs, with the remaining 27 (currently) British seats being redistributed amongst other member countries to compensate for existing biases in representation. The report had been approved by the Parliament’s Constitutional Affairs Committee last month.

The proposal to set up transnational lists has faced opposition from the largest grouping, the European People’s Party, and from several EU leaders who see the proposal as something that would further widen the gap between voters and their representatives. Smaller countries are suspicious because they feel it would likely benefit candidates from the EU’s largest member nations. [...]

Full article on POLITICO

Related op-ed on EurActiv: Why transnational lists are good for European democracy

Related op-ed on EurActiv by Gunnar Hökmark, the head of the Swedish EPP delegation in the Parliament: Why transnational lists are not a good idea

Related post on Bruegel: Difficulties and opportunities in reallocating European Parliament seats after Brexit

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