EU parliament set to receive 18 extra deputies

Brussels - The European Parliament is set to increase in size, after a proposal to add 18 deputies to the assembly was approved by lawmakers Thursday.

The change is a result of the Lisbon Treaty, which reformed European Union institutions as it came into force last December.

The document allows for the EU assembly to have 751 members of parliament (MEPs), but the current legislature only has 736, as it was elected last June under the previous Nice Treaty rules.

To correct the situation, an amendment of the Lisbon treaty was suggested. With Thursday's vote, parliament approved the proposal, which was originally tabled by EU leaders.

Spain is expected to gain the most from the changes, with four extra MEPs. Austria, France and Sweden are set to gain two, while Bulgaria, Britain, Italy, Latvia, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovenia would get one more each.

Germany, the EU's most populous country and the one with the largest representation in the assembly, is the only one expected to lose out, with three fewer MEPs.

But it was allowed to keep its current share of 99 deputies until the end of parliament's term in June 2014, meaning that the EU assembly is set to temporarily grow to 754 members.

However, it is unclear when the reforms will be enacted, as not all EU countries have decided how the extra deputies are to be chosen and the changes have to be ratified by national parliaments in all of the EU's 27 member states.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/322342,eu-parliament-set-to-receive-18-extra-deputies.html.