MEPs approved the European Council’s decision to increase the number of European Parliament seats
The number of MEPs will increase in 2024 to reflect demographic changes in the EU since 2019, reads a press release of the European Parliament.
In September 2023, MEPs approved the European Council’s decision to increase the number of European Parliament seats by 15 to 720 for the 2024-2029 legislative term.
The Council’s proposal was based on a report from the Parliament recommending an additional 11 seats. EU law allows for a maximum of 750 MEPs, plus the President. The number of seats per country is decided before each European election.
The distribution of seats takes into account the size of the population of member states as well as the need for a minimum level of representation for European citizens from smaller countries. This principle of “degressive proportionality”, which is enshrined in the Treaty on the European Union, means that while smaller countries have fewer MEPs than bigger countries, MEPs from larger countries represent more people than their counterparts from smaller countries.
The minimum number of seats per country is six and the maximum is 96.
