European Parliament To Cut Size By 35 Seats

October 14, 2007 10:09 a.m. EST

Brussels, Belgium (AHN) - The European Parliament on Thursday approved the resolution to cut down the number of its members (MEPs) from 785 to 750. Italy, Britain, France, Germany and Poland share in the 35 seats to be eliminated.

The surge in membership of the European Union in the last three years prompted debates on the size of the parliament. From 15 member nations, the number grew to 27. The parliament holds almost 800 seats, which is considered "unwieldy" and it is one of the world's largest.

Parliament leaders moved to keep the number of MEPs at 750 for the period of 2009-2014, with 378 voting for the proposal, 154 voting against it and 109 abstaining from voting.

With the agreement on the downsizing, Italy is expected to lose six of its seats, the U.K. five, France four, and Germany and Poland both with three.

The agreement, however, leaves critical questions especially after the 2014 election when Turkey is most like to join the union.

Turkey, due to its big population, is expected to be allocated almost the maximum number of MEPs, which is 96. With the quota of 750, further downsizing of MEPs among member nations will spark heated discussions.

The agreement, however, resolves concerns of possible inclusions of other nations into the union in between elections. Countries with smaller populations like Croatia will be granted a temporary number of MEPs upon cuts from other members.

Until the agreement is approved by member nations of the European Union, the parliament maintains its membership and continues with its affairs.