The Lisbon Treaty provides that the European Parliament shall be composed by 750 MEPs, plus the President, and that “No Member State shall be allocated more than ninety-six seats.” The Protocol (No 36) on Transitional Provisions, annexed to the Lisbon Treaty, required the European Council to adopt a decision determining the composition of the European Parliament before the 2009 European elections. Moreover, it provides that the composition of the European Parliament until the end of the 2004-2009 parliamentary term, shall remain the same as on the date of the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon. The European Council decide in June 2009, on the allocation of the 18 seats, to be added to the 736 seats, among 12 Member States: Bulgaria 1, Netherlands 1, Spain 4, Austria 2, France 2, Poland 1, Italy 1, Slovenia 1, Latvia 1, Sweden 2, Malta 1, and the UK 1.
The European Elections took place in June 2009, before the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, consequently the Nice rules were applied and 736 MEPs were elected. In the meantime, on 1 December, the Lisbon Treaty entered into force allowing 751 MEPs. Whereas there would be 18 additional seats to 12 member states, Germany loses 3 seats. The new 18 MEPs and allowing the 3 German MEPs to continue their mandate till the end of the current legislature, would, obviously, raise the number of MEPs from 751 to 754. Consequently, an amendment to the Lisbon Treaty is required to allow the number of MEPs to increase until the end of this legislature.
Spain which presently holds the EU’s presidency and is entitled to 4 additional MEPs, last December, under article 48 TEU, presented to the Council a proposal for an amendment of the Treaties. The proposal amends Protocol (No 36) on Transitional Provisions, concerning the composition of the European Parliament. The Council agreed that new “transitional provisions on the composition of the European Parliament until the end of the 2009-2014 parliamentary term” are necessary in order to “allow those Member States whose number of Members of the European Parliament would have been higher if the Treaty of Lisbon had been in force at the time of the European elections in June 2009 to be given the appropriate number of additional seats and to fill them.” They have, therefore, agreed that the 18 seats will be added to the 736 existing seats, allowing, in this way, the number of MEPs to exceed the maximum number provided for in the Lisbon Treaty. After 2014 the total number of MEPs would be 751.
The Council submitted the proposal to the European Council which has decided to proceed with it. It is important to mention that under article 48 (3) the European Council may decide by a simple majority, after obtaining the consent of the European Parliament, not to convene a Convention.
The European Parliament’s Constitutional Affairs Committee has recently endorsed the Council’s proposal to amend the Lisbon Treaty allowing the European Parliament to be composed of 754 MEPs for this parliamentary term. Moreover, the Committee agreed that a convention is not necessary to discuss the treaty amendment, arguing that an Intergovernmental Conference would be sufficient. The European Parliament is very likely to endorse the Committee’s recommendations in May.
The European Council will have to decide, after consulting the European Parliament and the Commission, by a simple majority whether to examine the proposed amendments. An IGC will be, therefore, convened to revise the Lisbon Treaty. The Spanish EU presidency is keen to start negotiations before the end of its presidency in June. Obviously, such amendments would only enter into force after being ratified by all the member states, in accordance with their constitutional rules. According to the Spanish proposal such amendments shall enter into force on 1 December 2010 provided that all member states have ratified them.
Daniel Hannan in the Telegraph writes: "Any such treaty change would need to be ratified by the 27 member states, which would allow David Cameron to hold the referendum which the late dissolution denied him." He pointed out that "The EU may yet find a way of side-stepping its own rules, of course: it’s good at that. It might, for example, try to claim that it is clarifying an existing treaty, not adopting a new one. Or it might simply appoint the 18 extra MEPs without a proper legal base." Nevertheless, he said "Still, the idea that we might finally get our referendum, after 35 years, because of something so utterly trivial, is a delicious one."
