Estonia Blocks EU Parliament Seat Allocation Deal

Max Griera
Journalist at Euractiv

Following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, the number and distribution of seats in the Parliament changes; the European Parliament will have 705 seats, compared with 751 before Brexit.

The Parliament initially proposed awarding two extra seats to Spain and the Netherlands and one to Austria, Denmark, Finland, Slovakia, Ireland, Slovenia and Latvia to correctly apply the degressive proportionality principle required under EU treaties.

After the file reached EU countries, which need to find unanimity, it seemed the new Parliament allocation would face a deadlock, as France and Belgium sought two and one extra seats, respectively, and the Dutch and Germans opposed increasing the total number of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs).

Apart from including the Parliament’s original suggestions, the new compromise also gives France and Belgium their claimed seats while giving one to Poland.

“The overall idea of the compromise is to make a small adjustment to the Parliament proposal to better respect degressive proportionality, but in the same logic”, a second EU diplomat said.

The compromise further certifies the death of transnational lists, at least for the 2024 EU elections, and calls on the Parliament “to come up with a fair, durable and transparent method to allocate seats, and to take account of demographic developments as well as to ensure that more seats in the EP don’t lead to more budget”, a third diplomat told EURACTIV.

Estonia rejected the compromise because it “needs further clarification and explanation on the reasoning of the numbers and math behind it by the Spanish EU Council Presidency”, a EU diplomat told EURACTIV.

With this compromise brokered by the Spaniards, who hold the EU Council presidency, the second EU diplomat said the file was poised to be settled on Wednesday, had not been for the sole rejection of Estonia, which caused “frustration” among EU countries.

After the clarification of the compromise seat allocation by the Spaniards, the information will be “analysed”, and only after will the Estonians give a final decision on 26 July, the last chance to change the Parliament’s seat allocation, as some member states need to start adapting their national laws and prepare for EU elections.

In any case, EU diplomats are “hopeful” that the deal will be closed next week.

The European Parliament will have a “soft deadline” to submit a proposal with the new allocation mechanism by the end of 2027.