The apportionment of seats among member states in the European Parliament is not strictly in accordance with size of population. Rather, the allocation of seats is based on the principle of degressive proportionality, so that, while the size of the population of each country is taken into account, smaller states elect more MEPs than would be strictly justified by their populations alone. There is no precise formula for the apportionment of seats among member states, rather, the number of MEPs granted to each country has arisen from treaty negotiations. No change in the number of MEPs granted to each member state can occur without the unanimous consent of all governments. The distribution of seats shown in the tables below has been in place since June 2004. The next change in the apportionment of seats is scheduled to occur in January 2007.
Relative influence of voters from different countries
according to the Treaty of Nice after new member countries joined (Source: Spiegel Online):
| Country
| pop. (mio.)
| MEPs
| pop./MEP
| rel. influence
|
|
| Luxembourg
| 0.4
|
| 6
| 66667
| 12.42
|
| Malta
| 0.4
|
| 5
| 80000
| 10.53
|
| Cyprus
| 0.8
|
| 6
| 133333
| 6.21
|
| Estonia
| 1.4
|
| 6
| 233333
| 3.54
|
| Slovenia
| 2.0
|
| 7
| 285714
| 2.89
|
| Latvia
| 2.4
|
| 9
| 266667
| 3.10
|
| Ireland
| 3.7
|
| 13
| 284615
| 2.91
|
| Lithuania
| 3.7
|
| 13
| 284615
| 2.91
|
| Finland
| 5.2
|
| 14
| 371429
| 2.22
|
| Denmark
| 5.3
|
| 14
| 378571
| 2.18
|
| Slovakia
| 5.4
|
| 14
| 385714
| 2.14
|
| Austria
| 8.1
|
| 18
| 450000
| 1.84
|
| Sweden
| 8.9
|
| 19
| 468421
| 1.76
|
| Portugal
| 9.9
|
| 24
| 412500
| 2.00
|
| Hungary
| 10.0
|
| 24
| 416667
| 1.98
|
| Belgium
| 10.2
|
| 24
| 425000
| 1.94
|
| Czech Republic
| 10.3
|
| 24
| 429167
| 1.92
|
| Greece
| 10.6
|
| 24
| 441667
| 1.87
|
| Netherlands
| 15.8
|
| 27
| 585185
| 1.41
|
| Poland
| 38.6
|
| 54
| 714815
| 1.15
|
| Spain
| 39.4
|
| 54
| 729630
| 1.13
|
| Italy
| 57.7
|
| 78
| 739744
| 1.11
|
| France
| 59.1
|
| 78
| 757692
| 1.09
|
| United Kingdom
| 59.4
|
| 78
| 761538
| 1.08
|
| Germany
| 82.1
|
| 99
| 828283
| 1.00
|
|
| Total
| 450.8
|
| 732
| 615846
| 1.35
|
| Romania
| 21.6
|
| 33
| 654545
| 1.26
|
| Bulgaria
| 7.6
|
| 17
| 447058
| 1.85
|
See also
