(1)

Article 14(2), first subparagraph, of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) lays down the criteria for the composition of the European Parliament, namely that representatives of the Union’s citizens are not to exceed seven hundred and fifty in number, plus the President, that representation is to be degressively proportional, with a minimum threshold of six members per Member State, and that no Member State is to be allocated more than ninety-six seats.

(2)

Article 10 TEU provides, inter alia, that the functioning of the Union is to be founded on representative democracy, with citizens being directly represented at Union level in the European Parliament and with Member States being represented by their governments, themselves being democratically accountable to their national Parliaments or citizens, in the Council.

(3)

Article 14(2) TEU therefore applies within the context of the wider institutional arrangements set out in the Treaties, which also include the provisions on decision-making in the Council.

(4)

By the end of 2026 and in advance of the proposal on its composition, the European Parliament should propose an objective, fair, durable and transparent seat distribution method implementing the principle of degressive proportionality, without prejudice to the institutions’ prerogatives under the Treaties. Taking into account the impact of possible future developments, such a method should safeguard a sustainable maximum number of members of the European Parliament.

(5)

The budgetary authority and the Commission, in the exercise of their prerogatives under the annual budgetary procedure, should ensure that the increase in the number of seats foreseen by this Decision is budgetary neutral within Section 1 of the general budget of the Union,

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the total number of seats in the European Parliament shall not exceed 750 in number, plus the President;

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the allocation of seats to Member States shall be degressively proportional with a minimum threshold of six seats and a maximum threshold of 96 seats per Member State, while reflecting as closely as possible the sizes of the respective populations of the Member States;

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degressive proportionality is defined as follows: the ratio between the population and the number of seats of each Member State before rounding up or down to the nearest whole number is to vary in relation to their respective populations in such a way that each Member of the European Parliament from a more populous Member State represents more citizens than each Member of the European Parliament from a less populous Member State and, conversely, that the larger the population of a Member State, the greater its entitlement to a large number of seats in the European Parliament;

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the allocation of seats in the European Parliament is to consider demographic developments in the Member States.