The European Parliament is the only institution directly elected and legitimised by the citizens of the Union through the European elections. In total, the EP comprises a maximum of 750 MEPs, plus the President of the Parliament, who is elected by the Parliament itself from among its members. Together with the Council of Ministers and the Commission, the EP constitutes the most important actors in legislation. Together with the Council, the EP has budgetary powers and, in many cases, an advisory role. It also exercises control over the other European institutions, especially in the case of the Commission, as it is elected by the European Parliament.
President
The President is elected for a renewable term of two and a half years, i.e. half the regular term of the Parliament. The President represents the European Parliament vis-à-vis the outside world and in its relations with the other EU institutions.
Current President of the tenth European Parliament: Roberta Metsola.
Distribution of seats
Since the United Kingdom (UK) leaves the EU on 31 January 2020, the European Parliament has 705 MEPs (previously 751 members). 26 of the 73 UK seats will be allocated to other EU Member States. France will receive five additional seats, Spain four, Italy and the Netherlands three, Ireland two. Poland, Romania, Sweden, Austria, Denmark, Slovakia, Finland, Croatia and Estonia will each be allocated one seat. The remaining 47 seats will not be reallocated for the time being and will be put in reserve for future EU enlargements.
In September 2023, MEPs approved the European Council's decision to increase the number of seats by 15 to 720 for the 2024 to 2029 legislative period. The European Council's proposal was based on a previously published report by the Parliament. These additional seats were distributed as follows: France now has 81 seats, Spain 61, the Netherlands 31, Austria 20, Denmark, Finland and the Slovakai each gain one seat and now have 15 seats in the European Parliament. Ireland has 14, Slovenia and Latvia nine.
The redistribution of the new seats aims to alleviate the representation deficit of EU citizens from EU member states with a high population in the European Parliament. The cause of the distortion in favour of the member states with smaller populations is the principle of "degressive proportionality" codified in Article 14 (2) of the Treaty on European Union. It states that more populous states generally receive more seats in parliament than less populous states, but have fewer representatives per inhabitant. Less populous states therefore have more seats per inhabitant than more populous ones. For this imbalance, the Council of Ministers of the EU has a compensation mechanism (principle of qualified majority) modelled on federal states. This is intended to make it easier for governments from more populous EU countries to form a majority (65 per cent of EU citizens and 55 per cent of states).
720
Members of Parliament
27.000
Reconcilations (2018)
38,4 %
Proportion of women
Parliamentary Groups
European People's Party (EPP)
Parliamentary Party Leader: Manfred Weber (CSU/Germany)
Seats in Parliament: 188
Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament (S&D)
Parliamentary Party Leader: Iratxe García Pérez (PSOE/Spain)
Seats in Parliament: 136
Renew Europe
Parliamentary Party Leader: Valérie Hayer (Renaissance/ France)
Seats in Parliament: 77
Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA)
Parliamentary Party Leader: Bas Eickhout (GroenLinks/ Netherlands) and Terry Reintke (Die Grünen/Germany)
Seats in Parliament: 53
Identity and Democracy (ID) (Patriots)
Parliamentary Party Leader: Marco Zanni (Lega/Italy)
Seats in Parliament: 84
European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR)
Parliamentary Party Leader: Nicola Procaccini (Fratelli d'Italia/Italy) and Joachim Stanisław Brudziński (PiS/Poland)
Seats in Parliament: 78
Confederal Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL)
Parliamentary Party Leader: Martin Schirdewan (Die LINKE/Germany) and Manon Aubry (France Insoumise/France)
Seats in Parliament: 46
Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN)
A political group in the European Parliament in its tenth term since 2024
Parliamentary Party Leader: René Aust (AfD, Germany) and Stanisław Tyszka (New Hope, Poland)
Seats in Parliament: 25
Non-Inscrits (NI)
Seats in Parliament: 33
Tasks and Objectives
Art.14 (1) TEUV: "The European Parliament shall, jointly with the Council, exercise legislative and budgetary functions. It shall exercise functions of political control and consultation as laid down in the Treaties. It shall elect the President of the Commission."
Members
Art. 14 (2) TEUV: "The European Parliament shall be composed of representatives of the Union’s citizens. They shall not exceed seven hundred and fifty in number, plus the President. Representation of citizens shall be degressively proportional, with a minimum threshold of six members per Member State. No Member State shall be allocated more than ninety-six seats. The European Council shall adopt by unanimity, on the initiative of the European Parliament and with its consent, a decision establishing the composition of the European Parliament, respecting the principles referred to in the first subparagraph."
- AFET - Foreign Affairs: David McAllister (EPP, Germany)
- Subcommittee SEDE - Security and Defence: Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (Renew, Germany)
- Subcommittee DROI - Human Rights: Mounir Satouri (Greens, France)
- Subcommittee FISC - Tax Matters: Pasquale Tridico (The Left, Italy)
- Subcommittee SANT - Public Health: Adam Jarubas (EPP, Poland)
- DEVE - Development: Barry Andrews (Renew, Ireland)
- INTA - International Trade: Bernd Lange (S&D, Germany)
- BUDG - Budgets: Johan van Overtveldt (ECR, Belgium)
- CONT - Budgetary Control: Niclas Herbst (EPP, Germany)
- ECON - Economic and Monetary Affairs: Aurore Lalucq (S&D, France)
- EMPL - Employment and Social Affairs: Li Andersson (The Left, Finland)
- ENVI - Environment, Public Health and Food Safety: Antonia Decaro (S&D, Italy)
- ITRE - Industry, Research and Energy:Borys Budka (EPP, Poland)
- IMCO - Internal Market and Consumer Protection: Anna Cavazzini (Greens/EFA, Germany)
- TRAN - Transport and Tourism: Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi (EPP, Greece)
- REGI - Regional Development: Adrian-Dragoș Benea (S&D, Romania)
- AGRI - Agriculture and Rural Development: Veronica Vrecionová (ECR, Czech Republic)
- PECH - Fisheries: Carmen Crespo Díaz (EPP, Spain)
- CULT - Culture and Education: Nela Riehl (Greens/EFA, Germany)
- JURI - Legal Affairs: Ilhan Kyuchyuk (Renew, Bulgaria)
- LIBE - Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs: Javier Zarzalejos (EPP, Spain)
- AFCO - Constitutional Affairs: Sven Simon (EPP, Germany)
- FEMM - Women's Rights and Gender Equality: Lina Gálvez (S&D, Spain)
- PETI - Petitions: Bogdan Rzońca (ECR, Poland)