ZAGREB, June 13, 2018 - Members of the European Parliament on Wednesday gave their consent to a new distribution of MEP seats after the 2019 elections which will lead to a reduction in the overall number of seats after the UK's withdrawal from the EU comes into force.
The European Parliament will shrink from 751 to 705 MEPs when the United Kingdom leaves the EU, leaving room for new countries that may join in the future.
Besides reducing the European Parliament’s size, also proposed was a re-distribution of seats under which 46 of the 73 seats which would be freed up by the departure of the UK, will be put in a reserve.
Some or all of the 46 seats in the reserve can then be allocated to new countries joining the EU or remain empty, thus reducing the size of Parliament. The remaining 27 seats will be re-distributed among the 14 EU countries that are slightly under-represented.
Croatia will thus in the future have 12 instead of 11 MEPs.
The draft European Council decision was endorsed with 566 votes in favour, 94 against and 31 abstentions.
