MEPs discuss a draft European Council decision establishing the composition of the European Parliament for the upcoming mandate. Opening statements by Sandro GOZI (Renew, FR) and Loránt VINCZE (EPP, RO), Rapporteurs and by Pascual NAVARRO RÍOS, Spanish Secretary of State for the EUThis transcription is a result of an automatic process. Please check agaisnt delivery.

statement

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

GOZI, Sandro (Renew, FR)

VINCZE, Loránt (EPP, RO)

2024 European elections (T)

NAVARRO RÍOS, Pascual Ignacio

Draft European Council decision establishing the composition of the EP: opening statements by Sandro GOZI (Renew, FR) and Loránt VINCZE (EPP, RO), Rapporteurs and by Pascual NAVARRO RÍOS, Spanish Secretary of State for the EU

SOUNDBITE (English), Lor&aacute;nt VINCZE (EPP, RO), co-Rapporteur, Dear colleagues, as co-rapporteur of the file on the composition of the European Parliament, I welcome that, in its draft decision on the distribution of seats, the European Council has followed the logic of the Parliament's proposal, carrying out, however some additions to it.

SOUNDBITE (English), Loránt VINCZE (EPP, RO), co-Rapporteur, In the absence of a permanent allocation mechanism for the distribution of seats that could be properly linked to the voting system in the Council, as well as the fact that Parliament does not at present use all seats available to it.

SOUNDBITE (English), Loránt VINCZE (EPP, RO), co-Rapporteur, The Parliament has proposed a solution which strictly respected the principle of digressive proportionality, did not add more seats done absolutely necessary to achieve respect for this principle, it reflected the demographic developments in Member States, and last but not least, it did not propose seat losses in the case of any Member State, giving the opportunity to the European Council to avoid unnecessary complications.

SOUNDBITE (English), Loránt VINCZE (EPP, RO), co-Rapporteur, I do regret, however, that while confirming our general approach, the Council did not consult the Parliament when it became clear that it intended to deviate from our proposal in regard to the number of seats. It added four seats and it deleted the proposed allocation of 20 seats of a union wide constituency, subject to the adoption of the legal basis for that constituency.

SOUNDBITE (English), Loránt VINCZE (EPP, RO), co-Rapporteur, From a strictly legal point of view, we cannot mean that there is no direct link about the new electoral law proposed by the Parliament and the distribution of seats. But a slim majority of the Parliament believes it was an important political point to make in order to get the Council's opinion on the electoral law proposal.

SOUNDBITE (English), Loránt VINCZE (EPP, RO), co-Rapporteur, In on the transnational reference list, we may understand that there is not only no consensus in the Council for the idea among Member States, but not even a majority support. Nevertheless, taking everything into consideration, the principle of mutual sincere cooperation tell required that the European Council informed us about its intention not to follow our proposal.

SOUNDBITE (English), Loránt VINCZE (EPP, RO), co-Rapporteur, On our side, however, my co-Rapporteur and I, we made important efforts to consult with the Council before we adopted that initial position. The polite but unambiguous answer of the Council was that it needed to have the official proposal of the Parliament first. Once it had it, the deal regarding consultation was not respected.

SOUNDBITE (English), Loránt VINCZE (EPP, RO), co-Rapporteur, Does the original proper Interinstitutional Dialogue on the possible outcomes? But I regret most, however, is that the European Council took the unfortunate decision to introduce a recital calling for the increase in seats to be budgetary neutral.

SOUNDBITE (English), Loránt VINCZE (EPP, RO), co-Rapporteur, Not only is this legally void proposal, I didn't mind here that the European Council itself has increased the number of seats by four compared to the Parliament's proposal. It is also lacking any illegal consequence. The establishment of the Union's annual budget is a task entrusted by the treaties to the budgetary authority.

SOUNDBITE (English), Loránt VINCZE (EPP, RO), co-Rapporteur, I would like to thank the good cooperation we had with my colleague co-Rapporteurs Sandro Gozi. We navigated votes through this complicated file, even though we were coming from opposite directions.

SOUNDBITE (English), Loránt VINCZE (EPP, RO), co-Rapporteur, Now, at present, given the necessity to move rapidly with this file in order to ensure that Member States can do their preparations for the election in line with their constitutional requirements, my political group, the EPP, will give its consent to the European Council decision, and I am confident that the majority of this House will do as well. Thank you very much.

SOUNDBITE (French), Sandro GOZI (Renew, FR), co-Rapporteur, Thank you, Chairman. President, I'd like to thank Loránt Vincze and the shadow Rapporteurs for the work that we've done over the last nine months. The text, which we are going to vote reflects the ideas that we had set out to develop the 15 seats means that we will have a fairer, equitable representation of citizens, and it will also reflect the changes in the demographics of the different Member States.

SOUNDBITE (French), Sandro GOZI (Renew, FR), co-Rapporteur, Happy with the additional seats for France, Belgium and Poland, which we had been fighting for from the very start of this negotiation within the European Parliament. However, we must remember that the identification really requires an objective and definitive solution. The Committee is also working on a formula which means that the distribution of seats is defined by a mathematical criteria which is objective and impartial.

SOUNDBITE (French), Sandro GOZI (Renew, FR), co-Rapporteur, As European Parliament, however, we had a very clear political priority that 28 seats would be reserved for a union-wide constituency, so that the amendments to the European electoral law can be put into practice once it is approved by Council and it could come into force. The paragraphs and I refer to the Presidency of Council at the moment.

SOUNDBITE (French), Sandro GOZI (Renew, FR), co-Rapporteur, I think is a mistake, a political mistake, a legal mistake, and I think it is a useless provocation on the part of Council. What is even worse is the recital that despite the additional seats, calls upon the budgetary authorities to remain to have the Parliament budget remain unchanged.

SOUNDBITE (French), Sandro GOZI (Renew, FR), co-Rapporteur, So, this ignores the Parliament's view on the budget, on the annual budget and the pressure which is being brought to bear by the Presidency of Council on the Parliament's bureau on the part of certain political groups. And I regret this.

SOUNDBITE (French), Sandro GOZI (Renew, FR), co-Rapporteur, I find this very regrettable and I said this at the Committee and how it has made it very difficult for us to make true progress on the remaining doses related to the composition of Parliament. The date in which the European Parliament needs to take a final decision, which is tomorrow, the fact that the Parliament has set adopted this and I believe that this is not a good decision.

SOUNDBITE (French), Sandro GOZI (Renew, FR), co-Rapporteur, So, the Spanish Presidency, I'd like to ask them how are you going to be putting this into force so that the decisions taken a year ago and especially the decisions taken under the Swedish Presidency, France has put forward a draft proposal, a revised draft proposal on the composition.

SOUNDBITE (French), Sandro GOZI (Renew, FR), co-Rapporteur, And we would like to discuss this on the Presidency of the European Parliament in its letter to Council, reaffirms the objectives and the prerogatives of the European Parliament. So, it goes in the two directions. But, very often for Council they seem to just go in one single direction and they seem to be ignoring the expectations of the European Parliament, especially during the conference on the Future of Europe.

SOUNDBITE (French), Sandro GOZI (Renew, FR), co-Rapporteur, So, Honourable Representatives of the Presidency of Council, if it's all going to be a one way street, then we might run into difficulties. So, I know that the proposal that my group will be approving this proposal. We believe that it's moving in the right direction. As far as the increase of number of seats is concerned, especially to respect to fully respect the treaties. But, we will most certainly fight for a fairer, more modern electoral law and a more European electoral law. Thank you.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Pascual NAVARRO RÍOS, Spanish Secretary of State for the EU, Thank you, Mr. President. Honourable members of the European Parliament. I am very pleased to be able to speak to the House this morning on this matter. A draft decision on the makeup of the European Parliament and the debates in committee in the first half of 2023 clearly showed the various different feelings and the complexities of this issue.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Pascual NAVARRO RÍOS, Spanish Secretary of State for the EU, So let me say that achieving a compromise among the member states was equally difficult, particularly with the time limits which we had to deal with. And bearing in mind the fact that Member States need to start preparing for the forthcoming euro elections. As Mr. Gozi just reminded us, so the Swedish and Spanish presidencies spent a lot of energy on the matter and reached a consent agreement on the 26th of July.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Pascual NAVARRO RÍOS, Spanish Secretary of State for the EU, And in August, because it was so urgent, the urgent procedure was adopted so we could approach the Parliament with a proposal for a decision, and that came about on the 23rd of August. That shows the commitment the Council and the European Council in all on this matter. Moving on to the proposal for a decision, it's the upshot of a complex balancing act between various very differing interests in individual positions.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Pascual NAVARRO RÍOS, Spanish Secretary of State for the EU, And it does try to bear in mind the requirements of the European Parliament. First of all, the redistribution of seats is what the honourable members put forward with some tiny adjustments. Better to bear in mind demographic change and the demographic wage in comparative terms of the Member States. Nevertheless, the proposal sticks to Parliament's premise that no Member State should lose seats and this has given rise to two additional fees being given to France, one to Belgium and one to Poland.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Pascual NAVARRO RÍOS, Spanish Secretary of State for the EU, In the light of how difficult it was to redistribute the streets, the seats, the Parliament and Council felt that a method would be needed. And we've been asked to work on a proposal in the light of Article 42 of the Treaty on Transnational lists. There was no unanimity, as members will be aware, in the Council on this. Certain delegations wanted to have a reference to a union wide constituency.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Pascual NAVARRO RÍOS, Spanish Secretary of State for the EU, Most people wanted it to be withdrawn and ongoing negotiations on the matter. On budgetary neutrality, this is a fundamental element. The balancing act, which I mentioned before. It was in recital five, said that it was necessary because of the present context in the union with high levels of inflation and a rising cost of living.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Pascual NAVARRO RÍOS, Spanish Secretary of State for the EU, In response to the rapporteur, Mr. Gozi remark on this, let me point out that this recital leaves sufficient room for manoeuvre for the budgetary authority to make adjustments for the overall budget contribution from Parliament to cover the requisite expenditure on the additional number of seats, and there will be an overall increase in the budget.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Pascual NAVARRO RÍOS, Spanish Secretary of State for the EU, There has also introduced a new element in respect to graphic change as well. Finally, we called on Parliament to do all it can to come up with a proposal on its composition before the 27th so that we will be able to have all the requisite political debates on the matter. Thank you.