Members of the European Parliament’s constitutional affairs committee have backed a report that calls for the creation of 25 additional MEPs, elected on a pan-European basis in order to boost the legislature’s popular legitimacy.
The report’s draftsman, Liberal UK MEP Andrew Duff, also hopes the scheme will in effect result in the election of the president of the European Commission, while eurosceptics fear the move will further undermine the EU nation states.
Mandated under the EU’s Lisbon Treaty to take a fresh look at parliament’s composition, MEPs in the constitutional affairs committee backed the Duff report on Tuesday (19 April) by 20 votes to four.
The proposed system, which would see EU citizens receive two ballot sheets during European elections – one for national candidates and one for EU-wide ones – now needs to win the majority support of MEPs during a full sitting of the house this June, as well as the backing of national governments.
“The proposals … if passed … will transform the elections to the European Parliament. They will create a European dimension to the campaign that has never been there before,” Duff told journalists after the committee meeting.
“They will personalise the election campaign because there will be characters that will be up for trans-national support,” he added.
The EU-wide list would have to feature candidates from at least one third of EU member states, with a new mathematical formula on how to distribute MEPs yet to be determined.
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