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How easy is it for MEPs to agree a formula to divide European Parliament seats across the EU-27? Tougher than you think... (Photo: European Parliament)

EUobserved

MEPs' favourite topic — their seats, and how they get elected

Few things interest politicians more than the way they are elected. But finding a system that most can agree on continues to elude MEPs.

One of the innovations in the Lisbon Treaty was that MEP seats are divided between the EU-27 according to the principle of so-called "degressive proportionality".

At the moment, that means that the number of seats ranges from the six held by Luxembourg and Malta to Germany's 96.

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Author Bio

Benjamin Fox is a seasoned reporter and editor, previously working for fellow Brussels publication Euractiv. His reporting has also been published in the Guardian, the East African, Euractiv, Private Eye and Africa Confidential, among others. He heads up the AU-EU section at EUobserver, based in Nairobi, Kenya.

How easy is it for MEPs to agree a formula to divide European Parliament seats across the EU-27? Tougher than you think... (Photo: European Parliament)

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Author Bio

Benjamin Fox is a seasoned reporter and editor, previously working for fellow Brussels publication Euractiv. His reporting has also been published in the Guardian, the East African, Euractiv, Private Eye and Africa Confidential, among others. He heads up the AU-EU section at EUobserver, based in Nairobi, Kenya.

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