**At the European elections on 9 June 2024, Belgian citizens will elect 22 MEPs rather than 21.**
Belgium will have an extra seat in the European Parliament in the next legislature. At the European elections on 9 June 2024, Belgian citizens will elect 22 MEPs rather than 21. The additional seat will go to a Dutch-speaking candidate.
On Wednesday, the European Parliament approved the European Council’s decision to increase the number of seats in the Chamber. The distribution has been adjusted to take account of demographic changes in the EU since the 2019 elections.
The total number of seats in the Parliament will rise from 705 to 720. France, the Netherlands and Spain have obtained two additional seats. Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Austria, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia will have one more MEP. No Member State had to give up a seat.
Belgian voters will therefore choose 22 MEPs on 9 June: 13 Dutch-speakers (instead of 12 in 2019), eight French-speakers and one German-speaker.
“This decision will lead to a fairer composition of the European Parliament that takes into account the demography of the Member States, as we have always asked,” said French Liberal Sandro Gozi, who helped steer the dossier.
MEPs approved the Member States’ decision by 515 votes to 74, with 44 abstentions. During the debate preceding the vote, MEPs criticised the European Council’s decision to delete from the initial proposal the idea of transnational candidate lists, from which 28 seats would have been allocated.
They ran out off job positions to give to their friends and family, so they needed to create more.
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**At the European elections on 9 June 2024, Belgian citizens will elect 22 MEPs rather than 21.**
Belgium will have an extra seat in the European Parliament in the next legislature. At the European elections on 9 June 2024, Belgian citizens will elect 22 MEPs rather than 21. The additional seat will go to a Dutch-speaking candidate.
On Wednesday, the European Parliament approved the European Council’s decision to increase the number of seats in the Chamber. The distribution has been adjusted to take account of demographic changes in the EU since the 2019 elections.
The total number of seats in the Parliament will rise from 705 to 720. France, the Netherlands and Spain have obtained two additional seats. Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Austria, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia will have one more MEP. No Member State had to give up a seat.
Belgian voters will therefore choose 22 MEPs on 9 June: 13 Dutch-speakers (instead of 12 in 2019), eight French-speakers and one German-speaker.
“This decision will lead to a fairer composition of the European Parliament that takes into account the demography of the Member States, as we have always asked,” said French Liberal Sandro Gozi, who helped steer the dossier.
MEPs approved the Member States’ decision by 515 votes to 74, with 44 abstentions. During the debate preceding the vote, MEPs criticised the European Council’s decision to delete from the initial proposal the idea of transnational candidate lists, from which 28 seats would have been allocated.
They ran out off job positions to give to their friends and family, so they needed to create more.