If in a general election there are already many voters who doubt the number of deputies that make up Congress or the number of senators in the upper house, in some european elections, which for some are more ‘distant’ and are also celebrated every five years, the questions that arise are many more. Looking ahead to the electoral event, which in Spain is on June 9, it is worth remembering that The European Parliament is currently made up of 705 deputiesalthough after these elections there will be 720 who will make up the chamber, distributed proportionally among the member countries of the European Union.

According to the Treaty of Lisbon, the maximum number of MEPs that a country can choose is 96, while the minimum is six: and indeed, that is what happens. After the European elections on Sunday, June 9, Germany will have a total of 96 deputies, while Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta will have six each. In between are the rest of the countries, which share the rest of the seats. And almost at the top of the list is Spain, one of the five countries with the most representation in the European hemicycle. Specifically, it is fourth, only behind Germany, France and Italy, and just before Poland.

Since the number of members of the European Parliament is decided before each election, the composition of Parliament can vary from one legislature to another, always within limits. In 2018, after the United Kingdom had already approved its departure from the EU – but before its entry into force – the European Parliament voted to reduce the number of seats, from 750 to 705, and redistribute some to underrepresented countries. On that occasion, Spain benefited, going from the 54 MEPs it had to getting 59, five more, the same amount that France added.

Now, by once again increasing the number of deputies chosen at the electoral meeting, Spain now has the right to appoint a total of 61 deputies from among the more than 2,200 candidates that are presented in the 34 party and coalition formulas that attend. In 2019, the European elections coincided with regional and municipal elections, becoming a great electoral event. It has nothing to do with the case of this year, when the European elections will be held alone after some Catalan autonomous communities and some Basques. According to surveysthe Popular Party (PP) will take the majority of the seats, between 23 and 24, according to different polls, while the PSOE will remain as the second political force, maintaining its 20 seats (or losing or gaining one).

The degressive proportionality system

He seating arrangement between those states is done following the “degressive proportionality system“. It is not a mathematical formula as such, unlike the d’Hondt Law, but the European system consists of a set of principles whose objective is that small countries are represented and thus prevent large countries from being overrepresented in Parliament. These points are collected in the Lisbon Treatysigned in 2009 and put into effect in 2017.

This document “had as its main objective increase democracy within the EUits effectiveness and its ability to face challenges such as climate change, security and sustainable development”, states the European Union on its website. In this way, the document included the following three principles when distributing the seats:

  • Solidarity: implies that the largest countries agree to have fewer seats than would be awarded to them in direct proportionality.
  • Justified flexibility: allows the modification of the number of seats to reduce differences in representation.
  • National representation: The aim is to guarantee that each country has enough seats for its main political parties to be present in the European Parliament.

In this way, the distribution of seats in the European Parliament seeks to reflect any changes in the number of Member States and demographic trendsas well as respecting the general balance of the institutional system.

The 59 Spanish deputies of the last legislature

In the last European legislature, There were a total of 59 MEPs elected by Spain. Of them, 54 assumed their position after the elections, which were held in 2019, and five more joined on February 1, after the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU became effective, after sealing Brexit. These are all the Spanish deputies who were part of the European hemicycle until 2024:

  • PSOE (20+1): Clara Aguilera, Laura Ballarín, Estrella Durá, Jonás Fernández, Lina Gálvez, Ibán García, Isabel García, Iratxe García, Eider Gardiazábal, Mónica Silvana González, Nicolás González, Alicia Homs, Javi López, Juan Fernando López Aguilar, César Luena, Cristina Maestre, Javier Moreno, Inma Rodríguez-Piñero, Marcos RosDomènech Ruiz, Nacho Sánchez.
  • Popular Party (PP) (12+1): Pablo Arias, Isabel Benjumea, Pilar del Castillo, Ana Collado, Rosa Estaràs, José Manuel García-Margallo, Leopoldo López, Antonio López-Istúriz, Gabriel MatoFrancisco José Millán, Dolors Montserrat, Javier Zarzalejos, Juan Ignacio Zoido
  • Citizens (7+1): José Ramón Bauzá, Jordi Cañas, Maite Pagazaurtundúa, Eva María Poptcheva, María Soraya Rodríguez, Susana Solís, Adrian Vazquez and Javier Nart
  • Vox (3+1): Mazaly Aguilar, Jorge Buxadé, Margaret of PisaHermann Tertsch
  • CEUS (1): Izaskun Bilbao (PNV)
  • United We Can Change Europe (6): Patricia Caro ( Podemos ), Eugenia Rodríguez Palop ( Podemos ), Esther Sanz ( Podemos ), Idoia Villanueva ( Podemos ), Manu Pineda ( IU ) and Miguel Urbán ( Podemos )
  • Now Republics (3): Ana Miranda (BNG), Diana Riba (ERC) and Jordi Solé (ERC)
  • Together (2+1): Toni Comín, Clara Ponsatí and Carles Puigdemont

In parentheses you can see the number of seats obtained in the elections, plus the seat added after the United Kingdom left the EU. Furthermore, in those cases, the name of the candidate who became an MEP once Brexit came into force, in February 2020, is marked in bold.