What is the European Parliament?

The European Parliament is an institution of the European Union, which is dual in nature:

• It is the only institution whose members are elected by direct universal suffrage for a 5-year term in office.

• It is the only institution whose powers have been extended as the treaties have been signed.

Distribution of seats per country in June 2009

Member States	Number of MEPs in June 2009 (in line with the Nice Treaty)	Number of MEPs for the legislature 2009-2014 (in line with the European Council agreement of 11th and 12th December 2008)	Number of MEPs as from 2014 (in line with Lisbon Treaty)
Allemagne	99	99	96
France	72	74	74
Italie	72	73	73
Royaume Uni	72	73	73
Espagne	50	54	54
Pologne	50	51	51
Roumanie	33	33	33
Pays-Bas	25	26	26
Belgique	22	22	22
Grèce	22	22	22
Hongrie	22	22	22
Portugal	22	22	22
République tchèque	22	22	22
Suède	18	20	20
Autriche	17	19	19
Bulgarie	17	18	18
Danemark	13	13	13
Finlande	13	13	13
Slovaquie	13	13	13
Irlande	12	12	12
Lituanie	12	12	12
Lettonie	8	9	9
Slovénie	7	8	8
Chypre	6	6	6
Estonie	6	6	6
Luxembourg	6	6	6
Malte	5	6	6
total	736	754	751

source: European Parliament
Data assembled and put together by the Robert Schuman Foundation, © FRS

The European Parliament's position in the institutional running of the European Union

Source: "The Lisbon Treaty. 10 easy-to-read fact sheets", Robert Schuman Foundation, updated December 2009