BELGIUM:The Government is planning a diplomatic lobbying campaign in EU capitals to try to secure an extra Irish seat in the European Parliament from 2009.
European affairs minister Dick Roche said yesterday that Ireland's fast-growing population meant it had a credible case for obtaining one of the 16 extra seats that are coming up for grabs.
The seats will become available if the EU reform treaty enters into force as planned before the next European election in May/June 2009. This treaty sets the number of MEPs in the parliament at 750, rather than the 736 seats set in the Treaty of Nice in 2002, which was agreed by all member states in 2002.
Mr Roche said his primary concern in the upcoming intergovernmental conference, which begins on July 23rd, was to defend the institutional package in the treaty. Ireland's right to have its own commissioner on a rotating basis was a primary issue of concern, said Mr Roche, who also said Ireland would seek an extra MEP.
"If there is an opportunity to get a 13th seat then we should make a bid for it. The fact that Ireland's population is growing faster than most other EU states puts us in a credible position," said Mr Roche, who is preparing Ireland's position at the conference. It is understood several Irish MEPs are keen for the Government to push for one of the extra 16 seats.
Under a complicated rationalisation process agreed for the parliament under the Treaty of Nice, the Republic is set to lose one of its 13 existing MEPs in 2009. This would mean that electoral boundaries for the European elections would have to be redrawn.
Other member states are also set to lose seats in the parliament in the planned rationalisation process, as the current level of 785 MEPs (which was temporarily boosted by new MEPs from Bulgaria and Romania) is reduced to 736.
However, the reform treaty, which would boost the overall number of MEPs to 750, offers the opportunity to member states to lobby to get additional representatives. Spain is already lobbying hard to obtain some of the extra seats that could become available.
Spain's European affairs minister, Alberto Navarro, travelled to Strasbourg this week to put Madrid's case to parliament officials and MEPs. Spain's fast-growing population, he said, would entitle it to several extra MEPs if the new treaty is passed.