On 27 April, the European Commission formally adopted an opinion recommending the opening of an intergovernmental conference (IGC) “as soon as possible” to amend the Lisbon Treaty to increase the European Parliament’s members to 754 until 2014 from the current level of 736. It requests that the IGC be “strictly limited” to this subject.

The executive based its opinion on a draft presented by Spain in December for revision of the protocol on the EP’s composition and the inclusion of another 18 members from 12 states. The opinion paves the way to the convening of such a conference - probably a one-day session in June, according to different sources – because, as required by Article 48(3) of the treaty, the Commission has transmitted its views to the European Council. The EP Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) also decided, on 7 April, not to demand a convention ahead of the IGC, concluding that the amendment in question is a technical revision of the treaty (see Europolitics 3953). The plenary still has to vote, on 6 May, on the report by Inigo Mendez de Vigo (EPP, Spain) but is expected to endorse the committee’s vote.

Once the IGC is over, the new version of the protocol as adopted will have to be ratified by the 27 national parliaments. That could take a year, but if the plenary follows Mendez de Vigo’s recommendations, the 18 members could sit as observers (without voting rights). Eleven of the countries concerned have already elected their extra members based on the results of the June 2009 elections or an ad hoc election. France alone has not done so, choosing instead to appoint two members from its National Assembly, despite protests by certain MEPs.