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Ireland set to lose one MEP seat
Real estate news By RTE.ie
Thursday, 11 October 2007 17:31
Ireland is set to lose one MEP seat following a vote by the European Parliament today in Brussels. The vote on a redistribution of seats is to better reflect the population sizes among the 27 member states of the EU. The final decision will be taken by an EU heads of government summit in Lisbon next week. The redistribution is supposed to accompany the approval of the Reform Treaty which will raise the number of MEPs from 736 to 750.
Today's vote was on a report which the parliament drew up after a request from EU governments on the ultimate size of the parliament. Both Fianna F?il and Fine Gael MEPs supported the report, which technically increases the number of MEPs by 16. An amendment by Fianna F?il MEP Brian Crowley to have Ireland's 13 seats maintained was not accepted and a further amendment by the Independence and Democracy Group, of which Kathy Sinnott is a member, was also defeated. Independent Marian Harkin abstained on the amendment. Labour's Proinsias de Rossa voted against that amendment, but voted in favour of the report.
As expected, the parliament declined to accept arguments that Ireland's recent population increase warranted Ireland holding on to a 13th seat. Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has already criticised the vote since Italy will now lose its parity with France and the UK in the number of parliament seats it holds. Mr Prodi has threatened to veto the parliament's decision at next week's summit.
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