The first European Parliament elections took place in 1979. In that year, the European Parliament still consisted of 410 members from 9 EC member states (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Italy, Germany, Ireland, United Kingdom and Denmark). Currently, the European Parliament is made up of 751 members (MEPs) from 28 member states. Each member state has a fixed number of MEPs, depending on the number of inhabitants. There are 26 MEPs representing Dutch EU citizens. Representatives are elected to the European Parliament per country. The parties having a seat in Parliament are European parties rather than separate national parties. These often concern national parties which have teamed up with parties from (at least) five other member states.
Back to article