Do we really need 720 MEPs in Brussels?

NOW that the campaigning and counting are all over, one key question remains - does the European Parliament really need 720 MEPs?

That’s the number the chamber now has after the recent elections in the 27 member-states. Of these, Ireland now has 14 MEPs - one more than in the 2019 elections.

But with a total of 720 , the Parliament is not only hugely expensive, but - more importantly - incredibly cumbersome in term of decision-making processes.

Why shouldn’t the EU adopt the model of the US Senate? In this, all 50 states - irrespective of geographical size or population - are represented in Congress by two senators per state.

Were Europe to follow this example, there would be very sizeable savings to the overall EU budget, but - more significantly - the EU would end up with a greatly slimmed-down chamber and a far more efficient and smooth-operating one when it comes to decision-making.

In of powers and authority, the European Parliament has come a long way since its founding document, the Treaty of Rome of 1957. This did not provide for any democratic dimension at all.

Instead, it provided for an ‘assembly’ whose ‘delegates’ were appointed by the parliaments of the member-states, and this assembly only had advisory powers (Article 138 of the Rome Treaty).

It is only since 1979 that MEPs have been elected directly every five years by universal suffrage, thus making provision for a genuine democratic ingredient for the first time and also an ability factor.

In the meantime, the parliament has gained important powers, making it an effective pillar of the EU institutional framework. Today, the parliament has co-decision powers in many legislative areas, as well as with the approval and discharge of the EU’s annual budget.

This development has been very important in allaying concerns about a ‘democrat deficit’ at the heart of the EU policy-making infrastructure.

It is all but forgotten now that many of the appointed ‘delegates’ of the original ‘assembly’ were mediocre, second-rate politicians with little competence in European affairs. Many of them were just ‘dumped’ into Europe with little or no regard for their capabilities - to the detriment of the EEC’s (as it was originally known) reputation.

And then there is this most pertinent question: Who do MEPs really represent? The standard answer seems to be - their country or the Irish people. But in what sense is that true? Do they all take directions from their national governments when it comes to voting on crucial policies?

Manifestly, this is not the case. What, for instance, of the independents who get elected to the European Parliament? In addition, what of the ‘celebrities’ who get nominated by political parties and end up as MEPs? Their degree of expertise in European affairs is open to question. They get elected mainly because they have a ‘profile’, but this tells voters little or nothing about how they will perform as MEPs. And to whom do they answer?

We are left with these two key questions - (a) does the European Parliament really need 720 MEPs, and (b) who do MEPs really represent?

These are crucially important questions at a time when political scientists are predicting big gains for the radical Right in the forthcoming elections. And highly influential figures, such as President Emmanuel Macron of , are pressing for an economic reset in Europe, and the building of a more ‘sovereign’ Europe, not least in of a common defence against the background of the war in Ukraine.

What will the ultimate implications of that be for Ireland’s traditional policy of neutrality, a policy that has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years?

The institutions of the EU, including the parliament (in which we have, indirectly, a voice) may seem very remote at times - but citizens should never forget that the deliberations of the EU daily affect the lives and the living standards of all the people of its 27 member-states.

Indeed, it was resentment at the powers of the EU and the conviction within sections of the Conservative Party that Britain had, somehow, been reduced to a vassal state of Brussels that triggered the disastrous Brexit referendum - the ramifications of which we are still living with.

Former MEP John Cushnahan (also a former leader of the Alliance Party) has clear views on the two key questions raised here. He doesn’t think a parliament of 720 is too big. “Ireland has a population of 5 million and has 160 TDs and 60 Senators. Our nearest neighbour, the United Kingdom, with a population of 67 million, has 650 MPs. When you consider that the EU consists of 27 countries and has a population of 450 million, it is not credible, when there are only 720 MEPs, to say that this is too many.”

As for our MEPs, he says they spend an incredible amount of time touring one of the three constituencies and taking up local issues. This is the responsibility of TDs and the 949 Councillors. “The role of the MEP should be to represent the national interest. In future, like many EU countries, they should be elected from a national list to concentrate on doing this.”