Base Sequence of Degressively Proportional Divisions

Abstract

The distribution of seats in the European Parliament in accordance with the provisions of the Lisbon Treaty is of a degressively proportional nature. 751 seats are distributed among the 27 Member States with the use of a principle which is in some way a response to the need of constructing a division that ensures adequate representation of the smallest members of the community. There are many feasible solutions however - unfortunately, no unambiguous manner of such allocation has yet been put forward. Therefore, the current seat distribution has been chosen through political negotiations. It turns out that a number of seats are not subject to such negotiations. When performing the distribution and preserving boundary conditions, a certain number of seats gets allocated to individual countries independently of negotiations, but only through the application of the principle of degressive proportionality. This paper explores the problem of determining the scale of actual political negotiations. It presents the minimum and maximum number of mandates which can be granted to specific Member States. This paper determines certain situations in which the boundary conditions, supporting the principle of degressive proportionality are contradictory.