voting system regulations for the european parliament since the members of the european parliament the parliamentary assemby of the european community have been elected directly by the citizens of the member states before the members of the european parliament meps were just members of national parliaments mnps elected by and from among their peers in the european parliament every member state has a fixed number of seats which increases less than proportionally with the population once in five years a general european election is being held in which the citizens of all member states choose their representatives to the european parliament next elections are due in now the voting system for these european elections still differs from one country to another although the european treaty enabling the direct election of the meps requires a uniform voting system up to now every country has just used its own system more or less the same one used for national elections british meps are elected in a first past the post system with one mep per district nearly all other states have chosen a system with proportional representation but then in some countries france italy meps are allowed to be a mnp as well whilst in others they are not belgium netherlands the european parliament is now working on a uniform election system for its own members so that every candidate should have the same regulations to comply with regardless of the member state s he wants to be elected for i would like to know what you people out there think of the following questions do you think it is necessary to have uniform regulations or should every member state continue to use its own regulations for european elections that is do you think a system of majority voting should be implemented with one or more meps per district or would you prefer a system with proportional representation for the whole of the community or per state per region per district do you think the european commission or just its president should be directly elected too or should it be appointed by the european parliament or by the joint member state governments as it is now the maastricht treaty allows subjects of member states to stand for election in another member state they are residing in do you think you would or could vote for a foreigner if his her ideas appeal to you do you think meps should be allowed to be a member of a national parliament or a regional parliament too or a member of a national or regional government body the european parliament now has meetings in both strasbourg and brussels meps themselves are for a complete move to brussels in great majority but political compromises between the governments of the member states stick to the status quo do you approve of this or do you think the european parliament should meet in one city only and if yes which please post your answers to eunet politics to which all followups are automatically directed if you do not have access to that group please mail your answer directly to me and i will post it for you i hope many of you will take the time to post their views on this matter roland siebelink lokaal b centrum voor de studie van nieuwe vrije universiteit brussel scom nmit media informatie en telecommunicatie pleinlaan brussel belgium tel direkt e mail rcsiebel vnet vub ac be tel centrum talk rcsiebel is vub ac be fax centrum
