Constitution of the 9th legislature of the European Parliament

The President of the European Parliament will be elected tomorrow morning at 9am. Nominations must be submitted by political groups or by 1/20th of members by 22:00 this evening. Eight tellers, drawn by lot, have been appointed to oversee the vote. Following direct elections across 28 member states on 23 – 26 May, in which 51% of voters cast a ballot to choose their representatives, the new European Parliament was officially constituted today in Strasbourg. There is a higher percentage turnover than ever before (61% new MEPs) and a higher percentage of female MEPs than in the past (40%), compared to 37% in 2014. The youngest MEP is Kira Marie Peter-Hansen from Denmark (21) and the oldest is Silvio Berlusconi from Italy (82). The new parliament is composed of seven political groups – one less than the previous legislature. All MEPs who have not joined a political group are listed as non-aligned, but can decide at any stage to join a group. Since 2009, according to Parliament’s rules of procedure, a political group shall consist of at least 25 Members elected in at least seven member states.