European Parliament constituency
of the European Parliament are elected by the population of the member states of the European Union. The European Electoral Act 2002 allows member states the choice to allocate electoral subdivisions or constituencies for the European Parliament elections in several different ways.
Most EU countries operate a single national constituency which elects MEPs for the whole country. Belgium and Ireland are each subdivided into constituencies, with electoral results calculated separately in each constituency. Germany, Italy and Poland are each subdivided into electoral districts, with the number of representatives determined at the national level after each election in proportion to the votes cast in each district.
In Germany, political parties are entitled to present lists of candidates either at Länder or national level.
Currently, all constituencies use various forms of proportional representation, except the single-seat German-speaking electoral college in Belgium, which uses first-past-the-post. The parliament as a whole is not PR, because seats are apportioned between member states by degressive proportionality.
List of constituencies
Former constituencies
Denmark
Denmark had a separate constituency for Greenland until 1985, when the autonomous territory withdrew from the EEC.France
Between 2004 and 2019, France was divided into 8 constituencies:- East
- Île-de-France
- Massif-central–Centre
- North-West
- Overseas Territories
- South-East
- South-West
- West
Ireland
- 1979 to 2004: Connacht–Ulster, Dublin, Leinster, Munster
- 2004 to 2014: Dublin, East, North-West, South
- 2014 to present: Dublin, Midlands–North-West, South
United Kingdom
- Between 1979 and 1994, there were 78 first-past-the-post single-member constituencies.
- Between 1994 and 1999, there were 84 first-past-the-post single-member constituencies.
- Between 1999 and 2020, there were 11 d'Hondt multi-member constituencies, one for each of Scotland, Wales, and the nine regions of England. From 2004, the South West England constituency also covered Gibraltar.
Proposed pan-European constituency