Loránt Vincze, rapporteur. – Mr President, no need to take the floor. We agreed with the co-rapporteur that in this given situation, when there are so many divergences on this file, we would rather proceed with the votes.
– After the vote on Amendment 2:
Sven Simon (PPE). – Mr President, colleagues, I think with this vote on the composition of the next Ϸվ, we send different messages in different Member States. In some Member States, increasing the number of seats will be understood as a free-for-all at the expense of the taxpayer. In other Member States, taking seats away from them will equally not be understood, and will strengthen Eurosceptics in these places.
As pro-Europeans, we can do two things at the same time: be mindful of our responsibility towards the taxpayers and stand in solidarity with our colleagues in the East and South-East who are affected by demographic changes. In our time, colleagues, European unity is more important than decimal points on a distribution scale.
That is why I ask for the following amendment to Article 3(1): ‘The composition of the European Ϸվ remains as it is.’
I ask you to allow the vote on that amendment. Those who rise against it, rise against a solution that would unite us all.