ABSTRACT
More specifically, both the absolute number and the effective number of member-states of the EC/EU have considerably increased between 1979 and 1999: the absolute number of member-states has passed from 9 to 15, while the effective number of member-states, weighting for their size, has increased in proportion from 6 to 9.5 (except for a small adjustment at the time of the German reunification, since it created a larger member-state). The number of Eurodeputies has also been increased at every enlargement, from 410 in 1979 to 626 in 1999. Logically, the number of political parties obtaining representation in the European Parliament has also increased, from 41 in 1979 to 110 in the election of 1999. Yet the absolute number of European Political Groups, which increased twice during the first period, from 8 to 11, has decreased twice afterwards, from 11 to 9. (The numbers are from 6 to 10 and then to 7 if the non-attached and independents’ groups are not counted.) The effective number of European Political Groups, as weighted by their size and thus reflecting the degree of aggregation from an increasingly pluralistic setting of elected parties, has decreased from a value of 5.2 in 1979 (with a slight increase by 1984) to 4.0 in 1999. Table 9.1 provides an overview of these numbers.
