The proposal, supported by a large majority of MEPs in the committee on 2 October, was put forward by co-rapporteurs Alain Lamassoure (EPP-ED, FR) and Adrian Severin (PES, RO), and means that the seats will be reallocated in time for the 2009-2014 parliamentary term.
Under the plan, Germany will continue to have the most MEPs, with 96, followed by France (74), the UK (73), and Italy (72). Spain and Poland would receive 54 and 51 respectively, while at the other end of the scale, Estonia, Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta would each receive six.
Moreover, the Committee also called for the proposed distribution of seats for the 2014-2019 parliamentary term to be revised in order to take account of demographic change and "avoid the traditional horse-trading between member states".
The 2009 redistribution is designed to reflect the demographic diversity of member states, while ensuring that the less-populated countries are over-represented according to the principle of "degressive proportionality".
Under this principle, the largest member states agree to receive fewer seats than they would do if they were allocated according to population size.
The proposal comes in response to a June request by the Council for Parliament to address the issue by October. Under the terms hammered out by the Council, the size of the parliament is limited to 750 seats and no member state should have more than 96 seats or less that six.
However, the Committee opted to retain the option of temporarily exceeding the 750 seat limit when new countries join the EU as was done for Bulgaria and Romania, to "avoid pre-judging future enlargements".
When the accession act was signed in 2005, it stipulated that the eventual number of seats should be set at 736. However, under the terms of the Reform Treaty, this agreement will be replaced by the new plan if it is agreed upon unanimously in the Council.
The co-rapporteurs' proposal is set to be voted upon in Parliament's plenary session on October 11, and if accepted, would then proceed to a Council vote on October 18.
