The changing composition of the European parliament: MEPs from 1979 to 2014

Abstract

This paper updates data on the EP's composition in light of the latest electoral results. It points to the somewhat contradictory dynamics currently affecting the parliamentary space, and emphasizes the EP's relative stabilization, the emergence of a transnational parliamentary elite and the relative heterogeneity of current processes at work within the institution. In doing so it illustrates the EP's position at the intersection of national political fields. Although the assembly and the MEPs' backgrounds are more stable than previously, this stability affects representatives differently. Our analysis consists in investigating variations according to political group and nationality, two particularly structuring factors in parliamentary space.