Answer: C) 720. The general rules for the composition of the European Parliament are laid down in Article 14(2) TEU, which stipulates that the European Council shall adopt by unanimity, on the initiative of Parliament and with its consent, a decision establishing composition. It also states that Parliament is to be composed of no more than 751 representatives of the EU’s citizens (750 Members plus the President). In addition, the representation of citizens is ‘degressively proportional’, with a minimum threshold of six members per Member State. No Member State can have more than 96 seats.

The concept of degressive proportionality means that although the total number of seats is allocated on the basis of Member State population size, more populous Member States agree to be under-represented in order to favour a greater representation of less populous Member States: the larger the country, the smaller the number of seats relative to its population.

On 22 September 2023, following Parliament’s legislative resolution of 15 June 2023 on the composition of the European Parliament, the European Council adopted a decision establishing the composition of Parliament, increasing the total number of seats in Parliament from 705 to 720. More info and source here.

The Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) sit in political groups – they are not organised by nationality, but by political affiliation. There are currently 8 political groups in the European Parliament, namely:

• EPP - Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) (188 MEPs)
• S&D - Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament (136 MEPs)
• PfE - Patriots for Europe (86 MEPs) 
• ECR - European Conservatives and Reformists Group (79 MEPs)
• RENEW - Renew Europe Group (75 MEPs)
• The Greens/EFA - Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance (53 MEPs)
• GUE/NGL - The Left group in the European Parliament (46 MEPs)
• ESN - Europe of Sovereign Nations (27 MEPs)

Some Members do not belong to any political group and are known as non-attached Members (29 MEPs). Source.

In order to do the preparatory work for Parliament’s plenary sittings, the Members are divided up among a number of specialised standing committees. 

Parliament can also set up sub-committees and special temporary committees to deal with specific issues

These committees instruct legislative proposals through the adoption of reports, propose amendments to Plenary and appoint a negotiation team to conduct negotiations with the Council on EU legislation. They also adopt own-initiative reports, organise hearings with experts and scrutinise the other EU bodies and institutions. More info and source: European Parliament Webpage.

Together with the representatives of EU governments in the Council of the EU, the Parliament is responsible for adopting EU legislation. Under the ordinary legislative procedure, both institutions act as equal co-legislators. In some special cases, other procedures may apply.

The Commission has the legislative initiative. However, under the Treaty of Maastricht enhanced by the Lisbon Treaty, the European Parliament has a right of legislative initiative that allows it to ask the Commission to submit a proposal.

More info and source: European Parliament Webpage.

MEPs are elected by direct universal suffrage at the European Elections. Source: European Parliament. 

MEPs are elected for a five-year period. Source: European Parliament.

Roberta Metsola was elected for her second term as President of the European Parliament in 2024. 

The first president was Paul-Henri Spaak, one of the founding fathers of the Union. Other founding fathers include Alcide de Gasperi and Robert Schuman. The first two female presidents were Simone Veil MEP in 1979 (first president of the elected Parliament) and Nicole Fontaine MEP in 1999, both Frenchwomen.

Source and more info on the EP President roles: European Parliament.

Generally speaking the EU Electoral Act determines that the European parliamentary elections take place every five years, from Thursday to Sunday, normally in the first full week of June. The dates are then confirmed after exchanges within the Council.

Member states then determine, according to their respective legal and constitutional frameworks, the date or dates in the respective period defined for elections when they will hold the vote in their country.

Source and more information about European Elections: EP Elections website.

Under current EU law, EU Member States are free to set their minimum national voting age for European elections. Source and more info: European Parliament.

The voting age for European Elections is set at 16 in Austria, Belgium, Germany and Malta, 17 in Greece, and 18 in the remaining Member States. Source: European Parliament.

There are twenty-four official EU languages. 

The accession of Croatia on 1 July 2013 brought the total number of official languages to 24: Bulgarian, Czech, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Irish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish and Swedish. Source. European Parliament.