European Communities
In: International organization, Band 14, Heft 4, S. 678-681
ISSN: 1531-5088
On May 17, 1960, the European Parliamentary Assembly adopted unanimously, with 12 abstentions, a draft convention for election of its members by direct universal suffrage. The members of the Assembly were currently nominated by the six member national parliaments in proportion to party strength, but were the draft project, which had first to be approved by the Council of Ministers and ratified by the six national parliaments, to come into effect, a parliament directly responsible to the electorate of the six countries would be created for the first time. Elements of the proposal included: 1) an increase in the number of members from 142 to 426 who would vote individually and be forbidden to accept imperative instructions; and 2) a temporary provision proposing that, until the end of the transition period of the common market, only two-thirds of the members be directly elected, the other third to be appointed by the national parliaments as at present.
