European Parliament constituency European Parliament constituency Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are elected by the population of the member states of the European Union (EU), divided into constituencies. Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom are respectively divided into 3, 8, 3, 5, 13 and 12 constituencies, while the other member states have a single national constituency. In Germany, political parties are entitled to present lists of candidates either at Länder or national level. The Kingdom of Denmark was also historically subdivided in two constituencies, with a separate one for Greenland which was dissolved in 1985 after the autonomous country
Western European Union European Security and Defence Identity (ESDI) within NATO structures. The ESDI was intended as a European 'pillar' within NATO, partly to allow European countries to act militarily where NATO wished not to, and partly to alleviate the United States' financial burden of maintaining military bases in Europe, which it had done since the Cold War. The Berlin agreement allowed European countries (through the WEU) to use NATO assets if it so wished. In 1998 the United Kingdom, which had traditionally opposed the introduction of European autonomous defence capacities, signed the Saint-Malo declaration. This marked a turning point as the declaration