Estonia's seventh member of European Parliament starts work on Monday
Estonia's seventh member of the European Parliament will start work next week after the United Kingdom leaves the European Union.
Riho Terras (Isamaa) will start work on Monday, February 3 as Estonia gains an extra seat in the parliament increasing its representation from six to seven MEPs.
Arne Koitmäe, head of the Electoral Office, told ERR on Monday: "The National Electoral Commission will convene on Thursday to confirm the election results that Riho Terras will become the seventh Estonian elected Member of the European Parliament.
"This is similar to other post-election decisions. Probably on the same day, the decision will be forwarded to the relevant service of the European Parliament, which means that Terras will be able to take office on Monday, 3 February anyway."
Terras received 34,188 votes, or 10.4 percent, in the European elections held on May 26, 2019. He will join the European People's Party (EPP) group in the European Parliament.
Terras did not wish to comment on his plans to ERR, citing that formalities had not yet been concluded.
After the departure of the United Kingdom, the number of sitting MEPs will be reduced from 751 to 705. The UK held 73 places and 27 will be redistributed to 14 countries which are considered to be under-represented.
Alongside Estonia, Croatia, Romania, Finland, Slovakia, Denmark, Sweden, Poland and Austria will gain one place each, Ireland and the Netherlands three each, and France and Spain five more.
General Riho Terras, now retired, was Commander of the Estonian Defense Forces from 2011 to 2018, after which he moved to the Estonian Defense Industry Company Milrem Robotics in January 2019. In March, he announced that he would run for the European Parliament for the Isamaa Party.
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Editor: Helen Wright