An individual who has been elected to the European Parliament to be a representative of the EU's citizens.

Members of the European Parliament are elected every five years by direct universal suffrage via proportional representation and in a free and secret ballot. MEPs exercise their mandate independently and cannot be bound by instructions or receive a binding mandate.

There are a maximum of 750 MEPs plus the President in the European Parliament. The number of MEPs each member state has depends on its population, subject to the condition that a member state can have no fewer than six MEPs and no more than 96 (Article 14(2), Treaty on European Union).

For further information, see: