2004/701/EC, Euratom:Council Decision of 11 October 2004 amending the Council’s Rules of Procedure

‘5 When a decision is to be adopted by the Council by a qualified majority, and if a member of the Council so requests, it shall be verified that the Member States constituting the qualified majority represent at least 62 % of the total population of the Union calculated according to the population figures set out in Article 1 of Annex IIa.’;

This Decision shall take effect on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. It shall apply from 1 November 2004.

For the purposes of implementing Article 205(4) of the Treaty establishing the European Community, Article 118(4) of the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community, the third subparagraph of Article 23(2) and Article 34(3) of the Treaty on European Union, the total population of each Member State for the period from 1 November 2004 to 31 December 2005 shall be as follows: Member State Population (× 1000) Germany82531,7France61684,7United Kingdom59651,5Italy57888,2Spain42345,3Poland38190,6Netherlands16258,0Greece11041,1Portugal10474,7Belgium10396,4Czech Republic10211,5Hungary10116,7Sweden8975,7Austria8114,0Denmark5397,6Slovakia5380,1Finland5219,7Ireland4027,5Lithuania3445,9Latvia2319,2Slovenia1996,4Estonia1350,6Cyprus730,4Luxembourg451,6Malta399,9Total458599,0Threshold (62 %)284331,4

1 Before 1 September each year, Member States shall communicate to the Statistical Office of the European Communities the data concerning their total population as at 1 January of the current year.

2 With effect from 1 January each year, the Council shall, in accordance with the data available to the Statistical Office of the European Communities on 30 September of the preceding year, amend the figures set out in Article 1. This Decision shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.’