EU Parliament The May 2019 elections are expected to bring some change to a smaller parliament
With 751 seats, the European Parliament is currently at the maximum size allowed under the Lisbon treaty. Once the United Kingdom is leaving the European Union, 705 new parliamentarians will be elected in the the May 2019 elections. Of the 73 current British seats, 27 will be re-allocated to other countries leaving 46 seats for potential future expansions of the EU.
Wikipedia: European Parliament election 2019
The parliament will also change in other ways. It is expected that the French party En Marche will win a number of seats, however French President Emanuel Macron and the party have not yet publicly announced if its MEPs will join the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) in the European Parliament or form an entirely new group.
Some prominent European figures are running or contemplating a run for the elections. Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis who co-founded a new pan-European movement, Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25) in 2016 is running in Germany. In France, Former French presidential candidate Ségolène Royal is contemplating to forge a left of centre alliance and run for Parliament.
The Parliament Magazine: european elections 2019
In a string of national elections across the EU, anti-EU and populist parties were on the rise and it remains to be seen if and how this will affect the EU Parliament elections in May. If the trend continues, related groups in Parliament such as Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) and Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF) stand to gain seats.
There are also national election in Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Latvia prior to May 2019 which could and likely will influence the outcome of the European elections.