Frederick Florin/AFP via Getty Images MEPs vote to shrink European Parliament after Brexit Following months of debate on redistribution of Britain’s seats, compromise proposal carries overwhelmingly.

MEPs on a key parliamentary committee voted overwhelmingly for a compromise agreement to shrink the size of the European Parliament post Brexit and open the door to the creation of a new class of member representing a whole-EU constituency.

Under the proposal, the Parliament will reduce from 751 members to 705, with the remaining 27 (currently) British seats being redistributed amongst other member countries to compensate for existing biases in representation. The Parliament's influential Constitutional Affairs Committee voted 24 in favor to 4 against.

The battle over Parliament’s composition after the U.K. leaves the EU has gone on for months, with MEPs struggling to agree on the fairest way to redistribute the U.K.’s seats. The outcome could shift the balance of power in the Parliament, shaping European democracy for years to come.

“This will make our institution leaner whilst ensuring its political operability,” said Danuta Hübner, the Polish MEP from the conservative European People’s Party, who drafted the report.

“Through tough negotiations on a politically-sensitive dossier, we have managed to ensure an outcome that is both legally and politically feasible, whilst respecting the treaty,” she added.

MEPs also largely backed the controversial provision on the creation of transnational lists despite the EPP’s firm opposition to these lists.

The report makes the introduction of the transnational MEPs with constituencies “comprising the entire territory of the Union” conditional to the adoption of a "legal basis” which will need to be provided by a future Council decision. MEPs voted in favor of an amendment which tied the number of seats for these lists to the number of members states.

However Elmar Brok, a senior German MEP from the EPP said they would further deepen the gap between EU citizens and their elected representatives. “We’re not close enough to our citizens,” Brok told other MEPs following the vote on the report. “The citizens need to know who their MEPs are."

The full Parliament will vote on the proposal at a plenary session in early February, before submitting it to the European Council for approval.