This briefing provides a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in the current 10th parliamentary term (2024-2029) who had held public office at local, regional and/or national level before taking up their mandates (or, in some cases, continue to hold sub-national level public posts). The analysis found that 64 % of MEPs had previously held public office at one or more of these levels before the current term. Their roles included mayors, city councillors, members of regional assemblies, regional ministers, members of national parliaments, national ministers and prime ministers. Specifically, 41 % of MEPs had held office at national level, 37 % at local level and 24 % at regional level. Notably, 23 % had served at two levels of government and 7 % at all three. The average duration of prior experience in these roles is significant: 10 years at local level, 7 years and 8 months at regional level, and 8 years and 5 months at national level. These figures are broadly consistent with those from the 9th parliamentary term (2019-2024), both in the proportion of MEPs with prior office-holding experience and the duration of that experience, which suggests continuity in Parliament's institutional profile. In terms of gender patterns, a higher share of male than female MEPs had held office across all three levels. The gap was relatively small at local and regional level but wider at national level, where 44 % of men had prior experience compared with 35 % of women. Finally, the briefing examines how the share of MEPs with prior office-holding experience varies across parliamentary committees – in which they serve as full members – highlighting variations by policy area and level of government. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP Read more