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It is noted that the European Parliament, due to its size and national, linguistic and cultural pluralism, faces difficulties inherent in the changing nature of the political community it represents. It is proved that the European Parliament can be attributed to the third, hybrid type of representative body. Since the first type seeks to ensure popular representation and create formal conditions for democratisation, the second type is characteristic of international, public and private organisations, and is used to coordinate the activities of a large number of participants. The introduction of direct elections has brought it closer to the first type, but its lack of universal competence is characteristic of the second type. The main obstacles to further parliamentarisation of the EU are: the dynamics of intergovernmental relations (deepening integration without supranationalisation), resistance from the European Council (refusal to cede its powers), over-constitutionalisation (increasing importance of court decisions as opposed to political decisions made by the European Council and the European Parliament), agencification (transfer of regulatory decision-making in the field of market policy formation and adjustment to independent regulatory bodies) and representativeness. It is noted that the admission of new members will inevitably lead to an increase in regressiveness and exacerbate the problem of electoral inequality. The advantages and disadvantages of alternative electoral systems for increasing the representativeness of the European Parliament are considered. The author proves the need to strengthen cooperation between Ukrainian political parties and European parliamentarians in order to secure their support during the vote on the country`s accession to the European Union and to interact more effectively after full membership. Keywords: parliament, European Union, representation, elections, democracy, democratic deficit, European integration, parliamentarisation.