Laments idea oddly to cut European members (7)
I believe the answer is:
elegies
'laments' is the definition.
(I know this)
'idea oddly to cut european members' is the wordplay.
'oddly' means one should take alternating letters (letters in the odd-numbered positions are used).
'to cut' indicates putting letters inside.
'european' becomes 'E' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'members' becomes 'legs' (leg is a kind of member).
The alternating letters of 'idea' are 'ie'.
'e'+'legs'='elegs'
'ie' placed into 'elegs' is 'ELEGIES'.
(Other definitions for elegies that I've seen before include "Poems of mourning" , "Laments for the dead" , "Lamenting poems" , "Mourning songs" .)