What is at Stake in This Year's European Elections?

With upcoming elections, here’s how the dynamics of the European Parliament could change.

Why is the European Parliament Important?

The European Parliament is the directly elected institution within the EU that acts as co-legislator with the member states in the Council of the European Union.  The EU is one of the key actors on the global stage, particularly in trade.

It is largely composed of several different pan-European political groupings from across the left-right political spectrum, made up of members from affiliated national political parties from the member states. While it does have some independent non-attached members, the political groupings hold the most sway. Which combination of political groups manages to successfully form a coalition majority within the Parliament matters for the future direction of the EU. It is not possible to adopt EU laws without the European Parliament and the laws that are adopted reflect the political perspective of the majority coalition.

Among the European Parliament's key powers are the right to approve, amend, or reject legislation.  It also plays an instrumental role in shaping the EU’s international relations. It approves international trade agreements and provides a platform for discussing important issues facing the EU.

The European Parliament negotiates and approves the EU budget along with the Council. It also plays a key role in approving the appointment of the EU Commission, the executive arm of the EU. It has the power to scrutinize the EU Commission's work, hold the 27 EU Commissioners to account, and even force the entire college of commissioners to resign if required.

The European Parliament is headquartered in Strasbourg, France. It is the world’s only directly elected transnational assembly and is the second-largest democratic electorate in the world, after India’s parliament. It consists today of 705 members, known as MEPs, who are directly elected in constituencies within the 27 member states by over 350 million eligible EU citizens, from a diverse range of different cultural backgrounds, languages, and regions, for a five-year term.

Due to demographic changes, the number of seats in the Parliament will rise to 720 at the next election. Elections are conducted by proportional representation and seats per member state are allocated based on the population size. The voting age is generally 18 years old, but some countries such as Germany and Austria allow voting from 16.

The Parliament’s debates, votes, and decisions are accessible to the public and are available in multiple languages. It also operates several specialised committees which tend to meet in Brussels and focus on specific policy areas such as trade and the environment. MEPs within these committees often engage with subject experts and other EU institutions, helping to improve the quality of their work.

The next European Parliament elections are now less than a month away and will take place between the 6th and 9th of June. The latest EU statistical data shows that more than 350 million EU citizens are eligible to vote this year and more than 20 million are eligible to vote for the first time.

Here is a breakdown of eligible voters in each EU member state:

Source: Eurostat (dataset: demo_popep)

And, here is a breakdown of the new first-time voters by member state:

Source: Eurostat ( dataset: demo_popep)

The world is both a turbulent and a transformative place right now. The European Parliament (and the EU Commission that it must approve after June’s elections) is an important institution that faces many economic and geopolitical challenges for the coming five-year term. Chief among them include: improving economic competitiveness, health and social inclusion concerns amongst EU citizens, enlargement, migration, military defense capability, digital transformation, and continuing the transition to a green economy.

Given the weight of these challenges, it is probably fair to say that these elections matter more than ever, and how voters choose to use their vote this summer will be consequential for Europe and the wider world for the years to come. 

What is happening now?

Electing members by proportional representation tends to produce a more diverse representation of the electorate reflecting more closely the actual distribution of votes among the population.  Often, this leads to situations where no single political grouping wins an outright majority. That tends to mean more compromises and negotiations are likely among the different political groups in forming a multi-group governing coalition within parliament.

This has been the case with the outgoing majority political grouping within the European Parliament, which is a grand coalition that oscillates around the political centre, consisting of the centre-right European Peoples Party (EPP), the centre-left European Socialist and Democratic group (S&D), and the centrist liberal Renew Europe (RE) grouping.

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