everything you need to know

More than 450 million Europeans will be called to the polls in June to elect, from all of us, the 720 Members of the European Parliament who will form the European Parliament’s tenth term. Despite the fact that these are elections that citizens may view as distant, many of the rules that affect our daily lives are debated and decided in this European institution, on issues such as the economy, agriculture and fisheries, the environment, migration and social rights. .

There are some common aspects to these elections in all countries of the European Union. For example, all EU citizens who meet the legal minimum age have the right to vote. Likewise, citizens have the right to choose where to vote, either in their country of nationality or in their country of residence, whichever is different from the first country.

However, there are many aspects that change from country to country. For example:

How many MEPs are elected in each country?

A total of 720 Members of the European Parliament will be elected on this occasion, 15 more than during the previous term. However, not all countries contribute equally. The country that will contribute the most elected officials will be Germany, with 96; while Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta will have the fewest MEPs as they will send six each.

The citizens of Euskal Herria will have our representatives among the 61 Members of the European Parliament corresponding to the Spanish State and the 81 corresponding to the French State.

How are the number of MEPs from each country chosen?

Each country contributes more or less a number of Members of the European Parliament proportional to its population, although to determine the specific number a decreasing proportionality is followed; That is, the most populous states accept that they are underrepresented in order to promote greater representation of the less populous states. Therefore, the more densely populated a country is, the less representation it will have relative to its population.

It is established that no country can have fewer than 6 elected representatives, and no more than 96. Similarly, the Treaty of Lisbon (2007) stipulates that the total number of MEPs cannot exceed 751.

On the other hand, each of the states conducts these elections according to its own electoral regulations. Other aspects that therefore differ from one to another are the date, the minimum voting age and the electoral system.

When are the elections?

The European institutions have determined that the elections will take place from 6 to 9 June 2024. In Euskal Herria they are on June 9, because in both the Spanish and French states, as in most countries, the elections are usually held on Sunday. .

However, there are countries where voting usually takes place during the week. For example, the Dutch will vote on Thursday, June 6, and the Irish and Czechs on Friday, June 7. In Slovakia, Latvia, Malta and the French overseas territories they will vote on Saturday, June 8. Finally, there will be two days of elections in Italy, Saturday the 8th and Sunday the 9th.

What is the minimum age to vote?

This is another aspect that makes the difference from country to country. Most countries set their minimum voting age at 18 years. The exception to this is Austria and Malta, where the legal age is 16; Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary, where you can vote if you are 16 years old and meet certain conditions; and Greece, where the minimum age is 17 years.

Electoral system: constituencies

Each state also chooses the system used to distribute its allocated seats. The majority choose the D’Hont system, including Spain and France.

Similarly, some countries, such as Ireland, divide their territory into several constituencies and put forward candidates in one or more of them. Others, on the other hand, run a single constituency.

Spain and France belong to the latter. This means that a voter from Extremadura or Cantabria can choose the list of the Canary Coalition or that someone from Provence can vote for the list containing the candidates of the Parti Nationaliste Basque.

Although the lists are common to the entire constituency, in the Spanish case the candidates can submit three requests to the Electoral Council: the change of their name or symbol for each autonomous community, that the lists of a community mention only the names of the candidates from area and that the distribution of their ballots is not statewide.

How many candidates are presented?

33 applications have been accepted in the Spanish state. Some of them come from national parties, such as those of the PP, the PSOE, Podemos or Sumar, for example.

In other cases, platforms have been formed that unite representatives of different political parties. For example, EAJ-PNV has formed a list together with the Canary Coalition under the name Coalition for a Europe of Solidarity (CEUS). EH Bildu, in turn, has formed a platform together with ERC and BNG under the name Orain Errepublikak/Ahora Repúblicas.

In other cases, parties within the scope of an Autonomous Community have formed a single list for the entire constituency, for example Junts i LLiures per Europa, Ahora Andalucía or Juntos por Extremadura.

Voters in the French state will in turn be able to choose from 37 candidates. In this case, the EAJ/PNB representatives are active within the Ecologie Positive et Territoires coalition, while EH Bai has decided not to participate in the elections.

Parties in the European Parliament

However, once the elections are held, Members of the European Parliament organize themselves into large trans-state political groups based on their affinities and ideology, although they can also decide not to join any group and work for themselves.

In the legislature that is coming to an end, the majority of MEPs had gathered around seven major parliamentary blocs: the Group of the European People’s Party (PP), the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament (PES-EE), Renew Europe Group (PNV), the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance (BNG, ERC…), the Group of European Conservatives and Reformists (VOX), the Identity and Democracy Group and the Group of the Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NLG (Vamos).

To form a political group it is necessary that there are at least 25 Members of the European Parliament, coming from at least a quarter of the EU countries.

What do MEPs do?

The European Parliament shares EU legislative power with the other three main community institutions: the European Council (made up of the Heads of State or Government), the Council of the European Union (made up of the ministers of the governments of each country) and the European Commission (a team of Commissioners acting as the EU government and chaired by Ursula von der Leyen during the previous term).

Furthermore, within the EU institutional system there is also the Court of Justice of the EU, the European Central Bank and the European Court of Auditors.

The functions of Parliament and Members of the European Parliament include approving EU laws drawn up on a proposal from the Commission, deciding on international agreements and on the enlargement of the Union, establishing and approving EU budgets, supervising the rest of the community institutions, examining citizens’ requests…

It is also Parliament’s job to elect the Commission president and approve the team of commissioners who will lead the union for the next five years.

In terms of location, Parliament has three seats. The most important one takes place in Strasbourg, although the plenary sessions can take place there or in the Brussels meeting room. Likewise, the General Secretariat is headquartered in Luxembourg.