One month until the European elections: everything you need to know | European elections 2024

During the European elections, around 370 million Europeans can go to the polls to elect 720 MEPs. They will soon form the new European Parliament, the democratic body of the European Union.

The Netherlands elects a total of 31 MEPs. That is 5 more than in the previous elections (in 2019), when the United Kingdom had not yet officially left the EU. The elections will take place from Thursday 6 to Sunday 9 June. Dutch people can vote on the first day between 7:30 AM and 9:00 PM, which is how we kick off the four-day election.

The next day, on June 7, the Irish and Czechs can go to the polls. From June 8, it will be the turn of the Latvians, Maltese, Slovaks and Italians. The rest of the Member States will follow on June 9. That Sunday – Super Sunday – the vast majority of Europeans vote and the first results are announced.

What is unique about the European elections is that each member state has its own electoral rules. The rules for the Dutch election day are made by the Electoral Council and are the same as for other elections, such as those for the House of Representatives.

Different rules apply in other countries. In the Netherlands, all people aged 18 or older with a valid ID are allowed to vote. But Germans and Belgians can vote from the age of 16. In Greece and Italy the minimum age is a lot higher: 25 years.

Member States also determine themselves whether an electoral threshold (minimum number of votes or seats that a party must obtain), where people can vote and whether it is mandatory to vote. In four countries – Belgium, Bulgaria, Luxembourg and Greece – such a voting obligation officially applies.

Dutch people only vote for candidates from Dutch parties, provided that they have registered for the European elections. The ballot paper therefore simply contains parties such as the CDA, the PVV and D66.

These parties are represented in European groups. These are a kind of umbrella party in which national parties with the same ideological background (for example Christian Democrats, Socialists or Liberals) work together.

There are currently seven such European groups. Parties that are not affiliated with such a faction provide non-aligned MEPs, but they have fewer rights during debates.

On the evening of June 9, when the polls are closed everywhere, the first results trickle in. Each Member State must wait to announce the results until the polls are closed everywhere, to prevent early results from influencing voting behavior.

However, an exit poll on the evening of June 6, when the polls are closed in the Netherlands, will provide a first indication of Dutch voting behavior. About a week after the elections, the Electoral Council determines the official results. It is then up to the European Parliament to combine all the results and distribute the seats.

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The new European Parliament will meet for the first time in Brussels on July 16. The new chairman and fourteen vice-chairmen will be elected that day. Currently, Malta’s Roberta Metsola of the European People’s Party chairs the European Parliament.

The European Parliament plays an important role in appointing the new president of the European Commission, the most powerful position in the EU. It is expected that the proposed Commission president will come to the European Parliament in Brussels between September 16 and 19 to convince a majority of the new MEPs.

The elections determine the EU’s ideological course for the next five years. Parliament has the power to approve and amend laws, so factions with many seats have relatively much influence on European policy for the coming term.

In Brussels, attention will mainly be paid to the turnout for the elections. In 2019, the turnout percentage exceeded 50 percent for the first time in twenty years. The EU hopes that this has started an upward trend. Yet the percentage remains low and a higher turnout is really necessary to save the democratic credibility of the EU.

Younger voters in particular can significantly increase turnout, as the European Parliament saw in 2019. This explains why the Commission called on Taylor Swift earlier this year to mobilize young voters. Brussels hopes for a repeat of Swift’s success in the United States, where a call from the singer on Instagram to vote led to more than 35,000 voting registrations in 24 hours.

But the question is whether the attendance problem can be solved so easily. Unlike in the United States, the campaigns for the European elections are still very national in nature. With 24 official languages ​​and a wide range of political cultures and traditions, it is difficult to run a campaign that is understandable and relevant to all Europeans.

Moreover, election campaigns are mainly dependent on national circumstances. In eastern member states, defense is an important theme in view of the Russian threat at the border. Residents of Malta and Cyprus, where many asylum seekers land, are more concerned about migration.

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