Elections to the European Parliament

Abstract

The European Parliament which is the only democratic EU institution, being elected by direct universal suffrage, has gained much influence over EU legislation, the EU budget and the nomination process of the President of the European Commission. Yet a closer look at the European Parliament’s electoral arrangements shows that European citizens are not equally represented. There is still no uniform process of electing MEPs apart from some common complex system of proportional representation. Paradoxically, the more powers the European Parliament has gained, the fewer European citizens have turned up to vote. Naturally, they tend to cast their votes on national political considerations rather than on European issues. Developing an educational approach could allow for better informed citizens. Part of the problem lies in the composition of the European Parliament where left-wing political groups favourable to more political and social European integration are on the decline while small far-right groups have emerged, reflecting the Eurosceptic climate prevailing in Europe.