The European elections in 2024 will be held on June 6-9 in the 27 member states of the European Union. The next 720 members of the European Parliament will be elected at them, BGNES reported.
About 373 million citizens are eligible to vote for their representatives in the tenth direct election. The first ones were held way back in 1979. This is the second largest democratic process in the world - after India, where national elections have just ended.
The European Parliament (EP) is the only directly elected body of the EU that represents the citizens of its member states. Its main functions include negotiating EU laws with national governments, which are represented in the European Council. The EP also approves the EU budget and votes on international agreements and enlargement issues.
The results of the elections will have a direct impact on the composition of the next mandate of the European Commission, as well as on the nomination of the next President of the European Council.
As an EU citizen, you can vote in your country of origin or residence. The minimum voting age is set by each country. This age is 16 years in Austria, Belgium, Germany and Malta, 17 years in Greece and 18 years in the other EU member states, including Bulgaria.
Each country has its own specific rules governing the organization of voting.
Elections will be held on the following dates:
June 6: The Netherlands
June 7: Netherlands: Czech Republic, Ireland
June 8: Czech Republic, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Slovakia
June 9: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden
In the last European Parliament elections held in May 2019, just over 50.66% of eligible voters voted, which is over 8% more than the previous election in 2014.
The vote, held every five years, is expected to boost far-right parties amid growing discontent in the main centrist bloc, which will touch on issues ranging from climate change and migration to foreign policy and social rights.
Once elected, most politicians join political groups according to their political orientation and ideology.
The two largest European parliamentary groups have historically been the center-right European People's Party (EPP) and the center-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D). The liberals represented in the Renewal Europe (RE) group and the Greens have also been crucial to the formation of majorities in the EP.
Germany has the most MEPs (96), followed by France (81), Italy (76) and Spain (61). Bulgaria keeps the 17 places.
Forecasts suggest that the main blocs in the political center of the European Parliament - the EPP and S&D - will remain in charge, possibly allowing Ursula von der Leyen to win another term as president of the European Commission.
But their "super grand coalition", which includes liberal parties in the Renew Europe group, is likely to lose seats due to public discontent in France with President Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance party. Similarly, the Greens are also expected to take a hit after making big gains in the previous election in 2019.
Compared to the 2019 elections, the EPP and S&D groups are expected to remain stable, while the far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) and European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) are expected to win more seats in the European Parliament.
According to some predictions, the big winners will be the radical right. The EKR and IS, dominated respectively by Giorgia Meloni's Italian Brothers in Italy and Marine Le Pen's National Assembly in France, could win more than a fifth of the seats for the first time.
Far-right groups are expected to be the largest political formations in at least five EU countries. The IS group is predicted to take first place in Austria, Belgium, France and the Netherlands, and the EKR - in Italy. | BGNES
