In the EU, the new European Parliament will be elected in June next year. The date for Germany has not yet been finally set – but a date is very likely.
The next European elections will take place from June 6th to 9th, 2024. The 27 EU countries agreed on this at a meeting of their ambassadors in Brussels, as Sweden announced as the current Council President. The decision is expected to be formally confirmed on Monday. In Germany, the new members of the European Parliament will most likely be elected on June 9th – as usual on a Sunday.
respect for electoral traditions
The voting period from Thursday to Sunday applies to all EU countries. According to the Federal Returning Officer, this is intended to ensure that the various electoral traditions can be maintained. In most Member States, elections are held on a Sunday or public holiday. In the Netherlands, for example, polling stations open on Thursdays.
In Germany, elections are likely to take place on June 9th. But that still has to be decided formally, said a spokeswoman for the Federal Returning Officer on request. Parliament President Roberta Metsola called for people to vote and be part of the “biggest democratic movement in Europe”. “EU democracy is more important today than ever. Your voice counts,” she said in a video on Twitter.
The European elections are held every five years. Now it’s the tenth. In 1979, the citizens of the European Union were able to elect a European Parliament for the first time. It is based in Strasbourg and Brussels. The 2019 European elections were won by the EPP party family, which includes the CDU and CSU. The Social Democrats became the second largest group. However, both camps reached historic lows. Right-wing and right-wing radicals gained ground in the election, but Greens and Liberals also made gains.
96 parliamentarians from Germany
Across the EU, around every second person entitled to vote put their cross in 2019. In Germany, a good 61 percent of those entitled to vote voted, five years earlier it was a good 48 percent. How many MEPs a country has depends on its population. Smaller countries get proportionately more seats than large states. The countries Malta, Luxembourg and Cyprus currently have 6 MPs, and Germany, as the most populous country, has 96 MPs.
Although national parties compete in the election, most MPs join a transnational group after the election. Most national parties are also members of a European party. After the election, Parliament elects the new President of the European Commission. The Commission is the executive body of the EU: a kind of cabinet with one representative from each member state. It draws up proposals for new laws.
In July 2019, the CDU politician Ursula von der Leyen was elected President of the Commission. Before the vote in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, there was resentment because von der Leyen was not a top candidate in the European elections. The heads of state and government bypassed the lead candidates Manfred Weber of the European People’s Party (EPP) and Frans Timmermans of the Social Democrats.
The leading candidate principle is not legally anchored, but is advocated by EU politicians in order to strengthen Parliament’s role in key personnel decisions. Accordingly, the politician who received the most votes as the top candidate should become the President of the Commission. So far, this principle has only come into play in 2014, when Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker was elected.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
