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Elections 2009

3. Challenges

The Irish rejection of the Lisbon Treaty, in June 2008, created some uncertainty around the European Elections 2009, specifically the number of seats available.

Following recent accessions, the present number of MEPs (785) exceeds the maximum agreed under the current (Nice) treaty. For the 2009 elections, the Nice Treaty will therefore limit the number of MEPs to 736. By contrast, the Lisbon Treaty would have provided for 751 MEPs, had it been ratified.

Voter turnout

Despite the European Parliament’s increasing influence, voter turnout in European elections has fallen throughout the years:

• June 1979: First direct elections, voter turnout 63%
• 1984: EC 10, turnout 61%
• 1989: EC 10, turnout 58.5%
• 1994: EU 12, turnout 56.8%
• 1999: EU 15, turnout 49.8%
• 2004: EU 25, turnout 45.6%
• June 2009: EU 27, turnout?

So far, no solution has been found on how to better engage EU voters in European politics. It has been suggested that citizens have not quite grasped the increasingly important role of the Parliament – the relevance it has in everyday workings on European policy-making. In many member states, European elections are seen as second-to-national; many national parties and politicians concentrate on national elections, at the expense of European ones. The work that MEPs do on the European level tends to be less familiar to voters than the work of national parliamentarians on local and national issues. This is amplified by the large number of MEPs, as a single MEP’s influence is seen as a drop in the ocean. Many voters claim to be poorly informed about European issues, while media give little coverage to the EP elections as they claim audiences are “not interested”.

Voter apathy undermines the democratic legitimacy of the European Parliament and the EU as a whole, which is why the EP, other EU institutions and the member states are working to reverse the trend. European parties have also launched pan-European campaigns to re-engage voters and build a sense of a true “European” election. Varying voting dates, of course, make these efforts difficult.

Opinion polls

Surveys give limited encouragement. In the Autumn 2008 Eurobarometer, just over a quarter of respondents knew that the European Election would be in 2009 (up 10% in six months). However, only 44% said they were interested in the election (a 2% fall in six months). Ultimately, just over a third of respondents said they would probably vote, while 15% said they would definitely not vote.

When asked what would boost their sense of being a European citizen: 39% favoured a European welfare system (social, health and pensions), while 24% wanted an EU task force to handle international disasters. The third most popular choice, at 20%, would be an EU President directly elected by European citizens.

Electoral reform in the pipeline

In the European elections 2009, national electoral procedures continue to apply and the exact date of the voting varies from country to country. The EP has made repeated attempts to change this system.

Most notably, in 1992, the Maastricht Treaty stated that a uniform procedure for all member states to follow should be found for the European elections. However, despite several proposals over the years by the Parliament to reform the system, a uniform electoral procedure for the EP has not yet come about.

Proportional representation applies in all member states except for Great Britain (although it applies in Northern Ireland), where the first-past-the-post system is used. These differences, and the need for unanimity on the part of the Council and for an absolute majority in Parliament if the voting procedures were to be unified, explain why there have been difficulties in setting up a uniform electoral procedure.

The EP believes that a uniform election procedure would “strengthen Parliament's political authority, consolidate its democratic legitimacy with regard to the creation of a genuine European Union and strengthen citizens' sense of belonging to a common European society”.

The EP has previously proposed that 10% of Parliament's total seats should be allocated in a single EU-wide constituency. Concurrent membership of a national parliament and the European Parliament should also cease to be possible.

In October 2008, a radical overhaul of the European Parliament elections was proposed by MEP Andrew Duff, the Parliament's rapporteur on electoral reform. His report stated that a reform was “badly needed” for the 2014 elections. The report recommends that “semi-open” transnational candidate lists should be created. In these, the voter would choose between candidates on party lists, not simply candidates of different parties. The Duff report would set the minimum voter age at 16 and the minimum candidate age at 18. It would also strengthen the Parliament's powers in assessing the eligibility and credentials of candidates. In order to be adopted, the system would require unanimity in the European Council as well as treaty changes.