A large majority of Member States are opposed to any reform of EU electoral law that could lead to the creation of a European electoral constituency, preferring to maintain the status quo.
This is evidenced by the preliminary report presenting the main results of the survey that the Swedish Presidency of the EU Council sent to the EU27 to identify the elements of the reform sought by the European Parliament that they reject or could accept (see EUROPE 13202/11).
“I don’t see this file moving anytime soon”, said a European diplomatic source, reporting on Thursday 22 June that there were “very different” opinions among the Member States. According to this source, “we are heading toward a default position”, meaning to “keep things as they are”, given that the prospects of reaching an agreement before the summer break, considered to be the deadline for incorporating a reform of electoral law into Member States’ legislation in time for the European elections in June 2024, are “very, very small”.
Through this reform, the European Parliament is advocating the creation of a European electoral constituency which, in addition to the European elections taking place at national level, would make it possible to elect 28 MEPs from transnational lists led by head-of-list candidates (‘Spitzenkandidaten’) (see EUROPE 12944/1).
According to the results of the survey carried out by the Swedish Presidency, “a large number of Member States” prefer to continue to regulate the organisation of European elections at national level, citing issues of subsidiarity and the budget. Apart from a handful of countries such as France and Germany (see EUROPE 13190/19), they do not support the creation of transnational lists which, in their view, would lack legitimacy.
Nor is there a majority in the EU Council to set a single date for the European elections, which the European Parliament wants to symbolically set for 9 May, or to lower the minimum voting age to 16 throughout the EU. The same applies to the generalisation of postal voting.
Minimum electoral thresholds. Nevertheless, the Member States appear willing to discuss certain issues “in depth”, such as the question of the minimum threshold of votes required to elect a candidate as an MEP, in order “to avoid excluding existing parties or breaching the principle of equal voting”. The main issues appear to relate to the minimum threshold of 3.5% of votes set by Parliament, “with notably a proposal to set a 2-5% bracket instead”, note the authors of the report.
This issue, along with the composition of the European Parliament for the 2024-2029 term (see other news), will be debated at the EU ‘General Affairs’ Council in Luxembourg on Tuesday 27 June.
To see the report presenting the survey results: https://aeur.eu/f/7mz (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)