Between June 6 and 9, the twenty-seven member states of the European Union (EU) will hold elections to determine the makeup of the European Parliament (one of the EU’s legislative bodies) for the next five years. These elections are set to be consequential: Critical issues—such as the EU’s positions on Ukraine and China, the future of the single market and Europe’s economy, and tech and green transition policies—are on the docket for the next Parliament’s term, with potentially wide-ranging implications for US-EU relations. To help US observers and decision makers navigate those implications, the Europe Center is breaking down the dynamics, issues, and parties at play.

Why do these elections matter?

The EU can be complicated and, sometimes, opaque. Just check out the EU’s explainers on the differences between the European Council from the Council of the European Union (not to be confused with the Council of Europe, of course). The European Parliament elections taking place in June are complicated, too.

These elections matter for two reasons. For one, they will be an important test of how the EU populace judges Europe’s overall trajectory, even if national political debates wind up dominating the ballots. Second, the outcome can influence the makeup of the next European Commission and ease or complicate the EU’s legislative agenda.  

First, the Parliament, while institutionally weaker compared to the other EU institutions, still plays an important role in advancing the EU’s agenda. Regulations and legislation travel through the over-seven-hundred-member Parliament, and the Parliament works with the Commission and European Council to enact the EU’s rules. The Parliament also holds sway over the approval of the European Union’s budget—controlling where billions of euros go across the bloc and the world—and over the approval of trade agreements such as the now-moribund EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment. The European Parliament has historically relied on an informal coalition of the center-right and center-left to form a consensus that supports greater powers for the EU legislature. A shift along the political spectrum may add more variation in how coalitions are formed to pass legislation.

This is all to say that the preferences of voters from Madrid to Milan and from Dublin to Dubrovnik will impact how the European Union takes forward critical policies on issues that have come to dominate the agenda, including, for example, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, democratic backsliding, climate change, agriculture, trade, migration, and relations with China.

The elections will also influence the makeup of the European Commission, the bloc’s powerful executive arm. The EU’s heads of state nominate the Commission president—via a system of horse trading—but the Parliament must approve the nomination and the makeup of the larger Commission leadership. This will matter for current Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s shot at a second term. The Commission has grown in stature and importance in recent years, but it still requires buy-in from the Parliament.

These elections also matter for Washington. The Biden administration has treated the EU as a partner of first resort, and the administration is perhaps the most pro-EU in US history. Von der Leyen specifically has been one of US President Joe Biden’s closest partners. His administration has relied on a strong EU partner on issues including its approach to Russia, the green transition, and cooperation on technology and digital issues—notwithstanding bilateral irritants that have largely been contained. The Commission under a second von der Leyen term would continue to have general freedom to pursue coordination with Washington, but a new Parliament with its own priorities may indirectly shift how the Commission is able to deal with Washington.

—Jorn Fleck, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center

What is the electoral process?

The European Parliament is the bloc’s only directly elected democratic body, connecting EU citizens to the decisions made in Brussels. Meanwhile, the European Council and Council of the European Union are made up of EU member heads of state and ministers, respectively, and the college of European Commissioners is chosen by consent from the Council and Parliament.

Elections for the European Parliament are held every five years and are run at the national level. Countries are granted seats broadly based on population. In its current makeup, for example, Germany has the largest number of members, with ninety-six. Cyprus, with a much smaller population, has six members. Voting rules and procedures also differ in each country. The minimum voting age, for example, differs across the continent—sixteen in countries like Austria, Belgium, and Germany and eighteen in others. Voting systems—proportional, first-past-the-post, or others—also vary across the twenty-seven countries.

Voters pick candidates from national parties to be members of the European Parliament, and domestic politics play a massive role in the elections. In effect there are twenty-seven different elections across Europe over the course of the three days—each with their own flavor and core issues that combine European and national priorities. National parties across the bloc organize themselves into pan-European party groups based on their alignment with their respective European party family—such as the center-right European People’s Party or the center-left Party of European Socialists. The national parties affiliated with each European party will generally campaign with a coherent message across Europe. The group that receives the largest share of members is considered the winner of the elections. Once elected, members sit in the European Parliament in European political groups, which correspond to European parties, and these groups form the core building blocks of European Parliament voting blocs.

What is the connection between the European Parliament and the European Commission?

The European Parliament is a unique legislative body. Unlike national legislatures, the Parliament does not have the right of legislative initiative, meaning it cannot introduce legislation—that is a power reserved by the European Commission—and is otherwise a co-legislator with the Council of the European Union on most areas of EU policy. The Parliament, however, does play a role in shaping the Commission.

The president of the Commission is nominated by the European Council, the bloc’s heads of state, following the elections. The Commission president must then be approved by a majority in the Parliament. The Parliament also approves the appointment of commissioners—equivalent to US cabinet secretaries—following a series of hearings.

Since 2014, the European Commission president has been chosen through a Spitzenkandidat, or “lead candidate,” system in which each party group picks one lead candidate for the elections. The lead candidate for the largest party in the Parliament elections typically is put forward as the Commission president. But this is not always the case in practice. In the most recent elections, von der Leyen was a last-minute and unexpected pick for president even though she did not run as a candidate for the presidency.

Which are the key parties?

While the vast majority of Members of the European Parliament associate with one of these groups, a small handful do not belong to any group. These MEPs are called “Non-Inscrits.”

What is the current makeup of the European Parliament?

For more content on elections taking place around Europe in 2024, check out our Transatlantic Horizons project.

Related Experts: Jörn Fleck, Emma Nix, and James Batchik

Image: Members of the European Parliament take part in a voting session at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, November 20, 2013. Picture taken with a fisheye lens. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler (FRANCE - Tags: POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)