The European Parliament will be held from May 23rd to 26th across the European Union (EU). EU's democratic foundations may be endangered not just by the rise of anti-European parties but also by the faltering efforts at renewing the European project.
The European Parliament elections will be held from May 23rd to 26thacross the European Union (EU). The Parliament is the only EU body elected by direct universal suffrage, thus constituting one of the EU’s main democratic foundations. These democratic foundations may find themselves endangered not (only) by the rise of anti-European parties but (also) by a lack of renewal of the European project.
The upcoming elections will reshuffle the assembly of 705 European members who sit along the lines of 8 transnational policy groups, from the far left to the far right – and not by nationality. Each member state of the EU is allocated representatives, depending on their total population: the most populous, Germany, will be sending 96 MEP (members of the European Parliament) when Luxembourg or Malta will only get six. In a number of projections, an end will be put to the grand coalition of centre left and centre right parties – to whose advantage? Will the anti-European parties manage to bridge their differences and ultimately form an alliance, thus effectively transforming the European Parliament from the inside? Or will French President Macron’s party La République En Marche (LREM) succeed in bringing enough seats to the Liberals (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, ALDE) and upend the expected distribution of votes, turning themselves into kingmakers?
Keeping in mind that the new European Parliament will be undoubtedly different from the current one – mainly because the anti-European parties could form the second largest coalition in the Parliament - one needs to think about how the old and the new political families will work on the renewal of the European project. Of course, if the anti-European parties succeed in their crusade against the EU, they could form a blocking minority, worsening the impression of inertia stemming from the Union. Although their policies diverge, these parties share a common objective of reducing the reach of the EU, that they see as a bureaucratic organisation.
An ECFR study released last month points to the high volatility in voting intentions: 70% of Europeans certain to vote have yet to make their choice. This isn’t going to be a single-issue election, as voters have demonstrated they care about a variety of issues: the rise of nationalism, the economy, climate change and migration, among others. Three quarters of Europeans believe that either their national system or the European system – or both – is broken. And two-thirds of them believe that their children’s lives will be worse than their own. Europe is struggling to reach to people beyond these fears they express. In this context, there is a critical need for a European spirit capable of unifying beyond the accumulation of fears< style="background-color: #d5d5d5">.
Is Europe isolated from the inside? A critical finding from this study is that the main divide in voters is between status quo and change. Those who believe the EU should pursue its course and those who want to fundamentally change it from within. Unsurprisingly, mainstream traditional parties were identified as representatives of the status quo. If Europe is to thrive, these parties will have to reboot their European agenda and position themselves as efficient actors of change.Nationalist parties have understood this very well and have operated a dramatic repositioning of their policies: France’s Rassemblement National and the League and Five Star Movement in Italy abandoned the idea of taking their countries out of the euro and instead are pleading for a refoundation of the euro. Consequently, appearing as a force for change. For pro-European parties, however, what is at stake is not finding a new slogan or flip-flopping on policies; it is about setting a new step for the European project and delivering on it for the younger and older disenchanted Europeans, who are looking for new voices that can hear and echo their anxieties and fear but also their hopes.
In the anti-European wave, contradictory assertions emerge: the EU is too far-reaching, or the EU is not efficient enough? How can decision-makers move forward on building an innovative and positive agenda for the Union? Should they pave the way for a European sovereignty? Today, not only is Europe isolated, but it is also attacked from the outside: Donald Trump called it an enemy in July last year, Vladimir Putin castigates a ‘decadent Europe’ and the Chinese Belt and Road project is making inroads into the EU, the democratic values of which it disparages. What is it about the EU that gets authoritarian leaders in Europe and elsewhere so angry? Democracy, rule of law, freedom of conscience, cultural creation and creativity, protection of nature and the environment?
We are hoping that the populist wave will be contained and spare the European Parliament. But that isn’t enough. In 2019, the EU seems to be a gigantic apparatus, a technocracy without a purpose but there is no fatality there. We have a common market, a common currency and a common bureaucracy – will we see the advent of a common democracy? This European dream doesn’t have to stay out of reach: more power can be given to the European Parliament: the direct expression of European suffrage. Come May 26th and we may find the European spirit that has been too absent lately.
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