The next elections to the European Parliament will be held in less than a year -from June 6 to 9, 2024- and could incorporate a double ballot box electoral system: one, to elect the 705 MEPs of the Chamber according to the usual procedure, following the electoral legislation of each member state, and a second ballot box to elect another 28 MEPs on transnational lists, one for each party or coalition, in which the constituency would be the entire European Union. The double vote proposal is one of the main novelties of the reform project of the Electoral Act of the Union, approved by the European Parliament, but pending negotiation with the Council, and which also includes the provision of zipper lists or quotas to guarantee the gender equality in the 27 countries and extend postal voting to the entire territory of the EU.
The report for electoral reform, for which the socialist MEP Domènec Ruiz is a speaker, notes that “the existence of divergent electoral cultures has resulted in multiple electoral systems and different voting rights throughout the Union” and that common minimum standards in the electoral system “can promote a genuine European public debate and guarantee the equality of the citizens of the Union”.
The reform does not foresee modifying the election system of any of the countries for the allocation of the 705 deputies that now make up the European Parliament. It is quite complicated to achieve a unanimous agreement in the EU to enter into a matter that fully affects the sovereignty of the member states. The reform report has the approval of the European Parliament, but it remains to negotiate with the Council. If approved this year, it could be applied in the 2024 elections.
The news about the electoral system would be limited to the 28 MEPs that are added to the chamber, which can be expanded without the need to reform the Treaty of Lisbon, explained Domènec Ruiz, in a meeting with the press. This is so because with the departure of the United Kingdom from the EU, in January 2020, its 73 seats became vacant. Of these, 27 were distributed among other member states (among them Spain) and 46 remained as a reserve for possible future enlargements of the Union. From these 46 come the 28 that would now be assigned with the new method.
The 28 MEPs would be elected in a single constituency of the entire territory of the EU, through closed and blocked lists of 28 candidates presented by the parties, coalitions or electoral groups. The allocation of seats would be through the d’Hondt method and a minimum vote threshold is not established to have parliamentary representation. Each party or coalition presents a single list with candidates from various countries, and in order to guarantee the presence of the countries with the smallest population in starting positions, the proposal provides that a candidacy cannot repeat nationality in the first 14 positions on the list. All EU countries are grouped into three blocks, based on population, and in those first 14 positions on the list there must be, in groups of three, one candidate from each block of countries.
“European elections are more national than we would like, and what we have every five years are 27 simultaneous national elections. European parties have existed since the Maastricht Treaty, but no one sees a European identity in them”, points out Domènec Ruiz, who defends the electoral reform as a first step to achieve a true European elections.
The European lists would also allow the head of each party’s list to be the candidate for the presidency of the European Commission (EC), which would give them electoral support that they currently lack. The current president of this body, Ursula von der Leyen, without going any further, was not an MEP, but defense minister of the German Government, where she had been holding various portfolios for years, when she was appointed in 2019 to preside over the EC.
The reform proposal allows the candidate of a party to be on both lists, the one that competes only in their country and the one of the 28 that competes throughout the EU. So Von der Leyen could be both the head of the conservative list in Germany and in the EU. It is a hypothesis. And in another hypothetical case, Josep Borrell could be the socialist candidate in Spain and in the EU. And both would then be candidates to preside over the European Commission.
“We think that it can increase interest and participation in the European elections because each citizen casts two votes, in one they express adherence to a European party and a program at a European level, and in the other they support a candidate to preside over the Commission” , defends Domènec Ruiz.
If it goes ahead, it is foreseeable that the transnational candidacies of the different parties will bring together the best of the European Union. “And these candidates will have to campaign in different countries and issues that affect the Twenty-seven will be discussed because the list can be voted on throughout the Union,” added the Socialist MEP.
The text also establishes 9 May, Europe Day, as the day of voting throughout the Union in all Member States. Another of the socialist priorities covered by the reform is to reduce the right to vote in the European elections to 18 years. The report also introduces important measures for people with disabilities, guaranteeing their right to vote, regardless of their legal capacity. Along with this, accessibility to polling stations and voting material for these people will be improved.
