The 2024 European elections will take place from June 6th to 9th. Hundreds of millions of EU citizens have the opportunity to re-elect the European Parliament and thus significantly influence the political direction of the EU for the next five years.

There will be elections in Europe in less than a month. But what exactly will be voted on in the summer and what influence does the European Parliament have? An overview:

In Germany, the well-known parties are available for election. In the EU Parliament, however, they join forces with other similar parties to form a party alliance.

A total of 720 members of the European Parliament will be elected. In terms of sheer numbers, there are fewer politicians than in the last election, when 751 people’s representatives entered parliament. However, as a result of Great Britain’s withdrawal from the EU, numerous MPs also lost their mandate. Compared to the current number of MPs, 15 more places are being allocated than four and a half years ago.

As the most populous country in the EU, Germany also has the most MPs, with a total of 96. The number of MPs is allocated based on the population, but a seat does not always reflect the same number of voters: while a German MP has an average of roughly 875 While a representative from Malta represents 100,000 people, the figure is just under 100,000. This inequality is intended to ensure that the diversity of parties from less populated countries is represented in parliament. If this inequality did not exist, the parliament would have to be significantly larger or the citizens of the smallest EU countries would only be represented by one MP. This so-called degressive proportionality is intended to ensure that every vote has the same weight.

Votes can be cast from June 6th to 9th. The Dutch will be the first to go to the polls on Thursday, June 6th. According to parliamentary information, Ireland follows, followed a day later by Latvia, Malta and Slovakia. In the rest of the EU, like in Germany, elections will take place on Sunday, June 9th. The different dates are intended to ensure that the different electoral traditions can be maintained.

For the first time in Germany, minors are allowed to take part in European elections. Because the voting age was reduced from 18 to 16 years. Citizens of other EU countries who live in Germany and are old enough are also eligible to vote. Germany is one of the few countries where minors are allowed to vote. According to information from the EU Parliament in August, this is otherwise only possible in Austria, Belgium, Malta and Greece. The voting age in Greece is 17.

Germans who do not live in Germany and want to take part in the election must submit a formal application to be registered in the voters’ register before each election. According to the Federal Returning Officer, there are different procedures depending on which country you live in. You can request a postal vote up to two days before the election.

This differs from EU country to EU country, sometimes from party to party. In Germany, most parties draw up nationwide lists, the order of which is determined at a party conference. The more votes a party gets, the more people from that list move in. In the case of the CDU/CSU, lists are not adopted nationwide, but at the state level. The compilations for the European elections have now been published by most German parties.

It is uniform across the EU that the number of representatives of a party must be proportional to the number of votes received. There are no cross-country lists.

14 of the 27 EU states also have threshold clauses of between 1.8 and five percent. In Germany, unlike in the federal election, there is currently no minimum threshold for parties to send representatives to parliament. That’s why in 2019, numerous small German parties were able to enter the European Parliament with just one member, including the Eco-Democratic Party and the party of the satirist Martin Sonneborn.

Almost every European party or group in parliament has nominated EU-wide leading candidates. This is intended to make the election campaign appear transnational. Current Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) has also nominated herself as the top candidate of her conservative European People’s Party (EPP).

The parliamentarians are pushing for a top candidate to be given the position at the top of the EU Commission, unlike in 2019. However, this is not directly stipulated in EU laws. The decision rests largely with EU heads of state and government, who must make a proposal for the post after the election.

Which majorities can be organized in parliament has a decisive influence on new EU laws. Many current projects, such as the phase-out of combustion engines or controversial nature conservation and climate laws, had to be approved by a majority in parliament. Parliament also has a major influence on the distribution of money, such as the billions in EU agricultural funding.

However, most laws are negotiated together with the EU states and must also find a majority in the so-called European Council. Representatives of the respective national governments make decisions there. The European elections have no direct influence on the majority situation in this institution.

However, the composition of the EU Commission after the election can influence Parliament. The authority has the sole right to propose specific EU legal acts, which are then negotiated by Parliament and the EU states. Although it is initially the task of the heads of state and government of the EU states to make a proposal for the president, Parliament can reject this. As a rule, a candidate from the ranks of the largest parliamentary group is also proposed.

The European Council and the president-elect will then draw up a list of the remaining commissioners, one from each EU state. Parliament must also approve the appointment of the remaining commissioners.