The European Parliament elections: No grounds for complacency by Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska
Despite media hype about a eurosceptic takeover, pro-EU forces held their ground in the European Parliament. But EU leaders cannot be complacent about the results of these European Parliament elections. EU leaders could be forgiven for breathing a sigh of relief when they discussed the European election results on May 28th in Brussels. Turnout was up, and there was no eurosceptic takeover, despite media hype. The mainstream centreright and centre-left political families lost their majority, which will make EU decision-making more cumbersome. But together with the liberal and green groups, both of which made big gains, pro-Europeans should be able to keep populists in check. The EU cannot be complacent about this result, however. The elections offer three important lessons for EU leaders when they discuss priorities for 2019-2024, and who should run the European Commission. First, increased participation in European elections is good news, but will not improve the EU’s democratic legitimacy on its own. Having fallen in every election since the European Parliament was directly elected for the first time in 1979, this time turnout increased from 42.6 per cent in 2014 to nearly 51 per cent. In some Central European countries, which had previously expressed little interest in European elections, turnout was over 20 points higher. In Romania it reached 51 per cent (from 32). In
Poland, turnout rose from 23.8 in 2014 to 45.6 per cent. European Council President Donald Tusk argued that increased participation “proves that the EU is a strong, pan-European democracy, which citizens care about.” But it is too early to say that European issues were the only driver behind greater public mobilisation in these elections and – as such – comments about an emerging European demos might be premature. A surge in support for populist and eurosceptic parties following the financial and migration crises could have galvanised pro-EU voters concerned about the “survival of the EU” to push back. Polarisation in politics can make people more willing to participate. But the European elections have also traditionally served as an opportunity to express frustration with national governments and domestic politics. In Poland, for example, the European Parliament elections were a dry run for the government and the opposition ahead of parliamentary elections in the autumn; the election campaign focused almost exclusively on domestic issues. Some member-states combined European elections with regional polls or referendums. In Romania, citizens voted on the government’s controversial judicial reforms, which envisaged among