European elections: What you need to know about the vote

Brussels: Europeans in 27 countries are voting in elections that will have a wide impact across the European Union and beyond.

Over four days until the end of Sunday 9 June, about 373 million voters are eligible to vote from Finland in the north to Cyprus in the south, Ireland in the west to Bulgaria in the east.

At stake is the make-up of the next European Parliament, the direct link between Europeans and the EU’s institutions.

How Europeans vote will shape the direction of the EU over the next five years, on climate change and migration, greater integration or increased nationalism.

Right-wing and far-right parties have made significant gains across Europe, and this shift to the right is likely to be reflected in the next European Parliament.

The Parliament, based in Brussels and Strasbourg, passes laws that affect the lives of EU citizens and has the job of endorsing the annual budget, which this year reached €189bn (£160bn). It shares that power with the Council, made up the EU’s national governments.

The result of EU elections also has a bearing on who will be president of the European Commission.

Voting began on Thursday 6 June in the Netherlands, followed by Ireland and the Czech Republic on Friday, then Italy, Latvia, Malta and Slovakia on Saturday. The majority of EU member states are voting on Sunday.

Most voting takes place on one day although Czechs have until the end of Saturday to cast their ballots, and Italians have from Saturday afternoon until late on Sunday to vote. Belgians are not just voting in European elections on Sunday, but in national and regional elections too.

In most EU countries you have to be 18 to vote, but if you’re 16 you can vote in Germany, Austria, Belgium and Malta, while in Greece the minimum age is 17. In a handful of countries including Luxembourg and Bulgaria, voting is compulsory.

Results are decided by proportional representation, so every vote counts, although some countries have a minimum electoral threshold of up to 5%. Average turnout in 2019 was 50.7%.

By the end of Sunday 9 June it will be clear which parties have won the Parliament’s 720 seats, 15 more than in 2019. The UK took part in the last European elections before leaving the EU, and some of its seats have since been redistributed or kept in reserve if the EU expands.

The number of MEPs each country has is proportionate to its population. Germany, the EU’s most populous country, has 96 while France has 81 and Italy 76. Greece, Sweden, Portugal and the Czech Republic all have 21 while Malta, Luxembourg and Cyprus have the minimum number of six each.

As the only EU institution directly elected by voters across 27 countries, it connects European citizens to the two other big institutions: the EU’s executive branch – the European Commission – and the Council, which is made up of ministers from EU governments.

The European Parliament shapes the direction of EU laws and policies by amending and passing laws and deciding on international agreements and enlargements. It must endorse the EU’s annual budget, and it can ask the Commission to propose legislation.

MEPs oversee the work of the Commission and Council. They share responsibility with the Council for adopting laws put forward by the Commission.

Most MEPs sit in political groups ranging from left to right, rather than by nationality, so they often have juggle allegiances to party or country.

Traditionally the two biggest are the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) and the centre-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), but others groups have become increasingly significant.

The liberal Renew Europe group and the Greens/European Free Alliance were the next biggest in the last parliament, but two groups made up of right-wing and far-right parties have set their sights on big gains.

They are the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and the Identity and Democracy (ID) group.

Two smaller groups play a key role too. One is the smaller left-wing GUE/NGL grouping, the other is the MEPs not aligned to any group – from Hungary’s nationalist Fidesz members to the handful of separatists from Spain’s Catalonia region.

Although the main purpose of the June election is to decide the make-up of parliament, voters often use the occasion to send a message to their national governments.

From Italy to France, Austria to Belgium, Germany to the Netherlands and beyond, parties on the far right are eyeing significant gains. A Dutch exit poll has already placed Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party almost neck and neck with a left-green alliance.

Polls suggest the two groups on the right, ECR and ID, could overtake the centre left and become the second largest force in Parliament. However, Germany’s far-right AfD has been expelled from the ID group because of a series of scandals.

Until now the centre right has tended to work together with the centre left but the EPP may come under pressure to seek new allies if the centre left performs badly.

A move to the right could put the brakes on plans for new climate and sustainability laws and influence social or economic legislation. The EU’s strong backing for financial and military aid for Ukraine could also be affected.

One of the first tasks of the new MEPs will be to elect the president of the European Commission. The current president, Ursula von der Leyen, is seeking re-election.

The EU’s 27 heads of state or government, known as the European Council, will factor in the election results and then nominate a candidate, whose name is then presented to the Parliament. More than 50% of MEPs will have to approve the candidate.

The political groupings in the EU could use a system of “lead candidates” – Spitzenkandidaten in German – as they did in 2014. According to that principle, each group proposes a presidential candidate before the elections and the group with most seats then has a mandate to select the European Commission president.

But five years ago, the EU’s national leaders decided on Ms von der Leyen, even though she was not a candidate. And they might forego the Spitzenkandidaten this time too.