the issues and functioning of the ballot

The vote will take place from June 6 to 9 and will influence the European legislative roadmap. In several countries, these elections are colored by fear of the rise of the extreme right.

In France, the vote for the European elections will be on Sunday June 9, with 80 seats out of the 720 to be filled. The vote is proportional: the more votes a party has, the more representatives it sends to Strasbourg, to the European Parliament. The elected officials then group together, not by nationality, but by political affinities.

LR members sit, for example, in the right-wing and center-right European People’s Party (EPP). The Macronists are at Renew. Parliament also has one far-left party and two far-right parties because they have never, at this stage, managed to reach an agreement due in particular to their differences vis-à-vis Russia.

Immigration and inflation at the center of the campaign

During these elections, we are expecting a strong surge from the far right and Eurosceptics, mirroring the shift observed for months in many European countries. With, in the minds of observers, the recent surprise victory in the Netherlands of Islamophobic sovereignist Geert Wilders.

A real shock in pro-European circles because he built his notoriety on the rejection of migrants, of Brussels officials, and in the home stretch, on the defense of purchasing power. Inflation and immigration are also expected to be central themes of the future electoral campaign.

These elections set the tone for the rest of the European process. In the wake of the elections, the 27 will equip themselves with a new Commission, a new President of the Council and a new legislative roadmap, bearing in mind the new political balances within Parliament, where the importance of going to vote.

A vote overshadowed by national issues

But in many countries of the European Union we have the impression that the European issue will be eclipsed by national politics. In France, for example, with the Macron-Le Pen match. But also elsewhere, such as in Belgium, where the European vote is coupled with a national vote. Almost everywhere, European issues often take a back seat. In France we are already hearing that this will be a foretaste of the 2027 presidential election, a mid-term election for Macron or a test for Le Pen.

This is quite regrettable because the real issue in these elections lies elsewhere, on issues as important as immigration, the ecological and digital transformation of our economies, the rule of law or even our security against Moscow. It is at 27 that many concrete decisions are taken and it is therefore the European program of the national parties that we will have to look at before slipping a ballot into the box.