European Parliament election, 2009
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article contains information about a forthcoming election. Content may change dramatically as the election approaches. |
| European Union |
 This article is part of the series: |
|
|
|
Other countries · Atlas Politics Portal |
Elections to the European Parliament will be held from 4 June to 7 June 2009[1][2][3] in the 27 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom – for instance on 4 June 2009, a Thursday, in the United Kingdom.[4] 496 million Union citizens will elect 736 MEPs by proportional representation, topping the 2004 election which was the biggest trans-national election in history.
It could potentially be the first election to take place under the expected Treaty of Lisbon, increasing the power of the Parliament and relevance of the election.
Contents |
[edit] Election date
There is some confusion as to the actual date of the election, as some sources indicate the election will be held a week later. The Luxembourgian legislative election, which usually takes place at the same time, is set to be held on 14 June 2009. A similar situation exists with the Bulgarian parliamentary election.[5] Conversely, discussions are under way to reschedule local elections in Britain to 4 June 2009[6] to match the European Parliament election date, even though some preprinted election material gives the date as 11 June.[4] Irish local elections are expected to be held on 5 June 2009, as they have been held concurrently with European Parliament elections in 1999 and 2004.
[edit] Changes in this election
[edit] New member states
This will be the first European Parliament election that Bulgaria and Romania will participate in at the same time as the other member states. They had joined in 2007, increasing the overall number of MEPs above the agreed threshold; seats have been reallocated to bring the total back down, to 736 after the 2009 elections; the Treaty of Lisbon sets the total to 751 (see Apportionment below).
Croatia hopes to join in 2009 and participate in the elections; however European Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn has that said 2010 is more likely accession date.[7] This was however before the 2007 agreement on the Treaty of Lisbon, which is scheduled to come into force 1 January 2009. This might increase the likelihood of Croatia joining before the election.
[edit] Re-apportionment of seats
- Further information: Apportionment in the European Parliament
At the previous election member states were granted a fixed allocation of seats for election (current allocation is in the 2007 column below). With the admission of Bulgaria and Romania, these allocations will be modified under the existing Treaty of Nice (see first 2009 column below). However, provided the Treaty of Lisbon is ratified and comes into force before the election as planned, there would be an increase in seats leading to a slightly different distribution (see second 2009 column below);
| European Parliament Apportionment changes in the '09 European Elections | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Member state | 2007 | 2009 Nice |
2009 Lisbon |
Member state | 2007 | 2009 Nice |
2009 Lisbon |
Member state | 2007 | 2009 Nice |
2009 Lisbon |
||
 Germany |
99 | 99 | 96 |  Czech Republic |
24 | 22 | 22 |  Slovakia |
14 | 13 | 13 | ||
 France |
78 | 72 | 74 |  Greece |
24 | 22 | 22 |  Ireland |
13 | 12 | 12 | ||
 Italy |
78 | 72 | 73 |  Hungary |
24 | 22 | 22 |  Lithuania |
13 | 12 | 12 | ||
 United Kingdoma |
78 | 72 | 73 |  Portugal |
24 | 22 | 22 |  Latvia |
9 | 8 | 9 | ||
 Spain |
54 | 50 | 54 |  Sweden |
19 | 18 | 20 |  Slovenia |
7 | 7 | 8 | ||
 Poland |
54 | 50 | 51 |  Austria |
18 | 17 | 19 |  Cyprus |
6 | 6 | 6 | ||
 Romania |
35 | 33 | 33 |  Bulgaria |
18 | 17 | 18 |  Estonia |
6 | 6 | 6 | ||
 Netherlands |
27 | 25 | 26 |  Finland |
14 | 13 | 13 |  Luxembourg |
6 | 6 | 6 | ||
.svg/22px-Flag_of_Belgium_(civil).svg.png){kind=small} Belgium |
24 | 22 | 22 |  Denmark |
14 | 13 | 13 |  Malta |
5 | 5 | 6 | ||
| a Includes Gibraltar, but not any other BOT, SBA or Crown dependency b The speaker is not counted officially, thus leaving 750 MEPs. Italicised countries are divided into sub-national constiuencies |
Total: | 785 | 736 | 751b | |||||||||
[edit] Media coverage
National broadcasters, the EBU and the Communication Commissioner, Margot Wallström, are jointly working to make the 2009 election more interesting to the public in order to increase the turnout. Previously, diverse traditions of election night coverage and the situation that the election takes place over several days, have made it hard to attract viewers. The media consortium is hoping to focus the 2009 election more towards the EU level and the European Parliament itself, hoping to make the election more interesting and cosmetically appealing for television viewers.[8] Members of the European Parliament (MEP) also started initiatives in late 2007 to make the election more interesting to voters in a bid to increase turnout.[9]
[edit] 'Truly' pan-European parties
A new type of parties has emerged since the 2004 election, namely Newropeans, Europe United and Europe – Democracy – Esperanto. They intend to run for campaigns in the 2009 election in more or less all member states simultaneously, although they are currently very limited in size. As opposed to established European parties such as the European People's Party or the Party of European Socialists, the new parties are not alliances of pre-existing national parties. The European Greens were the first to form a formal party to launch their cross-border campaign in 2004.[citation needed]
[edit] Potential events
[edit] Commission President
The Treaty of Lisbon is expected to enter into force in time for the elections, which retains many of the changes originally outlined in the European Constitution.[10] These changes increase the powers of Parliament, including powers over the appointment of the President of the European Commission.[11] It has been suggested by some that political parties could run with candidates for the Commission President;[12] with leaders now linking the post to elections and that convention having being enshrined in the Constitution, further encouraging the possibility.[13] Plans by Margot Wallström would support political parties to run candidates, Barroso is seeking a second term and may gain the support of the European People's Party.[14]
[edit] Political alliance shuffling
[edit] Fate of AEN/UEN
The Union for Europe of the Nations (UEN) political group, today a rump body that can trace its ancestry back to its origins as a Gaullist ideological alignment, seems increasingly unlikely to be reconstituted following this election. The associated Alliance for Europe of the Nations (AEN) party would potentially suffer a similar fate. The desertion of key players for other alliances would likely lower both the UEN's membership to levels where it cannot exist for a lack of MEPs, and AEN's membership to levels where it cannot be funded for a lack of parties that reach the EU's electoral threshold.
The largest single contributor of MEPs to the UEN group, the Italian National Alliance, will completely merge with Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia into the People of Freedom by the end of 2008[15]. PdL will inherit FI's membership in the EPP; a single list of PdL candidates will be run in 2009 which would then take their seats in the EPP-ED (or a purely EPP) group, substantially reducing the potential MEPs that a UEN group could draw upon.[16]. This move will come after a series of attempts by National Alliance to abandon more staunchly nationalist and euroskeptic parties and move towards the moderate European centre-right, including a previous application for EPP membership.
National Alliance shares the the group presidency with Ireland's Fianna Fáil, a centrist party that has been a proponent of European integration. FF has been even more openly uncomfortable about its European affiliation, with former leader Bertie Ahern often distancing his party from the right-wing positions of his groupmates and describing UEN as purely a "technical arrangement." It very nearly joined the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe during the group reshuffle after the last European elections and is expected to make another attempt to leave the UEN in favour of another group. It has previously attempted to join the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party. [17][18]
A third significant source of UEN's MEPs is Poland. Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland and League of Polish Families enjoy very little popular support and failed to stay in parliament in the Polish 2007 election,[19]
AEN/UEN is also under threat from a potential new group led by members of the European Democrats (see below), who are attempting to woo at least two of its Euroskeptic members away. Law and Justice of Poland has been reported to be ready to do just this. [20] The disappearance of UEN might also have repercussions for Independence/Democracy, as those parties of UEN which do not join another group immediately might then decide to form a new group with the I/D members.
[edit] Movement for European Reform
The Conservatives and Ulster Unionists of the United Kingdom, together with the Czech Civic Democrats might leave the European Democrats (effectively dissolving it through lack of members, as only one Italian will be left), which is currently allied to the European People's Party (EPP); instead, these parties will form a new parliamentary grouping based on the Movement for European Reform (MER).[21]
Although the Conservatives alone have the minimum required number of MEPs at 19, they would still need to join with parties from three other countries to formally create a group. There has been speculation that two Polish parties, Law and Justice and Civic Platform, would join the proposed grouping. The latter has stated that it will not leave the EPP. Though the former had expressed its support for the continuance of the UEN[22], it is reportedly keen to join MER.[20]
Another possible party is the Latvian TB/LNNK, also currently aligned with AEN. There are also numerous independents that might join the group. The most optimistic estimates suggest MER could become the third largest group in the Parliament.[23]
[edit] Other issues
Another open question is which European party the Italian Democratic Party will join; it could join either PES or EDP, but is likely to join the former, which will undergo a name change (as requested by the Italian PD and the British Labour Party).[citation needed]
Furthermore, PES and EPP–ED have proposed to raise the limit for groups in the EP from 20 MEPs and one fifth of member states to 30 MEPs and a quarter of member states, which would effectively close down UEN and I/D. All five smaller groups (UEN and I/D plus ALDE, Greens–EFA and UEN–NGL) have protested these proposed changes.[24] The change was voted down 15 to 14 in committee, but a plenary vote is nonetheless expected to be held on it in July 2008.[25]
[edit] References
- ^ European Parliament
- ^ UK Office Calendar
- ^ http://www.europarl.de/aktuell/2008_mai_sitzungskalender2009.html
- ^ a b For Office
- ^ Bulgarian parliamentary parties agree to hold general, EP elections in June 2009 (SETimes.com)
- ^ "Moving the date of English Local Government elections to the date of the European Parliament elections in 2009 Consultation", UK Department for Communities and Local Government
- ^ Euractiv.com - Croatia will not join EU before 2010 - URL accessed on June 12, 2006
- ^ EU wants to dress up 2009 elections on TV, EUobserver.com Accessed February 26, 2007
- ^ theparliament.com - MEPs outline plans to boost EU parliament election turnout
- ^ Council of the European Union (2007-06-20). Brussels European Council 21/22 June 2007: Presidency Conclusions. Retrieved on 2007-06-22.
- ^ Europa website. The Union's institutions: The European Parliament. Retrieved on 2007-06-28.
- ^ Size shouldn't matter commentisfree.guardian.co.uk 10/01/07
- ^ Too much champagne, not enough leadership opendemocracy.net 10/07/03
- ^ European politics to get more political, EU Observer 27/06/07
- ^ BBC NEWS | Europe | Berlusconi names cabinet line-up
- ^ Berlusconi win raises hopes, fears in Brussels — EUbusiness.com - business, legal and economic news and information from the European Union
- ^ European Political Parties (Part II: the parties) [with Poll: Alliance for the Europe of the Nations] eurotrib.com 28/12/06
- ^ FF ‘may switch to the Liberals’—Eh, since when are FF liberals? irishelection.com 19/12/06
- ^ News from Poland - Poll: elections good for Civic Platform and Law and Justice
- ^ a b Isaby, Jonathan - Eurosceptic group in EU strengthens
- ^ In full: Cameron Euro declaration BBC News 13/07/06
- ^ Q&A: The Tories and the EPP BBC News 13/07/06
- ^ The Tories and their EU allies 11/07/06
- ^ EUobserver.com
- ^ EUobserver.com
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
