European Elections: Less than 8 months to go

There are less than 8 months to go before the European elections, due to take place between Thursday 6 and Sunday 9 June 2024, and those upcoming 8 months promise to be lively.

It appears that all negotiations underway between the European Parliament and Member States will have to be concluded during the week of 5 February 2024 at the latest. As reported by EU media, the Chairman of the Conference of Committee Chairs, MEP Bernd Lange, has given this instruction to ensure there is sufficient time to translate the texts into all the EU languages and adopt them before the elections in June, which would not be possible for files concluded after the week of 5 February. Some key files will be going through interinstitutional negotiations then, including the ones on the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation proposal (more in our dedicated article on the PPWR!). Belgium will hold the Presidency of the Council from 1st January to 30 June 2024, coordinating the negotiations until the EU elections take place. The last plenary session under the Parliament’s 9th term will take place the week of 22 April 2024, and the first session under the Parliament’s 10th term will start on 16 July 2024.

Recent developments of interest leading to the EU elections included movements in the College of Commissioners, with former Commissioner Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans resigning from his position in August 2023 to lead the coalition of the Dutch labour party in view of The Netherland’s general election in November 2023. This resignation led to Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič, so far responsible for interinstitutional relations, to take over the Executive Vice-President role in charge of the European Green Deal as an additional responsibility. Executive Vice-President Šefčovič’s new role was subject to the scrutiny of the European Parliament, as he was audited by the Parliament’s Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) on 3 October, before receiving MEPs’ formal green light in plenary on 5 October. Wopke Hoekstra, former Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister, was also auditioned by the European Parliament and was nominated to take on the former role of Frans Timmermans as EU Commissioner responsible for Climate Action.

At national level, the situation is not uneventful either and several countries are going through their own elections ahead of the European ones:

Spain: Spain held its general election on 23 July 2023. While the centre-right Partido Popular (PP/EPP) won the snap election, candidate Alberto Nunez Feijoo fell short of gaining a parliamentary majority enabling him to form a government, as this result would give the PP 136 seats out of 350 in the lower chamber (Congress of Deputies), and the Socialists 122 seats. In September, with two consecutive votes in the lower chamber, Alberto Núñez Feijóo failed to gain the necessary support to be appointed Prime Minister. If lawmakers do not give him or another candidate (e.g. current Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez) their backing to form a government by the end of November 2023, the Parliament will be dissolved and a new vote will be held on 14 January 2024. In parallel, Spain is presiding the Council of the EU until 31 December 2023.

Poland: Poland held its general election on 15 October 2023, where the opposing centrist Civic Platform party, led by former EU Council President Donald Tusk, won enough seats to take over from the Law and Justice (PiS) party currently ruling. Although the PiS gathered 35.4% of the votes, and the Civic Platform 30.7%, it is said that the PiS will fall short of getting the 231 seats necessary to form a majority in Parliament. According to an exit poll, the three leading opposition parties — Civic Platform, Third Way and the Left — are projected to win 248 seats in Parliament, while the PiS and Confederation would combine 212 seats.

Belgium: In Belgium, more will happen in 2024. According to Articles 65 and 117 of the Belgian Constitution, citizens must simultaneously elect their representatives to the Region and to Europe and so it happens, the federal term of office ends in 2024. On 9 June 2024, Belgian citizens will therefore participate in the federal parliamentary elections to elect the 150 members of the House of Representatives for a five-year term, and on the same day, will participate to the regional and European elections.

WHAT DID YOU MISS?

01 July 2023 - 31 December 2023: Spanish Presidency of the Council

23 July 2023: Spanish general election

22 September 2023: European Council Decision (EU) 2023/2061 establishing the composition of the next European Parliament

15 October 2023: Polish general election

WHAT’S NEXT?

01 January – 30 June 2024: Belgian Presidency of the Council

22 - 25 April 2024: Last European Parliament plenary session of the 9th term

06 – 09 June 2024: European elections

09 June 2024: Belgian federal and regional elections

16 July 2024: Start of the 10th EU Parliament term, first plenary session