EU elections kick off as voters grapple with a polycrisis world and economic malaise

An estimated 360 million eligible voters are called to elect the 720 Members of the European Parliament for the next five years.

Transcript

00:00 The curtain of the European elections is rising in the EU.

00:04 The four-day voting procedure starts on Thursday in the Netherlands, with elections taking

00:08 place in all EU countries in the days to follow.

00:15 On Friday, June 7, Ireland and Czech will be heading to the polls.

00:20 The following day, Italy, Malta, Latvia and Slovakia will open their votes.

00:25 On Sunday, June 9, the final day of voting, the rest of the EU countries, including Belgium,

00:31 Germany, Spain and France, will open polls.

00:37 The elections take place every five years and are the largest transnational elections

00:41 in the world.

00:42 This is the tenth parliamentary vote since the first direct elections in 1979 and the

00:47 first European Parliament election after Brexit.

00:51 At the 2024 European elections, a total of 720 members will be elected to the European

00:56 Parliament.

00:58 Smaller countries have fewer MEPs than bigger countries.

01:02 MEPs from larger countries represent more people than their counterparts from smaller

01:06 countries.

01:07 The minimum number of seats per country is six and the maximum is 96.

01:16 Germany has 96 MEPs.

01:19 France 81.

01:21 Italy 76 MEPs.

01:24 Spain 61 and Poland 53 MEPs.

01:28 In the lower end, Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta have each 6 MEPs.

01:34 When elected, the MEPs won`t be organized by nationality but by political affiliation.

01:40 Most of them will sit in political groups of the European Parliament.

01:43 Until now, there are seven different groups.

01:47 The EPP, the S&D, the Renew, the Greens, the ID, the ECR and the Left.

01:57 The EPP and S&D are the biggest in the Parliament.

02:01 Renew of the Liberals and the Greens follow.

02:03 The ECR and the ID belong to the extreme right of the political spectrum and are expected

02:08 to rise.

02:11 Some MEPs don`t sit with political groups and are known as non-attached members.

02:15 Based on the electoral results, the political groups would have to negotiate for the top

02:19 positions of the EU institutions.

02:22 The president of the European Parliament is elected by the MEPs who also have to approve

02:27 the president of the commission as well as the commissioners.

02:32 Results will be announced Sunday night.

02:34 Member states are not allowed to publish election results until after polls close in all EU

02:38 countries on Sunday afternoon.

02:40 (whooshing)

02:43 (whooshing)