European elections 2019

Europe’s liberal limbo

Months after the other European parties presented their Spitzenkandidaten – the lead candidates they put forward to claim the Commission presidency – European liberals presented a slate of candidates to head into this year’s elections. At the ALDE campaign kick-off in Brussels, Team Europe was officially endorsed by the delegates.

European elections: Russia and fake news under Commission’s scrutiny

In order to counter interferences in the electoral campaigns for the May 2019 European Parliament elections, the European Commission is strengthening its battle against the circulation of fake news. Several million euros will be allocated to this struggle and there will be a particular focus on (…)

Towards the European elections: The courage to exist... and to resist

Ever since the disastrous 1930s, we had not seen a period of such systemic crisis in Europe. It is a step back in time which is difficult to imagine for a world which tends to have forgotten history and lives in a present with no past and no future. Most politicians (and citizens) do not have (…)

Transnational lists, citizens’ lists, … will these innovations pay off in May 2019?

The European elections are fast approaching and they will be the first in which Benoît Hamon’s young party, Génération.s, will have a real stake, almost two years after its founding. It is safe to say that the outcome will be viewed as an indicator of the party’s credibility and potential to carve out a place for itself within the Left, between Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise, which has been losing support, and the Socialist Party, which is still trying to stay afloat a year and a half after the presidential elections. It is indeed a risk that Hamon chose to take when he announced, on October 29, that a ’list of citizens’ would represent Génération.s for the European elections in May.

France: What electoral list for the European elections?

Let’s move back, twenty years ago. As all Europeans, the French citizens will go to vote at the European elections next May. Up until now, the country was divided into eight regional constituencies, but in January 2018, the French government decided to go back to a single constituency. What are the changes to foresee? Voix d’Europe sheds some light on the situation.

Federalist Sandro Gozi and conservative Jan Zahradil agree to disagree in UEF election debate

Ahead of the European elections, the Union of European Federalists (UEF) has invited all parties’ lead candidates to debate with its President Sandro Gozi. The first ‘Spitzenkandidat’ to accept the invitation was the Conservatives and Reformists’ Jan Zahradil. At the event in Brussels on Thursday night, the federalist and the self-described anti-federalist disagreed respectfully on certain questions of principle but also found common ground, especially on the Single Market and a ‘multi-speed Europe’.

‘Eurolapin’ rabbits stick together to stay safe from the wolves

A new species of creatures has taken the French-speaking pro-EU Internet sphere by storm: the Eurolapins. A European election campaign by the French section of Pulse of Europe, the Facebook page posts animated images and videos featuring European rabbits who strive to stay safe from wolves called Vladimir, Donald and Ping. We spoke with the team behind the rabbits!

In May, will Europeans get what they vote for? There’s reason to believe the answer is yes

As the European elections are coming up, campaigns are again calling for the people to have their say on the EU’s future. The picture isn’t as clear as it is in national-level elections, however. European integration is not yet at the point where we vote for European-level parties that will then represent us in Brussels and Strasbourg: instead, the link between national-level and European-level parties is unclear to many citizens. Moreover, we’re not sure if the elections decide the Commission President.

While problems remain, there’s reason for optimism too: on questions of European integration, what if European Parliament groups better reflect the views of voters than national-level parties do?

’Politics suitable for the masses’: German Green leader Robert Habeck speaks in Osnabrück

The Green Party’s poll numbers are going through the ceiling in Germany, as the party profits from the current crises of the Conservatives and Social Democrats. Robert Habeck, the co-chair of the party with Annalena Baerbock, outlined his ideas for a renewed European Union in a speech for the 2019 European elections in Osnabrück.

European Socialist Congress kick-starts EU elections campaign

On 7 to 8 December, the Party of European Socialists (PES) met in Lisbon for its 11th annual congress, with participants from 56 countries reportedly in attendance. The Congress marked the beginning of the socialists’ campaign ahead of the 2019 European elections. What is the PES’s focus for (…)

Weber, Timmermans, Keller & Eickhout, Zahradil: Lead candidates reviewed

As the European elections are drawing closer, with only six months ahead of us until the election, most of the European-level parties have nominated their Spitzenkandidaten for the presidency of the European Commission. Flavia Sandu gives an overview of the Spitzenkandidaten already nominated.

Competition from the right: ECR and ENF nominate their Spitzenkandidaten

Following suit to the European People’s Party and Social Democrats, two of the European Parliament’s right-wing groups have now also decided who will lead them into the European elections next May – Czech MEP Jan Zahradil and Italian Vice-Prime Minister Matteo Salvini.