European Parliament Elections 2004 [archived] [de]

Published: 16 May 2004 | Updated: 29 January 2010
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The European Parliament elections were held between 10-13 June 2004. As a result of the enlargement of the European Union to 25 countries, 732 members of the European Parliament have been chosen. For an overview of the main challenges and results of the EP elections 2004 (voter turnout, "Europeanness" of the election campaign, national impacts of the elections, division of power in the EP), see our LinksDossier on the EP elections results.

Milestones

 

  • The European elections will be held between 10-13 June 2004:
  • Thursday 10 June: Netherlands and Great Britain
  • Friday 11 June: Ireland, Czech Republic
  • Saturday 12 June: Latvia, Malta and Italy
  • Sunday 13 June: in the remaining Member States.
 

Policy Summary

Since 1979, the European Parliament is directly elected every five years. This year, ten new countries will be sending members to the European Parliament. These countries already have had observers in the Parliament since 2003. The European Parliament now counts 624 members and 162 observers. After the elections, it will have 732 members.

Here is a table indicating the new distribution of seats per country after the elections (as defined by the Treaty of Accession), as well as links to current members and observers:

 

  Country MEPs Current Austria 18 21 Belgium 24 25 Cyprus 6 6 Czech Republic 24 24 Denmark 14 16 Estonia 6 6 Finland 14 16 France 78 87 Germany 99 99 Greece 24 25 Hungary 24 24 Ireland 13 15 Italy 78 87 Latvia 9 9 Lithuania 13 13 Luxembourg 6 6 Malta 5 5 Netherlands 27 31 Poland 54 54 Portugal 24 25 Slovakia 14 14 Slovenia 7 7 Spain 54 64 Sweden 19 22 United Kingdom 78 87

Issues


Power division in the next EP
One of the main issues of these elections is the new power division in the European Parliament. Currently, the Christian Democrats-Conservative PPE-DE Group is the largest party, followed by the Socialist PSE and the Liberal ELDR. See the

Parliament's overview of seats per group . With the uncertainties of unprecendented European elections in the new Member States and possible shifting alliances in the traditional parliamentary groups (eg. UK Conservatives to stay in the EPP Group?), it is impossible to predict which party family will dominate the next parliament.

Voter turnout for the elections
Since direct elections for the European Parliament started in 1979, the overall voter turnout has fallen steadily. The following table shows, by country, the turnout figures for each of the five elections since 1979:

Country 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999
Belgium (voting compulsory) 91.4 92.2 90.7 90.7 91.0
Denmark 47.8 52.2 47.4 52.9 50.4
France 60 .7 56.7 48.8 52.7 46.8
Germany 65.7 56.8 62.3 60.0 45.2
Greece 78.6 77.2 80.1 80.4 75.3
Ireland 63.6 47.6 68.3 44.0 50.7
Italy 84.9 83.4 81.4 74.8 70.8
Luxembourg 88.9 87.0 96.2 88.5 85.8
Netherlands 58.1 50.6 47.5 35.6 29.9
Portugal   72.4 51.2 35.5 40.4
Spain   68.9 54.7 59.1 64.4
Austria       67.7 49.0
Finland       57.6 30.1
Sweden       41.6 38.8
UK 32.2 31.8 36.6 36.4 24.0

Positions

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