Preview of the 2004 European parliament elections

This survey focuses on campaign issues, likely voter turn-out, the kinds of candidates whose names will appear on the slates and the eventual outcome of the European elections.

Executive Summary

T he upcoming election for the European Parliament appears in many respects less like one European-wide election than like 25 parallel elections in each of the EU member states. Rather than identifying clearly discernible patterns running across the whole of the European Union, we find different trends emerging in different countries in the principal aspects of the elections: namely campaign issues, likely voter turn-out, the kinds of candidates whose names will appear on the slates and the eventual outcome.

The findings presented in this paper are based on the results of a survey conducted among national experts associated with the European Policy Institutes Network (EPIN). As such they are inherently subjective, but well-informed. While the actual outcomes of the election are bound to prove our findings wrong in one or another respect, they do indicate some interesting trends that in the end do not hinge on the predictions being exactly right for one country or the other. Rather, it is the recognition of a slow, faltering but at times undeniable emergence of a European political dynamic that is the main object of this study.

The main findings are outlined below:

Campaign Issues

Five subjects dominate the European election campaign in most member states:

• Turkey’s prospects for membership of the EU
• The European Constitution
• (National) foreign policy and security issues
• Social policy and unemployment/economic policy
• National interests and national benefits from the EU

European Parliamentary elections remain to a high degree ‘second-order’ national contests whose campaigns are dominated by domestic perceptions and problems.

A certain convergence of the different national campaigns can be observed on social and economic policy as well as on constitutional matters and CFSP.

Even campaign themes that directly relate to the EU often have little to do with the European Parliament and its core competences.

The debate about the ‘democratic deficit’ and the perceived threat of an unaccountable centralised bureaucracy assume less importance in most member states than they did in the 1999 campaign (following the resignation of the Santer Commission).

Voter Turn-out

The average weighted turn-out of the June EP elections is likely to fall even (slightly) below the 49.4% that was recorded in 1999.

In some of the EU-15 member states, the turn-out level may well have reached its lowest point in 1999, and can be expected to rise again. This is likely to occur in particular in the founding states of Germany and the Netherlands, but also in the more recent members Finland and Sweden.

On the other hand, the turn-out may well continue to decline in Italy and Austria. We are also sceptical whether the UK will rebound from the 24% turn-out in 1999.

Among the new member states, it is above all the largest one, Poland, that may well weigh in strongly on the negative side. We would not be surprised if turn-out in Poland would stop at around 30%. Also in the other new member states we expect the turn-out to remain below that of the accession referenda.

Candidates

The selection of the candidates is left to the national parties, with no coordination at European level. Thus, the balance of power between political forces within individual countries and vote-attracting personalities play an (over)significant role in the process.

From the candidates’ point of view, our survey seems to confirm that the European elections are regarded as a second-order contest, with the top figures remaining above the fray.

As a consequence, the lists consist of a mix of young talent and ‘old hands’. The big member states seem to rely on the latter, having chosen to confirm a number of well-established MEPs who are expected to safely steer them around.

Lacking experienced members of the European Parliament, the new member states have opted for very senior politicians, inclu ding several former prime ministers and foreign ministers, thereby demonstrating that they are taking Europe very seriously.

Although much remains to be done in this regard, gender equality seems to be making progress, as reflected in the composition of the lists, with women faring better on average in the northern European countries.

Would-be MEPs seem to have a penchant for policy areas that are on the fringe of the Parliament’s competences. Their attention is focused in particular on foreign affairs, followed by employment and social affairs and regional policy, while apparently the internal market does not catch the imagination of many.

Results

Overall the political party composition of the European Parliament will only change to a very limited degree. The Christian-Conservative party group (EPP-ED) is bound to remain the largest party group, followed by the Social-Democrats (PES), which is likely to see its size increase slightly.

The principal loser is the United Left, which may well lose more than 10 seats, representing a fifth of its overall size. Also the Greens will drop back from 46 to around 40 seats.

The Liberals (ELDR) present the greatest factor of uncertainty. They are likely to retain more or less their present share, unless the German liberals (FDP) pass the 5% electoral threshold

Beneath this rather stable surface, we foresee some rather dramatic shifts compared to the outgoing Parliament. However, since the trends across the Union move in contradictory directions, they tend to cancel each other out at the aggregate level. The most notable example is that the probable decline of the Polish Alliance of the Democratic Left fully obscures the gains of the Social-Democratic group in several other EU states.

Since the EDD group looks for the moment unlikely to gain members from the 10 new member states, it may well fail to establish itself as a group under the revised EP Rules of Procedure, which require at least five different member states to be represented in a group.

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