Soon there will be elections to the European Union (EU). Or no, for the European Parliament. But, what do they actually do? Will you soon have hundreds of political groups from dozens of countries? And who is really in charge? To answer those questions, here's a crash course in EU101.
For many people, the EU is pretty remote. They are much less in the news than our Dutch politicians, and what they are doing sometimes sounds quite vague. But important it is.
First of all, the European Union is a partnership between 27 European countries (member states), there were 28 until 2020 before the UK left. This partnership ensures that we can travel, move or work across half of Europe without passport control or baggage checks, without too much paperwork.
The European Union is mainly run in Brussels, with an exception for the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, and another exception we will come to in a moment. The ‘European Government’ so to speak consists of several bodies. The European Council, the Council of the European Union, the European Commission, and the European Parliament.
The European Parliament
The European Parliament is most important in these elections. This is because on 6 June, we will elect the members for it. The European Parliament is similar to the Dutch House of Representatives. After the next elections, it will consist of 720 MEPs. Each member state has a certain number of assigned MEPs, for the Netherlands there will soon be 31. When we go to the ballot boxes, it actually works just like other elections. The same red pencil and usually the same parties.
After votes are counted across Europe, we will have a new European Parliament. The parties that are elected will then sit together in larger political groups. These groups include parties from all member states that share certain views. For instance, the GroenLinks delegation will join the Greens, the Labour Party will join the Social Democrats, D66 and VVD will join the Liberals, and so on....
Together with the Council of the EU, MEPs are then allowed to play the role of ‘legislators’ of the EU. This means they have to approve European laws proposed by the European Commission. This is what MEPs debate, what they submit amendments to, and what they all vote on together.
Once a month, the parliament moves from Brussels to Strasbourg. A tradition that was once established to satisfy France, and has not yet been abolished despite many attempts.
The European Council and Council of the EU
Then the two Councils and the Commission. The European Council consists of the heads of government of each member state, so this has been Mark Rutte on behalf of the Netherlands since 2010. They determine general policy issues and priorities of the European Union. They meet at least twice a year.
The Council of the European Union together with the European Parliament, deals with passing laws. This Council brings together ministers from the various member states. This can be in different forms. For instance, there is the Foreign Affairs Council. In this composition, all foreign ministers meet. And there are all kinds of other topics, such as Economic and Financial Affairs, Environment, and Agriculture and Fisheries.
The European Commission
Finally, you have the European Commission, also known as the EU's executive board. The European Commission consists of Eurocommissioners who deal with different topics. You can compare it to the ministers and state secretaries in the Netherlands. The European Commission is the only one in the EU with the right to submit legislative proposals. So the proposals come from them!
Why should you vote?
These different European institutions are all involved in EU decision-making and represent different interests. By voting for the European Parliament, you too have a voice in this decision-making! On this page you can read why it is important to vote this election.
