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Policy paper – Make European elections more meaningful
01/10/2020

Gerald / Pixabay
Gerald / Pixabay

If elections for the European Parliament were more consequential the democracy would be strengthened.

The EU is characterised by an unusually high degree of institutional entanglement and little majoritarian decision-making. This strong consensualism not only reduces decision-making efficiency but also the competitiveness among pro-European parties and hence the democratic meaningfulness of EP elections. At the same time, the absence of a loyal opposition within the system reinforces populist anti-EU parties. To overcome this situation, it is necessary to make EP elections more consequential and to increase the scope of majoritarian decision-making in the EU. The first paper outlines short and long-term reform paths regarding European electoral reform, the parliamentarisation of the European Commission, and the reform of the legislative procedure.

Team & authors

About the Strengthening the democratic legitimacy of the EU project: The Conference on the Future of Europe is an opportunity to enhance EU-level democracy. Concrete reform proposals have been worked out for this purpose. They are also advocated in the debate on the EU’s future.

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