On 3 May 2022, in a bid to harmonise European elections, the European Parliament agreed on a comprehensive revision of the Direct Elections Act. Now, the member states will discuss the proposed electoral law reform in the Council. It includes a unified minimum voting age, the same election day for all member states, gender quotas, and, most importantly, the establishment of a minimum threshold clause for large constituencies and the introduction of EU-wide electoral lists.
Manuel Müller calls for the German government to take a stand and support the proposed electoral law reform in order to strengthen European supranational democracy. Previous attempts to reform EU electoral law have failed, partly because Germany has still not ratified the changes to electoral law adopted in 2018. The new traffic light coalition should use the opportunity offered by the current comprehensive reform attempt and invest political capital, argues Müller. While harmonisation measures are of high symbolic value, transnational lists could be a real breakthrough in making the EU more democratic.
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