Renew Europe strongly welcomes the adoption today, in the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, of the reform of the European Electoral Law, after a political agreement between the four largest Groups in the European Parliament. MEPs today approved a proposal for 28 transnational seats for the EU-wide constituency on top of the current 705 seats. These lists will have to ensure geographic balance, so as to guarantee a balance between candidates from large, medium and smaller Member States. Renew Europe is also fully dedicated to the fight for gender equality. This principle is at the heart of the report adopted today, by introducing the requirement of gender balanced lists.
Renew Europe looks forward to the adoption of this file in the plenary and to negotiations with the EU Council, so transnational lists can be in place for the 2024 elections. The Conference on the Future of Europe shows us that EU citizens support the idea of transnational lists. We believe European citizens should have two votes; one for their national lists and one for the European-wide list. We cannot miss the opportunity to strengthen our European Union, our European public sphere and the sense of belonging to the Union.
Guy Verhofstadt (OVLD, Belgium), Renew Europe shadow rapporteur on this file, declared:
“A real Union needs truly European elections. Transnational lists can change the momentum so that we finally get a campaign that crosses national boundaries, and so that voters know they are nominating politicians who truly represent Europe as a whole. Today's EU is too important to be run along the lines of 'second-order’ elections!"