Renew Europe warmly welcomes the vote, during the plenary in Strasbourg, on the Electoral Law report. With this important text, the European Parliament takes another step forward for the reinforcement of European democracy. Since our inception, our political family has fought for the strengthening of the European Union, our European public sphere and the European Parliament.
Transnational lists are the ideal way to reinforce the sense of belonging to the EU. With this electoral reform, 28 transnational seats for the EU-wide constituency on the top of the current 705 seats should be created. This reform guarantees a geographic and gender balance, which is a key point for our Group.
Renew Europe would like to see the implementation of this reform ready for the 2024 elections. The Conference on the Future of Europe - which ended last weekend – has shown that EU citizens support the idea of transnational lists in order to Europeanise the election. In these uncertain times and after the huge work provided by our citizens, we cannot fail them. Strengthening European democracy is the path we must choose.
Guy Verhofstadt (Belgium, Open VLD), Renew Europe shadow rapporteur on the Electoral reform, declared: “The European Parliament launches wholesale reform of our EU elections: lowering the voting age to 16, holding elections on the same day across Europe – Europe Day, 9 May –, transnational lists to underpin a system of Spitzenkandidaten. A real democracy needs real accountability. This is the way forward.”