European elections 2024

Elections for the European Parliament started: Over 370 million citizens to vote

More than 370 million Europeans with the right to vote in 27 European countries are expected, starting today, June 6, and until June 9, at the polls to elect 720 members of the European Parliament. Deutsche Welle journalist Sabina Fati said, in an interview on Moldova 1 TV, that we need a strong, big Europe that can speak with one voice, and Europeans can have their say in this regard by participating in the elections for the European Parliament.

"For the second time in the history, Europe is facing a war within the continent. There was in the early 90s the war in Bosnia with Kosovo and now we have a slightly more complicated war which is in Ukraine. One of the stakes of these elections is a majority pro-democratic European parliament," said the journalist.

Regarding what the new structure of the European Parliament could look like, the journalist mentioned that now there is a so-called conservative or sovereignist part in this legislature and the traditional parties, i.e. conservatives and socialists, representing a left-right alliance based on democratic rules. Also, Sabina Fati said that there are also progressive parties.

"We have these three blocs where we are waiting for the democrats to line up against the sovereignists. The sovereignists are those who campaign for the nation against the European currents, against the delegation of certain national prerogatives to Brussels, in short a return to the 19th century, where everyone is for himself. But in this serious context, this return to each for himself and not seeing that we need a big, strong Europe that can speak with one voice and act with one weapon would be an error", said the journalist.

We remind that the elections started today in the Netherlands, tomorrow the polls will open in Ireland. But most countries will hold elections on Sunday, for example Romania, where local elections are also held on Sunday.

In the Republic of Moldova, the European Parliament elections will be held on June 9, for which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bucharest has opened 52 polling stations. Thus, Moldovans with Romanian citizenship can decide the composition of the future European Parliament.

Romania has 33 out of 720 deputies, the most seats - 96 - belong to Germany because it also has the largest population in the union. But in the European parliament, the deputies are not grouped by country, but by political families.

The European Parliament is a co-legislator in the European Union. That is, it does not make decisions alone, co-decision means parliament, commission and council. The parliament is elected by direct vote, it appoints the commission which is a kind of union government, and the council - they are actually the national governments. The stake of these elections is the future of the European Union and the expansion to the east. We will find out the provisional results on Sunday at 23:00 CET, i.e. at midnight.

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