2024 European Election

The 2024 European elections will elect the 10th European Parliament. The European Parliament is one of the seven institutions of the EU.

Pursuant to Art. 13 of the Treaty on European Union, the institutions of the Union are:

• the European Parliament,
• the European Council,
• the Council,
• the European Commission,
• the Court of Justice of the European Union,
• the European Central Bank,
• the Court of Auditors.

Each member state elects the representatives for its country to the European Parliament. Members are elected for a term of five years.

The 10th European Parliament is elected in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon . In principle, the number of members is based on the population of the member state. Under the Treaty of Lisbon, the European Parliament may comprise a maximum of 751 members (including the President). No country is to have more than 96 or fewer than 6 seats in Parliament, so that neither one-sided dominance nor political insignificance arises. As a result, less populous states are better represented in the European Parliament in relative terms than more populous states ("degressive proportionality").

Overall, the following seat distribution results for the coming electoral term:

In the 9th European Parliament, the Federal Republic of Germany is represented by the following parties:

1. Christlich Demokratische Union (CDU)
2. BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN (GRÜNE)
3. Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD)
4. Alternative für Deutschland (AfD)
5. Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern e.V. (CSU)
6. Die Linke (DIE LINKE)
7. Freie Demokratische Partei (FDP)
8. Die PARTEI
9. FREIE WÄHLER (FW)
10. Partei Mensch Umwelt Tierschutz (Tierschutzpartei)
11. Ökologisch-Demokratische Partei (ÖDP)
12. Familien-Partei Deutschlands (FAMILIE)
13. VOLT Deutschland (VOLT)
14. Piratenpartei Deutschland (Piraten)

The European Parliament acts as legislator together with the Council and jointly exercises budgetary powers with it. It performs tasks of political control and advisory functions in accordance with the Treaties. It elects the President of the Commission.

In shaping legal acts, the European Parliament has equal weight to the Council of the European Union in most policy areas. Both can make amendments to legislative proposals in two readings each. In the event of disagreement, they must reach agreement in a conciliation committee. The fact that European law fundamentally takes precedence over the law of the individual member states is largely unrecognised, which is likely to be one reason for the relatively low voter turnout.

The European Parliament and the Council together form the EU's budgetary authority, which decides on the budgeting of the EU budget. The European Commission proposes a draft budget; in the budgetary procedure, Parliament and Council can then adopt amendments. If no agreement is reached, the draft budget is discussed in a conciliation committee comprising representatives of both Parliament and Council. If no agreement is reached, the Council submits a new draft budget. If a joint draft is reached in the conciliation procedure, the Council and Parliament can approve it within 14 days. If the Council rejects the draft, Parliament can still decide to adopt it.

In addition, Parliament exercises parliamentary control over the European Commission and the Council of the European Union. Together with the Court of Auditors, it examines whether the Commission has implemented the budget correctly. The Council and the European Council are also accountable to Parliament. The President of the European Council reports to Parliament after every summit. Members of the Council or the Commission are obliged to respond when Members of Parliament request information from them in writing or orally. For this purpose, Parliament can set up committees of inquiry and, where appropriate, bring an action before the European Court of Justice.

The accession of new member states also depends on the approval of the European Parliament.

Eligibility to vote

Eligible to vote are

1. Germans who

• have reached the age of 16 and
  • have resided in the Federal Republic of Germany or in one of the other member states of the European Community for at least three months, or otherwise habitually reside there, or
  • after reaching the age of 14, have resided continuously in the Federal Republic of Germany for at least 3 months, provided this residence was no more than 25 years ago, or
  • have, for other reasons, acquired personal and direct familiarity with the political conditions in the Federal Republic of Germany and are affected by them, and
• are not excluded from the right to vote.

Excluded from the right to vote is anyone who does not possess the right to vote by judicial decision.

2. Union citizens living in Germany may take part in the European election if they

• have reached the age of 16 on election day,
• have had a residence in the Federal Republic of Germany or in another EU member state for at least 3 months, or otherwise habitually reside there, and
• are not excluded from the right to vote.

Union citizens are excluded from the right to vote if, pursuant to Section 6a (2) of the European Elections Act (EuWG), they do not possess the right to vote as a result of a judicial decision, or if they do not possess the right to vote in the EU member state whose nationality they hold as a result of a civil or criminal law decision.

Union citizens must decide whether they wish to take part in the election to the European Parliament in Germany or in their country of origin.

Eligible non-German Union citizens are automatically entered by the competent municipality in a register of voters for the forthcoming as well as future elections to the European Parliament if they

• had, upon their application, already been entered in a register of voters in the Federal Republic of Germany for a previous European election, and
• have not moved abroad in the meantime, provided the other electoral requirements are met.

All other non-German Union citizens must submit an application for entry in a local register of voters by the 21st day before the election (19.05.2024).

Eligibility to stand for election

Eligible to stand for election is anyone who, on election day

1. as a German

• has reached the age of 18 and
• is not excluded from the right to vote (see above) or does not possess eligibility to stand for election or the capacity to hold public office as a result of a judicial decision.

2. as a Union citizen

• has a residence in the Federal Republic of Germany or otherwise habitually resides there
• holds the nationality of an EU member state
• is not excluded from the right to vote (see above), does not possess eligibility to stand for election or the capacity to hold public office in the Federal Republic of Germany as a result of a judicial decision, or does not possess eligibility to stand for election in their country of origin as a result of a civil or criminal law decision.

Provisional number of eligible voters - as of 28.04.2024

In each Member State, Members of the European Parliament are elected under a system of proportional representation, using either a list system or a single transferable vote. Member States may allow preferential voting on a list system in accordance with procedures they lay down.

In Germany, the election is held according to the principles of proportional representation with list-based candidatures. Lists of candidates may be drawn up for a single federal state or as a joint list for all federal states.

Current information from the Federal Returning Officer on the European elections.

No threshold clause applies to this election, as the Federal Constitutional Court declared the three-percent threshold clause under Section 2(7) of the European Elections Act (EuWG) — which entered into force on 10 October 2013 through the 5th Act amending the European Elections Act (EuWG) — unconstitutional and therefore void.

According to Articles 10 and 11 of the Act concerning the introduction of general direct elections of the Members of the European Parliament (Direct Elections Act), the election takes place five years after the preceding European election, in a period between Thursday and Sunday. Each member state of the European Union determines for itself when the voting takes place in its own country. In Germany, the election takes place on Sunday, 9 June 2024; in Austria and other countries, voting is likewise usually held on a Sunday, whereas in the Netherlands it already takes place on the Thursday.

The electoral territory is the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany. For the European elections, polling stations are open from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Vote counting may begin immediately after the polling stations close.

However, the announcement of the preliminary election result for Germany by the Federal Returning Officer may take place at the earliest after voting has ended in the other EU member states.

District Returning Officer

By decree dated 28.08.2023, the Cologne District Government appointed

Landrat Jochen Hagt

as District Returning Officer for the 2024 European elections.

The Deputy District Returning Officer is

District Director Klaus Grootens.

The District Returning Officer bears responsibility for the proper preparation and conduct of the European elections in the district, insofar as specific responsibilities have not been assigned to other bodies.

District Electoral Committee

Pursuant to Section 4 of the European Elections Act (EuWG) in conjunction with Section 5(1) EuWG and Section 8(1) of the Federal Elections Act (BWG), the formation of a District Electoral Committee is required for the 2024 European elections.

Pursuant to Section 4 EuWG in conjunction with Section 9(2) sentence 2 BWG, the District Electoral Committee consists of the District Returning Officer as chairperson and six eligible voters appointed by them as assessors.

When selecting the assessors of the District Electoral Committee, pursuant to Section 4(2) of the European Elections Regulation (EuWO), the parties should generally be appropriately taken into account in the order of the number of votes obtained at the last European Parliament election in the Oberbergischer Kreis, and the eligible voters proposed by them in good time should be appointed.

On the proposal of the parties, the following persons were appointed as assessors of the District Electoral Committee on 07.02.2024:

Persons appointed as assessors of the District Electoral Committee may not, pursuant to Section 9(3) BWG, simultaneously serve on another electoral body, i.e. they may not, for example, be appointed as presiding officer or assessor of a polling station.

For the 2024 European elections, ballot paper templates are also being offered to blind and visually impaired citizens. This service was first offered for the 2002 federal election and the 2004 European elections. Information on the contents of the ballot paper is available by phone on the free number 0800 00 09 67 10.

These materials are automatically sent to members of the BSVW. However, membership in the association for the blind is not required to receive a ballot paper template.

For orientation, all ballot papers are uniformly punched or notched in the top right corner; correspondingly, the top right corner of the ballot paper template is cut off. Accompanying information on the structure of the template and the ballot paper is issued with each template. Using the accompanying information CD, one can hear which party is in which position. This allows blind and visually impaired voters to fill in their ballot paper independently on election day in the polling booth or beforehand by postal vote.

Requesting the ballot paper templates

It is recommended to order the templates in good time via the Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired NRW.

The regional office in Dortmund responsible for the Oberbergischer Kreis can be reached on 0231 5575900.