2014 European elections

The European Parliament members will be elected on 22 – 25 May 2014, for a period of 5 years.

The European Parliament

-The European Parliament is the only institution to be elected directly by the European citizens.- The new Parliament will have 751 members.

Who can vote?

To vote, you must be a European citizen. To be a European citizen, you must be citizen of one of the member states of the EU. Since the Maastricht treaty, you automatically become a European citizen.

The main issues of the 2014 elections

-For the first time anti-EU parties will be a big issue.

- Migration could be high on the agenda for many voters. Freedom of movement in the EU has been challenged by many politicians, because EU enlargement has really increased the flow of migrant people who are looking for a job.

- Many voters have concerns about jobs. With millions of young Europeans fighting to get a job, job creation and growth will be big campaign themes.

-The debt crisis had very different results ; Eurosceptic parties such as the National Front (FN) in France and UK Independence Party (UKIP) are expected to have good results.

By Lou and Sonia

Press Review