Forum on European Parliament electoral reform

EU Politics and Governance Forum

17.11.2010, Brussels

Meeting of the EU Politics and Governance Forum on European Parliament electoral reform. The EU is faced with growing popular disenchantment and falling rates of citizen participation in EP elections. The need to counteract these trends has never been more topical in view of the current economic and identity crisis sweeping across Europe. The proposal of MEP Andrew Duff to reform and harmonise the rules for EP elections represents one of the latest attempts to fix the ‘electoral connection’ between the EU and its citizens. Is this initiative likely to achieve its goal? Does it pitch too high or does it fail to go far enough? How might the proposed electoral system impact on party politics at national and European level? What implications can we expect for the development of European democracy and the status of EP elections? And finally, will EU Member States buy into it?
 
These and other issues were discussed at the meeting of the EU Politics and Governance Forum on November 17, 2010. The panel of speakers included Andrew Duff, Member of the European Parliament (ALDE), Gerald Häfner, Member of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA), Corina Stratulat, Junior Policy Analyst at the European Policy Centre, Jacques Thomassen, Professor of Political Sciences at University of Twente. Their presentations were followed by a Q&A session. The event was chaired by Janis A. Emmanouilidis, Senior Policy Analyst at the European Policy Centre.

For more information about the EU Politics and Governance Forum see here.