How do European elections work?

[Tim Cornelis]

How do European elections work?

Can you only vote for national parties, but then, many parties in the Netherlands, like SP and PVV, are not a member of a Europarty, yet these are the only parties running candidates for the EU-presidency. Someone enlighten me.

[Prometeo liberado]

Damn good question, wish I knew but will watch this thread.

[reb]

Europe is broken into regions and you can only vote for people who are in those regions.

EDIT: I assume you mean the European Parliament. Individuals or parties have to be in the electoral regions that you live in for you to be able to vote for them. You can not, say, vote for Herr Schmidt of Bavaria if you live in Paris. But, if Herr Schmidt was in a party that fielded a candidate in your area of France then you can vote for that party. These are commonly known as europarties. There are several other institutions in the EU, but I'm not aware if you directly vote for them. There is the European Council which is made up of the heads of states and then there is the council of the EU. I'm not sure how the people here are voted in, but I think it involves having someone besides the head of state, but in the same national government, be a minister for it.

EDIT 2: Actually, it is a little bit more complicated than that. The Europarties themselves are made up of members from various different national parties. For example, the European Socialist party, or what ever it is called, is composed of various members from social-democratic parties. Then it too is included in a block with democrats. There are several of these blocks made up of one or more types of political groupings and they in turn usually form a coalition to get a majority of sorts.

I think that's the long and short of it. The EU is a big complicated mess.

[DDR]

Seats in the EU parliament are divided according to state population (Germany, France and Spain are the ones whith the biggest share there). Each state is a single constituency and you can only vote those candidatures of your constituency, the Netherlands in your case. The thing is that there are european coalitions in the EU parliament like the European People's Party, the european left party, etc.

[Sasha]

being in a european "party" gigves you extra funding, speaking time etc etc

[Tim Cornelis]

Europe is broken into regions and you can only vote for people who are in those regions.

EDIT: I assume you mean the European Parliament. Individuals or parties have to be in the electoral regions that you live in for you to be able to vote for them. You can not, say, vote for Herr Schmidt of Bavaria if you live in Paris. But, if Herr Schmidt was in a party that fielded a candidate in your area of France then you can vote for that party. These are commonly known as europarties. There are several other institutions in the EU, but I'm not aware if you directly vote for them. There is the European Council which is made up of the heads of states and then there is the council of the EU. I'm not sure how the people here are voted in, but I think it involves having someone besides the head of state, but in the same national government, be a minister for it.

EDIT 2: Actually, it is a little bit more complicated than that. The Europarties themselves are made up of members from various different national parties. For example, the European Socialist party, or what ever it is called, is composed of various members from social-democratic parties. Then it too is included in a block with democrats. There are several of these blocks made up of one or more types of political groupings and they in turn usually form a coalition to get a majority of sorts.

I think that's the long and short of it. The EU is a big complicated mess.


Seats in the EU parliament are divided according to state population (Germany, France and Spain are the ones whith the biggest share there). Each state is a single constituency and you can only vote those candidatures of your constituency, the Netherlands in your case. The thing is that there are european coalitions in the EU parliament like the European People's Party, the european left party, etc.


Okay okay, but here's the deal. The Netherlands has no constituent member for the Party of the European Left. So let's say I want Tsipras as EU president (which I don't), how do I vote for him as Dutch person? I don't think I can but I also can't think of a reason why I shouldn't be able to logically, so that'd be a moderately sized flaw in the democratic procedures of the EU I suppose.

[reb]

Okay okay, but here's the deal. The Netherlands has no constituent member for the Party of the European Left. So let's say I want Tsipras as EU president (which I don't), how do I vote for him as Dutch person? I don't think I can but I also can't think of a reason why I shouldn't be able to logically, so that'd be a moderately sized flaw in the democratic procedures of the EU I suppose.

You can't. The presidency is taken from the party with the biggest majority.

[Tim Cornelis]

You can't. The presidency is taken from the party with the biggest majority.

Seems pretty flawed. So it's possible that if a country has no national parties as constituent of a Europarty, the whole of the country can in no way affect the EU presidency.

I suppose they want to urge national parties into Europarties.

[DDR]

You can't. The presidency is taken from the party with the biggest majority.

The presidency of the EU is rotative, 6 month duration. If you want to vote to Tsipras you gotta vote for a dutch party that it's in the ELP and if there's not, well you have to go with the nordic greens who sometimes ally themselves with them.

[Tim Cornelis]

The presidency of the EU is rotative, 6 month duration. If you want to vote to Tsipras you gotta vote for a dutch party that it's in the ELP and if there's not, well you have to go with the nordic greens who sometimes ally themselves with them.

I'm pretty sure Van Rompuy has been EU president for five years.

EDIT:

Okay this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_European_Union

[reb]

The presidency of the EU is rotative, 6 month duration.

There are several institutions of the EU that have presidencies. The European Council, the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and the Parliament of the European Union itself. The Presidency of the Council of the European Union is the one that rotates every six months between the member states of the EU so I don't think this is what the OP was referring to. The governing bodies of the EU are not like those in the states where you can simply vote for a President. There is in effect no real president of the EU overall.

Just did a quick look, Tsipras is running for the Presidency of the European Commission. So neglect what I said about the European Parliament. I am unsure how this is elected. According to wiki, he is in the party of the European Left and he's the nominee for that position. So if you felt inclined, then you would have to vote for someone in that party.

[reb]

Seems pretty flawed. So it's possible that if a country has no national parties as constituent of a Europarty, the whole of the country can in no way affect the EU presidency.

I suppose they want to urge national parties into Europarties.

It is a huge bloated bourgeois mess. I don't know why any communist would even bother participating in it. I believe the point of the European Commission and Parliament is so that they act in a way which isn't based on their nation. Remember, that there are several institutions in the EU, several of which have their own president.

[Sasha]

The president of Germany or Italy no one votes for either, you should see the european presidency in that tradition, not the way French or US presidents are chosen.