2009 European elections: five thoughts to spark debate

The author analyses the results of the June 2009 European elections around five questions: Resignation to abstention? Victory for the right or status quo? Environment or ecology? Euroscepticism or the far right? Demands and reluctance: radicalisation of a divide?

Average turnout in the EU for the June 2009 elections was estimated at 43.2%. It was 45.5% in 2004 and 62% in 1979. The paradox of European elections continues: turnout in the EU has been falling in every election for 30 years, while at the same time the European Parliament has seen its powers increase considerably. Already the big winner of the Maastricht, Nice and Amsterdam Treaties, if the Lisbon Treaty is ratified, it will become a co-legislator with the Council in the vast majority of areas of EU activity and will have the power to block all budget negotiations. Analyses prior to the elections already highlighted the risk of a rise in abstention, explaining it by a lack of interest, linked to the feeling that voting will have no impact on the one hand, and a lack of knowledge and understanding of the European Parliament on the other.